Slashdot Mirror
The Rise of Geekdom
cynagh0st writes "In what can only be described as the biggest newsflash for the Slashdot community since Microsoft was sued: It is the age of the geek. New York Times Op-Ed columnist and author David Brooks writes a brief article that can be best summed up in the following: All your culture are belong to us. In the article proper he summarizes the rise to power and discusses a technocratic geek dominance on the social construct. He writes, '... the new technology created a range of mental playgrounds where the new geeks could display their cultural capital. The jock can shine on the football field, but the geeks can display their supple sensibilities and well-modulated emotions on their Facebook pages, blogs, text messages and Twitter feeds ... They've created a new definition of what it means to be cool, a definition that leaves out the talents of the jocks, the M.B.A.-types and the less educated ... There are now millions of educated-class types guided by geek manners and status rules.'" I'm thinking Brooks must have been AFK for the 2nd half of the 90s when this started. To be more precise, late 97 ;)
and oil worker.
Paper shufflers and pixel movers are beginning to get a dose of harsh reality.
Was that before, or after, Al Gore invented the Internet? ;)
If you haven't been down-modded lately, you aren't trying.
Sacred cows make the best hamburger.
Incidentally, just from late '97 I managed to have a "stable" dial-up connection...
/rant
Back "in the grand old days" was just evident that "not-yet-called geek" would have RULED THE WORLD!
Elen sìla lùmenn' omentielvo
Looks like geekdom has gone mainstream now. Great. Now I gotta find something else to be. I guess otaku still has a couple of years left, though the folks over in Akihabara are probably going to end up making that mainstream too before long.
And as for 1997, I had a Fidonet BBS back in 1993, then fixed IP DSL since early 2000.
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
They've created a new definition of what it means to be cool, a definition that leaves out the talents of the jocks, the M.B.A.-types and the less educated...
What makes you think MBA types are not geeks? I am currently in an MBA program and let me assure you that there are plenty of geeks. When classroom discussions turn to Linux, open source, GPL, etc there is no shortage of students to provide a better overview or definition than the text book or case study is offering. There are even leaders in the FOSS community who have decided to pursue MBAs. Some geeks eventually learn that technical expertise is insufficient to make their dreams occur. That business knowledge may also be required.
Being an adult geek is one thing - and your peers have generally learned to respect your choice, no matter how they may feel about it...
But on the school yard, especially for 10-14 year olds, "geeks" still get beat up, and tortured by the "jocks" and the popular kids.
it might be the age of the geek-y adult, but it is NOT the age of the geek-kid.
So let me get this straight. Starting today, women *don't* want to do nba players, rock stars and billionaires? they want to do guys with facebook pages?
Or are you saying that your facebook page will make you a billionaire rock star basketball player?
Any jock can have a facebook, blog, or 'text message'. The real geeks are, and will always be the ones who work in the background.
What's the value of information that you don't know?
He's a self-described liberal that cheered on our Iraq warmongering, providing the Bush administration with the kind of media cover they need. His social commentary is equally misguided, and as such, he's a pundit without a real audience. He's been unapologetic on his cheerleading, wishing upon a star for a 3rd party (built on the "centrism" and "bipartisanship" of Joe Lieberman and John McCain). In short, an idiot.
RW
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Nah. "Geekdom" used to be about doing stuff. Now it's about owning stuff. Marketing has taken over "geek" the way it took over "cool".
It's all words, I guess, but I'd say there's more to being a true geek than using Facebook.
In fact, one of the real oddities of our age is that it depends hugely on high-tech and yet actual knowledge of even elementary scientific principles is still not regarded as mainstream, or part of what every person with a claim to be educated should know.
Look at the quality of science journalism or of science-related politics - people still, on the whole think that there's no shame in being ignorant of even basic science.
Not "Age of the Geek" by a long shot, yet.
Aberrations have appeared in my destiny prognostication engine!
Really? Which manners are those? I deal with people deep inside geek culture, and those as far away from it as possible. Some of the brightest, most articulate, well-mannered people I know are geeks. But then, that also describes some farmers I know. And some artists. On the other hand, taken as a group, the larger body of geeks with which I'm familiar also contains the biggest number of rude, snarky, grasping, deceitful, jerky, foul-mouthed louts I've ever encountered. Very bright people that don't just lack good manners, they aggressively pursue a manner and bearing that is confrontational, mean-spirited, hypocritical, often delusional and ultimately often self-destructive... even as they complain that nobody likes them. You all know who I'm talking about (or know who you are!).
I know some very inspiring geeks. But I don't find them to be any more numerous than I do inspiring fine artists, or even inspiring landscape designers, chefs, dog trainers, or English teachers. Every demographic has some. But few demographics have as many mal-adjusted asses per capita as do the geeks. I know, since I'm one of them. This whole concept is wrong. It's not "rise of the geeks" as seen in their online public forums and playgrounds. No, this is just "re-emergence of smart people who are able to communicate in interesting ways
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
And for once, it's not just a meme, I really mean it when I say:
"I, for one, welcome our new geek overlords!"
No what Brook's major error is that he missed the sexual revolution that is sweeping the country:
Furry.
Join the pack now, or you will be devoured later!!
If an article on geek culture references facebook as part of showing how superior we are then the writer doesn't really understand geek culture at all.
:)
All of the *real* geeks that I know either shun facebook ("Hello, privacy invasion!") or use it in some very minimalist manner. Facebook is for the masses and we geeks aren't the masses.
One might even argue that the real geek still posts replies here as "anonymous coward" for the same reasons as they don't use facebook: slashdot doesn't need to track what I read, from computer to computer and if people don't mod up our comments, so what? We don't need to bask in the glory of being "5: Insightful" - we know our comments are
I'd venture to add that if being geek-cool implies facebook, then this has potential to include more MBA-types than geek-types.
if you are someone who tries to find your self-value and distinction in being different by doing stuff that majority does not, that implies a problem with your self-awareness, not what you are refusing to do.
with your logic, one has to go evil, if the majority of people becomes good. its absurd.
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This is the same David Brooks who coined the term 'bobo' (short for Bohemian Bourgeois), which deserves more use.
I am not completely sure I agree with his conclusions though. In my experience, the less technical a person is, the more likely they are to use Twitter, Facebook and SMS. The third he mentioned, blogs, really transcends other categories. Since Livejournal, the barrier to entry has been very low for creating a blog - just set up an account and type - and hasn't required technical ability or even having anything interesting to say.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
I won't say that today is the age of geekdom, but at least they (we?) regained some respect/recognition with incorporation of many tech stuff in the everyday lives of our 'fellow' non-geeks e.g. the facebook
.. you still can't get this 'girl of your dreams' with your geekiness alone though :p
Back in the late '90's I might have agreed about this "age of the geek" thing. The general public, having just discovered email, was intrigued by the potential of computers and technology.
Nowadays, though, I'd say it's the "age of soldier". The banners hanging from the light posts on main street aren't honoring science and technology - they're honoring the conflict in the Middle East. The public discourse is not about rewarding geeks for their service but about rewarding soldiers.
Maybe if Obama becomes president and there's a democratic majority in Congress we'll see a return to belief in technology to solve the world's problems reminiscent of the Clinton years. If McCain becomes president, though, we'll continue to see more of the belief that violence is the best solution to the world's problems.
I'm sorry, but "geeks," "supple," "well-modulated emotions," "Facebook," "blogs," and "Twitter" should never appear in the same sentence.
[b.belong('us') for b in bases if b.owner() == 'you']
No, that'd make you a jock. You're supposed to snicker at him, make condescending remarks about his writing and journalistic ability, point out every flaw in his reasoning (being as pedantic about it as possible), and all the while saying it with the Comic Book Guy's voice.
While being a geek is now acceptable, it's not automatic coolness. Technical prowess has some merit and the online community is overflowing to "real life" but the pimply overly self conscious kid is still socially awkward.
I think more to the point it has become clear that technology is a valid career path and, that being the case, the "popular" people are willing to accept it as a career path. Socially outgoing people have made geekdom popular, not the other way around.
Eschew Obfuscation
We all know that REAL geeks use the console for communication xD
In other words, being a geek comes in and out of fashion, but there is an overall rising trend. For example, back in my day (the 80s) movies like Real Genius, Revenge of the Nerds, and Weird Science, along with the rise in popularity of the personal computer, role playing games, etc. were all evidence for the geek empowerment movement.
While I agree we are in a local maximum for the geek aesthetic where software engineers and programmers are like the supermodels of geek culture, the true litmus test for the Age of the Geek will be when a physics major can proudly say so at a party and not have everyone take two steps back. This has never been true, and I see no evidence of this yet.
i\hbar\dot{\psi}=\hat{H}\psi
I refuse to be compared to Harry Potter. I'd rather be the midget in Willow.
Sorry, but if if it's really true that "All your culture are belong to us", then it's time to remember the following sequence:
There's no point in questioning authority if you aren't going to listen to the answers.
Perhaps he's looking for new fans after being so wrong about the greatness of Bush's policies and wars.
...we still don't get the chicks.
Well, not the hot ones, anyway.
and then he logged off.
A lot of subcultures may make a big thing about conformity, but even when the majority are in some meaningful sense "good", being different does not require being bad. The world is way too complex, and so are people.
Typical mistake in amateur philosophy, don't feel too bad about it. The key is this: it is good for you and me to have different jobs. Otherwise, we'd both be in each other's way and there'd be another job, that one of us could be doing, not getting done.
And it isn't just jobs. Thin of the old "nursery rhyme", Jack Sprat.
However, seeking the popular deviations instead of seeking within is never a good idea. The correct answer is "Don't try to be different. Just don't try to be the same. As trite is it is, the blue genie was right. Be yourself."
Computer memory is just fancy paper, CPUs just fancy pens with fancy erasers; the 'net is just a fancy backyard fence.
Pfft I've been a geek forever, and I've always been cool. I don't need some new-media twat to tell me that.
Making a shitload in I.T. since 96.
Super Awesome Broadband
You're dead on.
If Holden Caulfield was the sensitive loner from the age of nerd oppression, then Harry Potter was the magical leader in the age of geek empowerment.
Fucking Harry Potter? What does he think we are, a bunch of overgrown man-children?
Agree 100%.
This is uh.. old news. I'm thinking Brooks is a jock himself.
[...]
hacking on computers disassembling stuff
paid off in the end now who got it rough
the beauty of the baud and the world of the switch
make a new generation of us geekstas rich
we owned those that made fun of us tried to make a run at us
beat us up in class said yea theres a ton of us
whos laughing now cuz most of us your bosses
the rest of you are flipping burgers smelling secret sauces
[...]
So, now starts 'geekdom' down a path of destruction with stereotypes and generalizations by an over stylized culture. They'll change the publics definition just like they did with the word 'Hacker'. Only Geeks know other Geeks. Personally, I'd like to stay as far from style and the limelight as possible since I don't have any anyway. I'm much to busy thinking about tech and my next project to care about the publics perception. WTF? How dare that turd even consider Bill Gates a Geek or a Nerd? Lets all dress up like the guys from Geek Squad and make this article concrete OK. Get it over with. I don't make tons of money with my tech knowledge so I guess I'm not a real Geek. I better withdraw my membership here at Slashdot. See ya.
Great! Just in time for the year of linux on the desktop!
Is that a bad thing? More time to code with a Real Doll. Cheaper too, and possibly more engaging in conversation than some of the other options...
Well, to be a geek you have to really, really, really be into something that most people find pointless, incomprehensible, or dull. To be a geek subculture, you have to be organized around something of that nature.
It follows that while many MBAs may be geeks, the MBA subculture is not a geek subculture. The last time I checked, making money had fairly obvious popular appeal.
"Cool" is in the eye of the beholder. There's another term that entered youth culture through jazz, with roots that go all the way back to Mother Africa. The word "hip" comes from a West African word "hep", mean "one who knows."
To be cool, you have to attract the admiration of others. To be hip you must possess knowledge not available to the public at large. For example, I had a friend who'd walk into a certain restaurant on a Friday night and get immediately seated. Even if they had a line waiting, they'd see him at the back of the line and immediately usher him from to a table. That was sort of cool. But it wasn't hip. His secret was available to anybody: you just had to eat there five times a week.
Now many years ago there used to be a restaurant in my neighborhood that opened at midnight and closed at 6:00am. It catered to an eclectic mix of insomniacs, workers leaving the night shift or going to the graveyard shift, musicians hanging out after their gigs, and vampirish denizens of the night (this was back before anybody had heard of the "goth" subculture).
Being a regular at that place made you hip.
I'd say the very definition of "geek" would be "hip" without being recognizably "cool" to most people. Slinging a mean soldering iron makes you hip to electronics, but cool only to your electronics geek buddies.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
is it that badass wannabees are way more vocal ?
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You know you're a *real* ancient geek if:
You have administered an ARPANet node;
You remember your logon/password to a DEC 1020 running TOPS;
Your first Cisco box was a "bridge" that came in a beige box with a red spray-painted bridge logo;
You've coded in WATFIV and PL-1;
You know how to perform complex calculations using a slide rule.
Feel free to add your own.
Invenio via vel creo
This isn't the rise of geekdom... It's the rise of pseudo-geekdom.
I don't think it can ever be the "age of the geek", as far as I can see geeks are geeks by virtue of getting further into a subject than anyone else...if the mainstream catches up, it doesn't make them geeks, it just means that the geeks have to be that much more geeky to count as proper geeks :p
No kidding. Several of my smarter, nerdier friends are martial artists. They began their studies in karate, tae kwon do, judo, kung fu, jujitsu, and boxing when they were kids, as a response to bullying. The physical bullying stopped for me when I was a freshman in high school. I picked up one of my tormentors and threw him head first into a locker. They continued their taunts and mockery after that, but nothing physical. They knew better.
But I'm a nice guy. Honest.
Thomas Jefferson : Geek. Made all sorts of inventions at Monticello
Westinghouse : Geek. Invents airbrakes.
Edison : Geek. Genuine Geek. Anyway one that could think of electrocuting an elephant to prove the superiority of his or her technology, well, that's a geek.
Henry Ford, the Dodge Brothers, Stanley family: all geeks.
Being a genuine geek is not about the kind of clothes you wear or what sort of a show you watch. It's about having an uncontrollable urge to express yourself by making things. Geekdome isn't even an academic thing. Machinists at WL Gore, guys that build their own cars and people that alter their own guns, those are all geeks.
Sure, its nice to hope that some of us will get stinking rich off of something we invent, but most of the time, we're really more inventing because the curious act of exploration occupies the mind in such a way as to silence for a time the storms that otherwise lie within it.
This is my sig.
They've created a new definition of what it means to be cool, a definition that leaves out the talents of the jocks, the M.B.A.-types and the less educated...There are now millions of educated-class types guided by geek manners and status rules.
This is such stereotyped, self-righteous, pat-myself-on-the-back bullshit. M.B.A.-types can be geeky ... business is the study of economics!
I am a geek/nerd. No doubt about it. My plates say "IF ELSE." I could not care less about this in any way shape or form. Our geekdom/nerddom is a result of us caring about being intelligent people, not to be up on the latest and greatest gadgets/sites. TFA is all about the 'lifestyle', but we didn't do any of that... these are traits OTHERS attributed to us and as you can see, they are pretty off base.
Most nerds take pride in their intelligence and they should be! If that is not what is coming out of this 'rise of the geek' movement then who cares? I certainly don't. I would much rather have the influence be that society beings to respect and value intelligent people... something that was lost during generation X/Next and who knows if we can ever get it back... I have my doubts.
Invexi - a Phoenix, AZ based web design and web development company.
The age of the geek? in your dreams Dilbert ..
http://news.yahoo.com/comics/080520/cx_dilbert_umedia/20082005 http://news.yahoo.com/comics/080521/cx_dilbert_umedia/20082105 http://news.yahoo.com/comics/080522/cx_dilbert_umedia/20082205 http://news.yahoo.com/comics/080523/cx_dilbert_umedia/20082305
davecb5620@gmail.com
Having worked offshore in the oil industry for the last 3 years, I can tell you who's making the money. Pretty much everyone working for oil makes good money, but most of us don't make great money. The engineers don't make much more than everyone else (DPOs, riggers, ROV mechanics, etc). In fact, the only ones who pull in over 100 a year are the client reps and execs, captains (if they've been doing it for long enough), project managers, and people who put up capital. The one thing all of these guys have in common is that they do very little work. All the workers (this includes engineers, chemists, and geologists) pull in about 60 - 100 a year, depending on tenure. There are of course exceptions, but generally, only about 5% of the people who actually do some kind of work pull in over 100 a year and those people usually have a lot of tenure.
The path to enlightenment is truly through homemade drugs!
David Brooks is rarely right and this case is no exception. If it was anyone else, it might be worth discussing, but it's not. If Brooks says X is true, odds are ~X is true.
One of the accepted qualities of what defines a "geek" is being a social misfit.
So what this idiot is saying is that people who are defined as social misfits are now NOT social misifits, because of their misfit status.
No, and none of the qualities you listed that makes you think they were geeks has anything to do with being a geek.
I see unrepentant partisan toolboxes like you and realize we're fucking doomed.
Shut up please, you're making a fool of yourself by not realizing it was a joke.
And frankly, you have to be a serious loser to spend that much time composing a defense of a guy Like Al Gore, who was never as important or relevant as you and he seem to think.
Until the climate change thaws the perma-frost, I think tar sand oil extraction would be a hellish job. When the bogs thaw it'll get much worse.
The cost of that cleanup, of course, will be borne by taxpayers, not industry.
Embrace this article fellow geeks.... as it means that we are now popular with the girls.. ah..I see it every day. The moment I say that I am programmer they start to screem out of the excitment and conseqently go totally wild....with me noting that I already downloaded a torrent with similar content and wondering if she wants to come to my place so that I can show her the code from my latest project that i am involved in.
You know I've never met a Physics major, but one of my friends who happens to be a hot little gymnast is also a Math major, so does that count? She's always the life of the party too.
Computers becoming ubiquitous has truly sucked a lot of the fun out of it. I still like to go look at Yosemite Valley, but I miss the bears.
The cost of that cleanup, of course, will be borne by taxpayers, not industry.
Am I the only one that parsed that as Geekdom? I was wondering why an article about the sexual habits of nerds was on /.
There is only one benchmark for cool, and that is how much trim you are getting. Geeks are full of fail in that area.
I speak from personal experience.
Uh oh.
" I'm thinking Brooks must have been AFK for the 2nd half of the 90s when this started. To be more precise, late 97 ;)"....
LAWLZ.
Dude, Jefferson was quite the (agriculture) geek. One of the first to document human-induced climate change, studied EVERYTHING, donated his library to Congress, &c. Just because he didn't bite the heads off chickens doesn't mean you should doubt his cred.
The cost of that cleanup, of course, will be borne by taxpayers, not industry.
Until a head cheerleader is found giving head to the winner of the science fair, this is nonsense.
So you are a geek if you blog, text message, or use twitter? How about throwing in e-mail. Really, if this is what geek means now, then there are many more geeks now due to the broadening of the meaning of the word.
Brooks is about 10 years too late. True geeks have nothing to do with Facebook; they were hacking HTML with notebook.exe over a decade ago.
As for me, Harry Potter? No interest whatsoever. Seen none of the movies nor read the books. I was 12 in the '60's and spent my time with Clarke, et.al.
Blogs were first created by geeks but are now ford anyone who can type. Been that way for years. A geek becomes a geek by creating tools and resources for "users" (including himself), not by becoming a "user" on a social networking site or opening a blog account somewhere.
Before the PC era, there were still geeks, but they were universally disparaged. The difference now is that being geek is now very useful. We've all surrounded ourselves with technology that is beyond the comprehension of the typical user. Now, when the average joe is having trouble with his cable modem, cell phone, web browser, nav system, email account, etc, who does he call upon? His geek friend.
Geeks RTFM, they don't Twitter (whatever that is).
S-100
If it is culturally popular, it isn't geek.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
if you hurry, you can catch the heroine craze.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
In my opinion, the furries can go yiff themselves. ;)
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
Where i work, all the geeky smart guys are dating the hotties in marketing. Wait a minute... Thats NOT happening. ANYWHERE.
Honestly slashdot, this article is just a false ego boost. Reading this might make you feel better, but its not true. Being geeky by itself is not cool -- and when I say cool I mean, 'will get laid easily.' At the end of the day, hot girls like hot rich guys. Geek or jock has nothing to do with it.
If you read to the end TFA really seems like nothing more than an elaborate set up for a pun.
The world is full of people whose notion of a satisfactory future is, in fact, a return to an idealised past. -R. Davie
They also have high-pitched whiny voices, wear pocket protectors and thick glasses, are either impossibly skinny or impossibly fat, and have no social skills. Geeks on the other hand are just simpletons parading around with a little amount of extra knowledge as coloured feathers in a birds ass. They do know more about a subject than the people in their environment and they want the others to know that. However, often enough they are not able to grasp the subject fully. I would say that yes, they do have extra knowledge about a given subject, but I see no reason they can't grasp that subject fully.
Actually, I see two important parts of the 'geek' definition -- first, they're interested in things which aren't necessarily what society as a whole is interested in. It's impossible to be a fashion geek, or a sex geek.
Second, they're not just casually interested -- it's not just "I like computers, because The Matrix was faar out!" No, these are the people who code open source software and build robots in their spare time. Or they're a sound geek, so they have a custom built audiophile-friendly setup (but not on an audiophile budget; no amount of money makes cable "danceable"), and have probably made a few techno remixes of their own.
I think the difference I see is that "nerd" is a snotty, elitist attitude towards life -- which you kind of prove with your "simpleton" comment. "Geek" is an interest or a fascination, but it's only part of what makes up a person. Vin Diesel is a D&D geek, but you can't define him by his geekiness.
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
In the end, unless you're Gates, Allen, Page or Brin you're not going to get the hot girls. If the hot girl had a choice of billionaires you think they would choose these guys? NOT. I still remember the reality show where the supposed hot girl had a choice between the good looking model jock type or the sensitive nerdy self made millionaire. Guess what shocking choice she made, she went of with the jock. If only this article was written in our reality. FYI, Harry Potter is not a geek.
Anyone that's into tech and actually knows what's going on is typically just being used. It's not that it's our age, it's that the jock, et al has learned to use us in a new way i.e. we're still doing there homework. It's just that the homework in question is not that Math assignment any more, but rather producing a "point and click" solution to turn that mkv into a PS3 friendly mp4 among other things. And a lot of us do it because it puts us into the spot-light for a couple seconds. Me, when someone HAS become abusive, I told them to go fuck themselves and figure it out for themselves. Of course being followed up by someone else that actually volunteers to figure something out for the jock ass-hole.
This writer seems to be confused about what being a geek actually means. It's not that one uses facebook, but rather that one could program it him/her-self. Perhaps this guy should actually look into things and think about it before publishing it next time.
they already do
repeatedly!
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...not to make a scientific analysis of culture. This reminds me a lot of Nicolas Carr's article "IT Doesn't Matter". About 90% of the conclusions in that article were debatable, but it did cause an uproar and a way people thought about IT. This article is nowhere near that scale, but it's purpose is the same. Right, and let's not make the same mistake as grade-school children do and assume something only belongs in either Category A or Category B. MBA, geek, jock, etc. are not mutually-exclusive items.
Talking about geekery: Today 25 May is Towel Day! How come there's no article up about that?
...we still don't get the chicks. "Hey Chris...I'm lost. Can you help me with my math homework?""Sure, here's what you do"
"Oh, thanks! Now I have time to have sex with my boyfriend!" *runs away*
Kids, the next time a girl asks you for help with your math homework, tell her the square root of 2 is pi.
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!