
The Nerd as the Norm - paulpauper
https://everythingstudies.com/2017/11/07/the-nerd-as-the-norm/
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Mysterix
From the first link, this part is so relatable :

"They'll stop going to the company picnic if it becomes an occasion for
everyone to list all the computer problems they never bothered to mention
before."

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pasabagi
I don't really think his concept of a nerd works, since he lumps in lots of
extraneous charateristics and values.

I think a more explanatory description would be, a nerd is somebody who is
primarily interested in technical questions. That predisposes nerds to avoid
ambiguity - but by no means excludes nerds like literature professors, who are
absolutely obsessed with ambiguity.

It's generally a better idea to categorise people by priorities, as opposed to
preferences - since preferences tend to be very variable.

~~~
nickthemagicman
I think there's several sub-categories in the nerd culture. Geeks, Dweebs,
Nerds, etc.

I think Geeks are the literature/pop culture equivalent of nerds. Whereas
nerds deal with more scientific obsessions Geeks deal with more cultural
obsessions.

Here's a Nerd/Dweeb/Geek Venn diagram.

[https://www.popsugar.com/tech/Geek-vs-Nerd-vs-Dork-vs-
Dweeb-...](https://www.popsugar.com/tech/Geek-vs-Nerd-vs-Dork-vs-
Dweeb-8177870)

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bootsz
> _It would be nice to have nerdy interests and sensibilities be the norm for
> once; to get to feel as if society is organized with me in mind, and not
> feel a bit like an anthropologist observing an alien civilization._

For real though...

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thepra
"Nobody is going to respect you for having feelings."

Funny, the inverse world.

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marcus_holmes
I love the idea of a name for non-nerds, but don't know how to pronounce
"wamb" \- is the b silent as in lamb?

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peterburkimsher
Perhaps "dren" would be a better term?

~~~
soylentcola
Such vulgarity!

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AstralStorm
Why even try to show there is a "norm" as opposed to a multimodal distribution
of traits?

These are probably different peaks in the spectrum. Unfortunately, this truth
runs counter to people who want to control everyone... or at least predict.

The description of the anti-nerd would completely fall apart in Asian culture
for instance.

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nickthemagicman
Great article. Very clever the flipping of the traits.

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powerslacker
really interesting piece.

