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An in-depth investigation into Geeks and Nerds Nerds and Geeks, what are they? Social misfits, misunderstood geniuses? The terms, unfortunately, are used loosely and often disparagingly. It shall be my attempt to define and explain these fascinating creatures. * For the sake of simplicity I often use the term 'nerd' to encompass both geeks and nerds The Geek The geek is socially incapable. Almost always male, the geek is uncomfortable in almost all social situations, excepting the company of other geeks. Outward manifestations of a geek are unfashionable clothing, poor posture, atypical speech patterns, interests in solitary indoor escapist activities such as video games, movies and TV. Geeks seem incapable of knowing whether the things they say sound different from what others say. When not alone amongst their kind they live in continual apprehension, painfully aware that anything they say could draw ridicule upon them but unaware of how to avoid it. It would be easy to simply say that geeks are incredibly stupid (and this may actually explain a number of them) but this supposition is confounded by the fact that many geeks are nerds. * I should note that some time in the late 90's the word 'Geek' took on a new meaning as a suffix, such as "Movie-Geek": in this sense geek indicates a high level of trivial knowledge. To my dismay, this meaning is gradually overshadowing the meaning I grew up with. I will write the rest of this invetigation with the meaning I am most familiar with, as it is the type of person described that I am most interested and not so much the word used to denote them. The Nerd The nerd is someone who accrues vast knowledge in particular topics and seems incapable of talking about anything else, even when it is evident that their interlocutors neither share their knowledge nor their interest. Yet some nerds are capable of keeping quiet so perhaps one should rather identify them by the subjects of their obsessions which tend towards the same topics observed in geeks; movies, TV, video games, computers, etc. Perhaps, we should consider that nerds are simply more intelligent geeks. Nerds encompass more females and are generally (although certainly not always) more capable of prolonging incognito status in society at large. Nerds also (though not commonly) pursue more obscure topics such as literature, biology, zoology, even history, leading us, once again to be hesitant in our unifying characteristic. Perhaps the one thing that unites all nerds is their common characteristic of obsession. So what exactly separates nerds and geeks from everyone else? Through countless hours of interaction and observation, I have come to the conclusion that the two most important factors to the answer can be succinctly referred to as ‘empathy’ and ‘focus’. Empathy By ‘empathy’ I am not referring to the ability to share the pain of another. I am referring to the ability to see a situation from someone else’s perspective. Normal people are doing this all the time and in some situations everything a normal person does or says is passed through an empathetic filter before they act or speak. If they find the action to be offensive, confusing or discomfiting they seek an alternative means of expressing themselves. A nerd can not do this. The nerd or geek, through years of doing and saying the ‘wrong’ thing, has learned to identify the situations that will produce the greatest negative response and remains silent during, or avoids completely, these situations. Nerds may be able to see a situation from another’s perspective if they really focus but this requires them to concentrate and while doing so they are unable to do much else. This inability to empathize simultaneously while performing other daily activities brings us to the other key factor of nerdness; focus. Focus Nerds are extremely focused; they perform above the standard for their intelligence in particular topics (often academic topics, creating the misconception that nerds are singled out because they are ‘smarter’) because they are continually focused on those particular topics. Much like an idiot savant is capable of memorizing seemingly vast amounts of information and presents the illusion of performing above normal human levels, a nerd has simply sacrificed intellectual breadth for depth in a particular topic. A normal person, in daily life, allows their brain to move freely from one topic to the next. They must remain dynamic in order to deal with the superfluity of challenges that meet them every day. Nerds lack this dynamic nature and as a result have difficulty socializing. A normal person is able to hear a comment out of context and attempt fitting it into appropriate contexts until something that makes sense arises. Nerds perform very poorly at this task because their intense focus holds them to one topic at a time. Nerds seem attracted to obsessing over a few nerd-standard subjects (comic books and sci-fi movies, for example) because this lends itself to their extremely focused intellects; the fewer topic changes to endure, the more comfortable the nerd. The unifying theory of nerds and geeks All nerds and geeks share the same deficiency of multitasking. Social interaction requires this ability. Nerds and geeks are socially clumsy, making social interaction uncomfortable for all involved - causing greater apprehension and confusion in the nerds and contempt in the non nerds. Geeks and nerds are respectively the low and high ends of an intellectual continuum. Geeks rarely attain a true depth of knowledge in any topics whereas nerds have mastered thier subjects, the actual number of topics being contingent on intellectual capacity. Why are geeks and nerds so commonly male? The answer to this lies somewhere in the difference between male and female brains. There is no arguing the fact that they are constructed differently. The female brain is typically stronger in social and verbal activities meaning that, probably, females are genetically less prone to the anti-social nerd characteristics of focus and lack of empathy. Although there are few female nerds, why are there even fewer female geeks? Females are also genetically more intellectually stable than males; what this means here is that idiocy is less common in females, so geeks, which are (according to my hypothesis) simply unintelligent nerds, are even less likely to occur as females than are nerds. Appendices Goths Although it may seem to the reader that this article presents nerds as unfavorable it should be stressed that this is not the case. Nerds are an important part of our society. The focus possessed by nerds allows larger numbers of humans to perform intellectually challenging tasks which is important in our technological and specialized modern society. Without nerds our research, government and business would all suffer from lack of qualified specialists. For example, imagine a world without accountants. Not a pretty picture is it, with no one to do such a tedious yet necessary job. Now reflect upon the fact that nearly 95% of all accountants are nerds. Nerds are not undesirable (unless you are looking for a good wingman to help you pick up chicks), they simply need to be better understood. Identifying a nerd Think a loved one or acquaintance may be a nerd or geek? Try these following indicators and tests. Signs that you may be dealing with a nerd: The subject gives horrible directions. The subject does not ‘get’ jokes. The subject has not outgrown childhood habits or activities or relies on parents for social guidance. The subject has poor success with the opposite sex. The subject does not understand his own character faults. Tests Engage the subject in a video game (preferably a game the subject is familiar with but has not mastered). While the subject is engaged, relate to them a series of facts (such as, ‘Dylan likes soccer’ Or ‘I plan to visit Alaska’). Then disengage the subject from the game (allow him the chance to finish playing). Ask him about the facts (what sport does Dylan play? Who plans visit another state? Which state?). Record the number of correct answers then repeat the experiment on a certified non nerd. Compare results, if the suspected nerd scored less, then your suspicion is likely warranted. If you wish to be more subtle in your experimentation, simply attempt drastic conversation changes while speaking with the suspected nerd. Gauge the subject’s ability to confidently continue the conversation without confusion, as well as his tendency to return the conversation to nerd topics. If your subject confidently addresses the unorthodoxy of your topical changes he is unlikely to be a nerd; nerds are rarely capable of recognizing a ‘strange’ conversation as all conversations are already ‘strange’ to them. The shyness confusion Nerds and geeks should not be confused with people who are shy. Shy people have a tendency to not communicate and feel uncomfortable in social situations. The difference with nerds is that once the shy are made comfortable, they interact like normal people. The brilliant nerd There exists the rare genius nerd. Finding topics that this nerd is deficient in is nearly impossible yet the nerd will betray himself occasionally by not understanding the simplest subtleties of human interaction or misunderstanding certain jokes. He can also be identified by an excessive degree of absorption into his occupation, from which even loud noises may not be able to rouse him. What causes a nerd? The initial assumption is that nerds are genetic and to a great degree this is the case yet there is evidence that environmental influences also play a large role in forming a nerd. One simply has to recall how many stunningly physically attractive nerds one has encountered to realize that extrinsic forces are at work. A list of common nerd topics of interest Science fiction (chief are Star Wars and Star Trek) Horror (typically movies) Fantasy (Lord of the Rings, Robert Jordan, anything with dragons or wizards) Role Playing Games (including live action role playing and table top battles) Collectible card games (Magic Cards, etc) Comic books and super heroes Video games Television Movies in general Computers Sports (sports nerds are the most difficult to identify as they bear contempt for all other nerds and focus solely on sports and perhaps militia-related topics) |