Have Geeks Gone Mainstream? 458
An anonymous reader asks: "Recently, I've been seeing more and more news stories about how 'geek' has gone mainstream. There have been a slew of articles with titles like Geek Pride and Geek Chic, which discuss how movies like 'The 40-Year Old Virgin' and 'Napoleon Dynamite', as well as television shows like 'Beauty and the Geek' have made it cool to be a geek. Two pinup calendars of geeks have been released this year, taking advantage of the new mainstream interest in all things geeky. These include the Geek Gorgeous Calendar, which features women who work in the hi-tech industry, and the Girls of Geekdom Calendar, which includes geeks like 'Art Geek' and 'Movie Geek'. So if being a geek has really become cool, why has interest in CS as a major dropped among incoming freshmen and women are still a minority in computer and engineering fields? Is it cooler to pretend to be a geek (wear 'Save Pedro' shirts, etc.) than to really be one?"
Is it cool to pretend to be a geek? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Is it cool to pretend to be a geek? (Score:5, Insightful)
Faking it as a guy is another.
As a real male geek, generally speaking, there is the stereotype of social maladroitness and unkempt appearance. (Not that that's a hard-and-fast rule; you can find male geeks wearing fashionable clothes and three-piece suits, and you can find male geeks who are the life of the party and/or (usually and) have an attractive date. But the stereotype exists for a reason.)
I mean, what the hell are real male geeks good for other than setting up networks, getting you online, removing spyware, deleting viruses, upgrading software, programming the VCR.....
Re:Is it cool to pretend to be a geek? (Score:5, Funny)
Here you go [sun.com]
Re:Is it cool to pretend to be a geek? (Score:3, Insightful)
That's not going to change the way people treat them. Feelings or not, you're still just a walking calculator/encyclopedia/etc.
Re:Is it cool to pretend to be a geek? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Is it cool to pretend to be a geek? (Score:3, Insightful)
Even worse when it's a sunny Saturday afternoon ;-) ...
...but in any case:
So if being a geek has really become cool, why has interest in CS as a major dropped among incoming freshmen and women are still a minority in computer and engineering fields...
I suspect the OP is only seeing part of the picture. I know a lot of heavy-duty geeks who pursue other sciences such as molecular biology (such as myself), chemistry,
Re:Is it cool to pretend to be a geek? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Is it cool to pretend to be a geek? (Score:3, Funny)
Hitler. End of thread.
No, wait...
It's working out (Score:5, Funny)
Truly amazing.
Geek interests (Score:5, Interesting)
Others would probably just be happy to have a woman look at them. You can pull the slashdot stereotype but there really are many varieties of geek.
Whether you're a geek or not... (Score:4, Interesting)
Wearing a "Save Pedro" shirt isn't cool anymore. My youngest brother is in highschool, and probably three quarters of his friends have (and regularly wear) these shirts. When a "fashion" has made it to high school it's no longer cool.
Re:Whether you're a geek or not... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Whether you're a geek or not... (Score:2)
Yes, if you spend some time getting people to sign up. You "pay" nothing, but you have to spend a bit of time and create a spam email account for signing up with. No biggie...
It's "Vote for Pedro" (Score:2)
-everphilski-
Re:Whether you're a geek or not... (Score:2)
You may be off topic, but it echoes my sentiments. I often sit through Dvd's programming away on my latest home project, which tends to irritate the wife a bit. I guess I was using the word "fashion" to mean cool or chic, as the article suggests that the word geek is becoming. Perhaps I should have said "fad" instead.
Unfortunately, I usually drive because the wife likes to play with the laptop/gps/ipod that I taught her how to use! Man, what was I thinking the day I showed her how to do that?
Re:Whether you're a geek or not... (Score:2, Informative)
perhaps... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:perhaps... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:perhaps... (Score:2, Informative)
Geek [wikipedia.org]
Nerd [wikipedia.org]
I agree (Score:5, Insightful)
The kid had various geek stereotypes, sure. Lack of coordination, unshapely body, poor taste in dress, and so on.
But, the kid was not intelligent. That was made obvious. He was in fact less intelligent than most his age. And further, he lived a life full of pretension...he did not have the strong and direct mannerisms from which geeks draw their antisocial stereotypes. Instead he makes up shallow and obviously stupid stories about his exploits, utterly oblivious to how transparent they are.
How does he save himself at the end? By becoming brilliant? NO! By learning to DANCE. TO DANCE!!! What does that have to do with geekdome? Sure there is nothing wrong with it, but dancing is what the NON-GEEKS do to be cool.
If you want to see a REAL geek movie, go watch Real Genius. And maybe read some Larry Niven.
Geekery is defined by sublime levels of self-mastery. Geeks reject social standards which hold no value for them, and cultivate their minds to no end. The power of the human mind is what separates us from lower animals, and the geekly expression of this power places us at the cutting edge of human evolution. This is where the value of geekdom lies.
I would further suggest that geeks are the true authors of the world as we know it. Who invented shampoo? Who designed the intricate networks of pipes that carry our waste neatly away? Who created fine fabrics and devised methods of weaving them into finer clothing? Who created sports cars? Air conditioning? Athletic shoes? Everything, absolutely EVERYTHING that non-geeks love about themselves and their world was created by geeks.
Go geek or go away.
Ok, I am done.
Screw Real Genius (Score:3, Informative)
Re:perhaps... (Score:2, Interesting)
Definition of a geek (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Definition of a geek (Score:5, Informative)
True, but what if... ? (Score:5, Interesting)
Napoleon Dynamite? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Napoleon Dynamite? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Napoleon Dynamite? (Score:2)
Re:Napoleon Dynamite? (Score:2)
I think that you can be a geek, but still not be a dork, or in the same vein, a loser. I think that's what it is these days-- geeks are getting shown to not be losers, but instead are being recognized for their interest in some subject, and lauded for that intelligence.
Napoleon Dynamite was... (Score:2)
-everphilski-
INterst has dropped (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:INterst has dropped (Score:3, Insightful)
I won't post my salary but it's really quite good, in the top 7% of the income in the state. I don't expect my salary to ever decrease; the problem of course can be finding jobs. It's either no job, or a really good paying job. There's not much in between - nobody would hire me for a Help Desk position becuase I'd leave as soon as I g
Re:INterst has dropped (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:INterst has dropped (Score:3, Interesting)
In the second year there were only six of us. Meanwhile the IT course, which was essentially just excel spreadsheets and report writing, was packed out with too many peopl
Re:INterst has dropped (Score:5, Insightful)
IT workers are so much less paid and appreciated than farm workers, landscapers, road construction crews, secretaries, food service etc.
There are a lot of people in this world who feel underpaid and underappreciated. How many times do IT professionals have to ask to use the restroom, or to take a 10 minute break, or have their lunch scheduled to the minute.
The drop in CS majors is more a perception of lack of opportunities, along with social stigma, rather than horrid working conditions and low pay.
Re:INterst has dropped (Score:5, Insightful)
And for that matter, some of the road crews I ahve seen are treated with more respect and better conditions than many of the IT workers I have seen thanks to their unions.
the trades? (Score:4, Insightful)
You know, a skilled tradesman these days will often make more than an IT worker, because there is such a shortage. Six figures, at times. In the north east, anyway.
No, but... (Score:3, Insightful)
True geeks will never go mainstream. They'll (we'll) always be geeks unto our own.
Re:No, but... (Score:5, Insightful)
Just a short time ago, I was sitting around having coffee with a few average (cute, smart-ish, normal) chicks I'm friends with and a couple random guy friends and a couple people most of us didn't know.
In the course of conversation, I said something to the effect of "well, what do you expect - I'm a geek!".
To which one of the cute girls said (as if the words that had just come out of my mouth were something like "I'm a fat disgusting stupid braindead loser")... "Oh no, you are not! Don't be so hard on yourself!".
Seriously. I mentioned completely unashamedly that I'm just your typical geek and the response I got was this sort of consoling "dont' say such terrible things about yourself" kind of comment. She (and she wasn't alone in this) actually thought I was berating myself with such a label.
Geeks have this fucked up notion that the world loves a geek and that everyone sits around and admires the prowess of nerds, dorks and geeks. Guess what? THEY DO NOT. The people out partying and drinking and having a good time with other good looking successful non-geeks see you as someone to do their homework and fix their computers. You are not someone to be in awe of anymore than they should be in awe of the Maytag man or their mechanic.
Hearing people prattle on about how acceptable it is seem pathetic, to me. It's like the biggest group of losers in highschool getting together and saying "hey, we're totally cool! honest!" and believing that because *they* think they're top shit - the whole world does, too.
If you don't believe it, look at the Vonage ad running on Drudgereport right now that says something like "No fees. No installation. No problems. NO NERDS".
I'll proclaim my geekdom around other geeks. People outside of the geek inner circle have no need to know this about me. I'm just a normal person.
Re:No, but... (Score:5, Interesting)
Really, its sort of like saying "Yeah I hacked my box", where the non-geek will take it as what we take to mean "skr1ptk1dd13" crap, when we actually mean, "it didn't work right, so I rewrote my OS" We're so used to talking to ourselves, that we forget that people use these words differently in the real (non
Also, who said you have to be a techie to be a geek? I'm a philosophy geek first, and technology comes second. I think tech is just the primary obsession of geeks since it's easier to tweak/hack/control.
Re:No, but... (Score:5, Insightful)
All nerds who live in their parents basements who have hot girlfriends disagree with you!
I know guys who still live with their parents simply because it makes no financial sense to live on their own, it's just North american cultures obsession with 'independence' that stigmatizes someone still living with their parents. Many people do simply because it is the most rational thing to do, not to mention many of those nerds may be *looking after their parents*. In japan and in other cultures living with your parents is considered very normal, not to mention the huge surplus of money you save and have to spend on what you want not giving it over to your profiteering landlord.
Sure it's nice to be independent. People go ahead and live on their own and fork out that money to their landlord, meanwhile the nerds are enjoying their new HDTV and Xbox 360, while the other guy is considering having to make the choice of one or the other. The basement nerd stigma is ridiculous, these people are still human beings (I can see the jokes coming).
Re:No, but... (Score:2)
I have an excuse, the lady and I are both coughing up phlegm and virii, heh.
You're right though, geeks are still uncool and unchic. Maybe companies are trying to sell geeks as chic in order to get more geeks interested in their products?
As an ex-club owner, I can most definitely tell you that my standard door policy was to never let in people like me. Sell out? Maybe. But you don't pay $15k a month in rent on standards...
It's better to watch stuff, than to do stuff. (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:It's better to watch stuff, than to do stuff. (Score:5, Funny)
Hollywood version (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Hollywood version (Score:5, Insightful)
Im not offended when I am called a geek, but when people with the computer skills of an average 3rd grader are considered computer geeks, hollywood has truly distorted the word.
Re:Hollywood version (Score:3, Insightful)
Wrong shirt (Score:2)
Yeah! (Score:5, Funny)
The Girls of Geekdom's "Computer Geek" (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:The Girls of Geekdom's "Computer Geek" (Score:3, Interesting)
Maybe I'm being defensive here, but as someone who identifies as a geek, I don't believe that geeks have to be sexually inept or oblivious. For heaven's sake, i've got geek friends who swing. I'm a geek, I dance funny, but I know my way around.
I agree that geek won't go mainstream, though. A watered down co-op version will, and then it will die out. But being a geek means truly enjoying and exploring your intellectual abilities, something that you either
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:The Girls of Geekdom's "Computer Geek" (Score:3, Informative)
For the non-geeks. *ahem*
Re:The Girls of Geekdom's "Computer Geek" (Score:2)
"40 Year Old Virgin"? WTF? (Score:5, Insightful)
Notice they didn't make the character a beer-bellied 40-year-old sports fan virgin with a collection of World Series bobbleheads, that's all I'm saying. Don't kid yourselves that geeks are now "cool".
In it for the money (Score:5, Insightful)
The smell (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:The smell (Score:2, Funny)
Geek is a fad | CS isn't the only way to go (Score:4, Interesting)
Having a degree in computer science isn't necessarily the only way to get a computer related job when one graduates college. At my school, there are other computer related majors such as information studies (IS) and management information systems (MIS), which have different roots. I am a female MIS major at my school. The ratio of males to females in my major classes is around 60/40.
I could be a programmer when I graduate, though someone with a degree in CS would typically be more equipped to be able to do a better job than I am. I think most of the MIS girls here are going to be the project manager types as opposed to computar geeks (me). Most of the guys I know who drop out of CS go to IS or MIS (they mostly go IS because it has less prereqs).
Re:Geek is a fad | CS isn't the only way to go (Score:3, Insightful)
I am a computer engineer. I also do consultant work in IT/IS. As a computer engineer in the IT field I manage projects that involve the construction of systems. CS types and MIS types are both crucial in the process of specifying and designing a system that solves a problem. I r
no.. (Score:2)
Give it 5-10 years and we'll see the fad blow over. When it does you'll see
Pocket protectors have been around forever. (Score:2)
If anything, "geekdom," in America at least, is in decline. During the space race, NASA engineers were revered. Now they are the subject of mockery. There was a time when the public was excited about the release of new American cars. And as the summary states, computer science is less enticing to young scholars.
Two
Re:Oddly enough... (Score:2)
Answer: (Score:2)
Re:Answer: (Score:4, Insightful)
Why not many women in CS? (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe because such stupid calendars? When was the last time you saw Linus, Ingo, and Stallman on a pinup calendar? Sure, you will kid about their (esp. Stallman) appearance. But that is my point!! Nobody cares about these male ubergeeks' appearance; why should we care about the female geeks' ?
I, for one, would like to see more sites dedicated to the many female geeks in our community who quietly toil away. The best way to promote geekdom among women is to highlight the women geeks' accomplishments, and not their vital stats. (If there are such sites out there, please post some links).
Geek redefined... (Score:3, Insightful)
The core of being a geek mainstream will never have; the focussed, almost obsessive interest in certain subjects. Mainstream by definition is superficial, throwaway and temporary, geekdom is built on much more substantial foundations such as science, knowledge and a need to understand.
Yes (Score:2)
Being considered a "geek" is almost farcically easy anymore. You don't have to possess a mental lexicon of three-letter abbreviations, write a Z80 assembly program, or even understand how an operating system switches processes. No, nowadays someone is a "geek" for simply making a website or knowing the three-finger salute. It's very accessible, and people like patting themselves on the back for being knowledgable ("a geek") even if they only skim the surface.
Enrollment Drop (Score:5, Insightful)
I started college in 2001 right before the bubble burst (it was just starting). I can't tell you how many idiots there were who entered CS along with me. There were people there who had never used a computer (literally). People who didn't know how to type, people with no math skills (I'm talking sub-algebra), etc. Those people were obviously in it for the money (which they all freely admitted). There was one or two (usually older adults) who decided to do it to learn more ("I don't know anything about computers, and I wanted to learn what made them tick."), but the vast majority were in it for the cash. Even among those who were more qualified, there were many who were in it for the money. You could tell who was who pretty easily. Those with the real passion already knew many things from studying it themselves. Those who wanted the cash tended to do the bare minimum and write horrid code ("As long as it works!").
Now that the bubble has burst, those people aren't there. If you want to compare enrollment numbers, look at the numbers from 1992 or 1995 so (before the bubble). I don't know what those numbers are, but I would think they would be more representative.
From what I hear, bio-med is the new CS. That (along with possibly accounting) is where you go if you want money as it is the new in industry with high pay.
It would be interesting to see how enrollment has changed over the last 10-20 years if you could filter out the gold-diggers. It would still be higher during the bubble from people who went into computers because they found them interesting (as they became more popular, more people became exposed, so more become interested). I'd love to see that.
As to the question "Have geeks gone mainstream"? No. They haven't. They never will. They existed in the '50s. They existed in the '70s. They existed in the '90s. They exist today. That is nearly 60 years and they haven't gone "mainstream" yet. Blacks have gone mainstream in that time (they are no longer outcasts). Gays have gone mainstream (you may say they're not there yet, but they are more than geeks). And geeks existed before the 1950s too. I don't think it will ever happen. We may get some acceptance, some respect, but we're not going to be mainstream. We're never going to see "pro-geeks" like we see "pro-atheletes".
At least not any time soon.
blacks, gays, and geeks, oh my! (Score:3, Insightful)
Geek is like cool (Score:2, Insightful)
This doesn't mean that geek is cool, nor that cool is geek.
Calendar Girls... Would Not Hit It (Score:2)
re: Have Geeks Gone Mainstream? (Score:2)
I can tell you from first-hand experience with females: NO, Geeks have not gone mainstream!!
Fickle Finger of Fate (Score:2)
Austrailians were cool for a while, but you didn't see people running off to that prison. And that was one of those nice club-med style prisons, not some solitary confinement.
Running Out of Ideas (Score:2)
Anyone remember the anti-Soviet propaganda? "Do you want to wear all the same clothes, and eat at the same restaurants, and stand in line just to go to the same store?" Well, there'll be about 50,000 kids tomorrow wearing the same "retro" t-shirts, waiting outside IKEA, venti pumpkin-spice latte in hand.
Emo kids, goths, urban kids, etc., are always looking for someone "cool" to imitate. How many people will you see tomorrow with the same uniform on - trucker ca
True "geekdom" ain't mainstream (Score:5, Insightful)
For example, I was once out to dinner with several people in a business setting. The subject of high school sports came up. Five guys at the table spent the better part of an hour discussing divisions, rules, team rivalries, and the intricacies of who plays whom in what division/playoff/etc. They could discuss all the rule changes over the past 20 years and the pros/cons of it. You could have called them sports geeks, but that's a contradiction in terms in my opinion. Most people could at least follow the conversation or understand it or even have some remote interest in it.
Now imagine if that conversation instead was about FreeBSD vs. NetBSD vs. OpenBSD. Imagine if the conversation was about P2P software and the law. Imagine if 5 guys sat around discussing Ruby on Rails vs. Java. Imagine if 5 guys talked about modding a VW to hold a Mac. Most people would yawn or find it too technical or, well, geeky.
For that reason, true "geekdom" can never be mainstream.
welll.... (Score:2)
CS is down as a major because people plan to do crazy shit like give laptops to every kid [wired.com]. We're going to end up with 1 Billion computer programmers on the planet, all earning $3/hr.
That said, we'll probably keep geekin' it up. Not only is it fun, but if she's that big of a BSD fan [uberg33k.com], we're damn well going to try to get our contributions into
Of course attendance is dropping (Score:3, Insightful)
First it was the H1B, then it was offshoring. The damage that these two have done to the field can never be recovered. The ironic part is now that so many people are dropping out of school or refusing to go to school for these fields now for these reasons that actually may be a genuine shortage in several years. Combine these with the fact that it's very difficult for an entry to mid level person to get a job without experience in the exact version of a product and you have successfully doomed the IT field in the US.
Too bad the US doesn't have apprentice programs such as they use in Germany.
Mistaken Assumptions by the Media (Score:5, Insightful)
Flash forward to the looney world of today and geekiness has been redefined. Geeks now have an edge. If they are female, maybe they wrap their slighlty overweight figures in goth clothes instead of the traditional sweater and ill fitting jeans. They use Manic Panic hair dye and shop at Hot Topic where they get their pseudo-fetish garb. They have "attitude" because they now know that the world is their oyster. The guys ditched the glasses for contacts and the pocket protectors for gadgets. They all listen to emo. Or at least, this is what the media wants you to believe.
Many of today's geeks as defined by and in the media (both self professed and knighted) aren't really geeks at all. They're still kids trying to fit in and choosing yet another fashion fad that tries, but fails, to be truly self-deprecating. And the interests of these so-called geeks are no longer unpopular. Video gaming? I think that pretty much knocks out the interest in popular music that used to be the hallmark of teen life. Role playing games? There are lots more people who are into them these days and they have that "edge" that the originals lacked. Graphic Novels? The only thing geeky about that activity is the interaction with the sneering comic book guy jackass who runs the store where they are sold.
Computers? Ahhhh yes. Computers. There are so many people who mistakenly assume that someone who can fix a minor problem or tweak a Windows box is a "computer geek". Ask one of these "geeks" how to tell if they are being scanned via the command prompt and you'd likely get a blank stare. People who can use Windows at even a moderately advanced level are not "geeks". They are simply people who have learned how to use a mainstream appliance. The number of e-mail addresses or IM clients one has does not make them a geek. It's a lot like calling people in the 80s who could actually set their VCR and Microwave oven clocks, "geeks". basic computer usage is no longer a qualifier to the title geek.
Gadgets? One of the BIGGEST mistaken assumptions by the masses and the media is the confusion between a geek and a "gadget guy". It's an easy one to make because most people are bewildered by gadgets and assume that mastery of these devices MUST be a geeky persuit. Of course, they are wrong. Ownership of a large screen television, two cell phones with bluetooth, a PDA, pager and home theater set up do not endow one with "geekiness". Tragically, the gadget guy is simply a conspicuous consumer with nothing better to do than attempt to master these machines and thereby appear "geeky" to the less perceptive. Most gadget guys tend to be office workers with little or not actual technical or scientific background at all. The true geek BUILDS his own A/V gear. He eschews the big box stores like Best Buy and prefers to scour the internet for circuit diagrams for the latest audio amp and then orders the parts to build it from Digikey. Do not think that because you can plug in a brand new SATA or IEEE1384 adapter card that you are a geek. The real geeks you went to school with would laugh their horkly little nasal passages away at the notion that one considers themselves a geek for using a PnP PCI card. No sir... back in the day, it was editing CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT and making sure you had enough free memory in the right spots. Today, as horrible as PnP can be, it's still child's play compared to what REAL geeks were do
Image (Score:5, Insightful)
I remember back when I was in High School there were a lot of kids wearing the latest skateboarding fashions. Now I feel the way I did then - "I got the crap kicked out of me for being who I was, and now someone else is popular pretending to be me. WTF?"
Part of it (Score:5, Insightful)
Although I do have to admit, for those of us guys who only are attracted to geek girls...this is certainly bringing in some fresh blood. The funny thing is, while they want to pretend to be like us, they don't really want to be us. They don't have the same interests that we do, they just have an interest in our subculture. Original geeks flocked together because of their geeky interests, these people are flocking to us now because of the media attention.
anyone smart enough to be a real geek (Score:5, Insightful)
- say "fuck it", go for an MBA, and maybe write Open Source code in her spare time
- go country shopping... very possibly, start by looking for foriegn institutions of higher learning
The "mainstreaming of geeks" is basically pop culture adjusting to the idea of "geeks" making serious money... just in time to catch the tail end of the trend. "Geek chic" is bullshit, at the end of the day, it's about making a living.Geeks (Score:3, Funny)
A geek is a guy who has everything going for him, but he's just too young. By contrast, a nerd will be a nerd all of his life.
- John Hughes, film director
2 points (Score:5, Insightful)
2) A college professor I know from a local user group says that 'typing speed has become macho'. That is, once a thing used to measure secretary pools is now used as bragging rights among teen boys in the context of who can type more words while fragging their opponent in an FPS.
Geeks went mainstream several years ago, when instead of being the character that was picked on, they became either the hero of the film (Jurassic Park, Independence Day), or the character you empathise with (Napolean Dynamite, Office Space, or heck - even Revenge of the Nerds).
-db
Comment removed (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes, but for 5+ years now (Score:3, Insightful)
If anything, I think there's a new breed of geek: the person who isn't as introverted as stuck in his or her ways as classic geeks tend to be. And from that point of view, Slashdot is more of an old-geek magnet, something to be chuckled at for it's quaint naiveness, much like Wired.
CS down, but what about other "geek" majors? (Score:3, Interesting)
I have no idea myself.
Psuedo geeks (Score:3, Insightful)
Sitting and home and coding or working out physics problems for fun is just as rare as it has always been.
Geek, Nerd - 4 letter words akin to Nigger for me (Score:3, Interesting)
And I think the rest of you are a bunch of Uncle Tom type loosers to have "adopted" the words yourselves.
When I was young these were words used to denigrate me, make me feel like less of a human being. When other people who would not use those terms to describe themselves - use those terms to describe others - it is NOT complimentary. It is "ooooh look at that strange stupid silly ugly cute thing." It's not quite as vindictivly used as when they were young and immature, but they might as well be saying "OOOH LOOK AT THAT FAT CHICK".
I am not a strange animal to be leered at, made fun of, or ostracised. I am a human being capable of doing some things that most people are not as comfortable doing - and that's it.
I'm a techie. I'm not just another human being, I'm better than they are. But I'm not going to hold it against them. So life didn't deal them the brains or experience to deal with technical things. Big deal.
.
Re:From a historical perspective (Score:2)
Re:Geeks * (Score:2)
Hmmm maybe if we put CS books next to kegs, there would be an increase.
Re:Geeks * (Score:2)
Aside from Slashdot, you and I must visit drastically different websites.
Re:Save Pedro (Score:2)
Vote for Pedro, Save Kevin (Score:3, Funny)
-everphilski-
IF YOU CAN READ THIS, YOU ARE A GEEK! (Score:4, Funny)
Hmmm.... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Don't know if this explanation makes sense, but (Score:2)
From this I take geek = obsessive. Geek = someone who wants to know everything about an aspect of a system.
We, if I'm allowed to be a geek (not CS, not fully science), are intellectuals, we obsess more about theory and knowledge than abou
Re:Don't know if this explanation makes sense, but (Score:2)
Re:CS Monopoly on Geekitude? (Score:2)
Re:Posers! (Score:3, Funny)
A real geek knows the difference between id est and exempli gratia [reference.com].