People can be broadly divided into people who are interested in PEOPLE or THINGS. This is largely derived from parts of the Big Five personality traits. Many

People can be broadly divided into people who are interested in PEOPLE or THINGS. This is largely derived from parts of the Big Five personality traits. Many techy people, or broadly nerds, are more interested in things than people. Not exactly a surprise I'm sure you will agree. This lack of interest in people means that you don't focus on the subject matter in question, other people, and in a social interaction you will be mainly thinking about yourself and how you are acting. Most people who are relatively social will indeed become subject matter experts on the business of interacting with others. There is a lifetimes worth of subtle information in body language, and a delicate interplay of social signalling and expression that make up our interactions with others. Most geeks just try to cram learning it all into pitifully shallow disparate interactions. It is so powerful, that it trumps almost any competence in other fields and (with the assistance of decaying moral integrity in society at large ) leads us to the world of nepotism and cronyism we have today.