The article omits a huge factor: In American culture, you are not allowed to say you are smarter than someone else, and nerds typically violate this rule. Thoug

The article omits a huge factor: In American culture, you are not allowed to say you are smarter than someone else, and nerds typically violate this rule. Thought experiment: turn to your officemate and explain why you are smarter than they are - it's not going to go well. Saying that you're richer, thinner, or more athletic is also arrogant, but I think putting down someone's intelligence is especially cutting. I saved myself a lot of trouble in high school by never explicitly saying I was smart (even though it was obvious). If someone started shoving me and saying "You think you're smarter than everyone else", I'd say something like "No, not really. I just do well in school", and they would happily go on their way. (I'm sure this wouldn't work for everyone, and I don't mean to generalize too much. Also, this was my actual view, not just something I said.) I hypothesize based on this and other articles that Paul Graham went out of his way to make sure people knew how smart he was, which would explain why he ended up at the "D" table. This seems more likely than the article's hypothesis that nerds spend all their time on being smart and just didn't have time to be popular. (Seriously, look at athletes who are practicing at 6am - they are the ones who are spending all their time on their craft.)