I'm not sure it's a response to economic aspirations. I think it's more that a lot of the things that used to mark one as being a geek have become massively mai

I'm not sure it's a response to economic aspirations. I think it's more that a lot of the things that used to mark one as being a geek have become massively mainstream - owning a computer, owning a smartphone, using the internet, using reddit, using emojis / emoticons, etc... At the same time (possibly it's the same effect) the definition of geek has softened. It's much less pejorative, much less sci-fi and math-club, than it used to be. It's almost trendy. It's certainly been co-opted by marketing and consumer interests. Sort-of related, Simon Pegg wrote an interesting blog post recently [1]. Here's an interesting quote: "[...] this extended adolescence has been cannily co-opted by market forces, who have identified this relatively new demographic as an incredibly lucrative wellspring of consumerist potential. Suddenly, here was an entire generation crying out for an evolved version of the things they were consuming as children. This demographic is now well and truly serviced in all facets of entertainment and the first and second childhoods have merged into a mainstream phenomenon." [1] http://simonpegg.net/2015/05/19/big-mouth-strikes-again/ http://simonpegg.net/2015/05/19/big-mouth-strikes-again/