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Why Nerds Are Unpopular (2003)

paulgraham.com

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Re: Why Nerds Are Unpopular (2003)

#2

Post by geovani_filipp0 »

It's funny how Mr Paul Graham is projecting his own 'Nerd'iness and unattractiveness to the opposite sex on the whole tech / intelligent / scientific community.

Of course, Nerds are, and will always be unpopular because, all said and done, men and women are primitively hard-wired to be attacted to physical characteristics and as such, the football player, who works out and stays in shape and can go longer in bed than the Nerds will always win.

Sorry PG, don't take it so personally. I am sure you eventually got laid.

Re: Why Nerds Are Unpopular (2003)

#4

Post by ktRolster »

Oh yeah, thanks for the reminder. I'm glad I'm not in high school any more. After high school I found there's a bigger pool of people, and I can read a math book for fun (as an example) without people looking down on me for it.

In fact, I know people who do the same thing. It's great. We respect each other.

Re: Why Nerds Are Unpopular (2003)

#5

Post by jff »

This article is in the same vein as that execrable Lisp article that showed up today: "Alas, poor brilliant misunderstood me, cursed by my genius and unwillingness to ~play the silly games of the lesser people who surround me~"

Re: Why Nerds Are Unpopular (2003)

#6

Post by gthtjtkt »

jff wrote: post #5

This article is in the same vein as that execrable Lisp article that showed up today: "Alas, poor brilliant misunderstood me, cursed by my genius and unwillingness to ~play the silly games of the lesser people who surround me~"

"I was too busy studying to be popular!"

> Few smart kids can spare the attention that popularity requires.

Just like all those quarterbacks who were too busy with football practice to waste any time honing their social skills. Oh wait...

Re: Why Nerds Are Unpopular (2003)

#7

Post by Jtsummers » 

  Alberti, arguably the archetype of the Renaissance Man,
  writes that "no art, however minor, demands less than
  total dedication if you want to excel in it." I wonder
  if anyone in the world works harder at anything than
  American school kids work at popularity. Navy SEALs and
  neurosurgery residents seem slackers by comparison.
  They occasionally take vacations; some even have
  hobbies. An American teenager may work at being popular
  every waking hour, 365 days a year.
This almost seems hyperbolic for the time, but I wonder if it isn't more true today with the way social media is omnipresent. Extending the popularity game from just rumors and who's sitting with who, to who you're taking selfies with and posting photos from the hot party this weekend. Not just playing the popularity game while around others, but even at home in your own private spaces, arranging things for photos and making videos and posts.

Re: Why Nerds Are Unpopular (2003)

#10

Post by gavman »

Looking back, the thing I wish someone in middle/high school pointed out to me is how temporary it is. Day in and day out it's your entire life and you think it goes on like that forever, and then one day you graduate and poof it all disappears. I remember the day after I graduated it sunk in that I'd never be in that world again and this huge feeling of relief and excitement washed over me...and then I remember feeling so stupid for being so blind to the fact that high school ends and you leave that world behind. But while you're in the middle of it--and for me even right up until I graduated--it really did feel like it went on forever.
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