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. "

Comments

scary...

[spangineer]

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"

Trendy

[Triv]

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

The author has it backwards.

[Jaywalk]

The mainstreaming of geekdom means the mainstreaming of the geeks as well. If the only person who shares your interests is on the other side of the world, of course you are going to spend more time on your computer communicating with that one other person. But if there is someone you can talk to next door, you're more likely to walk over for a beer.

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.