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?
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".
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.
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.
While it does seem sad that some people should define themselves merely as 'different' at any expsnse, there are other, more legitimate reasons why the mainstream - whatever that may be - can be argued to be unappealing.
The problem is that once something goes mainstream, the quality of the content that makes up that culture begins to decline rapidly. People interested in making money enter the game, and try to squeeze out those who are genuinely interested in making something neat. It's happened again and again as various niche cultures are thrust into the mainstream consciousness. For every real, interesting work/artist/idea there are 10 cheap knockoffs being peddled by media/retail companies.
Music is a perfect example; every time a new genre becomes popular, imitation bands are "discovered" by all the recording companies, and they flood the market with dozens of identical-sounding bands until what was appealing about the culture is eroded by bottom-dollar competition and fear of experimentation with something that already "works".
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.
Loose lips lose spit.