Nerds & Geeks Rule!
Paul Graham publishes some wonderful thought-provoking essays. And the following one is one such.
Most people think of nerds as quiet, diffident people. In ordinary social situations they are — as quiet and diffident as the star quarterback would be if he found himself in the middle of a physics symposium. And for the same reason: they are fish out of water. But the apparent diffidence of nerds is an illusion due to the fact that when non-nerds observe them, it’s usually in ordinary social situations. In fact some nerds are quite fierce.
That’s where it starts out. He later goes on to explain the independent-mindedness and nerdiness connection. And touches upon “impatience”.
I am not going to deny or comment on whether I am nerd or a geek, or was one. But there are some things that he talks about that cannot be denied.
And there is good news and bad news.
The good news is that your fierceness will be a great help in solving difficult problems. And not just the kind of scientific and technical problems that nerds have traditionally solved. As the world progresses, the number of things you can win at by getting the right answer increases. Recently getting rich became one of them: 7 of the 8 richest people in America are now fierce nerds.
No doubt about that…
The bad news is that if it’s not exercised, your fierceness will turn to bitterness, and you will become an intellectual playground bully: the grumpy sysadmin, the forum troll, the hater, the shooter down of new ideas.
And I can see this happening!
So what do you do, well Paul does suggest something that could really make you formidable.
How do you avoid this fate?
Work on ambitious projects. If you succeed, it will bring you a kind of satisfaction that neutralizes bitterness. But you don’t need to have succeeded to feel this; merely working on hard projects gives most fierce nerds some feeling of satisfaction. And those it doesn’t, it at least keeps busy.
If meditation is not your sort of thing, do something to keep your mind busy, and your heart satisfied. Who knows, you might just make the world a better place!
