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I met a lot of nerds in graduate school. In my experience the "fierce" nerds weren't smarter or successful than the "nonfierce" nerds. The fierce nerds were jus

I met a lot of nerds in graduate school. In my experience the "fierce" nerds weren't smarter or successful than the "nonfierce" nerds. The fierce nerds were just more insecure and emotionally immature. They felt more threatened by being surrounded by other people who might smarter or more successful than them. It threatened their identity of being uniquely intelligent. They responded by lashing out. It may be that this source of insecurity is a driving force. But years later, when I see who is more successful I think it is the nonfierce nerds. The fierce nerds exhausted themselves with petty disagreements and arbitrary hills to die on. The nonfierce nerds were able to focus on the hills worth climbing and recruit others to work with them.

automatic6131 5y ago
As someone who feels like this description of "fierce nerd" applies to themselves, I'd agree. I'm clever, but not particularly so. And I'm not particularly successful either. And my abrasiveness has lost me many friendships and relationships over the years too. Perhaps it's a flattener of the bellcurve of success. If you only look at the right hand side you will see lots of fierce nerds. But you aren't seeing the many, many more who are just ordinary, annoying assholes.
xondono 5y ago
Maybe it’s me, but I think “fierce” has thrown a lot of people off. I would classify what you are describing as what PG terms “the bitter nerds”, not necessarily “fierce”.
- mcguire 5y ago
  As Graham says, the difference between fierce and bitter is success. And given that, in a very competitive environment, the difference between success and failure is largely luck...
NikolaeVarius 5y ago
I heavily disagree. Any fierce nerd ive known all know they are VERY good at what they do (in terms of some intellectual persuit) and know how to assert themselves
arduinomancer 5y ago
> exhausted themselves with petty disagreements and arbitrary hills to die on In a more broad sense, you can be smart but easily work on the wrong thing or put your energy into the wrong area.
- courtf 5y ago
  Indeed, although I think it's a huge mistake to represent these failures as permanent, and bitterness as an immutable, defining characteristic of fierce, unsuccessful nerds. Not only have some of the greatest intellectuals overcome decades of repeated failure and mistakes, but we often only see one small part of their personality: the extremes that draw the most attention. This is even more true in the social media era where people are reduced to bite-sized summaries. Haters and successes. An incredibly reductive, childlike view of the business word, itself a tiny corner of humanity that gets all the attention because people love money.

automatic6131 5y ago

As someone who feels like this description of "fierce nerd" applies to themselves, I'd agree. I'm clever, but not particularly so. And I'm not particularly successful either. And my abrasiveness has lost me many friendships and relationships over the years too. Perhaps it's a flattener of the bellcurve of success. If you only look at the right hand side you will see lots of fierce nerds. But you aren't seeing the many, many more who are just ordinary, annoying assholes.

xondono 5y ago

Maybe it’s me, but I think “fierce” has thrown a lot of people off. I would classify what you are describing as what PG terms “the bitter nerds”, not necessarily “fierce”.

mcguire 5y ago
As Graham says, the difference between fierce and bitter is success. And given that, in a very competitive environment, the difference between success and failure is largely luck...

NikolaeVarius 5y ago

I heavily disagree. Any fierce nerd ive known all know they are VERY good at what they do (in terms of some intellectual persuit) and know how to assert themselves

arduinomancer 5y ago

> exhausted themselves with petty disagreements and arbitrary hills to die on In a more broad sense, you can be smart but easily work on the wrong thing or put your energy into the wrong area.

courtf 5y ago
Indeed, although I think it's a huge mistake to represent these failures as permanent, and bitterness as an immutable, defining characteristic of fierce, unsuccessful nerds. Not only have some of the greatest intellectuals overcome decades of repeated failure and mistakes, but we often only see one small part of their personality: the extremes that draw the most attention. This is even more true in the social media era where people are reduced to bite-sized summaries. Haters and successes. An incredibly reductive, childlike view of the business word, itself a tiny corner of humanity that gets all the attention because people love money.