Actually Paul Graham discussed this point in an interesting way: If geeks are so smart, why don't they just work the social system the way they would hack a com

Actually Paul Graham discussed this point in an interesting way: If geeks are so smart, why don't they just work the social system the way they would hack a computer program? I agree with his conclusion: Geeks care (desperately even) about being popular (or normal or whatever you want to call it), but they care more about other things. There are only 24 hours in a day. If you are way into tech stuff, math, physics etc. you can't at the same time spend all your time worrying about clothes and (rubbish) popular culture, socializing and leveling up in the social game. Well, that and the fact that the geek persona is naturally skilled in very litteral disciplines, whereas social interaction is much more about 'soft' skills like empathy and intuition.