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ZDNet on the Essence of Geek 239

sebFlyte writes "ZDNet has a feature on The Essence of Geek, which looks at the rise of the geek (and the fact that everyone's turning into one), in the years post .com boom." From the article: "For a few years, an interest in computers and technology became inextricable linked with wealth and power -- geek became chic. Technology companies suddenly became the focus of the kind of attention that had been reserved for the music or fashion industries. In the UK TV makers even went so far as to create a hip series, Attachments, based around the antics of a tech start-up."
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ZDNet on the Essence of Geek

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  • by MoxCamel ( 20484 ) * on Tuesday January 17, 2006 @04:46PM (#14493569)
    and the fact that everyone's turning into [a geek]...

    Um...no. Owning an iPod and knowing how to use it doesn't make you a geek. Knowing how to use your Windows smartphone doesn't make you a geek. Discussing mobile phone design doesn't make you a geek, because from tfa, I don't think they were talking about protocols or other engineering aspects. Even knowing how to synchronize your email with your smartphone doesn't make you a geek. It makes you a slave, but not a geek.

    Knowing how to use technical things in the prescribed manner does not make you a geek, any more than knowing the exits on an airplane makes you a flight attendent. Knowing how to use technical things in ways they were never meant to be used makes you a geek. (and this is only one small definition "geekiness.")

    Saying that "we're all geeks" is like saying "everyone is special, just like you."

    Mox

    • by khasim ( 1285 ) <brandioch.conner@gmail.com> on Tuesday January 17, 2006 @04:49PM (#14493610)
      Until the high school cheerleaders start hanging out at the chess club, geek ain't chic.

      This is just about toys. Pre-packaged, nearly idiot proof, toys.
      • by Lord_Dweomer ( 648696 ) on Tuesday January 17, 2006 @05:46PM (#14494250) Homepage
        Honestly I could care less about the cheerleaders. What I'm happiest about with this "geek revolution" is that suddenly...a lot of the things that used to be mocked and uncool are cool. What this does is cause a lot more um...to put it bluntly...HOT girls to hang out with geeky guys because they now share similar interests. I'm talking about things like anime...video games...MMORPGs, etc.

        And yes, I realize there are many people who are attracted to these things because they're suddenly "cool", but many stayed away from them in the past because of the stigma that was attached to them. That stigma is fast disappearing.

        So while we don't get to feel all special because we're into the things that are now mainstream, I for one welcome it. I'm excited that I get to enjoy my hobbies with a wider range of people now and not be looked at funny when I mention them.

        • Whatever else you might think of Bill Gates, you gotta admire a geek that becomes a billionaire. That is a large part of why geek is no longer stigmatized.
          • The guy I admire is this "Eric Reynolds", who according to TFA wrote some open source manifesto called "The Cathedral and the Bazaar". He sounds like a real hacker's hacker... no mere geek, y'know.

            Or maybe I just admire ZDNet's ability to publish pure tripe and get it to the front page of Slashdot.

            Or maybe not.

        • HOT girls to hang out with geeky guys because they now share similar interests. I'm talking about things like anime...video games...MMORPGs, etc.

          that hot elf babe you picked up on wow -- she's not a girl. i know she sent you some 'pics' of her at her 'porn site' but dude, it's just a guy fucking with your head ;)
        • And yes, I realize there are many people who are attracted to these things because they're suddenly "cool", but many stayed away from them in the past because of the stigma that was attached to them. That stigma is fast disappearing.

          Well, maybe it's just about the adoption of a new industry. 20 years ago, the video game, as well as the computer industry were at their infancy. Now that technology has progressed to the point where it's interesting and entertaining to adopt the new tech for non-tech people, it
        • Your value system may be changing with age but:
          Kids are still punished for their desire to learn in school
          Jocks are still lauded throughout society, not just high school

          BUT as we age, those things that were derided early on (book l'arnin', etc) allow "us geeks" to rise up much farther than the fat-head jock wrestlers who had their moments of glory in high school.

          Geeks peak later.
          And for grins, I'm posting the lyrics to Friends Forever by the Old 97s because it's a fantastic nod to the outcasts in high

      • by packeteer ( 566398 ) <packeteer@sub d i m e n s i o n . com> on Tuesday January 17, 2006 @05:46PM (#14494251)
        Everyone may be turning into a geek but on slashdot we are still all just dorks.
      • you would be suprised at how "geeks" are looked upon by your average girl, no matter what any news article or study says. notice i said your everyday normal girl, hot or not. Sure there are girls here and there that do web design, do a little gaming, and know how to do more on their computers other than IM, add to her 'myspace' and type something up in Word, but for the most part girls are right brained..fascinated by art, fashion & design, cooking, interior design and other things that fall closely int
    • "I just want you to know, that you are very, very special. Just like everyone else."

      I think that's pretty much on the mark. I do think that, in general, knowing how to use something doesn't put you into a different mold... a more apt example would be: knowing how to drive doesn't make you a mechanic.

      In any case, I would say an infatuation with technology or an obscure subject is what makes a geek. Technology (ie: computers) is becoming more common place.. so being a "Computer Geek" is becoming less
    • Knowing how to use technical things in ways they were never meant to be used makes you a geek. (and this is only one small definition "geekiness.")

      I agree with you on all the other points, but wasn't this the definition of a "hack" last time we had this pointless discussion?

      To me "geek", at least in the sense related to technology, is one who not only uses technology, but also understands how it works and is capable of applying technical knowledge. One who loves programming computers is probably not usin
    • THe assetion that everyone wants to get into IT just beacuse they associate it with money is true IME.

      I am at the start of my career, working in a call center for an ISP (not making very good money), before that I have had many temp IT jobs. I have met so many people that are only interested in IT because they think it will make them rich, most of these people are really stupid/naive. I working with people that think that in ten years time they will be earning 75 grand a year (english pounds, ~ 130,000 do
    • Being a geek isn't about technology. I know lots of geeks that aren't really all that fascinated with technology. They might be art geeks, language geeks, philosophy geeks or math geeks, and when I (as a computer geek) talk to those people it's like we're speaking a common language. It's the language of inquiry and passion for understanding. They want to understand a bit about why I get so pissed off at BellSouth or SCO, or what Linux is (and I usually tell them "It's acutally GNU/Linux" and then go off
  • Everyone is a Geek. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Shadow Wrought ( 586631 ) <shadow.wrought@g ... minus herbivore> on Tuesday January 17, 2006 @04:47PM (#14493589) Homepage Journal
    Everyone. Everyone has that one area of passion in which they excel and have a knowledge of minutae. Be it Red Sox stats dating to 1903, the best ways to obtain and smoke drugs, or how to make a rocket- everyone is a Geek in one way shape or form. Now we're just finally realizing it.

    After all, how different is dressing up for a Star Trek Convention and a Football game? Not much...

    • "After all, how different is dressing up for a Star Trek Convention and a Football game? Not much..."

      Spoken like a true Star Trek geek...


    • how different is dressing up for a Star Trek Convention and a Football game?

      You won't get home from the convention with hot-wing sauce smeared on your face and Bud spilled down your uniform.
    • by tommers ( 893816 ) on Tuesday January 17, 2006 @05:05PM (#14493826)
      Well one big difference is that the number of people in American society who dress up for Star Trek Conventions is smaller by many orders of magnitudes than the number of people who dress up for Fotoball games.

      Not everyone has passion, but more importantly the level of passion for traditional interests like baseball still has much more breadth and depth than baseball.

      I agree the geek is "more" chic, especially in certain tech-conscious areas like the valley, but I think the article and this post perceive it to be a much more significant trend than is justified by the info provided.

      And to look at it from another perspective, I think modern politics have reflected an increase in anti-intellectualism. This was most apparent in the success of the the 2004 Bush/Cheney campaign and an antagonism towards science the Intelligent Design issue seems to have espoused/surfaced. And while geeks might not value the "cultured" aspect of intellectualism, they still seem to be pro-intellectual.
      • >than the number of people who dress up for Fotoball games. Glad to see you've heard of Fotoball. Sure hope it catches on...
      • by tsaler ( 569835 )
        I don't have any problem with the majority of what you said in your post. The only thing I take issue with is the claim about anti-intellectualism. I'll try to clarify.

        Anti-intellectualism is, to me, a belief that those who are academics or intellectually-inclined are bad. You'll find this sometimes, I hate to say it, in a lot of blue collar communities across the country. I come from one such community, though I didn't find the sentiment to be as strong as I have seen it elsewhere.

        What I think you see from
        • Great response. Much appreciated.

          I guess to respond to the Bush-Cheney point (which I would certainly still support, though throwing it out there rather casually does come from being insulated in an environment of disdain for this administration). But to be more specific, I was referring to the campaigns success in creating an association between Kerry's intellectual nature and speaking style and general sentiments of distrust. They successfully took a president who made a point of avoiding information
      • Well one big difference is that the number of people in American society who dress up for Star Trek Conventions is smaller by many orders of magnitudes than the number of people who dress up for Fotoball games.

        I bet it's about the exact same. I don't have any evidence either way but, then again, I'm betting you don't either.

        Remember, of the 30,000 who GO to the game, it's usually a few dozen at most who dress up for it.
    • Everyone. Everyone has that one area of passion in which they excel and have a knowledge of minutae. Be it Red Sox stats dating to 1903...

      Shh! Do you want to be sued? [slashdot.org]

    • After all, how different is dressing up for a Star Trek Convention and a Football game? Not much...

      Uh, putting on a little face paint is way different than dressing in full on starship officer uniform, along with starfleet phaser rifle, with working communicator badge and a special 24th (or whatever) century haircut to match. Not to mention learning a fake language and grunting at everyone to show just how much of a star trek GEEK you are! *grinz*

      And hey, one of my worst memories as a kid was watchin
  • Like, omg, I'm so totally a geek now! I can IM, and sync my ipod, and blog, and post myspace pix! And like, even I know that those popups are annoying!

    I am SO geek!!!!
  • Sounds like a line of new cologne from Ralph Loren aimed at today's IT workers.
  • Attachments (Score:3, Informative)

    by Malc ( 1751 ) on Tuesday January 17, 2006 @04:55PM (#14493690)
    Anybody who saw Attachments will know that the so called "geeks" it portrayed were nothing like the pale and socially inept people of real life. Entertaining enough though.

    Q: You know how a geek likes you?
    A: He looks at your shoes.
    • Yes, I remember Attachments. Humourless, drug-sodden nonsense. Never met a "geek" who was a dope-arsed, trendy drip like the ones in that series. Those I know are quite confident (at least, amongst other geeks). They should've sent ESR into that office — he'd've soon sorted them out.

      First Doctor Who and now this... the Jason King re-runs on ITV4 are the only thing worth watching these days.

  • by AviLazar ( 741826 ) on Tuesday January 17, 2006 @04:56PM (#14493701) Journal
    I still don't have my 5000 groupie girls who would spread their legs open for me en masse'....however, when I meet girls and i tell them I program they pretty much go "oh wow, you must make a lot of money" and then i snicker to myself in sadness...obviously i don't argue with them (what girl wants a poor guy) but hey :) It is, however, more accepted. I know many hot girls who love places like myspace, AIM, etc.
    • by Lord_Dweomer ( 648696 ) on Tuesday January 17, 2006 @05:50PM (#14494295) Homepage
      While I got the tone of your post, I'd like to point out that there is a distinction with the current trend of geekiness from before.

      Before, in the tech boom, people thought it was cool to be a geek because if you were good with computers, you must make a lot of money, and people don't want to work, so they want to be married to someone who makes a lot.

      Nowadays people are actually interested in what we geeks are as opposed to just our earning potential (however misinformed they may be about that).

    • I still don't have my 5000 groupie girls who would spread their legs open for me en masse'

      Computers piss people off. Why would making something that people see as a necessary evil want to fuck you?

      If a rock band can attract 20,000 people or more to get together and have a good time and party, that is what people want to do. The reason they get laid is because if they can make 20,000+ people feel good for a couple hours, then they might be a good fuck too. Plus they are leaders and successful, which also
      • Computers piss people off

        Not always

        Plus they are leaders

        Being a rockstar does not make one a leader - not even close. They just happen to play some tunes that some people find enjoyable enough to come and see...entertainers yes, leaders MAYBE, but I would never think of an entertainer as a leader unless they did something extra - like well lead.
        • I would never think of an entertainer as a leader unless they did something extra - like well lead.

          OK. What is a leader? The best definition is "The foremost animal, such as a horse or dog, in a harnessed team."

          Rock stars are on stage, up higher than everybody else, nobody at the place can speak louder than they can, everybody in the audience faces them, the people cheer them on, the people congregate to see them just as though they were seeing a politician or priest. If thats not what a leader is, I don
  • by Average_Joe_Sixpack ( 534373 ) on Tuesday January 17, 2006 @04:56PM (#14493711)
    "For a few years, an interest in computers and technology became inextricable linked with wealth and power -- geek became chic"

    I'm pretty sure this is one of the signs of the apocalypse
  • Anorak? (Score:3, Funny)

    by thePowerOfGrayskull ( 905905 ) <[moc.liamg] [ta] [esidarap.cram]> on Tuesday January 17, 2006 @04:57PM (#14493714) Homepage Journal
    unlike nerd and anorak, which still tend to be used as insults Dude, I would HATE to be called an anorak! After all, who WOULD want to be identified as "a usually pullover hooded jacket long enough to cover the hips". So insulting.
  • etymology (Score:2, Interesting)

    from TFA

    The modern word surfaced in American slang in the early 20th century, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, and continued to refer to various kinds of oddballs. The OED records this example from the 1916 Wells Fargo Messenger: "A new Wells agent struck our town the other week, and say you never saw a more enthusiastic geek!" By the 1950s Webster's dictionary recorded that the word referred to a carnival sideshow weirdo "whose act usually includes biting the head off a live chicken or snake"
  • by digitaldc ( 879047 ) * on Tuesday January 17, 2006 @04:58PM (#14493726)
    He claims that increasingly, "we're all geeks" -- even if a lot of people don't care to admit it.

    I remember when a geek was a guy who was extremely intelligent, read books, didn't dress well or had the latest fashions, never had a good haircut/hygiene, was not good at sports and never made out with girls.

    If we are all indeed 'geeks' than the word geek doesn't mean anything. Or maybe we're just all nerds trying to be geeks?
    • by Ibag ( 101144 )
      The way language is used changes over time. Just as "liberal" was not always a pejorative, the term "geek" is being used either in a different context or possibly in a completely new way. Part of the reason language can shift like this is because words are defined by examples of their usage. There is no clear and objective standard for judging when an activity is "fun" or a pigment is "red" (I challenge you to, on a 256 color palette, decide which shades are clearly red and which are clearly not red. If
  • by GillBates0 ( 664202 ) on Tuesday January 17, 2006 @04:59PM (#14493754) Homepage Journal
    The Essence of Geek:
    Serves: 1

    Ingredients:
    2 tbsp Mountain Dew: cooled to room temperature
    12 fl oz generic beer
    2 oz Cheetos: crushed to fine powder
    5 oz Bacon strips: fried till crisp
    0.5 lb butter: at room temperature
    0.5 lbs onions: ground to fine consistency
    2 nos. matured socks: preferably fermented for 3 days

    Preparation:
    Preparation Time: 5 minutes.

    Heat butter in pan until gently melting. Stir in remaining ingredients and simmer till delicious smell begins to whaffle through kitchen. Cool to room temperature, drain and apply in generous proportion.
  • by davidgrouchy ( 661051 ) on Tuesday January 17, 2006 @05:00PM (#14493757) Homepage Journal
    Now the guys who picked on me are geeks too?
  • Geek = wealth? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by dada21 ( 163177 ) * <adam.dada@gmail.com> on Tuesday January 17, 2006 @05:01PM (#14493773) Homepage Journal
    When did wealth mean "big credit lines?"

    Most geeks I meet have negative net equity due to outrageous debt loads. Maybe it's just Chicago? It seems that every geek here thinks they can live like Sergei Brin.

    I wonder if all the common people see are (leased) BMW's, (interest-only mortgaged) 5-bedroom homes and (almost maxed out) platinum cards when they see supergeeks?

    Talk about keeping up with the Joneses.
    • No kidding. Chicago has definitely taken a New York twist with what people go through to "keep up with the Joneses".

      Of course, neither you nor I are in a place to make an accurate statement about that because honestly, how are we to know how much they make? Not to mention that they may have other sources of income (geeks are more likely to invest their money than non-geeks).

      • I do a free clinic in the Chicago area to help people lose debt and build wealth. Most of my attenders are geeks earning $60k a year, and I turn away 3 geeks for every 1 I can help.

        I'm blown away by the foreclosure listings I receive from local banks. One local bank discloses a little more than it should regarding the current "owners" and I'd say 50% are in the IT field.
  • Geek-Cred (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Slipgrid ( 938571 ) on Tuesday January 17, 2006 @05:01PM (#14493780) Homepage Journal
    Um...no. Owning an iPod and knowing how to use it doesn't make you a geek. Knowing how to use your Windows smartphone doesn't make you a geek. Discussing mobile phone design doesn't make you a geek, because from tfa, I don't think they were talking about protocols or other engineering aspects. Even knowing how to synchronize your email with your smartphone doesn't make you a geek. It makes you a slave, but not a geek.

    Yeah, but some teen who wants to *fit-in* with the geeky kids, might buy these things thanking it helps. It's like when you were in high school, and saw that guy walking about with a tie dye Dead shirt on. He wasn't a hippy, and likly never found a Dead song that he liked, and never when to the show, but he did buy a tie dye shirt. Very trendy.

    Now, I've got a cs degree, and I know I geek my friends out with blab that they don't care about, but I don't own an iPod because of the DRM issues. Some people might say that someone who won't buy an iPod because of the DRM issues is a bigger geek than someone who owns them. However, the article is making a point. It does't matter if these people have any geek-cred. It's obvious that they want that geek-cred, just like the dude with the tie dye shirt.
  • by dotpavan ( 829804 )
    those were the days cherished by the chosen few, kissed by the Geek God, his children were happy in their cubicles happily glued to their monitors..

    then came an article claiming that geekiness is actually "kewl", and people were actually yearning to be one. That marked the end of geekdom. Now every other person using ipod and knowing how to download firefox considers himself/herself a geek, making the existence of the actual geeks as minority. Maybe, the geeks would start yearning to be just normal, and t

  • by lawaetf1 ( 613291 ) on Tuesday January 17, 2006 @05:04PM (#14493810)
    No doubt the term "geek" has been coopted by the media to describe, basically, the digerati generation. But I have to agree with my fellow /.ers... using your ipod and knowing how to upload photos from your cell phone does not make you a geek.

    Geek's don't just use technology, they understand how it is put together and desire to change or "hack" it for their own purposes. A geek molds technology to suit him, a regular schmoe makes do with what has been handed his way by 3com, intel, microsoft, etc, etc.
    That is the difference.
  • by tokki ( 604363 ) on Tuesday January 17, 2006 @05:08PM (#14493857)
    We are in the midst of the Glorius Geek Revolution. Sure, high school sucks for geeks. It sucked for me, and it still sucks for most geeks today, but the life after high school has dramtically changed for the geek, for the better.

    A lot of the rags to riches stories involves geeks. South Park's creators, Family Guy's creator, Matt Groenig, Woz and Steve Jobs.

    We live better lives than our geek forefathers. A smart, industrious geek these days often earns a better living and lifestyle than our jock counterpart.

    Society is getting geekier. Take cops shows. They used to be buddy films, the cool guys with street smarts driving cool cars in chase scenes. Now the top cop show is CSI. Geeks with badges, walking around with black lights, analyzing semen. NCIS, Law and Order, The West Wing, Adult Swim... culture has definately taken a turn for the geekier end of the spectrum.

    Nerd girls are doing well as well. I read somewhere that SNL producers were worried about Tina Fey in glasses, but it turns out it totally works, and she has tremendous appeal and talent.

    Of course, as we start having kids and they grow up, maybe they'll be jocks, and maybe they'll be teased unmercifully by the geeks.
  • I'll tell you what essence of Geek is. My friend, a sys admin, ate dinner at The Stinking Rose [thestinkingrose.com] (they season your garlic with food) in San Francisco one night. The next day he had some serious gas. A co-worker, another IT person, went into his office said they smelled pizza and that it smelled good. He did not dissuade from that notion.
  • by RobinH ( 124750 ) on Tuesday January 17, 2006 @05:20PM (#14493990) Homepage
    A geek isn't someone who knows how to use an iPod. A geek is someone who has all their Ogg Vorbis's on their bluetooth enabled PDA along with playlists, and he can walk from his house to his car to his cubicle without a skip in the beat because it seamlessly transfers between his home stereo, built in speakers in the PDA, his car stereo, and his computer's speakers at the office.

    Extra points for writing a new compression algorithm to store more songs on the PDA. Bonus if you have neon lights under your car that are synchronised to the music.
  • by Control Group ( 105494 ) on Tuesday January 17, 2006 @05:23PM (#14494025) Homepage
    The essence of geek has nothing to do with what you use, but with what you know about it; people break down into three groups:

    Group A: people who know only what they need to know to get along. This is actually a fairly small group; most people have a beyond-necessary level of interest/knowledge regarding something.

    Group B: people who have some (or quite a bit of) in-depth knowledge of one or two areas because they're interested, and are perfectly content with a "necessity" level of knowledge in everything else. This is most everyone.

    Group C: people who are interested in having in-depth knowledge for its own sake, and will always (given the opportunity) choose to know more about any given subject.

    "Geeks," as far as I can tell, are pretty much a subset of Group B, where the one or two areas of interest are math-, science-, or computer-related, and the level of knowledge is above some ill-defined, but relatively high, point. Linus is a geek. Da Vinci was not.
  • From the article: "Eric Reynolds, author of the influential open source manifesto The Cathedral and the Bazaar ."

    Um, what? Sloppy research or just a typo? These mainstream "Look how geek everyone is becoming! Even your has an iPod and is therefore a geek." articles really irritate me.
    • It's worse than just a typo; they use the name 'Reynolds' again in a later paragraph. The author probably misread the name in his research, and no one else who handled the story ever noticed (or knew any better)...
    • They also misspelled "specifically" in the same paragraph, and since "specificall" isn't a word, this leads me to believe the proofreading of this article did not even include a simple spell checker.

      I'd say it's pretty much on par with the content.
  • "Einstein, who had a wardrobe full of identical clothing and saw nothing wrong with smoking cigarette butts collected off the street.

    Is that true? Somehow i cant see Einstein doing that. I guess if he was REALLY cheap, but most people that i know who smoke would never pick butts off the ground, even if they were broke. (they'd just bum one but thats not really the point)

    Anyways thats the first i ever heard of this. Anyone can confirm this very interesing anecdote?

    Well i just decided to google for it and it
    • I don't know about the clothing, but Einstein was a pipe smoker. I did read once, a story about him taking apart some cigarettes to use the tobacco in his pipe, but I can assure you the experiment didn't turn out well. I can't picture him ever scrounging butts off the street to resmoke, even if he'd been a cigarette smoker. It just doesn't sound like him.
  • How to be a Geek (Score:2, Interesting)

    by lot3k ( 840988 )
    You know, I feel blessed that I maintain the social graces and ability to interface with women on a fairly regular basis.... well my wife anyway :) I don't know that as a whole you all aren't grabbing at straws to justify your own position as a geek. Truth be told, I'm called a geek, nerd, technogod, and addict by various people. Quite frankly the way I see it is if you are you know you are and it's not worth arguing about. It's more socially acceptable now for us to be infatuated with our technology an
  • Warner Brothers [warnerbros.com], in US, is doing a reality show too. Hot women vs. geeks. You can watch its season 2 on Thursday nights at 9:00 PM (assuming Los Angeles, CA).
  • Watch it here [google.com].
  • Around where I work, this "Essence of Geek" of which you speak is BO.
  • by Money for Nothin' ( 754763 ) on Wednesday January 18, 2006 @12:21AM (#14496776)
    ...then why can't most male geeks get dates?

    *watches iron-clad karma melt into hot slag*

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