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The Geek Shall Inherit the Earth
erick99 writes "With so many self-proclaimed geeks here at Slashdot, this particular article concerning geeks seems fitting. The article covers the gamut from science fiction to comic books to the "mainstreaming of geeks." The author seems to conclude the it is not such a good idea that the geek may inherit the earth. But, hey, what does he know. "
Well if the Geeks Inheirit the Earth the place should really byte
Never Politically Correct ~ I prefer the facts If you don't like what I say, get a life, or comment yourself.
Otherwise they'd have to wait until the current owners die.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
Matrix, comics, and computer, sheesh! It's Revenge of the Nerds that brought geekdom to its pinnacle!
Everyone now realizes the difference between nerds and geeks. Geeks are the cool nerds!
Now, if we could only get the hot women...
Geeks tend to get along with their own better than warrior-king types.
"The internet often breeds individuation and solipsism" Yes.. let's blame the internet for every social evil! Si.
"Rather than being integrated into society by being forced to take people as they come, the internet allows you to preselect whom you choose to fraternise with, based upon whether or not they share your specific interests."
:D
That's why I browse at -1.
Quod scripsi, scripsi.
If geek becomes mainstream, then what becomes the new geek?
... the cheat tell hem you sold us out, you sold us out (mumble in the bg) you sould us out.."
" you sold us out , you sold us out!
--Strongbad in strong bad goes to jail, homestarrunner.com
In short, there has never been a better time to be an anorak - a word that now has affectionate, rather than pejorative, connotations. The word 'geek' has also lost its stigma, having been promoted from a noun to verb, as in to 'geek out'.
Call me crazy, but I thought an 'anorak' was a puffy coat? Maybe this is some obtuse slang that I don't know about...
-JT
The original longer-form of the quote is,
:)
"The meek shall inherit what's left of the Earth after we're done with it."
Oh yeah? Well, *I* was a geek before it was cool to be a geek! Ermm...
From the article:
;)
"As something of an anorak/geek/nerd myself, I must confess to deriving pleasure from our move to the mainstream."
According to this at, an anorak is a hooded jacket. Why would he call himself that? Weird.
libertarianswag.com
...in good old Soviet Russia
The best planning can be done after the project completes.
I want my pre-september-that-never-ended internet back! ;-)
Ahhh...the great dumpster continuum. Many a free computer will be found there. -- sowth (748135)
That's pretty scary considering Merriam Webster's first definition of "geek":
"a carnival performer often billed as a wild man whose act usually includes biting the head off a live chicken or snake"
"Geek"
As geek contains within in a notion of separateness and awkwardsness, the whole notion of a mainstream geek is an oxymoron.
I suspect the author was just out to get a bit of cash or notorioty.
We geeks can make that happend with a couple of moonbased "lasers", can't we?
The system had the verbosity of HTML combined with all the readability of compiled assembly viewed as bitmap images
" Geeks tend to get along with their own better than warrior-king types."
There would still be wars. THey would not be between countries but between Windows, Linux, BSD and Mac overloards. Windows would be like the US. Big, bulky and some part of it is always screwed up. BSD and Mac would have a treaty and tag team the others.
Evolution or ID?
I think "In Soviet Russia, funny isn't THIS" is more accurate.
Both society as a whole, and science fiction/fantasy, would benefit if the latter were put back in its proper place - that is, as a satisfying diversion, rather than as life's raison d'être.
Coming from a guy with not one, but two planned sci-fi conventions coming up. I think he's lost any rights to be casting the first stone at someone because they liked lord of the rings.
Everything will be taken away from you.
No, I don't think so, geekyness is a subculture ... and if the mainstream comes towards us, we shall step aside. Not to rule the world, but to change it!
The mainstreaming of my beloved geek subculture depresses me.
"When did it become cool to be a dork? You know that shifty-acting guy or libertine-looking gal who's always all, "I'm captain punk-rock-opolis," crying "culture-stealer" whenever the opportunity makes itself available? That's me, except with geeks."
"Am I not justified though? Am I to idly watch the tyrants streamline my identity for mass consumption; our folklore exploited and assimilated by wannabe societies? Eccentricaly-dressed girls using their cuteness to conceal their embarassing ignorance, actually thinking that Wolverine's mutant powers are those metal claw thingies? People who haven't paid their dues; who couldn't tell you the difference between a D6 and DOS? Guys who've never carried out torrid--though imaginary--love affairs with Ensign McKnight, trading knowing smirks and grins across the Ten Forward lounge?"
The standards for geek initiation have been lowered too far. Too many times have I seen my dork friends embrace a cute girl as their own, just because she has a mild familiarity with Magic: The Gathering cards.
People still look at me funny when I tell them I've read LOTR thrice.
Or when I carry around a book by Heinlein, or maybe Clarke, or Gibson.
Even though its becoming more accepted, I still wouldn't call it mainstream.
If Geeks inherit the earth....
Won't that mean there is only one generation then extinction ? Or a Geeks going to have to breed ?
An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
Why should we settle for earth when there are many other planets waiting for geek colonization!
I'm aiming for Mars myself...
- Byzandula
It is the Greek who will inherit the Earth.
(Obligatory Brian quote)
2bits.com, Inc: Drupal, WordPress, and LAMP performance tuning.
"As something of an anorak/geek/nerd myself."
Since when has anorak become synonymous with geek? This is the first time I've seen it.
Underholdning.info
I for one welcome our Slashdot reading overlords..
Sorry, I just had to.
Sometimes I wish I was a plumber, then I'd know how to deal with other people's shit.
Move over giant ants!! Now everyone can welcome ME as their new overlord!!!!
Are we sure this isn't a bitter jock turned gym teacher who is upset that the guy he bullied in high school is Bill Gates?
What happens to us semi geeks? Im no under brain like some of you guys here, I can hold my own but god help me what will i do!?! Oh god i dont beleive in god! For i am screwed!
This guy obviously didn't get the universal truth as portrayed in "Revenge of the Nerds".. that inside every geek is an automaton of burning passion powering a pile-driving love machine.
So why the fuck shouldn't we rule the earth?
Norman Cook's Ode to Sl
Lets see, first we have lots of tech IPOs on the schedule. Second we have an overheated stock market, especially in tech. So way not a comeback for geek worship?
This "geek" crap has long gotten on my nerves. The only stereotype even more BORING than a DnD playing, emasculated, Buffy the Vampire Slayer watching, socially crippled dweeb is the "business/entrepenur" dork.
Want proof? Bloggers. Give even a cursory look at the personal "blogs" out there and you realize none of these people have even a semblance of a life.
Uh. No.
It's mentioned in the article, I know a guy who's like this. It's like a Geek disease or something. He used to come hang out but now he NEVER leaves his bedroom. He's been like that for the past 3-4 years. Last year it got even worse, he doesn't even socialize on IRC anymore! Anyone else know someone like that?
See, here in NYC, geekdom has become...trendy. It's now cool to know tons about comic books, to be an IP wizard, to be able to pull odd things from teh intarweb. If you're a mac geek, you're even better off.
The problem with this is the fucking hipsters of the geek wannabe persuasion. They manage to effectively mimic geek behavior but are much smoother (excuse me - smoover), much nicer looking and infinitely better at getting laid. So now all the look-alike "hey look, I can setup iTunes networking. I'm awesome and lovable and single! Bed me!" are stealing the small portion of women endowed by god with a geek-love gene. JUST when we're acceptable to the outside world, we get screwed by the trendiest people on EARTH. AGAIN.
But the worst part of it is, you turn into, like, that guy. You know, that guy who always grumbles about being ahead of the trend. The "I was listening to them when they were indie and they suck now" guy and everyone thinks YOU'RE the poser.
Please. Take me back to obscurity. At least I was getting laid when I was on the fringe.
Triv
Maybe there is a chance to use the /. effect for a good cause here!
I urge everybody here to go to their page and /. them for good. Make the racist slackers pay for the bandwidth!
As I understand it:
there is a hobby called 'trainspotting' where people hang about at railway stations, noting the comings and goings of trains (e.g. the 4723 to Wembley left the station at 0914).
since these trainspotters are often outside in inclement weather, they wear large puffy winter coats
being geeks and having no fashion sense, they choose the same sort of large puffy coats that your mother made you wear when you were a kid. (Think of the big coat George Costanza wore in that episode of 'Seinfeld' if that helps.)
in the UK, the puffy coat is called an anorak
the garment became synonymous with the sad trainspotting git who wears it.
:-)
British slang is fun.
I want to drag this out as long as possible. Bring me my protractor.
What's the matter with this self-loathing geek?
Society will be poorer if it goes geek? Talk to billg buddy.
It's not like geekdom will replace Da Vinci, Michelangelo or Picasso. Geek culture will take over the WWF, soap operas and budget-busting hollywood films most of which end up losing money because nobody likes them in the first place. Society won't be poorer or richer if we replace the rock with aragorn. gimme a break.
Now wipe your nose and go finish your homework.
"Rather than being integrated into society by being forced to take people as they come, the internet allows you to preselect whom you choose to fraternise with, based upon whether or not they share your specific interests."
This is one of the most annoying things to me, about some of my old friends. I grew up in a relatively small community, school of about 1000 students, near a city of a quarter of a million.
The VAST majority of my old schoolmates still hang out together and shag each other and bitch about each other and steal each others partners and generally stay in the same old pond.
They put up with the same shit from the same shits for year after year because they dont want to get out there and find people with common interests.
Geeks, nerdy boys and the like are oft criticised for being anti-social / a-social but from my experience are WAY more adventurous in building social circles which, while relativly small are created from a very wide geographical pool.
Long live the geek for spreading what genes they CAN exchange with further flung chicks that your average small town wanker obsessed with tribalism and football.
Ok - rant over - Im off for a coffee!
Why does it depress you? Are you so downtrodden that you are only comfortable being shunned? God forbid somebody might actually be interested in the same stuff as you for 'impure' reasons.
Here's a clue: if the fact that someone is an airhead bothers you, then don't associate with them! It has nothing to do with mainstream culture usurping your niche or any other such solipsistic nonsense.
Computer geeks are now in the same position automobile geeks were when the auto was coming into its own. Automobiles used to be considered an oddity at best and a nuisance at worst. Few owned them and the majority didn't understand the attraction for the noisy smelly things. Horses required little maintenance and performed the same functions better. Motoring enthusiasts formed clubs in order to be with others who understood their peculiar hobby.
Fast forward to today. A knowledgeable mechanic is virtually guaranteed an audience when discussing his profession. Everyone has a car and everyone has a story or a problem for which a mechanic's expertise provides a welcome addition to the conversation. Nobody thinks of auto mechanics as isolated geeks.
It makes all the difference in the world when the others in a party are interested in hearing what you have to say, whether it's the details of automatic transmissions, the pros and cons of DSL versus broadband or the differences between the movie and the comic.
===== Murphy's Law is recursive. =====
Sure, Tolkien may have become mainstream. But how many people know how often the word lembas is mentioned in each book? How many people would be able to quote gollem, right down to how many s'es are in each preciousss. How many people would be able to sustain an argument about how elves look like for hours? Only the geek can do all those things. They can take away our culture, but they can never steal our lameness!
iChick told me she's tall, blonde with blue eyes, works as a top model and wouldn't mind dating ugly guys.
So mine is not escapism, I'm investing my time on a possible (hot and sexy) future.
Diego
diegoT
- Geeks are science fiction fans
- Geeks are fantasy fans
- Geeks are socially inapt
- Geeks are a consistent subculture
- Intarwebby will make you less social
None of these are true -whatsoever-.
c'mon guys, dont let some markedroids push you over in a stubborn prejudice label.
"/Dread"
That is really only true in the US... comics/graphic novels are considered to be art just like literature and the cinema in most of the rest of the world; they are particularly popular and respected in Japan and France. The attitude of many Americans towards comics is rather similar to what people first thought of movies, that they are not "Serious Art." Of course most of the people who think that know rather little about art at all! and tend to overemphasize high/low art and genre distinctions... as exemplified by the author of this article.
Essentially the ease with which the author moves from interest in science fiction/fantasy to antisocial behavior marks him a trafficker in stereotypes and a painfully unironic one at that.
While I agree with much of what the author says, I find his deliberately careless use of the term "geek" annoying. I agree that escapism is a growing problem today, with the internet, and to a lesser extent science-fiction and fantasy, contributing to it.
However, extending this conclusion to mean that "geeks" inheriting the earth (a doubtful proposition to start with) shall be to its detriment is simply irresponsible use of rethoric. The whole reason for why the term "geek" has become much more legitimate and non-insulting is because "geeks" exert a growing amount of influence in this world, and engage with its modern problems rather better than many "non-geeky" types. And while it can be argued that the influence they exert isn't in this world, but in a virtual one, the distinction between the two is rapidly evaporating.
So while the author presents a well-argued view of escapism being a growing concern today, his conclusion is an unnecessarily emotional departure from the more level-headed presentation of the rest of the piece.
From Dictionary.com
A carnival performer whose show consists of bizarre acts, such as biting the head off a live chicken.
Damn, havn't done that in a while.
It is rather sad to hear that being an individual is now considered evil.
Obsession with anything is bad if it interferes with your life. Sci-Fi/Fantasy is no different.
But the criticism of science fiction and fantasy fans - that we are infantile and escapist people, and socially inept to boot - sadly has a little more truth to it.
Yeah, and people who are obsessed with Survivor, American Idol or any of a dozen soap operas are less escapist then fantasy fans.
As long as science fiction and fantasy fandom remained a fairly marginal subculture, then while certain fans may have pursued their passion to an unhealthy degree, the existence of the subculture was harmless. But when society as a whole starts to become obsessed with the otherworldly, then society as a whole threatens to go hikikomori - to become more interested in whiling away its time dreaming, than in addressing the real problems that confront it.
When society as a whole becomes obessed with anything, it becomes a problem. The existence of a few people obsessed with the genre does not imply that society as a whole will become obesessed with it if if becomes popular. Yes, there are some very obsessive fantasy fans, but the majority are quite capable of functioning in a normal society. And to suppose that all society will become obsessive fantasy fans because a few are is ridiculous.
Nothing quite like taking an exaggerated stereotype and applying it to everyone.
People's desire to believe they are right is much stronger than their desire to be right.
If you want to read a book about the Geek Ascension, I suggest Geeks by Jon Katz, it's an excellent book, and it was written nearly five years ago!
I don't know about you, but my heart swells up and I brim with pride when someone calls me a nerd (okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration...). But seriously, I enjoy being recognized for my mental abilities in a world where you can get paid hundreds of millions of dollars for hitting a ball with a stick or throwing a dead pig 70 yards. Who would you rather be, the all brawn no brains guy jacked up on designer steroids hitting 75 homeruns a season, or the mastermind that designed the drug and made it all possible?
Personally, I feel to doing quality research and being published in a scientific journal or writing code for a new program is much more of an accomplishment than throwing a 95 mile an hour strike. Call me a nerd all you want.
And the British have proven themselves (once again) insufferable snot-noses. It's too bad their beloved King Arthur -- and half their language -- was invented by the French. Talk about no sense of history...
I thought it had become mainstream when bands decided it was cool to have greasy hair and wear thick rimmed glasses? or was that supposed to be piss taking?
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
Maybe I'm all wet, but I remember the times where "geek" was more synonymous with "freak" (as in a deformity) and the term bookworm was used to describe me by sneering kids in my elementary school.
/. dissing each other about topics few others care about, including dissing one of the richest men on the world. Did we forget that Bill Gates is the archetypical geek?
It's easy to throw out the term "geek" to describe anyone who plays video games or understands what a computer is. However, for any definition to have meaning, there has to be a limitation. We can't all be geeks, per se...some of us may just be geek-compatible, or geek-like.
I think geekness changes with the times, of course. In my youth, I experimented with making my own batteries, assembling logic circuits, signal amps, lightwave communicators, and oscillators on breadboards. I launched model rockets, and gazed at the stars, and could tell you anything about the space program and its history.
So, a geek, in my mind, is a person with a deep fascination in the technological aspects of life and his world, and whose social nature and recreation frequently revolves around such aspects of science and technology.
Frequently, geeks are so involved with their interests that it supplants their social life--but this is common to anyone who gets too wrapped up in something, foregoing sex just to enjoy more of the diversion. Drug addicts do this all the time--doesn't make them a geek just because they are antisocial due to their addictions.
Gamers, for instance, can be geeks, but not all gamers are geeks. They're just kids who obsess over game playing. Now, you find me a guy who not only can play games AND assemble his own computer (an ability that was geek-elite, but now commonplace), but is also so knowledgeable in a scientific or technical topic or two to the point where you just know this guy could get a job in it someday (despite the fact that he learned all the stuff just for fun), then you have, in my mind a True Geek.
Does being able to recite lines from "Star Trek" or know the nuances between the Lord of the Rings book and movie characters count? Not really, in my mind. That's just a variation of appreciating fantasy. We used to call that "being a nerd." Girls and their imaginations of fairy tales and castles have been doing that for quite a while. But if you can attach a real-world component to that fantasy (such as research into the ability to, say, build a lightsaber replica that simulates the "real thing", then you approach the criteria of the Geek.
Being a Geek is not a passive activity, like gaming. Geeks explore, conquer, criticize, and hang out on
A Geek is a nerd with applied application of his knowledge in the real world.
Vos teneo officium eram periculosus ut vos recipero is.
It's too bad their beloved King Arthur..
Who is fictional..
and half their language -- was invented by the French.
Yeah, half French, half Celtic, half Germanic, half Norse, half Roman and half Indian (Various languages from the sub-continent).
Wait, how many halves is that again?
would like to welcome our new geek overlords...
Which is more painful? Going to work or gouging your eye out with a spoon? Find out!
http://www.workorspoon.com
I fraternise with people who share my specific interests in my social life in generally. It tends to be the case that the only people who come along to my dance lessons are people who are interested in dancing, the only people I see at games evening are people who enjoy gaming, and the only people who come to my church are Christians and people interested in finding out about Christianity. I didn't find out about the dance club, the games evening, or the church from the Internet.
There is one field of endeavour which I think is still devoid of geeks:
pr0n.
If there is one thing I havent seen yet, it's geek-looking geeks starring in pr0n movies. There's plenty of home made ones with mullets though.
I've had an idea for awhile now, about taking open source and sharing concept to the world of tangible products. WHATIF a collaborative of geeks/thinkers/doers (yes, hitch hikers guide reference) decided to take the next step from sharing input that makes freely shared software, to sharing tangible input so that tangible products might be distributed and enjoyed in some form?
Here's a simplistic example. Take computers, we all like computers, we all like to have new nice ones, etc. Perhaps a cooperative could be formed where we might be able to take advantage of wholesale pricing and design sharing? Suppose one geek gets a wholesale license on cases, then anotherperson does on hard drives, then another on mobos, another on the ram that fits same, etc. The people in the cooperative agree to equally share the wholesale cost to other people for their respective part, at exact wholesale cost +shipping? Everyone gets the great price at wholesale then, by distributing the upfront costs around. At first of course it would be a standard box, not a lot of uber-customization or variance, but I don't see that as any different from the normal arguing-say-about which code goes into which app in any open source project. Perhaps even to develop the "designed from the ground up true linux modular upgradeable laptop" as a first project?
The concept could be scaled up later on, and branch into other projects. How about an actual car? A shared concept design from scratch car, perhaps a hybrid design, arrived at via the usual open source methods, then using normal aftermarket parts just put together in a kit fashion, but the parts being available wholesale to the sharers by individual geeks assuming responsibility for one of the components? Instead of ONE geek trying to get together all the pieces cheaply, the effort gets shared.
Basically, this idea is a spin off from community food coops, I've been in several and they are nice.
cool idea, or whack? At least starting from the cheap computer idea?
I don't know what usual vendor wholesale prices are of course, not in the business, just wondering if this might be worth thinking on is all. I think "open source" and "shared" can be taken to the next logical step into tangible products.
To me, geeks are now people who are obsessed with a particular field or endeavor because they like being obsessed with it. Like people who drool over 2% increases in benchmarks, or make crazy case mods, or overclock their PCs, or fantically advocate open source.
Other people aren't geeks. People who own and use a digital camera or PC or scanner or keychain drive...those are every day people! They have tools, then use them. It's when you get obsessed with your tools that you're a geek.
Two issues that I see. First, the author's confusing an increased cultural prominance for geekish things with an increase in the number of geeks. One does not necessarily imply the other and geekish things have gone through a constant ebb and flow in popularity for years. Comics and SciFi were big business back in the 1950s and I'm sure The Beav would have rocked him some Counter Strike if he'd had the opportunity. The question of *why* geek culture is becoming more popular or more accepted is probably less inflamatory, but probabaly tells us more about who we are and where we're going.
Second, the author's operating under the assumption that "mainstream" or "non-geek" culture is any less disfunctional than geek culture. At that point we're operating in the Land of Value Judgements and Idle Speculation. I've never seen a single study showing that gamers, comic readers, or CS people are any more socially retarded than anyone else even if the conventional wisdom dictates that it's the case. What's the difference between playing in a D&D campaign every Wednesday night and keeping your eyes glued to the TV whenever The Game is on? The distinction has everything to do with culture, specifically the social affect attached to different kinds of knowledge or interests.
Asshat, I've personally served in Iraq and saved yer sorry ass from Saddam Hussein.
Cool, did you get a go with the rifle they shared per squad?
That's 'cos people from Hartlepool are not very good at anatomy.
This coming from a Yank?
People still look at me funny when I tell them I've read LOTR thrice.
Even though its becoming more accepted, I still wouldn't call it mainstream.
All-time worldwide box-office rankings:
2. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
4. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
8. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
Tell me again how the trilogy that dominates the top-10 all-time worldwide box office rankings isn't "mainstream?"
Source.
Like woodworking? Build your own picture frames.
Excellent point.
The author seems mainly concerned that the spreading of geek values will result in a mass retreat from the "real world." Well, the "real world" is whatever we choose to make it. I live a pretty geeky life -- I work as a DBA, study computational biology in school, read (and occasionally write) science fiction, listen to obscure music, and hang out primarily with other people who have similar interests. But guess what? There are a lot of those people -- and yes, half of them are women, and some pretty good-looking women at that. My academic studies may be incomprehensible to the monkeys who think an MBA constitutes higher education, but my research has the potential to change lives while they're shuffling papers. And my job is interesting, challenging, and pays me enough for a comfortable life. You don't get much more real than that.
The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
on who/whom to spend their time with.
The Rich and Aristocratic classes have *always* done it, except with money and influence and social circles.
Oh, you mean us poor (geek) folk; can't have us planning anything without your consent or control... especially since we could have "all your bases..."
All I can say is:
Beware of geeks bearing GIFs.
Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
"We're the lowest of the low. The scum of the fucking Earth! The most wretched miserable servile pathetic trash that was ever shat on civilization. Some people hate the English. I don't. They're just wankers. We, on the other hand, are colonized by wankers. Can't even find a decent culture to get colonized by. We're ruled by effete assholes. It's a shite state of affairs to be in, Tommy, and all the fresh air in the world won't make any fucking difference!"
When people talk about traditional "geeks", a lot of people think a lot of different things. People think of computer programming, for one thing. But are all programmers geeks? Cobol programmers, or SAP programmers, or other "corporate" programmers, including to a large extent many of the modern-day "business app" programmers (Java, Delphi, VB, Clarion, etc), for example have been around for a long time, and typically they don't have all of the same qualities traditional geeks are supposed to have: they don't mind wearing suits and ties, they don't usually like comic books or chatting on the internet, in fact, besides the fact these programmers code for a living, they have nothing in common with traditional geeks.
What else are geeks sometimes known for? Guns. A lot of geeks are gun freaks, but is this a geek-only thing? Certainly not, a lot of non-geeks are gun enthusiasts.
Lord of the Rings fans? Yes, most self-respecting geeks love Tolkien's work, but there are a lot of non-geeks who feel the same, especially in literary or academic circles. These people might love the Tolkien mythology and the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit stories, but that doesn't neccessarily mean they are gun geeks or computer programmers as well...
Martial arts is another thing that lot of geeks are into. But the majority of martial artists are not traditional geeks, either.
And of course, computer knowledge. At one stage, computer operation was a hobby of geeks - they loved tweaking the systems, setting up systems, trying out new software, and so forth. But as computers have grown in popularity, even watered-down geeks or borderline non-geeks can handle all of these things and even have come to enjoy learning more about software and computers.
So what's really happening here? These individual things are becoming popular, and suddenly it seems that the sky is falling and Geekdom is becoming "too mainstream". This reminds me of the Linux crisis - "Everyone is running Red Hat, it's not Elite Enough anymore! Time to switch to Debian..." Next year: "Too many people are running Debian, time to switch to SuSE/Gentoo/etc." And now that non-geeks are starting to use Linux, a lot of people are looking into FreeBSD. It's quite the same sort of thing. Geek boundaries will just keep expanding.
This is a state of affairs that not only speaks ill of society, but actually demeans science fiction and fantasy as well, by putting them in the impossible position of having to provide us with the answers to life, the universe and everything.
Sci-fi has already provided us with the answer to life, the universe and everything. It's 42. So much for this guy.
"But I trust in the people's capacity for reflection, rage and rebellion." -Oscar Olivera
Being a geek working in Huntington, WV, it kinda sucks. The geek population is very thin here, and I don't think there is a female IT professional in the entire city. At least, I've never met one here...
Not to mentiion that around here, you are expected to know EVERYTHING about EVERYTHING and get paid nothing for it. But working that way is good for expanding your capabilities.
I need to get back to Raleigh... Sigh, the good old days, before the dot-bomb, when lived somewhere where my Linux fish on the car didn't get me strange looks.
As far as this geek is concerned, I want a wife who is one extreme or the other: Either just as much a geek as I am, or else, HATES computers and doesn't like to use them.
Either way, I don't have to be tech support. I do enough of that at work and whenever a member of my family remembers my phone number.
Corporatism != Free Market
The definition of geek that I employ is more "technological elite" than "nose stuck in a fantasy book". In fact, with very few exceptions, I can't stand science-fiction/fantasy. I even go so far as to define the sci-fi/fantasy kids as "nerds" (shock and awe!).
Actually, my definition of geek is essentially "someone who knows a lot about a subject." For example, I fall into the following categories:
We're pretty sure we all know what a computer geek is, but what is, say, a beer geek? Well, if you know someone who hides his heads in his hands when someone asks "what beer do you drink?", there's a good chance he's a beer geek. If you know someone who says, "it's not a bad beer, but Burton Ales are a little too salty for me": BEER GEEK!
Your average beer drinker will say things like "Sam Adams is the best beeah evah" or possibly define the multitude of beer styles as "regular, lite, dark, and Guinness". On the other hand, a beer geek needs to determine what he's having for dinner before he makes his beer selection (and will actually send a waiter away until such a determination is made).
That is a geek.
He should inherit the earth.
Not someone who thinks "Lite" is a style of beer,
:wq
Who is fictional..
Woah, no fucking shit. That's why I said "invented." By the French. Get it ??
Yeah, half French, half Celtic, half Germanic, half Norse, half Roman and half Indian (Various languages from the sub-continent).
Wait, how many halves is that again? ?? six? well, Roman isn't a language, and neither is Celtic so, I guess 4.
The Greek shall inherit the Earth!
Geeks and Nerds who have an image founded on sexual inadequacy cannot inherit the earth - who would have and then bring up the children, fight wars?
Celtic languages don't exist? The Scots, Welsh and Irish might be interesting in knowing that.
Woah, no fucking shit. That's why I said "invented." By the French. Get it ??
No, it must be a French thing. I can never understand your "humour". What fucking difference does it make if the legend was "invented" in France or not? Oh thats right; no fucking difference at all. Assclown.
The thing is geekhood is not a hardcoded label but rather a wide spectrum of different levels of geekiness. There is also a difference betweel "real" geekiness and "perceived" geekiness, and the latter having a more significant impact in our today's society. The general population collectively moves towards geekiness as more technology oriented material is being mainstreamed by media and the market. But obviously, the high-level geeks advance quicker than the normal individual. I foresee in the far future that the geekiness bell curve will flatten down significantly.
The Geek Shall Inherit the Earth... wheres that from? some guy on MTV2 had a t-shirt saying that on a VideoGame music video special...
That will be the Earth after its been strip mined and destroyed by everyone else. Personally I want first cuts on the new planet!
James
"You hand in your ticket,
And go watch the geek,
Who immediately comes up to you,
When he hears you speak,
And says, 'How does it feel to be such a freak?'
"Obviously, I'm not an IBM computer any more than I'm an ashtray" (Bob Dylan)
Actually, my last name is "Meek" (no really!). Since I'm a geek as well, does that mean I'll inherit two earths? Think it would look nice if I set them up in a "double star" kind of way?
Those languages are called Gaelic.
No, it must be a French thing. I can never understand your "humour". What fucking difference does it make if the legend was "invented" in France or not? Oh thats right; no fucking difference at all. Assclown.
The difference it makes is that (at least until the 50's -60's) King Arthur had kind of a mythical status as the founder of the English race, the Romulus and Remus of England, so to speak. That the legend is originally French makes such myths (and ENDLESS claims of English superiority) look rather silly.
So you are a nomad as opposed to them being tribalists and this makes you better somehow?
You are no better than them, nor they you. There's just a lot of diversity in the way humans live their lives. If everyone did what you do then there would be no communities and that would really suck.
Mac OS X and Windows XP working side by side to fight back the night.
yuo writed "Assclown"
yu re teh funny gay !
America is teh lnad of teh idoit !
you are fat, now, get back and cover with your poor semen the uncle sam's poster you have in your parent's basement.
But the criticism of science fiction and fantasy fans - that we are infantile and escapist people, and socially inept to boot - sadly has a little more truth to it.
I don't see the problem. What is socially inept is defined by the prevailing culture. By 1950's standards, almost all of today's socially respectable, well-adapted individuals are "socially inept" as well--they know none of the behavioral norms, dress norms, or skills that any respectable member of society was expected to know back then; culture and social standards have already shifted radically.
Will social norms shift even further? Who knows. But which set of social norms we get depends on the norms we prefer, and to the degree that those preferences are subject to change, the norms can change. If enough people find a geek lifestyle acceptable for others and maybe for themselves, then that lifestyle will become more mainstream.
Remember Douglas Adams' B Ark with the people from Golgafrincham? We should do it the other way round and leave the earth. Civilisation as we know will end on earth and perhaps we will return some day to start a new thing. Geek nation. Geek planet. Geek World. Read the beginning of an intersting journey (German only): http://www.kleinz.net/nerds/archives/cat_fiction.h tml#000024
http://www.kleinz.net/nerds/archives/cat_fiction.h tml#000026
No, the broader reason why mainstream society has become more disposed to immerse itself in fantasy is because of a general cultural stagnation that exists today. At a time when we feel less certain of our ability to impact on the world around us, we tend to retreat into fantasy worlds instead.
Religion, superstitions, story telling, and social stratification represent every bit as much a "retreat from reality" as today's obsessions and entertainments, and they have been with us for millennia.
Reality is what you want it to be. If you like going out with your buddies to baseball games, good for you. If it means staying at home, curling up with a book or playing a video game, however, that's just as "real".
The difference it makes is that (at least until the 50's -60's) King Arthur had kind of a mythical status as the founder of the English race, the Romulus and Remus of England, so to speak.
Ah, so because 50 years ago people believed something which wasn't true, FRANCE IS TEH GRETAST!? Nice logic you got there.
Those languages are called Gaelic.
Thanks for the correction. Doesn't change my point that the English language isn't "half French" by any stretch of the imagination (Other than that of a Frenchman, and they have such limited imaginations anything is a stretch for them).
Scott Adams already predicted something (almost) close to this in an old Dilbert stripe:
Someday, the people who know how to use computers will rule over those who don't. And there will be a special name for them: secretaries.
The belief in a biblical god is an ignorant one
Um. Who said I thought I was better. I just don't like hanging out with the same pricks who used to give me wedgies in basketball class. If thats their thing then good on 'em.
Yep, but at least Frenchies can cook, have deliciously fuckable wives and their breathes do not stink, unlike brits whose gueen only bred and half-cooked and short dicked imbeciles.
Yes, London. You know: fish, chips, cup 'o tea, bad food, worse weather, Mary fucking Poppins... LONDON.
LISTEN UP!:
You are NOT a geek just because you own a computer.
You're less of a geek for owning a Mac. (shut up)
You are NOT a geek because you watch the Discovery channel, listen to NPR, or actually read books.
If you have to call yourself one, you probably aren't.
Nobody wants/should want to be a stereotype. Even if it connotes something "cool".
I remember watching the last Academy Awards pre-show runway fashion extrava-gahn-zah,(with my wife) and some stupid "interviewer" kept calling herself a "(insert lame t.v. show name here) - GEEK".
My wife (a mathemetician) and I turned to each other saying "WHAT THE FUCK?!"
We're all posers in my book.
Except for Stephen Hawking, he's hardcore, yo.
See all those history professors and historians got it wrong after all. Man these guys with access to original documents (many in Gaelic) that have concluded he was a leader of the Armies who fought against the invading Anglo-Saxons after the Roman retreat from the British isles were misguided. The fact that the Anglo-Saxons were the ancestors of the English and that the Britons were ultimately beaten and forced back into Wales and eventually conquered by the English is also fiction.
/.
/. poster with no understanding of the difference between legend and history says it is so.
We don't need experts we have
I shall email this new info to all University of history departments across the world. King Arthur is both fictional and French because some
"And if you dislike or disagree with someone you
encounter in this faceless environment, then
rather than go through the process of being
forced to account for your worldview, you can
simply retreat from confrontation. Such an
environment breeds individuation and solipsism." But on the other hand with internet at least you
have the CHOICE to interract with people and
read about their different views. People with
the same mind set tent to cluster together
(see Texas vs California).
When you get along so famously with People Like Us, then People Like Them seem even more mysterious, or strange, or downright evil. After all, if one does so well in one's own little circle, then there's no dang reason to suffer the foibles and annoyances of those who aren't part of your group.
And that's how wars start-- "I don't have to take this crap. Come on, guys, let's get him!"
-Flakbait
Temporary Minister of Propoganda for the Assyrian Empire
This post is offending : there could be kids and children (God bless the blond and fat ones) reading these profanities !
As a proud American troll parent, I want this to end, the usage of the "F" word should be punishable under the PARENT (Poor American Really Expect No Titties) ACT.
Frenchies can cook
Apparently not. Sales in French resturants have slumped since the mid-90's. Some French chefs are now comming to England to learn to cook.
have deliciously fuckable wives
If you have a thing for body hair and an aversion to soap, I guess.
their breathes do not stink
Ah, I see you're French with such a stupid gramatical mistake. Fucking cheese eating, garlic munching, Maginot-line building surrender monkey.
This particular article has been making the rounds on the Nerd Circuit for a while now, actually.
I took time to read it through; at first blush it would seem that Miss Starr is praising the latest adopted opus of Geekdom, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and the ability of the fine people at the Oscars who managed to "see past the trolls and wizards and hobbits," as Peter Jackson put it, and award the movie on its innate merits.
However, she quickly takes off on a rather more negative tack -- bemoaning the fact that the feebs, dweebs, and nerds of lore are finally making their presence known in the popular culture, and predicting dire consequences for society and civilization at large if they maintain a presence in the mainstream.
Oh really?
It seems Miss Sandy Starr basically believes that although the stuff of Geekdom -- sci-fi, fantasy, comic books, et al, is not necessarily "escapist and infantile," the people obsessed with such things most certainly are. More to the point, she's afraid that society at large might somehow "catch" our basement-dweller-itis, resulting in a nation filled with people who will be so absorbed in fantasyland and afflicted with "individuation and solipsism" that our civilization will stagnate. Why? First, because we'll all be locked away in our dark little rooms, never interacting with the Real World(tm) except to pay the pizza boy; second, and more importantly, because our naughty internet habit will let us exclude any alien or contrary opinions from impinging on our worldview. We'll simply ignore the people we don't like, and associate only with people of our own caste, ideology, or clique.
Gee, Miss Starr... you mean, like... High School?
Or perhaps like the insulated little world that the Hollywood Elite float in... or perhaps the tiny, isolated little island inhabited by (ahem) news and editorial columnists? Yes, Miss Starr, I'm talking about YOU -- see, what you're doing, it's called projection. Ask one of your geek friends to look it up for you on a psychology website.
Perhaps I'm being a bit hard on the illustrious Miss Starr, here. It's only human nature for people to be instinctively perturbed by any form of human social interaction which they have not previously witnessed, or by anything that suddenly and inexplicably experiences an upswing in popularity, especially among the young. Hence, things like the "Dungeons and Dragons" hysteria, or the marching armies of Concerned Parents(tm) who were convinced that Video Arcades were Corrupting Our Youth and Undermining Civilization As We Know It. (Yes, folks, there really were people out there who swore up and down that PAC MAN and ASTEROIDS were causing juvenile delinquency, and yes, I'm old enough to remember it. There were even a couple of movies that featured teenage "arcade addicts" who acted like heroin junkies without a fix... "Reefer Madness" stuff. I kid you not.)
But in any case, I gotta take time to say that, on both points -- the "social isolation" and the "solipsism" arguments -- Miss Starr has gotten it demonstrably dead backwards.
First, social isolation. Do I really have to point out the obvious fact that insular little nerds existed BEFORE the advent of the Internet, the Lord of the Rings, comic book movies, or any of the other products of the Great Geek Awakening? The more "socially well-adjusted" and non-isolated thugs of the schoolyard have been bludgeoning the will to live out of bookworm nebbishes since before the dawn of the term "four eyes." Said bookish chaps have always responded predictably: by retreating from a social world which they have rather accurately determined holds nothing in store for them but a fat lip. Only a stupid person, after all, sticks his nose into a room where it's going to get punched. The Geek underground wasn't a coward's retreat, but merely an entirely rational alternative to a Lord of the Flies social strata that considers intelligence, creativity and iconoclasm to
Did anybody catch his name?
Lucky bastard...
I give men fish.
No, the conclusion I was attempting to draw was that the English are insufferable snot-noses (see original post)... their mockery of the French looks rather silly in light of all the borrowing from France that England has done in establishing its culture.
Didn't Diana went with an Arab guy to get what the dickless beaten goat-lover could not erect at all ?
Face it, nobody in the world wants to be English.
In doubt, ask any Irish or Scottish dude.
(and if you once get to Berkeley, just check "Chez Panisse", probably the best US restaurant... French cooking, of course).
www.geekofthemonth.com/what_is_a_geek.htm
This document has been created for those who do not have a clear definition of "today's geek". So if you are a geek, or think you may be a geek, sit back, relax, grab your bottle of Bawls and your Tux pillow and join us on this ride. For everyone else, please pay attention so we can embrace the geek in you.
Please set aside any and all existing notions and prejudices you may have about geeks. Put down your 1975 edition of Webster's Dictionary. We are not "carnival performers whose shows consist of bizarre acts..." Although the term "geek" originated from 19th century circus acts, "today's geek" is very different.
Webster's also defines geeks as people who are single-minded or accomplished in scientific or technical pursuits but are felt to be socially inept." Well, we've got news for Webster. We are not single-minded nor are we socially inept. We may be intensely focused and outrageously passionate about a single thing, like overclocking our pc's, or getting the most frags, but certainly not single-minded! It may seem at times that we are "socially inept", but in fact we are quite the opposite. We relate better through devices such as keyboards and gamepads, but this doesn't make us socially inept. We have our own culture. We relate to each other at gaming clubs, raves, and trek extravaganzas. But just because we take pleasure in these activities it does not mean we exile ourselves from the rest of society. All social beings have an intensity and passion about something.
Some may say "geeky" activities are strange. Well according to the unofficial geek credo, "Originality and strangeness are good, blind conformity and stupidity are unforgivable." While comfort can be tempting, be unique and gain comfort in your "strangeness."
So, what is a geek? Perhaps a little strange, perhaps unique, and yes, very intense. Today's geek is a person who is passionate and/or accomplished in his or her pursuits.
"We proliferate the world, connected by strands of telephone and network cable. We communicate wirelessly through cellular and satellite networks. We collect comics, sports cards, and figurines. We modify cars, build models and mix music. We are ravers, gamers, trekkies, programmers and techies. Do not fear us, but instead, embrace us. Listen to those who are passionate and accomplished in their pursuits no matter what they may be. Share your passions with them. There is a little geek in all of us. What are you geek for?" (Back to "FAQ")
Copyright © 2004, Tec N Tec Computer Solutions, L.L.C. All rights reserved
I've personally served in Iraq and saved yer sorry ass from Saddam Hussein.
Better beware of Americans, then, they almost killed the entire british corps both by friendly fire or falling helicopters (like the ones you cannot use unless the weather is sunny, which does not happen that often in England).
... because they just knee-jerk post jokes to stories like this one instead of reading the article and adding to the discussion as if they were funny.
Wow.
Sounds just like going to church.
my sig's at the bottom of the page.
Wow it sounds like you're never ever going to be able to live it down. :)
Before now, I had never heard the word "anorak", and I am a provincial American. Reading some of the other posts, it looks like Brits use that word, not Americans.
Well you kinda proved my point there, didn't you? He was British -- but as in Brittany, not "Great" Britain. Indeed, that the "real" Arthur actually fought against the Anglo-Saxons only compounds the irony, does it not?
If you wish to involve university history departments, then by all means:
"It could be argued, of course, that English literature stole the most valuable treasure of the Celtic tradition by appropriating the Arthurian romances, and that the impenetrable wall between Germanic and Celtic was thereby breached. That in a sense is true. 'King Arthur' and Sir Galahad and the Knights of the Round Table have indeed been incorporated into the English sphere, and have made their contribution to a shared sense of common modern 'Britishness.' On the other hand, it is important to realize that the Arthurian romances followed a tortuous route through medieval Brittany and France before finding their way with great delay to England. They were not borrowed from the British Celts directly. By the time that Sir Thomas Malory composed Le Morte D'Arthur in the fifteenth century, he and Chrétien de Troyes were paying homage not to the post-Roman Celts of Britain but to the heros of medieval French chivalry [...]."
(Norman Davies, The Isles, p. 218, Oxford, 1999)
Nope, sorry, language has moved on. AFAICT, "geek" now refers to those of us who are systems thinkers about, increasingly, any subject. You can now find people, as the article mentions, saying that they are "geeking out" about anything from auto repair to barbeque.
/. and while most of us may have looked like, and been, pasty-faced social isolates at the age of ten, we now do martial arts, ride and rebuild motorcycles, can at the least effectively simulate the patter and behavior required to do well at parties, and, well, we get laid.
.
.
"nerd" now denotes the tape-on-the-glasses weakling.
Personally, I think that this separation was inevitable since:
A.) Society will never maintain contempt for any class of people who make lots of money and get lots of power.
A'.) Any class with lots of money and power will achieve at least a passable baseline of nookie.
and more interestingly
B.) Real geeks are, by nature, hackers of our environment and, increasingly of ourselves. Sure, some techies seem to sincerely think that they can transcend their social cluelessness and isolation by becoming experts in yet another obscure subject (beer-making, cpu customization, wargaming) but most of us long since figured out that we can apply our skills at analysis and redesign to ourselves.
I look at my friends on
I am a geek. I am seriously fucking proud of that. I know that I am not only smarter and more capable in several dozen ways then just about anybody I have ever met, I am also more honest, ethical, and self-aware. All are geek traits.
I have also done more bed-hopping then many a guy.
Sure, we start out as "losers" but at what iteration?
I'm thirty-seven. Old enough to now see what is happening to my age cohort well beyond the baselines provided by genetics, family, and cultural mores. Most guys my age are getting sloppy, flabby, passive, and sloppy about their appearance and even their careers. I look at the geeks my age and we are all more self-assured, all working on our health, mostly getting stronger and more physically capable, and generally on the way up while those around us go down. We are stronger, fiercer, and more formidible then our non-geek equivalents and the gap is widening.
As far as I'm concerned, being a geek is defined by what I call "two and a half" variables. Firstly, being a systems-oriented thinker, seeing the world not as a random set of causeless phenomena but as overlapping groups of editable, comprehensible events. Secondly, having a brain that doesn't turn off. In other words, living with a default setting of starting to figure out "why" as soon as one is provided with the data on "what".
The "half" is that nobody becomes that passionate about understanding the world just because they felt like it. That level of involvement *always* is a consequence of something serious having been wrong when one was a child. After all, if the world gives you everything you want, then you don't question it too deeply. So all of us, each of us, were striving for something and were smart enough that we found that thinking and understanding got us closer to get what we strove for. Kids develop the tool that gets them what they want. We developed the habit of thinking. Of making sense of things.
But that "malformation" is only the starting point, not necessarily a permanent state.
Where do computers fit into all of this? Only as easy ways to make a living that are best handled by us. Built by geeks, specc'ed in part by geeks (Vannevar, we call to you!), they are logic machines, however faulty. So a lot of us have drifted there. Whatever. It's only a local and temporary anomaly. In the eighteen-fifties we would have been in the railroad business.
As for the "make-believe" thing, I call bullshit on that. I have repeatedly had to endure crowds of dim bulbs on their way to Yankees games recently and these halfwits were far more involv
Data is the lever, rigor the fulcrum, brains the force that drives it all.
... the guy who's getting paid hundreds of millions of dollars.
Considering that most geeks are virgins, how can we propagate as a species if the geeks rule the world? OTOH, given the necessity, probably the geeks will find a way!
People change. You dont think any one of those pricks is capable of thinking on the level that you are? Or any of the geeks you currently work with isn't capable of hitting the gym and becoming a jock?
Mac OS X and Windows XP working side by side to fight back the night.
My impression of the definition goes something like this:
Both geeks and nerds are characterized by their passion and obsessiveness over their interests. Nerds are more equated with intelligence; geeks are more associated with anti-social behavior. I.e., a nerd will rewire a toaster into a Jacob's Ladder; a geek will have a large collection of pewter fantasy figures.
The image of the anti-social guys in high school who end up being very successful are the nerds, the guys who couldn't get dates, but were in the chess and math clubs and got good grades. Geeks were [some of] the guys in the band. The nerds from my high school did very well later in life; the geeks on the other hand ended up in jail, the army or on drugs.
The geeks wouldn't inhereit the earth. That would be the nerds. The geeks would have lost the earth about a week after it was given to them.
If something I said can be interpreted two ways, and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, I meant the other one.
England, the country that used to think they owned the earth.
I'm not an EverCrack player. I'm not a big user of IRC, AIM or other chat media. I'm a frequent reader of Slashdot, but I tend to do that from work as well as from home.
So I have no bias or personal interest in the outcome, buy why is it perceieved as a 'bad thing' when someone devotes a great deal of their life to soemthing like online gaming, or chat rooms, or interest-specfic web communities, or blogging? Each of us is controlled by his or her perceptions, so why the stigma attached to things that are new, just because they're new, or different?
Jas
Software is like a goldfish - it'll grow to fit the size of it's bowl...
When I was younger, my mum would always say.."don't sweat it if someone beats you at something...chances are there is *always* going to be someone better than you at *everything*" and this has held true, especially when it comes to being a geek.
I sometimes think *I'm* a geek..then I'll overhear someone discussing the relative pros and cons of a particular train, or quoting entire Star Trek episodes and I think to myself "frickin' geek"..and I know all is right in the world...
You can inherit Chia-Earth.
Look on the bright side, at least you'll get free T-Shirts.
Actually, there are those rareities among us.. technically proficent, military-trained geeks who manage networks and write software that licenses for $90,000US per year, who are also very, very good at getting laid and finding themselves in all manners of "interesting" situations.
;) )
(Speaking from experience
for example... Two warriors that had different religions, were sworn enemies, but they did sit down and have a nice meal with eachother. The story goes that they were comparing weapons and Saladin threw a silk scarf up into the air, held out his scimitar and the silk scarf cut itself in two, by it's own weight. Richard put an iron bar on a block and chopped it in half with one swing of his sword. That sword bit may be grossly distorted,or a total fabrication, but people believed it for a long time.
In Euope, on the rare occasions that monarchs were captured, they were often allowed to take whole wagon trains of stuff with them and whole bunches of servants. They most certainly did not rot in a hole, and they often ate with their captors. Leaving aside the fact that the royal families of europe were a bunch of inbred freaks and that the vanquished was probably your cousin, it makes a point. But woe to the commoner that got uppity. They would be put down hard with no courtesy.
Yeah, warrior-kings tend to take care of their own, when they aren't busy chopping eachother up. Yesterday it was a joust and a feast, today 18 holes & lunch at the Yacht club. No difference.
Why do I have this? I don't smoke.
We'll know that geek culture is being "mainstreamed" when Bravo (vel sim.) creates a new make-over series: "Geek Eye for the Cool Guy."
Shop as usual. And avoid panic buying.
when you need her? Other than getting rich with her business...
Why do I have this? I don't smoke.
A very interesting concept, but I just can help but think that it wouldn't work at all.
Food co-ops may have an advantage because people buy food often, are flexible, and failure isn't a big problem. Food getting is a repetitive batch process, car getting is not.
I can't afford to have my next car not be exactly right, but it's not a problem if my next sack of potatoes is one potatoe shy and has an onionthrown in. I won't be happy if my next car has only three wheels and it has just one tail fin.
Just a few thoughts from a pessimist.
Why do I have this? I don't smoke.
The first time I ever heard the word 'nerd' (or 'gnurd') was at MIT in the early 70's. Then it got used on the TV show 'Happy Days' as if it were 1950's slang, and it seemed to go mainstream from there.
But prior to the show, I'd never encountered it growing up in S. California.
Below is a repeat of one of my old posts on this topic. Like I say - every few months one of these comes along. I think this is the exact same one actually...
--
I hate to be the one to say this, but this is such a load. I see a story like this every few months. It's the product of nerds trying to validate their existence.
I am a nerd myself. I'm a programmer, computer enthusiast, video gamer, star trek fan, and lanky white guy whose social skills are always in question.
However, I have no illusions about what I am.
Nerds are relative to non-nerds. You can call them Jocks, but that's not the whole of it - Nerds are compared against anyone who is not a nerd. Yes, Geeks count. You are not special just because you change the word.
I'm sure everyone is wondering what a non-nerd is. It's easy to say someone who is jock-ish, works out and is well built, good with the ladies, has some fashion and hygiene sense, works a blue-collar job that makes them dirty every day, and doesn't flinch at loud noises. Add a general lack of intelligence, and you've got yourself a non-nerd, right?
That is an insufficient description of a non-nerd, however. Some nerds work out (usually in a martial arts class) and have good fashion sense. It's simpler to define it as someone who exhibits fewer nerd-like properties than the nerd they are comparing themselves against.
Take two seemingly identical nerds. When they argue, whoever wins by pounding the other with logic and refusing to stop arguing is the bigger nerd. Whichever one has less muscle, and/or is less tan than the other guy is the bigger nerd. Whichever one likes Star Trek more is the bigger nerd. See how simple it is?
And the funny thing is, whichever one considers himself "less" nerdy than the other guy, no matter how nerdy he is, is still a big nerd - however, he does get bragging rights to call the other guy a nerd and proclaim that he is not one himself.
So let's just stop already. We're all nerds, if you want to get technical about it (and if you do, you're a big nerd) but some of us are far less nerdy than others. Those people have every right to call the nerds nerds, beat them up, laugh at them, and assault their self-esteem.
It's your job as a nerd to either accept your place in the pecking order as a nerd and forget about it, dealing with the occasional wedgie or insult now and then, or try to make as many other people as possible look more nerdy than you.
# Erik
# Erik
Internet often breeds individuation and solipsism (Score:5, Funny)r | Last Journal: Tuesday August 19, @10:23AM)
:D
by bluethundr (562578) * on Tuesday April 13, @06:24AM (#8847045)
(http://home.earthlink.net/~bluethund
"Rather than being integrated into society by being forced to take people as they come, the internet allows you to preselect whom you choose to fraternise with, based upon whether or not they share your specific interests."
That's why I browse at -1.
Goodbye compadre. [cnn.com]
---
Re:Internet often breeds individuation and solipsi (Score:-1)
by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 13, @07:01AM (#8847481)
That's why I browse at -1.
And those who don't will never see your posts, fag!
There might be a genetic thing going on here. Check this out.
If you've been following recent thinking on evolution (SJ Gould et al.) then you will be familiar with the notion that evolution of a species does not necessarily take place in the middle of the herd where there is a lot of mixing of genes, but on the edges where small populations scratch out an existence. On the edges of a range, where habitat is by definition more diverse, less optimal and life a bit more harsh, there is adaptation of a sort to suit the situation. If those marginal populations remain separated from the mass of the population then adaptation proceeds apace, though it is constantly diluted by random reinjection of "mainstream" genetic material from the core. Still no evolution as such, but some diversity.
Now imagine that the (more or less) homogeneous population core getting fat on the best habitat suffers a collapse. Perhaps a new disease, a parasite, a new predator. Or the resources that had supported the majority of the species phenotype disappears. They are all the same, after all, so whatever hits very many of them hard can hit them all. Suddenly homogeneity is fatal, the population core drops out and the "edges" become all that is left...to become the new mainstream by default. You might actually end up with many new species generated over a few generations, due to all the fringe populations becoming now entirely disconnected both from the dampening effect of the core as well as from each other.
Now, about humans.
Though human evolution is complicated by our intelligence (in that we can somewhat avoid all that "natural selection" ickiness the other animals are faced with) it also holds that our intelligence may be the result of geeks. Yeah, I thought you'd like this part.
Intelligence is no big gift to life in the mainstream. The smart ones might have the best toys, but they're not "understood" and their motions appear random and unproductive to their peers. Imagine how someone must have looked inventing the first pushcart, or trying to domesticate a wolf...you get the picture; nutty professor. This is important because mating rituals in both humans and simple animals center on how well individuals can signify their superior properties as a mate. This is one of the factors that creates elaborate mating rituals in animals of all types. But there is no intelligence involved in mating rituals, and actually being independent-minded and a little eccentric will tend to mean that you may being doing the ritual creatively but you are not doing the ritual correctly, so you are not getting the best mate. Everyone reading this knows exactly what I am talking about.
If a geek does get a mate then the mate is probably geeky as well, in some fashion or another, and one might expect the pair of them are shuffled off to the edge of the village where they can do their geeky thing out of sight of the elders, while Ken and Barbie lead the ritual. (All except for the witches, who either became important members of the village subculture or were burned at the stake, depending on the period of history.)
However, not being the same as others has one (and probably only one) signal advantage; you were not invited to the very party where everyone drank the Koolaid. Maybe you are off beating your head against a tree in frustration, or wandering desolate in the wilderness, or you and your mate are enjoying a quiet if desperate life in a meadow just over the hill. Whatever. The village is wiped out by a plague, or a war, or during a famine, and Ken and Barbie and all their rituals with them. Leaving the desperate but independent geeks to carry on, both to their surprise and horror. Not a pretty picture, nobody wanted it that way, and Ken and Barbie where great people with perfect behaviors that were the model for the species. But the way it works is that the edges sometimes find themselves not just apart but suddenly desperately alone, indeed maybe all that is left of something they never were a part of, and
=^..^= all your rodent are belong to us
.. but certainly I think there might be enough interest in the linux laptop and generic desktop. Maybe follow a basic design goal of a minimum 12 hours practical usage battery life, low power consumption, all the drives "just work",sound audio usb wireless, etc "just work", built in this and that, etc. bottom line is "just works" with linux (maybe customised distro with it?) and is *affordable* and *upgradeable* easily. I've been wanting to build one of those for awhile now,the laptop, maybe based on transmeta or via. And having a way to increase battery life, like what we have been discussing on some other article threads. I'm a *big* fan of at least two on board batteries myself, I think the weight increase is neglible compared to the benefits. And insure the batteries are some kind of universal battery that is CHEAP to replace, even at the hardware store, like maybe a popular cordless tool replacement batt, or even a standardized size SLA battery like what used to be in bagphones.
Anyway, that's more for a cooperative to debate on, I just like the idea, and will probably develop the laptop myself if no one else wants to fool with it. I think it sucks how non upgradeable or long lived modern laptops are, and I know why, they keep trying to make them desktop replacements,they have a fixation on making them so light all the components are ridiculous expensive, and there NEEDS to be a rock solid linux laptop. Making it a "community" laptop is just gravy, IMO.
As another aside, I have a friend of mine really involved in a goods and services "club" that uses "barter credits" to represent your good or service. No cash ever exchanges hands, but you can get a surprisingly large variety of normal goods and services via networking with the other members. I forget the name now but it's nationwide. He's gotten stuff from new desktops to vacations out of it so far. Everything is just swapped, and combos can be worked out. That's how he explained it to me though, although I never joined, there's a one time upfront fee (expensive, some hundreds IIRC) for the coordinators involved, that part is a little MLM to me, but they seem to be active so people must think it's worth it.
When you are a "dozenaire" you gots to count your nickles...
Dude, reproduction will no longer involve getting laid. While this may not be good for many reasons: it's occurred all too often to my undersexed brain. "Now I can build my robot...hehe... my Girl Robot. This will be the best prom ever." -Credit card commercial
I once heard a saying: "People don't change. They just become more the same."
I am geek, worst, artist and hacker. Has a artist, womens love me. Has a hacker, I love computers. I am triing to force a cooperation of that, and was 50% resolved: Womens like how cool and expert I am at computer keyboard. Simply tricks works best, ultra magic is absolutelly fantastic. So sex is easy. Problem is: I am more interested about perl than sex.
I am odd?
-Woof woof woof!
It's odd to see one's sig in slashdot.
I strongly disagree with the article (yeah, I RTFA) and I strongly disagree with its conclusion. It equals science fiction with geekdom and then goes to say it would be bad, effectively saying s.f. is escapism (which he previously denies). Sorry, but the geeks I know like s.f. because of the possible reality in it, and often work towards it. I don't see what is so bad in working towards a Geek Utopia.
For geeks helping each other is important for the simple reason that not doing so limits one's possibilities. Reinventing the wheel every now and then to learn is good and fun, but doing it all the time because you have to is not.
I do hope that in the end the geek will inherit the Earth, let's just hope the current leaders leave something for us to inherit.
The geek shall inherit the Earth.
Where to start? Addressing these in no particular order...
"If your identity shows up in the 'so five minutes ago' column of what's hot/not in entertainment weekly, it's going to hurt, sure. But it's ultimately your fault for taking yourself so seriously."
"And there be unix which have made themselves unix for the kingdom of heaven's sake." - Matt. 19:12
Is being compassionate, understanding and accepting a good thing? Sure. Is getting a motley myriad of experiences with and from different people a good thing? Sure. Is being forced to put up with mindless shits who don't deserve attention a good thing? No
I'm sorry, but no one should be forced to anything, least of all "take people as they come". Just because us geeks have the mental ability and tools to separate the wheat from the chaff doesn't mean we shouldn't use them. And I suppose the asshole who wrote this article approves of arranged marriage too.
Nathan's blog
Yes, but who will be respectful of people? In my case, some of the jocks I know are respectful/respectable people who are good company, and some want me to worship them because of some silly game that has nothing to do with my life. Guess who I hang out with? :-)
my fifth grade teacher did a smashing job at pounding the geeks shall inheret the earth motto into my head. i cared about nothing but intellectual actualization.
and then i realized there is more to life than being a geek. it was kind of hard to accept in 7th grade. i felt a little betrayed.
self-actualize not only intellectually and philosophically, but grow physically and socially too.
The articles complains about being required to provide answers to life, the universe, and everything.
:-)
Whatever makes him think they can't?
One can watch all the news you want, read all the academic papers, read "real" literature... but to really understand the world as it is now, go read something by Bruce Sterling or Cory Doctorow. To understand what happened in the 90s, watch the Matrix.
The world today really is fantastical.
--
Paul Harrison
You're a sick man. Good to have you aboard.
Data is the lever, rigor the fulcrum, brains the force that drives it all.
Is the motto for a really cool bunch of guys that like playing with high voltage. you should check it out. http://www.thegeekgroup.org
We can't afford to be neutral on a moving train.