Why Are Nerds Unpopular, An Alternative To PG's Essay • Hacker News Board

Re: Why Are Nerds Unpopular, An Alternative To PG's Essay

#11

Post by nearestneighbor » Mon, Apr 26, 2010, 6:50 PM UTC

trominos wrote: post #5

zackattack wrote: post #2

Lots of bizarre rationalizing. "Nerds" tend to be unpopular because they lack emotional and social intelligence.

What? I mean, of course, if you define "nerds" to be "people without social intelligence" you're gonna see that nerds are unpopular. The premise beneath PG's essay (and this one, I think) is that if you instead define "nerds" to be "people with a lot of interest in some academic subject, and/or people who are quantifiably 'smart'" you still (seem to) find that nerds are unpopular. So are you saying that that's not ac…

> if you instead define "nerds" to be "people with a lot of interest in some academic subject, and/or people who are quantifiably 'smart'"

So, the Comic Book Guy is not a nerd? Even Wikipedia calls him that.

Re: Why Are Nerds Unpopular, An Alternative To PG's Essay

#12

Post by yason » Mon, Apr 26, 2010, 6:51 PM UTC

I'm a nerd and I wasn't popular in school because I simply wasn't very interested in what the others talked about. Thus, I had nothing to say really, which makes a great ground for having nothing much in common between me and other students.

Re: Why Are Nerds Unpopular, An Alternative To PG's Essay

#13

Post by moultano » Mon, Apr 26, 2010, 6:57 PM UTC

We've created popular culture that doesn't value intelligence. This has an intergenerational compounding effect. When smart people aren't socially valued for their intelligence, they mate with less attractive people, and the effect is reinforced in the next generation.

The opposite is happening in India. Intelligence is a high ideal, and seen as insurance against abject poverty. Men with prestigious degrees and good careers regardless of their attractiveness generally have their pick of wives through arranged marriage. This ends up resulting in a lot of people that are both intelligent and beautiful, and the preference for intelligence is reinforced.

Re: Why Are Nerds Unpopular, An Alternative To PG's Essay

#14

Post by aharrison » Mon, Apr 26, 2010, 6:58 PM UTC

nearestneighbor wrote: post #11

trominos wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What? I mean, of course, if you define "nerds" to be "people without social intelligence" you're gonna see that nerds are unpopular. The premise beneath PG's essay (and this one, I think) is that if you instead define "nerds" to be "people with a lot of interest in some academic subject, and/or people who are quantifiably 'smart'" you still (seem to) find that nerds are unpopular. So are you saying that that's not ac…

> if you instead define "nerds" to be "people with a lot of interest in some academic subject, and/or people who are quantifiably 'smart'" So, the Comic Book Guy is not a nerd? Even Wikipedia calls him that.

This is drifting offtopic, but CBG was a member of MENSA[1] and therefore falls under the "quantifiably 'smart'" category.

[1] http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_Comic_Book_Guy_a_member_of_MENS...

Re: Why Are Nerds Unpopular, An Alternative To PG's Essay

#15

Post by demallien » Mon, Apr 26, 2010, 6:58 PM UTC

lukev wrote: post #10

I wonder why people spend so much time deconstructing and perpetuating a classification that has absolutely no meaning outside of highschool.

If I had to guess, it's because a lot of us here found highschool to be a highly traumatising experience, and it comforts us to know that there were others that went through that hell.

Personally speaking, it took me more than 5 years after graduating before I could even start to believe that people actually liked me. Even today I can still see little emotional tics, learned behaviours, that I developed during that period, that I actively have to work against, as they will lead me into unsuitable responses today.

Re: Why Are Nerds Unpopular, An Alternative To PG's Essay

#16

Post by moultano » Mon, Apr 26, 2010, 6:59 PM UTC

lukev wrote: post #10

I wonder why people spend so much time deconstructing and perpetuating a classification that has absolutely no meaning outside of highschool.

Many people never escape the conception of themselves they developed in childhood. As banal as it is, this stuff is important.

Re: Why Are Nerds Unpopular, An Alternative To PG's Essay

#17

Post by Jun8 » Mon, Apr 26, 2010, 7:01 PM UTC

I think one of the more interesting points in the article was: "The bottom line is this : don’t assume that an American public school experience is universal and broadly applicable social lessons can be derived from it."

In European countries, AFAIK, there's very little "Jock worship" in junior-high and hing schools, definitely nowhere near the levels I have seen here. My high school also had sports teams but the people who were in the teams were not necessarily popular. So, my simplistic answer to this social problem: downgrade the sports teams and cheer leading squads in high schools and colleges :-)

Re: Why Are Nerds Unpopular, An Alternative To PG's Essay

#18

Post by trominos » Mon, Apr 26, 2010, 7:06 PM UTC

nearestneighbor wrote: post #11

trominos wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What? I mean, of course, if you define "nerds" to be "people without social intelligence" you're gonna see that nerds are unpopular. The premise beneath PG's essay (and this one, I think) is that if you instead define "nerds" to be "people with a lot of interest in some academic subject, and/or people who are quantifiably 'smart'" you still (seem to) find that nerds are unpopular. So are you saying that that's not ac…

> if you instead define "nerds" to be "people with a lot of interest in some academic subject, and/or people who are quantifiably 'smart'" So, the Comic Book Guy is not a nerd? Even Wikipedia calls him that.

The terminology is secondary; the important point is that it seems like smart people are unpopular, but it's not clear whether that's true and if it is true it's not clear why.

Re: Why Are Nerds Unpopular, An Alternative To PG's Essay

#19

Post by stcredzero » Mon, Apr 26, 2010, 7:06 PM UTC

We must also consider that popularity is also complex

I thought that was a premise of PG's essay. To be fair, the point being made is that there may be many specific tradeoffs with many nuances.

Re: Why Are Nerds Unpopular, An Alternative To PG's Essay

#20

Post by psyklic » Mon, Apr 26, 2010, 7:07 PM UTC

lukev wrote: post #10

I wonder why people spend so much time deconstructing and perpetuating a classification that has absolutely no meaning outside of highschool.

I disagree that it has no meaning outside of high school. In any big city, there are still many scenes which play on the old stereotypes -- the club/bar scene, rock n roll scene, bohemian scene, gay scene, etc.

For example, if you bring up that you work with computers or have a desk job in a club, it is very noticeable that you are stereotyped as "boring" and "geeky" (at least in LA). It's all part of the popularity contest that we're familiar with from high school.