MindComet

‘Geek’ is Ambiguous

Geeks are intellectuals that were raised with a video game controller in lieu of a pacifier.  Typically lacking social skills, geeks eventually group and define their own social terms and etiquette.  As they mature, they quickly develop superior skills of technical merits.  A large portion become quite active in many areas of the web-sphere.  As society moves into the digital and information based era, a global netocracy seems rampant.  Flattening economies and still discriminating against areas with a technical disadvantage, globalization in many respects was facilitated by this movement.  Geeks niche in society is drastically changing from social outcasts with an irrelevant subculture to the facilitators and architects of the digital era.  With a more refined and matured subculture, many can associate with some part of the geek world and, due out the elevated placement in society of geeks and their merits, find it quite trendy to announce that connection.  For example, there was a time where socializing over the web was considered derogatory and was assumed to be done by individuals that lacked proper social skills.  Today, there is widespread adoption.  The demographic of the audience in the theatre of the showing of original Star Wars and the demographic in the recent Star Trek remake is also an illustration.

Nevertheless, the digital era cannot be ruled and controlled by the same pioneers in the industrial era.  Due the technical requirements, John D Rockefeller would not be able to monopolize on the prospects of the internet because he would lack understanding.  There is no way he would have came up with facebook.  If you pitched twitter to him, he would pretend to understand and pass on it.  People don’t realize what this means.  Let me try to give some perspective to it.  As society becomes more dependent on technology, they yield control to persons with technical abilities.  It is implicit and informal.  Also, due to the nature of the internet, there is no nationalism or fixed ideologies shared by these technical persons.  This complements the globalization of business, and the advancement of technology as a species, rather than as a country, state, or other faction.  Today, .Com millionaires have the same prestige as industrialists in their era.  The difference here is that many industrialists were at an advantage in many regards (family, wealth, etc.), while .Com millionaires are all geeks with only one advantage, their technical abilities.  This is the first time in history where this amount of success and wealth is achievable in a realm of meritocracy.  It shouldn’t be taken for granted and should be recognized. 

Be a geek. Facilitate the new era. Be awarded for your abilities. Better society.

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Posted by MindComet on May. 20, 2009