Slashdot Mirror
Geek Culture Will Never Die...or Be Popular
adeelarshad82 writes "Last year CNN wrote an interesting article on how geek culture is now a big part of pop culture, while Patton Oswalt gave his own opinion on how he thinks pop culture has outright co-opted and diluted it. These articles gave birth to a completely different view, which is that geek culture can never truly be part of pop culture. The movies and t-shirts might sell, and everybody might use Facebook, but there will still be a small percentage that loves comics, imports video games, and can build their own computers. In other words, true geeks are much different from the stereotypes we learn about in the movies. The geek culture is not just playing D&D or watching V for Vendetta but also having a bookshelf full of D20 system manuals as well as reading all the Alan Moore material one can find. The fact of the matter is that while geek culture is far from dead, it's not exactly a part of the pop culture either. So, no matter hard media outlets try to make the concept catch on, no matter how many studios try to capitalize on the cultural waves of comic book movies and best-selling video games, there is no such thing as pop culture geekdom."
n/t
and then ytmnd exists to uncannily crossbreed between the two with Picard... at least for the first two years before the "vader no" and the "my bike" crap attracted the baby-drop-on-head types we've come to know from Halo on XBLA.
What keeps geek culture from dying or becoming popular?
Why, it oscillates around a Lagrange point, no doubt.
Geek Culture will obviously never be popular. At least not as long as folks like the incorrigible Patton Oswalt are the standard bearers for it.
Freedom is drinking a beer in the park when you're supposed to be at work.
...be ourselves? Why the constant need to label everybody? Who cares what constitues a "real geek"?
I have to admit, this makes us sound an awful lot like hipsters trying to be on the edge and always being different.
Geeks pick up stuff early, the best of it filters into mainstream, then geeks pick up something new.
There is a definite line of delineation between my friends that use Facebook and my friends that code. The web may have finally gone mainstream, but I find it frustrating that now that it has, all these people using Skype, Facebook, Twitter, and other webby gidget crap all claim to be trendy IT geeks. What has happened is that the tools of the trade that we geeks have known for years finally went mainstream, and the rest of the world thinks they are now 1337 because of it. Not to sound elitist, but the dumb bimbo bitches I see in lecture hall chatting on Facebook are not geeks. They are still dumb bimbo bitches, just with a Web 2.0 platform to spew their idiocy.
At the end of the day, you should still be nice to geeks, because they will probably manage you one day. Unless your in an MBA program, where you don't actually learn anything but get all the real pay but get to pretend to when you order the latest synergy report on your desk by Monday morning. The geek shall inherit the earth!
'We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress.' RPF
We've bought into the mutual-delusion that geeks are cool, because we've gathered around places like Slashdot over the last fifteen years. If you're a furry and you hang around other furries all the time, you're probably going to have an inaccurate perception that being a furry is more popular and accepted than it really is. Likewise, we geeks have had a way to congregate like never before, thanks to the internet. And because we've been big on technology, we've been doing this longer than most other groups. So, in that time, our self-delusion has thrived.
The fact is that society may like a few of the things that geeks like, from time to time, but that should not be misconstrued as liking geeks. They may like Kick-Ass and some may even like Catan, but that doesn't mean they like *you*. It just means they like Kick-Ass and Catan.
An overwhelming portion of the population still thinks of "geek" as a pejorative. How many times have you watched movies or television recently, where "geek" was used as a put-down? Personally, my reality-check was only a few years ago. I did something absurdly dorky and mumbled something about what a geek I am. The girl I was seeing at the time consoled me with a concerned "oh, no, you're not a geek!" the same way you'd say "oh, no, you're not a loser...!" to someone who was just berating themselves and slamming their head against a wall.
Geeks think geeks are cool. Society thinks a couple things here and there that geeks like are cool. There is no overlapping venn diagram there, where society thinks some of the things geeks like are cool *and* geeks are cool. Accept it and deal with it. Frankly, I'm about fifteen years too old to give a flying fuck who thinks I'm cool or whether or not I'm accepted by anyone. I'd hope the majority here feel the same.
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/217883/seagate_solidstate_disks_are_doomed_at_least_for_now.html?tk=out
Slashdot amongst many other sites makes it hard for new people to post interesting stuff. So we're left with a biased subset of "hip" geeks.
Geeks don't waste a lot of time on Alan Moore. He doesn't make a lot of sense and gets most of his details wrong. You might as well be an anime fan.
Geeks read books with words. Iain M. Banks. K.J.Parker. They build with Arduino, or have centrifuges in their garages. Lots of people call themselves geeks who have never improvised a mechanism more advanced than a mashed potato/fork catapult, who don't know whether they'd prefer their sexual operator to be distributive or associative. The truth is that geek culture, like any antipop culture, has to be incredibly diluted to even get on the radar. If you watch your dog playing fetch and you can't help thinking how primitive its locomotion subsystems are (she doesn't really steer with her front legs, she just flexes her torso while she keeps raising and lowering her feet; her hind legs might as well be wheels), you are a geek.
A Will Never B...or C
wow... see you guys at 4chan...
The majority of people are stupid, therefore not geeks.
I still cannot find the droids I am looking for...
between using something like Facebook, and being able to write Facebook? And surely appreciating Big Bang Theory is not the same as being one of the gang?
There are those who are geeks-on-the-outside, and geeks-on-the-inside.
May this thread contain many posts about what ways we outgeek our fellows and grumble about the dilution of obscure skills and subjects by bringing them to larger audiences.
I'll start: grumble, kids these days and their Arduinos. I'd better use a DSP or FPGA in my next project. And kids these days think FFVII is the pinnacle of classic gaming. Grumble, grumble. *gets fed a mutton chop by Link*
NOBODY FUCKING CARES
Look, the people you are after are the people you depend on. We cook your meals, we haul your trash, we connect your calls, we drive your ambulances. We guard you while you sleep. Do not... f#@k with us.
That is how us web developers are. Even how the security people are. Server people, network people, the list goes on and on.
As long as we are around setting things up for the end user, we will always have our culture. There is also this bad "feeling" of the MTV culture becoming a geek. Apparently Jersey Shore is cool to pay attention to, but being a geek is not. I know, I know. I have gotten used to it. But ask yourself this: the Jersey Shore intro, who made that happen? The editting, who made that happen on every episode.
Us geeks are right on the edge of pop culture. I mean we are right there, but the pop culture fear of not being cool keeps the masses from fully accepting all of our quirks. Like people do not understand us geeks that collect. I collect video games. I had some work people over and had my Genesis/Sega CD/32x combo hooked up, and they asked me if I had a Wii. I have a pretty decent computer, and I kid you not, this is almost word for word what a girl said, "Wow! That is a cool computer. Can I check my Facebook on it super quick?"
We are and always will be the last picked for kick ball. We will be the ones right on the outside of cool. Almost, but not quite. You know what, I like it out here.
The world is how you make it
They think they're geeks just because they like Joss Whedon, or Happy Tree Friends... I remember when to be a real geek we had to bite the heads off chickens!!! pbft!
All glory to the Hypnotoad!
oh man, when i was 12, it was enough to build a pc, when i got 16, i was mainstream and could speak leet, now i am a trekkie and still, i am mainstream :D what the fuck?
retro will always be cool, thus geeky stuff will never be outdated nor just pop.
I will geek your geek up your geek with a geek that geeking geeks.
I know plenty of people who self identify as geeks and aren't that smart...they do, however, seem to have an aversion to showers and moving out of their parents' place.
Nerds are the smart ones.
Nerdy geeks are the smart ones that have an aversion to showers and moving out of their parents' basements.
NOW i know this is really "News for Nerds" !!!!
ahh c'mon... just bring back good old user tags for stories and some golden Redcode news and we're forgetting the rest of the decadent process you're at ;-)
Literally. Just ask my mom *Taps ceiling*
It is not that being a geek or a nerd is cool. It is that we are needed now, more than ever.
When I was in high school, my aunt told me that computers are just a passing fad and only rich people had them at home for toys. Now, when her connection is down, or she needs help with Word, she calls me.
You get asked to help when something is broken, or which new computer/phone/tv to get, or which service to buy.
Do you think if we were not so needed, we'd be so accepted today?
Fight Spammers!
Ostensibly I'm a member of this culture, albeit a fringe one. I'm a software developer. I have a math degree. I'm an introvert. I read sci-fi and fantasy literature, but not exclusively. I build my own computers. I frequently don't shave, and I'm not especially fashionable (though not especially unfashionable either). I don't play many graphical computer games, but, unbelievably, I still play a text-based MUD. That said, I find that those who really "embrace" and identify with "geek culture" get on my nerves to a phenomenal degree. Folks who go to ComicCon. Folks who answer "yes" when asked "Are you a 'gamer'?" People who look so stereotypically "nerdy" one wonders if it's intentional. The guy who incessantly quotes Monty Python (or some other geek cult film, e.g. Princess Bride, Firefly, etc.) because he thinks it's funny every dang time. Basically there's a lot of overlap between my interests and those of many "geeks", but I despise "geek culture".
Am I the only one?
Alert, "Goth" is nothing like gothic, "punk" isn't a bunch of punks who got together, and "Nerds" is a candy.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
.....studio executives, Uwe Boll, marketing, EA, hipsters, Comic Con and it's army of bored but attractive spokesmodels are taking it's retainer and giving it a fierce kicking.
Maybe - just maybe - it will graduate and end up employing all these douchebags as Janitors.
My D&D collection sits next to a few selected readings from isaac asimov, so there it is - I am NOT a geek.
Hey buddy, can i bum a karma? ~}CinderellaManson{~
because labels are oh so important, and vital to life, I've always put forth that nerds are into computers, anything tech, education of all sorts, math, science etc. whereas geeks are into D&D, star trek, Monty Python, etc. obviously a lot of people are both, to varying degrees. Personally im about 95% nerd, 5% geek. Welcome any input on this hypothesis.
What used to be great about geeks in general, really, was that they didn't really get into this am-I-or-am-I-not bullpocky. Who cares where the culture lives? There are more and better geek outlets out there than ever. Enjoy the damn moment.
Indeed, we Slashdot geeks do enjoy sucking our own dicks.
Face it. We're all hipsters. We enjoy being geeks because it isn't cool and we have our own (intelligent 'inside' jokes). It's what makes us Geeks. Well that and suspenders and glasses and pocket protectors....
Be yourself and stop with the labels. I build computers and I code in my spare time, I have a degree in chemistry and love science. I don't like anime, comic books, sci-fi, fantasty and have never played D&D. I played sports in high school.
Am I a geek? No. Am I a jock? No. I'm me. Fuck off with the labels.
Gone!
Cool. Me too!
I think the whole premise is wrong. True "geeks" aren't doing the things they do because they're trying to be in a specific culture or a niche. I think that generally the type of people who are generally considered to be geeky (myself included) happen to have similar interests and views on life. I haven't ever tried to seek out a culture, per se. Rather, the things that I happen to enjoy (computers, trivia, meticulous detail to esoteric things) tend to lead me to things that are considered geeky. As long as people continue to have a drive to do or participate in those kinds of things, there will always be a culture (whether it be mainstream or a subculture) of geekdom. This, though, like any other culture can still have poseurs. And, just like anyone trying to fit into a given role without feeling truly a part of the heart of it, those are the people who will try to overanalyze the ebb and flow of the culture's status vs. the mainstream.
Yeah I don't care that much, but it's funny when people first say I'm not a geek, then eventually realise I am. Also it was funny to hear a girl recently say she wants a friend just like Sheldon from TBBT. I (and a lot of active /.ers) am a toned down versions of Sheldon, but she obviously wasn't that interested in me. In real life, know-it-all geeks are shunned, so anyone who acts like Sheldon is not accepted into society with open arms, even by those who love TBBT. Most people are too dumb to even know what he's saying apart from when he acts like a baby. Hell, I don't even get some of TBBT (the jokes around string theory - not really read much on it).
which is totally what she said
I didn't slog through a future ruled by mutant-hating Sentinels, storm the beaches of Klendathu and brave the Three Terrors of the Fire Swamp so that some kid could pick up Halo and call himself a geek.
When my party came back from the Temple of Elemental Evil, they spat on me.
I purposely avoid the kinds of things that will get me pigeonholed as a geek. I know of, and care for, very little about the pop culture driven side of geek. Comic books, sci-fi films, anime and the kinds of crap that end up on G4 not only bore me to death but also, IMHO, give geeks a bad name.
I also do as much as I can to avoid those who embrace that side of geek culture. I think if you have to stand on your mountain top and scream that you're a geek then you've got issues. Either you're as dumb as a bag of hammers or your as needy as a 4 year old child. The dumb ones really think they are smart. They think they're geniuses, in fact. Tedious to deal with and they're slow to learn when you try to be good enough to correct them on a false assumption. Once they gain your friendship they'll use you as a crutch to support their weak ideas among peers and it comes back to make you look like an idiot.
Thanks, but no thanks.
The community at large will just never accept that biting the heads off chickens at the circus is acceptable behavior.
What makes something geeky?
Is it paying too much attention to minute details? One of the characters on Jersey Shore spends 25 minutes doing his hair. That's not perceived as geeky. Spending 25 minutes tweaking your gdm.conf is.
Is it doing something that's not in the mainstream? Raving wasn't considered mainstream, but it also wasn't considered geeky. Model shipbuilding? Not in the mainstream, but geeky.
Is it doing something with a technological focus? Like the article points to, messing with a computer is no longer geeky, but messing with a TI calculator is.
So far, the only conclusion I can draw about what makes something geeky is that it's taking part in an activity that doesn't have getting laid as a main focus or as a pleasant side effect. I'd like to find an example of something that is considered geeky but also involves potentially seeing some action.
Pop culture has co-opted nearly everything worth while from geek culture and moved on. That is what pop culture does once a sub-culture achieves critical mass. In my life time it has happened twice. The first was with raves/electronica/underground dance music. The second was with computers/internet/geeks. In both cases the sub-cultures went from being isolated, to being referenced in 'popular' ways (techno music in commercials, "rave" fashion on television, companies deciding employees need email, grandma wanting to be on AOL).
The acceptance of computers in popular culture was the biggest change. For raves, even when they were "big" it was still very much a sub-culture. There are only so many people who are ever going to get into heavy bass and recreational drug use. On the other hand computers have leapt from the point where "nobody" (from a pop-culture perspective) wanted to use them, to the point where "everybody" has at least one. Of those who have computers, only a small percentage actually care how they work. The rest just have them because they need one to function in society. That is the co-opting that took place.
In a more subtle way, society's perspective of IT has shifted. In the late 1990s and early 21st century (before the tech bubble exploded), I used to get recognition from strangers for being in IT. It was one of those jobs where people didn't know much about it, but it sounded cutting edge and cool. Society knew they needed to know how to use computers, so being out ahead of the curve was an advantage. Now IT people are just the work place bitches, a rung or two above the mailroom guys (unless you work for a technology company).
We don't spend conscious effort on the task of being different or on the edge. We just do what we like.
THEY can try to imitate us. But they will never really be like us, because they are beneath us. Since 'pop' culture is just an aggregate of what "they" value, it logically follows that there will always be a rift between pop and geek culture.
So there you have it.
howd u get so flexible?
warning pointless sig
I love Patton, but he seems to just be having trouble with getting old. If you did a good job with your little subculture when you were young, it winds up bleeding into the mainstream. And, while it's sad, it's just the nature of things that your brain isn't going to be able to keep up with what that subculture you were in has evolved into. Even if it could, you couldn't because you'd be busy raising kids. And if you didn't have kids, then you couldn't because all your friends do and as a result are going to be stagnant. And you can't hang out with the youth, because then you're creepy old dude hanging out with kids. It's just how our species and culture works, no mystery there.
Everything will be taken away from you.
Well, society has always had a love affair with people who "no one thinks are cool." I'd be suspicious of the claim that the popularity of geek culture as an idea hasn't risen in the last few years. (The ghastly term "geek chic" is evidence enough of this) Of course, no one wants to actually PARTICIPATE in geek culture, they just like the idea. The younger ones among us might recall the fad among high-school girls in the early 00's to claim to like "geeky guys" or "nerds" which usually didn't mean actual geeks but guys with unkempt hair, box glasses, and keds. I absolutely agree that no one thinks actual geeks are cool, but people are certainly enamored of the "Hollywood geek;" the attractive, non-threatening intellectual with habits that derive coolness from hipsteresque retro-fetishism (Star Trek, Silver Age comics, 80's video games).
Your furry example has one problem: not even furries are ignorant of the fact that everyone hates furries.
But yeah, people use "geek" as a put down in movies, but people also use "punk" as a put down, and we all know what kind of high school THAT linguistic arc resulted in. Pretty much every teen movie from the eighties onward has a geek or other outcast as its protagonist. People like to think they like geeks because they like to think they have the specialness that comes from being, or being attracted to, social misfits or outcasts. Go to any college campus and you will find hundreds of intellectual loners: no matter how mainstream your interests, no matter how many friends you have, you can talk yourself into thinking you're totally weird and geeky and into stuff that NO ONE LIKES EVER.
I think that this attitude has been easier to conflate with "geekdom" because geeky pastimes have become socialized. Now, you can do something "nerdy" (which makes you weird and special) without having to deal with any of the social consequences of being weird and special! Most people who own an iPhone or Android phone are not developers, nor do they use these gadgets to pursue technological hobbies, but I have heard many of these people declare what a geek they are because of the time they spend modding or fiddling with said device (which they use to talk to their many friends and coordinate their non-geek interests). Video games, which used to be the province of the unathletic shut in, are increasingly being played by fratboy types, which is why the protagonist of many modern games is some variant of Dickballs McMeathead and his Elite Testicle Squad. But again: playing video games is something weird and special, even though you can now do it with all your friends. While before, being a geek (and hence, SPECIAL!) meant spending lots of time reading books or staring at a computer or other lame, unpopular activities, now we can just engage in a few, safe geeky activities. We aren't GEEKS, of course, just like Sum 41 fans were never punks, but we get to pretend and be part of a secret club for as long as we want to, without having to pay the price of admission.
The author could have saved himself a lot of talk by just saying:
There will always be a 1-2% on either side of a gaussian curve. :P
I pose this response: Who gives a crap?
I'm a geek, i'm a programmer who loves sci-fi, quantum physics, learning as much about everything as possible (especially anything related to science), I was there when l33t speak was invented by my geek "friends".... and, godamnit, I love Tron.
And once again, I ask, who gives a crap. What I like is not influenced by what the mainstream like other than the fact that usually the mainstream destroys the integrity of what I used to like...
I'm a geek and i always will be until I upload my consciousness to the internet hive brain and merge with the source.
00101010
I gave up on the idea I'd ever be cool shortly after high school. I totally dropped off the radar and moved cross country. Figured in a new town where no one knew me, i could renvent myself Turns out, whoever you go, there you are. A geek born, a geek I'll be until I die.
I drank what? -- Socrates
Quite frankly, fuck that noise. Have you seen some of the garbage the everyman buys into? Better to be a mutant strain (that isn't even that strange anymore). Seeing otherwise normal people brain-deadened by cheap psychology in staff training, purely because they're dialed in to the mainstream, is sickening. Didn't RTFA.
Do you see what I did there?
I think whats makes a geek a geek is the ability to enjoy things that most people don't because we are smarter, we can distinguish the mainstream crap from things that are really special, which is a really cool thing, like when you look at pictures from the Hubble Telescope, anyway... Bad thing is... that alienates us from the rest( which is the vast majority ). And that sucks, you still have human needs... I have friends over 25 years old that have never kissed a girl much less had sex. That's why I don't like shows like the "Big Bang Theory", where they portrait situations like this... like it's fun stuff, when it's actually quite sad and painful for some.
When the number of Ham Radio operators exceed the number of cell phone users, I'll consider geek culture mainstream.
When there are more modified plug in Priuses than unmod'ed, I'll consider geek culture mainstream.
When there are more people using Slashdot than Facebook, I'll consider geek culture mainstream.
When the Science Channel has higher ratings than the Superbowl, I'll consider geek culture mainstream.
"Well, good luck finding a judge that doesn't run a bestiality site."
Wait a minute,
I thought the reason that Linux UI has been kept so craptastically over-complicated was to maintain the exclusivity of the geek culture club that can handle it.
"Of course we could give this a decent UI, you know, we know how to uh huh, but uh what would be the point of that?"
Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
Geek culture can't really die or be popular, because what makes geeks will never go away, nor will it become the norm (unless evolution takes over here, or perhaps there's a monumental societal shift). What makes geeks is a confluence of intelligence, inquisitiveness, and an affinity for certain topics. Not many people will have these traits, but some always will.
People aren't going to care about things like Open Source software for the same reasons geeks do, for example. Whenever OSS has become popular, it's always been for non-geek centric reasons. So as non-geeks take up technology that was the purview of geeks just a few years ago, they aren't becoming geeks themselves. The technology is adapting to the non-geek, not the other way around.
Geeks are outliers, pretty much by definition.
There's nothing 'popular' about thinking for yourself and deciding what it all means to you through a continual process of constant re-evaluation of never-ending and willful learning as opposed to internalization and regurgitation of some commonly accepted societal values and meanings that only have some vague temporal relevance within your local time-space.
Actually - scrap that - seems to me there's nothing 'popular' about thinking. Full stop.
And that's why it will never be pop culture.
I would have a horrible time even defining a single 'geek culture'. Most of the list in the summary I have nothing to do with and no interest in. I don't fit many of the other generalities either (I bathe every day, have sex with my wife often, and have never lived in my parent's basement, and I don't like asian food). But I have no doubt that the label 'geek' fits me. I do my own thing and don't care about fitting into any particular niche -- geek, pop, or otherwise. Honestly, I think this defines a geek more than most anything else -- an individualist. If that is so, it should follow that the culture of individualists will never become 'popular culture', almost by definition.
The whole "This is geek, but that is not..." or "Nerd is that, that and that but certainly not THAT" results from all those being labels imposed by others.
Geek, nerd, dork, four-eyes... those were all insults thrown at those who were... well... different.
Those who were "barking" them didn't bother to clearly define them no more than they would define how exactly to accommodate the suggestion to "go fuck yourself". I mean, couple of ideas do come to mind, but is that really what they were suggesting? And where would I get that much strawberry jello?
It was a fucking insult. With time it got turned into a badge of distinction. Even honor to some.
There was no "7th council of nerd, geeks, dorks and other rejects". No rules were defined.
Whoever wants to define themselves as any of those labels is fine by me - as long as they don't expect of me to like everything else they like because we share one or two points of mutual preference.
And as long as we are listing preferences - I to build and fix computers (and other stuff) and love science. Any preference I had for chemistry was killed by my high-school teacher.
Never was any good at sports. I like some anime (mostly on the SF side), some comic books (actually, I prefer some comic books writers), most sci-fi, some fantasy and I too haven't ever played D&D (no local players).
Does all that make me more or less of a nerd than you? Don't know, don't really care.
But I do have a lower Slashdot ID. And more importantly, mine is prettier.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
Of those of u who blah blah blah dont need to be sterotyped to feel good being a nerd, would you give up your sub 10000 /. account number if you have/had one?
I for one wouldn't and have tried to find some1 selling their /. account on ebay. And is wanting a sub 10000 /. account any worse than insisting on keeping one?
Not to sound elitist, but the dumb bimbo bitches I see in lecture hall chatting on Facebook are not geeks. They are still dumb bimbo bitches, just with a Web 2.0 platform to spew their idiocy.
Misogynist
3. An adjective describing a person who takes a dislike to females. Usually losers. Pokes at them, makes derogatory remarks about them, and really don't connect to females on a mental level. Misogynist
Going by this argument, the crucial key to popularizing geek culture would be getting geeks to reproduce, which may pose a slight difficulty...
These articles are so dumb. Something like geek culture can't be clearly made sense of in an essay. Non-fiction is a horrible medium for explaining social phenomenon, just look at sociology, the saddest excuse for a 'science' in academia. A documentary might work, but essay. . .probably not. Because an essay seeks to be conclusive and there's not much conclusive about social behavior. It's always tendencies and trends. People are individuals, so describing group behavior is a fool's errand because there will always be those who buck the trends.
Read a work of fiction written by a geek about geeky characters. Or just go out in the real world and meet some geeks (or just visit Slashdot). Those are much better ways to understand "geek culture" than measuring the Spider-Man movies' success.
My take (which is just as horribly flawed as the article): Pop culture is dead. Who's the biggest rock star in the world right now? Mick Jagger by ticket sales, Lil Wayne by album sales; but neither, really. There's no longer a single sensation the majority of Americans follow. Ever since the late 90s, there hasn't been a music style or movie genre or philosophy to define the current generation. The internet has given people access to explore their own interests with an endless amount of possibilities.
Geek isn't a term you can objectively define. In an upscale neighborhood the kid that programs is a geek. In a rough neighborhood the kid that plays too many video games is a geek. I guess the closest definition I could make would be 'a social outcast who becomes absorbed in uncommon hobbies.' So, pretty much it's just a term for introverts.
"From the depths of my skeptical and rationalist soul, I ask the Lord to protect me from California touchie-feeliedom."
geek culture was pop culture, it was pretty much the done way of doing things to be a geek, or worker etc....
But slowly but surly, advertising and consumerism has taken over and geeks are now called autistic.
thank God the internet isn't a human right.
Bah humbug! Geekdom may or may not pay attention to popular culture. Many of us geeks are totally indifferent and ignore this flatulent blast of stupidity. What is popular "culture" anyway? Tits wiggling on a video screen?? Stuff and nonsense.
So, it means we must have some value after all, imaginary at least...
I thought I was just playing D&D and fiddling with computers because I liked things like D&D and computers. I didn't know there was a culture to uphold.
ubuntu is pretty simple to use, and kubuntu with kde has all the pretty graphics you could ever want.
There is a definite difference between the geek, one who digs into the minutiae just for the fun of it, and technology users.
Society is made better due to more communication, even if it is just chat. But being able to post on FB, even on /. using tags, is not geeky.
"What luck for the rulers that men do not think." - Adolph Hitler
.....porn writer. Oh! I must not be a geek after all! YEEEEHAAAAA!!!!!
Cute geek chicks completly rock the casbah.
What makes anyone think the geeks want to be a part of the filthy pop culture. Argh.
Gee culture, we never die, we just multiply.
And integrate...et al.
The title of geek does not belong just to those who "loves comics, imports video games, and can build their own computers" and play DnD. Let's grow up; it's not 1990 anymore so let's widen our view. Besides, Geeks have existed in many types, and each one having their own set of technical skills. Though it seems like this crowd has integrated the word "geek" into their self identity and can't possibly deal with someone else using the word differently. In doing so they have to fight any new idea of "geekdom" fiercely, lest they loose their identity
I propose that there are infinite fields of geekdom. I believe that while there is a form of geekdom in playing DnD there is also a large chunk of geekdom in being a model train geek or an investment geek. One does not define the other. And being a geek in one field does not make you a geek in the other field.
Basically, stop throwing a tizzy over other people using the word geek. Get more specific about who you are; not more territorial
I am just trying to figure out when Patton Oswalt became the authoritative opinion on geek culture. I thought Geek culture was always evolving, learning new things before anyone else knew what it did. To me, its just one opinion of a comedian
I'm shocked, shocked, to hear that reality and Hollywood's depiction of it may not be congruent. Be still my heart.
Nate
Perhaps this cult can still be referred to as hacker culture, since geek culture lost its sense.
Recently, I stumbled on the perfect phrase for this story. It's in French, so here's my rough translation: "To those who call themselves geeks because they own an iPhone/iPad: I'm not a farmer simply by having a bottle of milk."
Source: http://twitter.com/hugolaporte/statuses/28308683112849408
Bah.
Those are consumer droids.
True geeks make their own maps, their own material.
Where they go, they don't need roads.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
I would say that CNN is probably incorrect and Patton Oswalt has a more realistic view of the current State of Geek we are in. What is really popular right now? Whats the new big thing people are into? Maybe its because I recently saw a Michael Cera movie but it seems to me that we are in this year and the last few years. Look at the popularity of "The Big Bang Theory." Now, I know what youre thinking. Look at the populatiry of "The Big Bang Theory" versus Jersey Shore. Snooki even has a book deal... which hurts my soul to type. But we are making headway and people are finding us less annoying, and more "quirky."
Of course there will always be geeks, regardless of what Patton Oswalt says. Sure, more people think Star Wars is cool now but as society begins to like what we like, what is een as nerdy or geeky changes. I still know very few people who can build their own computer even though Maximum PC puts out a new How-To guide every other week. But now, we have changed what is really geeky. I recently built a computer with a 30GB SSD and 6 2TB HDDs, installed OpenSolaris on it for RAID-Z2 and its half full of anime.
But I like the idea of the Geek coming into vogue and not being so geeky. Without it, we wouldn't have things like Scott Pilgrim Versus the World movie, would we? No, it wouldn't be profitable. We need to embrace the idea that nerd-dom is becoming popular. All thsi cool new stuff i buy from thinkgeek is all thanks to our loves and passions becoming popular and lucrative. Where would my pizza cutter shaped like the Starship Enterprise be without the masive popularity of Star Trek? A wish in the back of my mind. An itch I cant scratch of wanting something I cant have.
Popular culture is popular because it appeals to the most people.
Geek culture is geeky because it appeals to the IQ 120+ crowd.
A large percentage of the population will never get geek culture, so it will never be popular.
I resent the idea that I have a lot of D20 manuals in my bookshelf. My favourites are Ars Magica and the two Swedish role playing games Coriolis and Drakar och Demoner from Riotminds. I find the gaming dynamics in Dungeon and Dragons to be pretty boring.
The classical definition of Geek is "a carnival performer who performs sensationally morbid or disgusting acts".
The modern geek still carries a lot of the aspects of the shocking carnival performer, they specialise in specific aspects of life, generally to the detriment of Mainstream acceptance.
Role Playing Geeks, Computer Geeks, Comic Geeks, Language Geeks, Automotive Geeks, Art Geeks, Sports Geeks, they are all little niches of people who neglect the mainstream in favour of their own special interests. The Internet has allowed these niches to grow and crystallise into communities. The size and increased visibility of these communities makes them greater targets for Mainstream marketing.
The fractured nature of geekdom means that there will always be geek culture of some sort. The specialised nature of geekdoms mean that they will never be mainstream.
Ubuntu is very nice to use as AC said, and surprise surprise, it's now the most popular distro, and being sold with Dell netbooks (at least, last time I checked). Having Linux on phones and tablets will hopefully help to get people interested.
I don't want them interested just so that I feel accepted - I don't care much what others think of my desktop choice, why should I? I want them interested so that we can get the latest games and software without jumping through hoops. I don't really have anything against commercial closed source software, as long as it's good.
ffs Slashdot, why do I have to use <em> for italics rather than <i>?
which is totally what she said
Being a nerd or a geek, to me, was not in the first place about liking Dungeons & Dragons or computers. It was about getting the shit beaten out of me, every day, by popular kids. It was about my parents telling me I deserved to be beaten up, because I was weak and effeminate. It was about the first-grade teacher angrily sending me back to the classroom on my first day in a new school because I didn't know what "offsides" or "first down" meant. (I'm still not sure what "first down" means.) It was about school administrators calling me in to the office and asking me what I was doing to provoke other kids into beating me up, and how I could change so that I would stop provoking them.
Being a geek was about enjoying reading because it was my own private pleasure that no one could take from me, except that one time another kid took my book and tore it up. It was about spending hours in the safety of the library. It was about spending hours alone at the creek, watching the aquatic insects, and identifying them from a guidebook. It was about learning to fly a plane via Flight Simulator II, even though I never got a driver's license and could barely handle a bicycle. It was about teaching myself to program in BASIC, years before I knew anyone else with a computer.
Dungeons & Dragons was about being in a forest or a cave, finding secrets, finding out that you mattered because you had potential. My first encounter with it, and still my lasting image of it, was seeing the title page illustration from the First Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook, of a wise old gnome, sitting on a giant die beneath a tree, peacefully smoking a pipe and reading a book. Why was he smiling? What did he know? Could I ask him, somehow?
So I'm married and have stepsons now. The older is fourteen, plays volleyball and tennis, skateboards, plays World of Warcraft and Halo III with his friends, and is constantly exchanging text messages with his girlfriend. Once, he said he and his friends were "cool geeks." Lucky for him, he'll never fully understand what an oxymoron that is.
There was some sickness in children's culture in the 1980s, and I can't entirely account for it. The good parts, the semi-popular culture that has gradually become more popular, is not the full story.
And when "all these people" are using -- nay, customizing -- Eclipse, then they will also be geeks.
Real geeks implement their own custom version of vim in elisp!
If you're a furry and you hang around other furries all the time, you're probably going to have an inaccurate perception that being a furry is more popular and accepted than it really is.
You'd be surprised, actually...
I'm a furry, have been since 1995, and I can't recall a single instance where I had a bad reaction from anyone in real life: friends, family, strangers, fellow students, coworkers, you name it. Maybe the people who would have a bad reaction to it just stayed away from me, but I doubt that.
Of course a lot is about how you present yourself, too. I'm gay as well, and hardly ever had negative reactions to that, either (other than from 13 year olds, and certain religious fundamentalists) - but then when I talk to people about it, I don't try to come on to them or show them pornographic pictures or anything like that. I'm still the same perfectly normal, likeable guy I always am.
Same goes for being furry, too. Sure, I like anthropomorphic animals, and I don't hide it. If people are curious, I may show them some comics (say, Sabrina Online), or the photos I took at my last con, or even my tail (yes, I have one - no fursuit, though). I'm not gonna show them any pictures of shitting dicknipples.
But yeah, I've never had a bad reaction. And based on my own experience, I think it's you that has the inaccurate perception - if you only ever hang around 4chan-ers and the like, of course you're gonna get the idea that furries are universally hated. But in reality? Far from it - some people like them, some people hate them, and the vast majority of people don't know them and will usually react very well when they learn about it, as long as you don't freak them out on purpose.
Sorry for getting on the soapbox, but I think this needed to be said.
These kind of labels (geek,loser...) don't exist outside the US.
If anyone watched the introduction to Blizcon this year Metzen did a great speech which I enjoyed where he would say "Geek is..." and then show a picture of something classic like a screenshot from a game, or a toy, and you'd hear the crowd react in different waves to the image. Then I realised the simple fact that I watched Blizcon is mostly what makes me a geek
Sheldon isn't more of a living embodiment of OCD than he's a geek. On a TV show it makes for great comedy, in real life it'd drive you c-r-a-z-y. I have a buddy that's 1/10th of Sheldon and that's plenty...
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
I believe "geek" was derived from "gook" which was perjorative for the enemy Vietnamese in the Vietnam war.
I believe "nerd" was derived from the other "n-word" which is also perjorative.
I confront people when they call others "geek" and "nerd" and tell them they are insults.
They have come to mean "unattractive", "socially inept", and "technically competent".
I tolerate this "news for nerds" crap on slashdot since there is otherwise useful information on slashdot.
I am continually suprised by people who refer to themselves as "people persons" with "outstanding social/management
skills" who then proceed to use the terms "nerd" and "geek" in the next sentence. I hold that my social skills are
more advanced than theirs as I have not punched them out for this. I merely point out that "nerd" and "geek" are derogatory terms
for "Tech" people and "Engineers". I also point out that I consider labeling someone a derogatory term a hostile act.
If it does not stop immediately, I retaliate within the bounds of the law.
On the bright side, more girls are wearing thick rimmed glasses with ironic t-shirts and letting their hair down in an attempt to look semi-geeky/hipster. I can't be the only one who is enjoying that change in style can I?
Motorcycles, Robots, Space Gossip and More!
If you can't write code you're just a scene whore in my trollish opinion. Otherwise you're basically just Whil Wannabe Wheaton hanging out with a bunch of fucking nerds throwing dice. Don't try and spin it like you're a God because you buy shirts from Think Geek and go to Pax in your dickwolf shirt. Pick up a C++ book and become a real man. Hell, at least try to do some Ruby. It's the VB of the Open Source world.
Tiger Blooded Bi-Winning Machine
Your mom.
... from wayne's world.
"Was it Kierkegaard or Dick Van Patten who said, 'If you label me, you negate me'?"
They identify as a group which prefers to avoid the most heavily advertised brands and trends. You call them "hipsters" which is their identity as you have named and categorised their identity.
Blar.