I was talking to someone today was was unaware that there’s actually a whole geek sub-culture. I’m not surprised that some people don’t know this, because unless you actually are a geek, or work with geeks, you’re not too likely to know, so it’s cool if you don’t know.
But, I thought to myself, “Self, if she doesn’t know, maybe other people don’t, either. I know! I can blog about it!” And so I am.
Yes, there is a geek sub-culture. You see, “geekness” is NOT just about using computers or being into certain kinds of hobbies. Being a geek is… It’s just who you are. You don’t choose to be a geek. You just ARE one. You can learn all about computers or the internet or electronics or astronomy or rocket science or whatever, and it doesn’t make you a geek. Geeks are born, not made. It’s a peculiar way of perceiving the world. And just for the record, there are geeks with all kinds of interests, including history, physics, anthropology, art, journalism, literature, you name it. It is in no way limited to computers or things relating to them.
There are, of course, flavours of geeks. There are, among other, girlgeeks, freaky geeks, bearded-bespectacled chubby geeks, guru geeks, tall skinny geeks, fat geeks, many variations and possible permutations. But they’re all geeks, and they all have the same kind of peculiarly shaped brain that perceives the world differently, in the same general way. And please note that only SOME geeks are nerds! Some geeks wear leather and have tattoos and ride motorcycles, so don’t think geek automatically means pocket protector and runny nose and dorky clothes, okay?
This is why there’s a geek subculture. Geeks get together, they find themselves with like minded people, a sub-culture forms. Perfectly normal human behavior, really.
It’s very hard to describe WHY geeks are geeks. We (yes, I am most certainly a geek, as any geeks who know me can testify) tend to stand apart a bit, not necessarily by choice, and we observe. The fool on the hill, you know, sees the sun going down, but the eyes in his head see the world spinning round… As a result, we have somewhat different ways of socializing (Yeah, yeah, we tend to like D&D or SCA, so what? LOL!).
Leonardo Da Vinci was a geek (BIG time!). Gallileo was a geek, and so was Tycho (Tycho got his nose cut off in a duel over the solution to a complex math problem, for pity’s sake). Isaac Newton was a geek. Bill Gates is not only a geek, he’s also a nerd. I could probably go on. It’s not hard to spot geeks, once you see their work and what they spent their time doing.
There are lots of places on the net where you can see geeks in normal geeky interaction. Among them are Slashdot (probably the geekiest community I can think of) and kuro5hin. Hang around a while, read the stuff people write and how they write it.
And the geeks shall inherit the earth. (Oh, come ON, you KNEW I was going to end this little essay with a Biblical pun, didn’t you? Didn’t you, really?)
