His expertise over a very wide array of objects is also extremely impressive.

I know spectroscopy very well, and yet hearing him talk about light-matter interaction was still very educative for me at the time and I was impressed by the depth and sheer knowledge he had on the matter, learned many things I didn't even know existed from him.

Same applies to many other topics related to physics, engineering and mechanics, not just computer science and programming.

Whoever says that you need a degree to get depth in several topics has never knew people like Carmack who simply study and try to understand.

I can speak just like that. Problem is I'm an uninformed idiot. But people who don't know that seem to think I'm pretty smart.

*this post does not contain an implication about Carmack. He is actually real smart.

Any uninterrupted and coherent hours long monologue is impressive to me.

You should tell that to my annoyed relative. They may disagree on the coherence front.

He was a hero of mine when I was in engineering school but i only see pictures of him mostly at the time and thought of him (probably due to his specs) as an archetypical geek. However, reading about him more and listening to his talks over time has really made me appreciated how well rounded, low drama, and high impact he is.

I'm a 40 years old guy who taught himself and got his first gig last year and he's also my hero. I'll sound "kids nowadays" but it's surprising how many young developers never even heard of Carmack.

I read Abrash's Black book when I was in my late teens and early 20s. It offered some insights into how Carmack operated. That's what made me a fan but I thought of him as a "rockstar" rather than a professional. That's the important bit that changed over several years.

I remember seeing that video, and others like it at Oculus. The variety and depth of his knowledge is truly astounding, as is his ability to talk about it without rambling. Every time he switched topics, you knew there was so much more he could have said.

When I was a technical evangelist, I regularly gave hour long technical presentations to relatively large ballrooms and it's ridiculously hard to maintain focus. The fact that Carmack gives a detailed talk rather than a presentation or speech is already a distinction, but mostly off the cuff, for hours, non-stop, to a packed conference hall? Impressive doesn't describe it.

Does anyone recall which talk specifically this is? I'd love to give it a watch.