Golden Age of the Geek

HungryJoe

So, In was watching The Avengers last night and thinking that this really is a good time to be a geek, or even a nerd. This is kind of what it was like in the 80s, watching pop culture unfold around you instead of just having it all there pre-digested for you. There's a kind of suspense about what's coming next that I haven't felt in a while. Meanwhile, geekery of all sorts seems to be tolerated more and more. I'll have to tell you: if Carter had allowed himself to be photographed while doing a Vulcan salute in the Oval Office, I honestly believe he would have been impeached.

What do you think?

Oh yeah, for those computer-y types: What are the chances we'll see Tony Stark's GUI anytime soon? You guys are taking cues from films like this in computer design, aren't you?

Greg

The problem with the '80s is that it was so much harder to reach other nerds. Nerds have been traditionally mocked and alienated. I suspect the Golden Age of the Geek would have to be some time when we could communicate with each other via the interwebs.

trogdor9

Oh yeah, for those computer-y types: What are the chances we'll see Tony Stark's GUI anytime soon? You guys are taking cues from films like this in computer design, aren't you?

The Minority Report UI has been at least partially implemented.

http://www.ted.com/talks/john_underkoffler_drive_3d_data_with_a_gesture.html

At the end of the video, Underkoffler estimates that this will be real in five years. The talk was recorded in February 2010. Kinect does a few similar things and was released in late 2010. This stuff is coming.

UncleUlty

In a documentary I was watching the other day, I heard a very relevant quote:

"We (the children of the 70's) are the first generation in human history to make fun important."

That's far more profound than it first sounds. In the past, you had a lot of people who spent a lot of time and effort on things like art, but not until recently did there come a big focus on things such as movies or games or any sort of recreational entertainment.

We are living in an age where the first people who grew up with these things as important cornerstones of their lives are now in a position to create more media that they want to see, and that people like them want to see. And while you do still have to separate the wheat from the chaff, when you find something that was made with that passion, it really shows.

Cremlian

We are truly in the golden age of Geek. It's good to be alive.

Sail

In a documentary I was watching the other day, I heard a very relevant quote:

"We (the children of the 70's) are the first generation in human history to make fun important."

That's far more profound than it first sounds. In the past, you had a lot of people who spent a lot of time and effort on things like art, but not until recently did there come a big focus on things such as movies or games or any sort of recreational entertainment.

That is not even close to true :P The 1920s are generally considered to be the first time in America where recreation and entertainment became a highly valued industry. What documentary makes the '70s claim? Perhaps the context will help it make more sense.

GauntletWizard

None of that makes any sense, either. "Panem et circenses" has been a thing for thousands of years, since the time of the Romans. If anything, it's a sign of a civilization's downfall that it is concentrating more on the entertainment side than on the "getting work done" side, and I've resolved to not have any fun to try to combat it.

Sail

None of that makes any sense, either. "Panem et circenses" has been a thing for thousands of years, since the time of the Romans.

There's a difference, though. Before cheap printing, radio, and recording, the type of widely distributed media that our modern entertainment industry is based on wasn't possible. Obviously there has always been entertainment since the birth of civilization, but not industry. Shared experiences by the masses is the very definition of popular culture.

GauntletWizard

Charriot races had Hooligans, much like our modern football hooligans. Celebrity was celebrated; That's why rich individuals would commission so many busts and statues of themselves. Pop culture is not a new phenomenon; We've increased it's scale, and somewhat it's homogeneity, but look at all the different genres of movies, music, and games - We're not that different from cultures of yore.

UncleUlty

What documentary makes the '70s claim? Perhaps the context will help it make more sense.

This comes from the documentary "The People vs. George Lucas". So it's possible that it was just a Star Wars geek trying to make Star Wars seem like the most important thing to happen in history. :P

johndis

I think its pretty cool that bread and circuses is pretty much the entire basis of any widely celebrated culture, and that adherence to such a thing Vs. adherence to the non-culture of large scale economics is basically what divides the "resource class" from the ruling class.

Jason

You realize that "bread and circuses" is not a positive idea, right?

johndis

When it was originally coined, it was satirical yeah, but its the basis for thousands of years of culture and society, I dont really know if you can attach a simple good or bad to it. Its just sort of the way things are

Andrew

I'm fairly certain you severely misunderstand the context of that phrase.

johndis

Hmm I feel like I have it down ok, but its possible sure. Wheres the misunderstanding?

Not nine

Wheres the misunderstanding?

Today we would replace the 'bread' and the 'circuses' with 'religion', 'fast-food' and 'television'.

Greg

Here's the thing about religion being the opiate of the masses: when has anyone called Christians (besides Quakers) sedate? Religion aggravates people, it makes them run to the streets screaming their morals and values. Face it, religion is the meth-amphetamine of the masses.

WindUpBird

Here's the thing about religion being the opiate of the masses: when has anyone called Christians (besides Quakers) sedate? Religion aggravates people, it makes them run to the streets screaming their morals and values. Face it, religion is the meth-amphetamine of the masses.

You are clearly not familiar with what a person with junk withdrawal looks and acts like.

YoshoKatana

Here's the thing about religion being the opiate of the masses: when has anyone called Christians (besides Quakers) sedate? Religion aggravates people, it makes them run to the streets screaming their morals and values. Face it, religion is the meth-amphetamine of the masses.

Sup, Lewis Black.

EDIT: Actually, not sure who this quote is attributed to. "If religion is the opiate of the masses, then why do Jews seem more neurotic than sedated?" (Woody Allen, maybe?)

EDIT: It was Lewis Black, from his book Nothing's Sacred: "If religion is the opiate of the people, how come so many Jews seem more neurotic than sedated?"

Greg

Dammit. I haven't read that book, and thought I was posting OC. I guess it goes back to Goethe's Law.

muppet

The thing about the 80s for geeks is that being a geek/nerd back then was a rite of passage, a trial by fire. You had to really be committed to your geekiness or you were going to get steamrolled and pile driven into abject depression by the mocking, nay saying, and ostracism. 80s geeks were hardcore, man. It was tough.

Now you've got the internet where you can find legions of people just like you, who like what you like, support your interests, share strategies for dealing with the creeps (who are less and less as "geek" becomes mainstream.)

It's a better world for geeks, of course, but still, that rite of passage has been lost.

muppet

Here's the thing about religion being the opiate of the masses: when has anyone called Christians (besides Quakers) sedate? Religion aggravates people, it makes them run to the streets screaming their morals and values. Face it, religion is the meth-amphetamine of the masses.

This is pretty much confirmation bias. You only see the vocal, screamy ones.

Viga

The thing about the 80s for geeks is that being a geek/nerd back then was a rite of passage, a trial by fire. You had to really be committed to your geekiness or you were going to get steamrolled and pile driven into abject depression by the mocking, nay saying, and ostracism. 80s geeks were hardcore, man. It was tough.

Now you've got the internet where you can find legions of people just like you, who like what you like, support your interests, share strategies for dealing with the creeps (who are less and less as "geek" becomes mainstream.)

It's a better world for geeks, of course, but still, that rite of passage has been lost.

I don't know if the rite of passage is completely gone. Sometimes, you have more in common with your friend online who lives in Norway than you classmates in your school. You want contact in the real world. If you're lucky, with the ostracism and mocking, you like some folks a bit like you. As you brave the trenches of school a friendship is fire forged through the daily battles. At least till you all split up and go to college.

muppet

I don't know if the rite of passage is completely gone. Sometimes, you have more in common with your friend online who lives in Norway than you classmates in your school. You want contact in the real world. If you're lucky, with the ostracism and mocking, you like some folks a bit like you. As you brave the trenches of school a friendship is fire forged through the daily battles. At least till you all split up and go to college.

Oh sure, it's still tough out there. But there's a big yawning chasm of difference between being different with NO support or validation and being different with the entire internet at your disposal.

No denying that support IRL is key, though.