“What I’m saying is that this does set me apart. One of the most frightening things about your true nerd, for many people, is not that he’s socially inept – because everybody’s been there – but rather his complete lack of embarrassment about it.”
“Which is still kind of pathetic.”
“It was pathetic when they were in high school,” Randy says. “Now it’s something else. Something very different from pathetic.”
“What, then?”
“I don’t know. There is no word for it. You’ll see.”
- Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon
I’ve been saying for years that the geeks shall inherit the earth. That day is here and now.
Being a nerd/geek is very far from pathetic these days, we hold the keys to the way the world works. If we put our minds to it we could bring the whole thing down around everyone elses ears. We are the Atlases of the 21st century and woe betide the world if we should decide to shrug.
With those shoulders, can anyone tell if you shrug?
Of course there’s a name for it. Absolute geekness is named Sheldon Cooper.
So you say your John Galt? Prove it!
Of course, that should have been “you’re”, not “your”. Oh, well.
Shrugging requires enough social skills to organize.
If only one person shrugs, no one notices.
Writing endless tracts, an bloviating about the “power” of nerds is fun … but if you can’t organize, you can’t effect ANY political change.
Politics is all about dealing with polities, like it or not.
“Shrugging requires enough social skills to organize.”
No, we have Twitter now.
One of my favourite books of all time. Cryptology, Cryptography, Data mines, MacArthur, the Turing machine, Nazi gold, 19th Century American furniture and the joys of cold milk and cereal all in one wildly amazing thrill ride of insanity and probability theory. Sensational!
If only one person shrugs, no one notices.
And if 50 million people do it, it doesn’t matter if it has a logo or not.