Many of the "geeks" I know like to talk about quarks, politics, theory of mind, nature of reality, etc, but few (none) really take those issues seriously, as wo

Many of the "geeks" I know like to talk about quarks, politics, theory of mind, nature of reality, etc, but few (none) really take those issues seriously, as worthy of inquiry, and most are content with letting Wikipedia supply their information and settle their disputes. Keep in mind that "anti-intellectualism" doesn't necessarily mean disinterested in intellectual topics; many anti-intellectuals are very interested in intellectual topics (consider Palin's ramblings about economics). Instead, it usually means not taking those topics seriously: not bothering to understand what's at stake, not bothering to understand what motivates the issue, and so on.