
We’re All Nerds Now - eelke
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/14/sunday-review/were-all-nerds-now.html
======
spindritf
No, we're not, at last not in the original meaning. Nerd used to mean someone
obsessed and therefore knowledgeable about something (book nerd, comic nerd,
or... The War Nerd[1]). Later geek took over that meaning and nerd moved
towards someone socially awkward but smart.

Owning a smartwatch, reading a best seller novel, or watching a blockbuster
doesn't make anyone a nerd. Not any more than wearing aviator sunglasses makes
me a pilot. Which is actually what nerd tends to mean now, a style, a fashion
fad inspired by the original.

Ironically, yet also completely predictably when you think of it, the original
demographic is starting to look down on the nerd interests of yesteryear. You
can read very dismissive (and downright insulting but that's a given) comments
about anime and computer gaming on 4chan of all places.

[1] [http://exiledonline.com/cat/war-nerd/](http://exiledonline.com/cat/war-
nerd/)

~~~
rglullis
Maddox said it best in "You're not a nerd, geeks aren't sexy and you don't
"fucking love" science."[1]

 _People love science in the same way they love classical music or art.
Science and "geeky" subjects are perceived as being hip, cool and
intellectual. So people take a passing interest just long enough to glom onto
these labels and call themselves "geeks" or "nerds" every chance they get. I
feel a sharp pang in my head every time some moron on Twitter or Facebook says
something like "i'm doing my homework i'm such a nerd LOL!!!" Wrong, fuck
belch. You're not a nerd for doing your assigned homework; you're doing it
because you have to, not because you want to. That'd be like saying, "I'm
eating food, I'm such a foodie, LOL!!!" Since when did it become cool to label
yourself a "nerd" anyway?_ (...)

 _If you have to tell people you 're a nerd, chances are you're not. Nerds
don't have to advertise their status. We know. Being a nerd is a byproduct of
losing yourself in what you do, often at the expense of friends, family and
hygiene. Until or unless you've paid your dues, you haven't earned the
right—or reason—to call yourself a nerd. Being a nerd isn't graceful or
glorious. It's a life born out of obsessive dedication to a craft, discipline
or collecting some stupid shit that only you care about._

[1]:
[http://thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=youre_not_a_nerd](http://thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=youre_not_a_nerd)

------
toby
Heh, I recently posted this on Facebook:

As I spent a sunny Sunday working through Project Euler problems in Haskell, I
got a little sad that the word "nerd" has been re-appropriated to people who
like video games ($100billion industry) or Star Wars (3rd highest grossing
film of all time) or people who like phone apps (everyone in SF).

Is there a new word that's been invented to take its place?

------
calvins
Being perceived as an intellectual of any type (nerd or otherwise) still
mostly excludes one from public office above a certain level (in the USA, at
least). Until that changes, it's difficult to take the idea seriously.

~~~
jacalata
You don't think constitutional law professors are perceived as intellectuals?

~~~
calvins
Obama was elected despite being an intellectual. And I did think of Obama and
carefully phrase my statement to account for him. The point stands that
_intellectual_ is a dirty word in politics, just like _nerd_ , which wouldn't
be the case if we were all becoming nerds.

------
_random_
"...the maker of Minecraft and one of the last independent gaming
companies..." \- LOL, what?

"...right now I have three devices — my phone, my Kindle, my iPod..." \-
worlds most consumer-friendly devices. So nerdy.

Reminds me of a South Park classic:
[http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=flippity-
flop...](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=flippity-floppity-
floo)

~~~
TillE
> one of the last independent gaming companies

I wish I could say it's astonishing that journalists writing for a major paper
would just casually make shit up for no reason (because it sounds good, I
guess?), but that's the generally rotten state of journalism for you.

------
chiph
I think there needs to be a distinction (when using the term Nerd) between
people who use technology, and those who create it. Users of technology are
more commonly called "Customers". Or "Consumers" in the new parlance. Whereas
traditional Nerds are far more deeply involved with the technology, and grok
it in it's fullness as they combine it into things never before seen.

~~~
riffraff
I think "lusers" was the word used sometime ago for the people who use
technology without understanding it :)

~~~
Widow
Well that's not elitist or anything.

~~~
riffraff
well, elitism _was_ part of the thing.

Please note I am merely reporting what I remember was the most common way to
refer to non tech savvy people.

This is the same culture that gave us LART, PEBKAC, cluebat, and of course the
BOFH.

Interestingly enough, in italian we used "utonto" as a blend of "utente"
(user) and "tonto" (dummy, simpleton), showing the feeling was shared across
language barries within similar groups.

------
BendertheRobot
IMHO, I must respectfully disagree. It is easy for non-nerds to try defining
nerds in their own image.

This is true especially for journalists. They have a conflict of interest in
the matter.

Their interest is to sell content online or in the newspapers. To appeal to
people's self-aggrandizement is a very powerful motivation in this case.

Is that what Mr Cohen is doing? At a glance that's not certain. However with
regard to this opinion piece, reviewing definition of terms and how they are
used, looking for logical fallacies, reviewing the background of people being
interviewed and some healthy skepticism is warranted.

Journalists talking about science and scientists is not equivalent to a
thorough understanding of it.

------
whoisthemachine
sorry, but everybody * is not * a nerd until they're reading articles on beam-
forming with wifi antennas with rapt attention.

------
6d0debc071
I've read a couple of history books, does that make me a historian now then?

What utter bullshit.

------
pocketheyman
>An engineering degree is also no longer a requisite to using technology, as
seemingly anyone today can install a printer or upload a video.

Yikes - does that mean that we all needed engineering degrees to drive cars?

------
vezzy-fnord
I'm not really convinced.

The article's arguments for "geek culture" (might I add there is no such thing
as a homogenous geek culture, but hey) proliferating are:

a) The recent popularity of sci-fi and superhero films.

b) The mass spread of consumer electronics and social media.

c) Computer technology becoming more accessible.

d) The information age enabling us to find trivia at a much faster rate than
ever before.

e) Recent tech company acquisitions. (Twitch, Mojang, Oculus)

\-------------------------

a) is not indicative of any long-term acceptance and popularity of "geekdom".
Sci-fi, superhero and fantasy films have fluctuated in popularity on and off
over the past 40 years. We're simply at another point where they've picked up
again. In fact, the article does mention this quite neatly: "In the past,
there have been plenty of pop culture phenomena nerds could get behind — the
frenzies surrounding the “Star Wars” and “Lord of the Rings” movie franchises
are two potent examples."

This is out, then.

b) is a technological inevitability. It has nothing to do with a spike in
"geekdom". It's just progress, and in fact, one might make an argument that it
is, to some extent, a regression. This is due to the locked down and
obscurantist nature of consumer electronics, which discourage hacking and
where everything is buried under a smoke screen. Social media? The Web is
becoming ever more ubiquitous, so of course social media will as well. Social
media has become more practical due to advances in web technology.

c) is closely related to b). As I stated, it may actually well serve as an
argument against proliferation of "geekdom".

d) This means little, again. People have always been passionate about fiction
they're invested in, so it's only normal that they'll memorize factoids and
trivia. Honestly, if people think the best thing that came out of the
Information Age is being able to look up factoids about television shows, what
a miserable failure it is then.

e) is just tech giants being tech giants. Hurray?

\-----------------------

Finally, I'd like to state that _The Big Bang Theory_ has a rather... mixed
reception, to put it euphemistically. In addition, installing a printer isn't
always so simple. CUPS is nowhere near as bad as it used to be, but I still
find myself having to reset the printer driver for the UI quite frequently, as
it just arbitrarily blocks. I don't know.

And of course, the irony of taking a jab at that "homogenous, sexist geek
culture" while writing about how a very watered down variant of it might be
becoming popular.

------
ProAm
Just like we are all _hackers_ now too. Just a societal fad in today's
participation ribbon receiving culture. Overall it's a good thing though,
helping to push/pull people forward.

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lazylizard
i beg to differ. never has the gap between producer and consumer been so wide.
what the consumer is seeing is getting more and more dumbed down, while the
tech that runs behind the interface is getting more and more complicated.

its like (this is really vague, sorry)..once upon a time you interacted with
your pc via cli..now you get a in-browser webgl game..

or..this certainly is not universal..but those people that have 3 devices
often don't even know how to add a mail account(whats pop3/imap/tls?)..

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chronid
People (outside IT) are not interested in _knowing_ more about tech. For them
technology is nothing more than magic, and they have no problem with that, nor
at work or at home.

Having an iPhone in your hand does not make you a "nerd". It makes you stupid
in my eyes, when I discover you use it only for messaging and calls.

~~~
frostmatthew
> It makes you stupid in my eyes, when I discover you use it only for
> messaging and calls.

I understand what you're trying to say, but I think there are better ways to
say it.

~~~
_random_
Well, people with Androids and WPs know enough to either not call themselves
"nerds" or actually be nerds. But of course he forgot that they would also
play Candy Crush Saga installed by one of the Apple Geniuses.

