I think this is valid. Some of us are in the position where all of our friends are non-hackers, and we are the odd ones out. For us, meeting hacker friends is expanding our social horizons.
Personally, I enjoy working with other hackers, but I prefer to socialize/live with mostly artists, musicians or people from some profession that I don't know a lot about so that I can learn from them (living with 2 treasury economists right now). That said, living with another hacker would be awesome!
i agree, but having people that are within the same realm of creativity as you, is like a multiplier effect. Hacker types are like elements that when separated are calm, but as soon as you put them together they get reactive. in the positive way. You will get a lot more insight and knowledge from people that think ahead of the curve, and are real doers.
As for general population, that's what your college buddies/sister/brother/family/normal friends are for. They are easier to find.
I disagree. I was in a fraternity in college and while it was a GREAT time to expand my horizons (I didn't party much in high school) I received almost no social support for my entrepreneurial/hacker tendencies. Most of it was mocked. So I learned valuable social skills and how to persevere without social support but imagine how effective I'd be if I had social support.
Yeah, but what kind of activities were you involved with in the fraternity? Partying and athletics are active certainly, and enjoyable, but not creative.
You want people who are motivated primarily to make things happen. As with what evandavid said, people with artistic interests or who are engaged with a professional career are good, but anyone with a hobby that's more creative than "going out drinking" and more active than "playing videogames" fits the bill--even that guy who spends thousands of dollars hand-crafting historical costumes and goes to a renaissance faire every other weekend is actually out doing something.
The important part is that, at least in my experience, people who are motivated, creative, and actively engaged with what they're doing will (even if only implicitly) support and encourage that mindset in each other, even with widely divergent interests.
