What Happens at an MIT Hackathon

On a Saturday night in Cambridge, students can choose from any number of activities. At MIT, Hacking Arts-whose mission is to “ignite entrepreneurship and innovation within the creative arts”-is one of them. In this short film, The Atlantic followed students at the all-nighter as they tried to improve the arts through technology. Notably, the hackathon participant pool came from a variety of backgrounds: 60 percent were women and 15 percent were people of color. This is the fifth episode in The Atlantic’s video series “Saturday Night in America,” which uncovers pockets of nightlife across the nation.
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[@alexander_richter]

Hackathons are all about deleting all the work at 3a.m. and starting from scratch

[@joestitz239]

Deleting can, be self defeating.

[@shanchupanda3999]

@@joestitz239 Deleting can be self improving.

[@ritmukherjeeofficial5486]

😂😂😂

[@matteocagliero9414]

98% of the comments: “WhY DId shE DeletE ALL Of tHe FileS At 3:Am 2% of comments: “Here’s why she delted all of the files at 3:00 am

[@prajwalsolanki1049]

That idea which starts from 2:52 is so amazing, I wish I could be a part of something like it to create the best audiovisual cinematic experience 😍

[@arnavverma2135]

2:57 Apple after watching this video, "Thank you, We'll love to copy this Idea"

[@pateldvip2106]

😂lol

[@DistortedV12]

Why did she delete all the files at 3am?

[@TheBradleyb1537]

She def. has a future as a sys admin

[@ChristopherLambert106]

That is what hackathons are about...

[@TechBoy1]

@@ChristopherLambert106 lmaoo

[@xpopcornx1747]

Hackatons are a way to exploit developers by having them work for free.

[@kranejow9854]

Okay karl Marx.

[@melquiadespabillare6713]

Why KZbin posted articles that already ages?.. Everyday things upgraded.

[@michaeldeng1981]

10 years later, all the kids in this clip are billionaires.

[@jupiterapollo4985]

Doubt that.

[@GauravYadav-ho7pz]

Not all

[@hermanbrown9454]

Probably millionaires … could be dead…..

[@JaisonSaji94]

hackathons are awesome

[@superpowerboyable]

Good Video

[@dardanm3544]

Did you need a 6.0 GPA out of 4.0 to get into MIT?

[@deflagratiomx]

As far as I know you'd need an almost perfect GPA, plus great recommendation letters, preferably from an MIT alumni

[@neuron8186]

It's simple you need to best in this world in you field in you aged people

[@lx4302]

you'd need more. money and personal background. it isn't hard to get a perfect gpa if you're asian btw.

[@alanthomas1785]

@@lx4302 WeirdChamp

[@megadeth_9611]

@@lx4302 this stereotype is wrong, but it isn't hard getting really good gpa, but it's hard getting into US in the first place

[@dotails]

Did she delete all the files because the files weren't any good or by accident

[@alexander_richter]

No, because thats what hackathons are all about

[@megabithero]

ok but why delete the files? I need more

[@thezentrader]

because she was raging against the dying of the light? :)

[@winter4265]

A lot of times in programming it's easier to start from scratch instead of trying to fix everything. Like throwing away a paper you were drawing in after you mess up too many times.

[@4everdefence]

omg that one girl looks and acts like big head from silicon valley!!!!!

[@tkokflux6322]

Do u mean baghead?

[@tcgys]

at 3:52 her computer turns off so she can turn it back on

[@TozzaYT]

allan costa can hackathon me all he wants oml

[@TechBoy1]

Adderall.

[@gavinlu4763]

nerds' Mardi Gras

[@TozzaYT]

That wearable capiana guy is FINEEEEEEE OH BOY

[@saskvsanaidu]

good

[@13kev]

cool seeing a brazilian guy and a lot of woman :)

[@RahulKumar-vh2fb]

Cool

[@contort69]

I almost LEFT this video because it was "presented by Windows 10" ..... YUCK

[@zeyadmoustafa3817]

coool

[@johnkyalo5814]

🤍nice

[@didyoustealmyfood8729]

a MIT not *an MIT* bruh moment

[@arshnoorkaur2307]

Actually it’s an MIT !

[@chilastica]

It’s “an.”

[@khyatisrivastava3542]

@@chilastica why? 'M' is not a vowel?

[@someoneyouprobablyknowandl9964]

@@khyatisrivastava3542 a or an is used before a vowel sound, not a vowel (which is why it's ''a uniform''). And M is pronounced ''em'', and that ''e'' sound is a vowel sound.

[@thunderx3005]

Daily reminder Jesus loves you amen 🙏🏾 ✝️🙏🏾

[@thunderx3005]

Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven amen 🙏🏾 ✝️🙏🏾

[@wumbology8421]

Was this a "minority" hackathon? It doesn't seem very likely that women would attend something like this.

[@58chihiro]

MIT Hacking Arts

[@ratanatomy8929]

I think they just interviewed and showed a lot of women. In comparison to the amount of men there, there wasn't an abnormal amount of women. As to be expected really.

[@winter4265]

Half of my networking/programming class are females. 4 males and 4 females.

[@allanoliveira7165]

Winter that’s a small sample size

[@daark3113]

Pellinor yeah my cousin was there and he actually confirmed this

[@adamknight5089]

🤦‍♂️ Such a millennial thing to do, try to get people to solve problems that they can't, things of which are very niche and no-one asked for, and also complaining about how tired they are the whole time

[@abhichoudhary4518]

Ok gramps

[@lx4302]

Ok boomer

[@adamknight5089]

@@lx4302 How original

[@Mb-eo6bg]

A lot of things in tech start off as things no one asked for.

[@Mb-eo6bg]

Big tech looks for niche projects like these that are executed well. Things that no one looks for or understand so when they get built into their products it’s hard to copy and figure out.