The Big Geek Theory

Being a Geek No Longer Means What it Once Did

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I am admittedly a huge geek (nerd). I have always been one, even when I tried not to be, which consumed a large part of my life in the past. Geeks were once defined as the kids that got good grades in school but did not fit in socially, were not good at sports, were unaware of fashion, missed social cues, etc. This was a clearly identifiable archetype of society, especially as applied to young people, but extended into adult life through career paths in science and engineering and through hobbies such as ham radio and astronomy. Today the definition of geek has changed so much that people labeled as geeks are actually just the popular kids calling themselves geeks because geekiness has become trendy. If you are living and working in an environment of geeks¹, and if you grew up prior to about 1995, this is very plain to see, but the changing definition seems to have been missed by the larger population. Geeks are no longer really geeks.

Back when I was a kid (the 1970s and 1980s), the geeks were a particular social set that associated with each other not necessarily because they had things in common (although they often did) but more because they were outcasts from the rest of society. As a group, they were defined by the exclusion from the group that constituted everyone else. They did things like going to the library to read, building their own computer, or doing all the extra credit homework assignments. They weren’t on the football team but they might have been in the chess club. They were almost certainly in the school band. They were children who couldn’t make anyone laugh at a joke, but often were the joke, because of their social ineptitude.

In that era being a geek could get you pummeled by the class bully. Nowadays this would make the bully an outcast himself but during my childhood, this type of behavior would gain the bully a lot of peer credit, and he would be more liked for his bullying. The popular, preppy kids whose parents were bank vice presidents and property managers would make the geeks the butt of jokes, and would be standing beside the bully laughing when the geek was pummeled. Girls flocked to the non-geeks and they acquired followers from the children of middle management people (i.e. the average kids). Being a geek was not desirable.

In those days, technology was accessible only to those willing to spend a lot of time at the library to learn about it. The development of advanced computer technology, especially the World Wide Web, but also newer phenomena such as social media, the smartphone platform, and advanced gaming consoles have democratized technology that was once available to only a few with the proclivity for study of the intricate arcana necessary to operate it: the geeks. The geeks used to spend hours with manuals and library books locked up in their rooms learning how to use and create such things. This led to the logical result; the technology has been appropriated.

Now everyone can and does use advanced technology. This means that a lot of money has been made from advanced technology. The inflow of money caused the popular, preppy, materialistic kids to become interested. Once they realized that Bill Gates and Steve Wozniak had made fortunes on tech, they too decided they were geeks. A few of them got Computer Science degrees, or lateraled in from other areas, most likely finance or other business oriented departments. This was done not out of a love of technology, but for the high salaries and the new opportunities for profit, and the high social status that goes with these things.

I realize by this time your eyes are glazing over with my lecture right out of 1998, but stick with me. Remember back in the 1980s when you were kids and everyone talked on the phone all evening? “Oh, yeah,” you say, “I spent hours talking to my best friend!” Got ya! Geeks did not do that type of thing. Geeks were not socially well adjusted. The only reason they would spend hours on the telephone was because a friend was talking them through how to install a new board in their homemade computer. If you spent all evening talking on the phone with your girlfriends/boyfriends and have now replaced that with text messaging, snapchat, Facebook, and Twitter (or whatever the kids are using now), then you are not a geek. Geeks built that technology, but it’s a mass market consumer technology intended for regular people. Just because you use the interwebs does not make you a geek. The geeks liked computer technology in the early days because it was empowering, but also because it was difficult to master. After a few decades of work, the technology has become easy to use. It does not require mastery. Everybody uses technology nowadays, there is nothing special about it.

If you were the class president, you are not a geek.

If you were on the high school football team, you are not a geek. In fact if you were on almost any high school sports team other than track or cross country then you are probably not a geek.

If you were in band, then okay, you might be a geek, unless you got kicked out or something.

If you read comic books, you might be a geek, but just because you like movies based on comic books does not make you a geek. Indeed, I would claim it actually makes you less likely to be a geek².

If you are a company vice president, you are probably not a geek. This is mostly true even if you work in technology. Yes, I know Zuckerberg was a programmer, but Steve Balmer wasn’t. Once the money comes into play, the non-geeks get pulled in. Balmer just recognized that his geek friend Bill Gates was probably going to make a lot of money and so along he came for the sake of profit. As it happens, Balmer is also very smart, but being smart alone doesn’t make you a geek. Balmer is gregarious and has natural leadership qualities. Geeks are not gregarious, and they aren’t natural leaders. This trend continued into the internet era and pretty soon the president of the rich kid fraternity declared himself to be a geek as he strolled to the country club, where he met recruiters from a huge company for lunch, arranged by his uncle, a board member. In five years he was a vice president. He may not have the degree but hey, he attended a three day seminar in Dubai a couple of years ago³ and he just loves his smart phone!

Ironically, if you watch the TV show The Big Bang Theory, then you are probably not a real geek. The show was contrived only to capitalize on the fetishization of geekdom described above. Real geeks do sometimes act the way the characters on the show act, but for the most part the characters are caricatures, and are not like real geeks. The resemblance of the geeks on Big Bang Theory to real geeks is the same as the turban-wearing Hassan from the Daffy Duck cartoons that they can’t show on TV anymore bears to a real Arab: it’s an offensive caricature⁴. If you don’t know what my last sentence is referring to, then you are too young to even know what a geek originally was. Stop claiming to be one.

I’m sure there are real geeks out there, but they are marginalized and in hiding. In other words geeks are back where they started, pursuing interests that would confuse most people. Eventually they will emerge again, probably not building computer technology or reading comic books, because those things have been taken over by mainstream society, but possibly creating artificial life in their parent’s garage or planning to start an asteroid mining company. More likely the geeks are doing things we can’t even imagine yet, but one thing is certain, wherever they are and whatever they are doing, they aren’t popular and successful. Not yet anyway⁵.

Footnote Commentary

1 I work in Information Technology. This is a classic geek profession.

2 Don’t even get me started on Joss Whedon. This guy is usually referred to as having “geek cred.” He does not have geek cred with me. He worked in Hollywood from the very beginning of his career and is a third generation TV writer! That’s how he broke into the business, therefore he is NOT a real geek. He’s a classic industry insider.

3 Where he learned the benefits of leveraging the inexpensive IT labor force from emerging economies. That’s why he went into outsourcing in the first place. My take: a real geek would never do that either.

4 “Hassan chop!” This is now an easily recognizable racial stereotype. At the time, it was just considered simple humor.

5 Given the fact that everyone now claims to be a geek, it is reasonable to expect that a new term will emerge for smart but unpopular people.