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.
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.
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?
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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.
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.
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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
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.
I'm aware he never said it--and I'm aware of his involvement (starting in the 1970s) as a Congressman in the development of the Internet. But heck, if Al Gore himself can go on the Letterman show and make jokes about how his quote has been spun, I was hoping it was worth a chuckle here.
If you haven't been down-modded lately, you aren't trying.
Sacred cows make the best hamburger.
...we still don't get the chicks.
Well, not the hot ones, anyway.
Well, if you have more than the minimum of standards, you'll never get the girl or guy of your dreams with anything "alone".
The kind of person who's only looking for one thing (money, looks, status) is not the kind of person I, for one, think I could be happy with. Even a genius IQ will not make the perfect partner unless it's allied with a half-decent personality!
A closed mouth gathers no foot.
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
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!
Loose lips lose spit.
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.
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