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That resonated with me for completely different reasons. Most of the "extremely weird nerds" from my high school were people with pretty serious functional prob

by flomo 12y ago

That resonated with me for completely different reasons. Most of the "extremely weird nerds" from my high school were people with pretty serious functional problems who never did make it anywhere. They are pretty much the forgotten ones. The successful "nerds" were always at least introspective or 'ironic' and could function somewhat normally in social situations including attempting to play whatever status games that entails. Most of the programmers I've worked with are at best superficially-nerdy relative to how far some people can go. A lot of this analysis suffers from pretty severe high-school politics category error. That guy from high school who had nothing going except being "good with computers" is probably not at all the same person who is 'brogramming' for a startup, for example. But no matter how much it is reframed, the social stigma of the lost ones is unescapable.

spiritplumber 12y ago
Then there's those of us who can do that for a limited amount of time before it overloads them - it's something that requires a lot of brain effort, and doesn't come natural. Then again, I do stuff like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnRSu9LjV7E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnRSu9LjV7E
- Terr_ 12y ago
  > Then there's those of us who can do that for a limited amount of time before it overloads them Yep, AKA introverts with social skills. (Shyness is another possible axis.) Personally, I feel the problems with buying into the big monkey hierarchy aren't that you can't be diplomatic or can't read social cues. The problems are that it is (A) a drain on your mental energy compared to being an extrovert and (B) feels like an endorsement of a system you'd rather not endorse.
- flomo 12y ago
  Sure, and I understand that feeling very well :). However, I'm referring more to the "nerds" who are not good at math (or standardized tests or study skills or etcetera). People tend to inaccurately conflate certain personality types with STEM smarties, which is really not fair to either group.

by flomo 12y ago

spiritplumber 12y ago

Then there's those of us who can do that for a limited amount of time before it overloads them - it's something that requires a lot of brain effort, and doesn't come natural. Then again, I do stuff like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnRSu9LjV7E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnRSu9LjV7E

Terr_ 12y ago
> Then there's those of us who can do that for a limited amount of time before it overloads them Yep, AKA introverts with social skills. (Shyness is another possible axis.) Personally, I feel the problems with buying into the big monkey hierarchy aren't that you can't be diplomatic or can't read social cues. The problems are that it is (A) a drain on your mental energy compared to being an extrovert and (B) feels like an endorsement of a system you'd rather not endorse.
flomo 12y ago
Sure, and I understand that feeling very well :). However, I'm referring more to the "nerds" who are not good at math (or standardized tests or study skills or etcetera). People tend to inaccurately conflate certain personality types with STEM smarties, which is really not fair to either group.