More TV Phones
Tim Berners-Lee Demonstrates Prior Art Against Eolas Patent

Will The Popularity Of Geekdom Harm Society?

Culture

from the it's-everywhere dept

Wed, Oct 29th 2003 1:52am — Mike Masnick
Last week, we wrote about how being a geek was cool. Now, a writer for Salon is wondering if mainstream geek coolness is bad for society. While pointing out all the obvious non-geek, non-dork celebrities who claim they're also geeks and dorks, he wonders if the typical geek-motivation will be gone. The idea is that most geeks were outcasts - and the many things created by geeks were a result of that isolation. If being a geek is cool, and geeks get invited to all the cool parties, then the motivation to create crazy new things goes away, and society is at a loss. Someone seems to be worried a little too much by this. As "cool" as geekdom seems these days, there are still plenty of outcasts, and they'll still have the motivation to discover whatever geeky things they discover. Just because some stuff that was once geeky is now cool, it doesn't mean there aren't other geeky pursuits.
5 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. identicon
    dorpus, 29 Oct 2003 @ 2:48am

    How about Prep Geekdom?

    During the 80s, the preppy geek who tied his cashmere sweater around his neck, wore docksiders was in. Now he's as out as leg warmers.

    I would say there has always been the crowd of shallow geeks who pretend to be intellectual, but really plan on becoming bankers or lawyers.

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Bill, 29 Oct 2003 @ 6:42am

    not.

    I don't buy the premise. Tech might be considered cool, but nerds aren't suddenly popular and probably won't ever be. TV-news-on-paper USA Today wrote a fluff piece that is but a fart in the wind to the greater reality.

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    BoilerBob, 29 Oct 2003 @ 8:03am

    Geek vs. Introvert

    This is self serving and pompous. It's assuming that all introverted geeks are really extroverts longing to be invited to parties. There will always be introverts that would rather stay home and invent then go out and be the life of the party. Just because the write must be an extrovert doesn't mean that what everyone is striving to be.

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Ben There, 29 Oct 2003 @ 8:39am

    cool geeks

    Geeks will not get absorbed into the dominant culture, they are too repulsive. They crave isolation, and so will become even more filthy, poorly dressed, and socially inept. They will study even more arcane books from which to derive indecipheral references during conversation, which will be limited due to their poor dental hygene. They will live with their moms until 30 and beyond, and never talk to girls. Don't worry.

    [ link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 29 Oct 2003 @ 9:22am

    All Human Progress is to Get Laid

    I can't remember what commedian did a routine on this - maybe Tim Allen - but the basic premise is that guys who built bridges, invented computers and put men on the moon (and they were 99% guys) did it to impress women so they could get laid.

    "See that bridge? I designed it!"

    Whether it works or not is open to debate, but I have found flattery and flowers work pretty well and take a lot less effort.

    [ link to this | view in thread ]


More TV Phones
Tim Berners-Lee Demonstrates Prior Art Against Eolas Patent
Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

Friday

19:39 Important Announcement: Techdirt Is Migrating To A New Platform (0)
More arrow

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.