Ah, thanks. Perhaps I misused the word "condescending" then. Maybe I meant "patronizing"? English isn't my strong hand. I didn't mean he wasn't being as nice as he should (I agree with you that turning off that filter makes a clearer message).
What I meant is that I think he's wrong, in particular the assumption about non-nerds and their intelligence. It's his limitation not to see that intelligence can be applied to different goal functions than his, not theirs.
"What I meant is that I think he's wrong, in particular the assumption about non-nerds and their intelligence."
Totally agree here. Remember the title is "Why Nerds Are Unpopular" and patronising, condescending is an apt description if you look at it from point of view. If you studied the brain of a nerd as described in this article, I'd characterise the nerd brain in the following way. A brain is high in acetylcholine (high level of focused learning), lower in serotonin (lower level of socialisation and dominance) and possibly higher levels of dopamine (reward learning system) for learning abstract things as opposed to a stylised non-nerd.
If you look at this neural level, I'd imagine nerd brains are highly geared to chasing focused learning of technical subjects at the expense of people.
What I meant is that I think he's wrong, in particular the assumption about non-nerds and their intelligence. It's his limitation not to see that intelligence can be applied to different goal functions than his, not theirs.