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>There was no 'golden age' where nerds were popular and intelligence was always the most valued part of society. Definitely not in America, there wasn't. Othe

>There was no 'golden age' where nerds were popular and intelligence was always the most valued part of society. Definitely not in America, there wasn't. Other societies are different.

CM30 11y ago
Can you name some of these societies? Because there was anti intellectualism back in Victorian times, at least in quite a few cultures. And every dictatorship/tyranny tends to have some rather extreme anti intellectual policies (the USSR, Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge and Nazi Germany were quite prone to murder them en masse). Religious societies don't tend to deal with this sort of thing well either. But I'll be interested in knowing what societies were more tolerant towards 'nerds' and intellectuals and outsiders compared to the US, Europe, etc.
- true_religion 11y ago
  I'm also curious to find which societies celebrated intellectualism as a part of general culture. The best I can see it is if the rich elite collect intellectuals as part of a status play.
- Grishnakh 11y ago
  Japan comes to mind. (Not for outsiders though, I don't know how that's related to "nerds" and intellectuals.) Also, you're conflating different types of intellectuals. Nerds who are interested in science and engineering frequently aren't all that interested in art, social justice/change, government/politics, etc. Germany under the Nazis certainly had a lot of engineering prowess. They didn't tolerate anyone who wanted to change the government, obviously, but they certainly made use of their scientists and engineers. The Soviets, similarly, were always been pretty strong at math and science (while not tolerating political dissent). Religious societies never seem to do very well with "nerds", and not too surprisingly, highly religious societies never seem to become strong in science and engineering or even industrialization. When they do, it's coincides with them watering down or neutering the religion, as we see in Western nations now.

>There was no 'golden age' where nerds were popular and intelligence was always the most valued part of society. Definitely not in America, there wasn't. Other societies are different.

CM30 11y ago

Can you name some of these societies? Because there was anti intellectualism back in Victorian times, at least in quite a few cultures. And every dictatorship/tyranny tends to have some rather extreme anti intellectual policies (the USSR, Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge and Nazi Germany were quite prone to murder them en masse). Religious societies don't tend to deal with this sort of thing well either. But I'll be interested in knowing what societies were more tolerant towards 'nerds' and intellectuals and outsiders compared to the US, Europe, etc.

true_religion 11y ago
I'm also curious to find which societies celebrated intellectualism as a part of general culture. The best I can see it is if the rich elite collect intellectuals as part of a status play.
Grishnakh 11y ago
Japan comes to mind. (Not for outsiders though, I don't know how that's related to "nerds" and intellectuals.) Also, you're conflating different types of intellectuals. Nerds who are interested in science and engineering frequently aren't all that interested in art, social justice/change, government/politics, etc. Germany under the Nazis certainly had a lot of engineering prowess. They didn't tolerate anyone who wanted to change the government, obviously, but they certainly made use of their scientists and engineers. The Soviets, similarly, were always been pretty strong at math and science (while not tolerating political dissent). Religious societies never seem to do very well with "nerds", and not too surprisingly, highly religious societies never seem to become strong in science and engineering or even industrialization. When they do, it's coincides with them watering down or neutering the religion, as we see in Western nations now.