http://www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html

It's long, mind you.

Discuss.


------------------
"For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries."
-Robert Jastrow

i stoped at "being smart makes you unpopular in an american school" im canadian so that does not apply to me and well thats just dumb think about it...if stupids are popular then george.w.bush is gonna be elected again...[edit] thats not what it really said there thats just what it basicly said read it and youl find out

------------------
janitor bobs idea of rogers video: He's actually the overweight guy next door who has a HUGE selection of videos, including the entire Lethal Weapon, Halloween, and 'Ernest' series.
The advantage is is that you can 'borrow' movies for long amounts of time without him remembering that you borrowed them.

The disadvantage is the pizza cheese grime on the DVDs

[This message has been edited by imsoshort (edited February 07, 2004).]

1 - Bush is not stupid. He may have some opinions and/or beliefs differing from yours, but he is clearly a fairly capable man.

2 - That statement is incorrect, however. At least, at my school it is. Most of the "popular" kids are the ones making straight A's.

------------------
Do you have stairs in your house?

[This message has been edited by Correction (edited February 07, 2004).]

Bah you can call it incorrect or whatever but that is very rare. It's true usually the smart ones are the nerds, and the popular kids are usually average C students, not actually dumb but once your popular you tend to neglect schoolwork.

i gave up after about 1/3rd of the page down, interesting essay to say the least

------------------
<Genki> oh, where are you going, with beards all a waggin, no knowin no knowin what bring dear Mr. Baggins, and Balin, and Dwalin, here down in the vally Ah ha!

Prior to high school, yes, social barriers did exist. However, most of those seemed to drop about my sophmore-junior year, and I attribute the fact that, at that point, you are no longer legally bound to attend school, and, thus, most of the morons that reinforced these barriers dropped out.

Yes, we did have the cliques, but these were mainly separated down into "goth" and "non-goth," and, even then, people seemed to be able to transcend the separation.

------------------
"LC Tusken: the idiot is the person who follows the idiot and your not following me your insulting me your following the path of a idiot so that makes you the idiot"
NMGOH || Jack Chick preaches it || The Link of the Dead

dude take a joke eh?


------------------
janitor bobs idea of rogers video: He's actually the overweight guy next door who has a HUGE selection of videos, including the entire Lethal Weapon, Halloween, and 'Ernest' series.
The advantage is is that you can 'borrow' movies for long amounts of time without him remembering that you borrowed them.

The disadvantage is the pizza cheese grime on the DVDs

No thanks.

------------------
Do you have stairs in your house?

I can tell you why nerds are unpopular, because weve got complete pwnage over all other social classes.

Then there is my school where most of the popular kids besides a few girls who I know are smart, but act like idiots to fit in get Cs and Ds.

------------------
Bobbert006:The other day my dad said, "I think the world has passed me by."
I told him he isn't missing anything.

AGONetwork

No. They are unpopular because
1) Ignorance toward social convention.
2) Apathy toward social interaction.
3) Arrogance.




------------------
"Your entire base belongs to us."

"It would be highly appreciated if someone would set the bomb up for us"

That is bs dude. No social interaction, yet I regularly mingle (i love that word )with 15 or so "nerdy" friends of mine every day at school. Ya I am one hell of a social outcast there buddy.

1) This is old newz. It was posted on /. a year ago.

2) The essay isnt completely accurate....

------------------
The future is here, and all bets are off.

Then see reason number 1 and possibly reason number 3. Of course, at my school popularity is usually gained by just being nice to everybody. The only real outcasts are self-appointed.

------------------
"Your entire base belongs to us."

"It would be highly appreciated if someone would set the bomb up for us"

I actually saw this on /. last year, like GBK said. I think it's a pretty interesting idea, and obviously situation vary depending on where you go to school. I know at my school, the hatred isn't quite as thick as it is in other places. I have friends within *most* of the "groups" of people, and there isn't really any extensive nerdbashing.

------------------
MadQuack on Military school: Pro's: I get to shoot a gun. Con's: Everything else.
"I'm going to beat you until the laws of physics are violated!!" ! Maeve's Warcry

RIP -MaDaVentor-. You will be missed.

The problem with 1 & 2 is that they can only apply below the college level. I, myself, rarely ever get out of the dorms, and that's because the only thing people do on the weekends outside of the dorms is go to someone's house and drink. For someone who hates alcohol and everything related to it, like me, that really creates kind of a stigma against social convention.

------------------
"LC Tusken: the idiot is the person who follows the idiot and your not following me your insulting me your following the path of a idiot so that makes you the idiot"
NMGOH || Jack Chick preaches it || The Link of the Dead

Same.

------------------
The Matrix is not Linux compatible.

People are "popular" because they have good social skills. Geeks often don't and can be arrogant.



[This message has been edited by Ranger (edited February 07, 2004).]

Maybe the nerds I know are just out-of-the-ordinary, but they aren't arrogant in the least - social ineptitude prevents them from obtaining the status of "popular," and perhaps it's best that way.

Why? Because nerds generally like things like heavy metal, grunge, classic rock, classic metal, roleplaying, reading books that aren't required by class, etc. Being popular means you can't enjoy these things, or, at least, can't profess to. Quite frankly, I find being a nerd better than being "popular," and I probably always will.

------------------
"LC Tusken: the idiot is the person who follows the idiot and your not following me your insulting me your following the path of a idiot so that makes you the idiot"
NMGOH || Jack Chick preaches it || The Link of the Dead

http://www.plausiblydeniable.com/opinion/gsf.html

------------------
A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops.
On my desk I have a workstation...

I never had much problem with the whole nerd thing when I was in high school. I was more tha just smart because of the sports and other extra cirriculars I participated in.

------------------
I'm not an actor. I just play one on TV.

Well there are actually three main types of nerds, in my opinion;

1) Sweet, harmlessly nerdy people who, though they may lack certain conversational skills and social tact, are nonetheless the salt of the earth.

2) Nerds who at least believe that they have above-par skills and talents, therefore making them King of the Multiverse.

3) The worst kind of nerd - a guy/gal whose nerdiness and lack of social ability leads to him developing either a monstrous chip on his shoulder or a host of psychological hangups, making them thoroughly unpleasant to deal with. These types dedicate their lives to surrounding themselves with wealth and importance, and yet can be reduced to an impotent rage by being reminded of their painful pasts.

Which represents a perfect cross-section of Massassi.

Obviously, the article is not completely accurate. Times change, and no all schools are the same. There's a big difference in social structure in an Orange County school in 2004 and some school for autistic children in Tehran in 1958.

------------------
I have become Death, destroyer of newbs.
Statavad-Gita 8:14

(i skipped the first half to where he made his point) and basicully he says the problems with youth in our society stem from no real place in society for us to work/basically sustain ourselves. and it's true, not matter what your back ground in school.

This system is broke... why should i have to sit in a house learning how to recite facts that i 'learned' a week ago on a test? (IE. Columbs saled to the Americas in 1492... test: what major event happoned in 1492?) This is a part time prison, we are not given the means to get out "your term is for 12 years, if you do not complete this sentance of your life, you will never get a job, you will never be allowed to be a productive member of society"

you think in 12 years that schools could be able to teach us everything abotu life we could possable be needing to know, and provide us with the tools to keep us out of debt/find a good life/contue learing with out school on our own. but it doesent, and if you want to get pased a burger joint you must complete at least 2 more years of collage before you are allowed into society.

he is right, the hole society is rigged aginst itself, and things will not improve untill people can see past the hammored socal system.

------------------
IMPORTANT NOTICE PLEASE READ

Employees dying on the job are faling to fall down. THIS PRACTICE MUST STOP as it becmes impossible to distinguish between death and the natural movement of he staf.

Any employee found dead in an upright position will be dropped from the payroll.

Using internet nerd language is what makes them unpopular.

------------------
Kids must be shot by Monday.

Honesty tests for workers can't be trusted, report says.

Psychopaths are unpredictable.

Jay Leno's Headlines > Everything

Amen!



------------------
Kids must be shot by Monday.

Honesty tests for workers can't be trusted, report says.

Psychopaths are unpredictable.

Jay Leno's Headlines > Everything

another reason would be nerds know cog!and have cog forums!and talk in cog!on massassi!
not pointing any fingers...hey im a nerd to!i go to massassi 10 20 times a day!but im thankfully not "unpoular"

------------------
janitor bobs idea of rogers video: He's actually the overweight guy next door who has a HUGE selection of videos, including the entire Lethal Weapon, Halloween, and 'Ernest' series.
The advantage is is that you can 'borrow' movies for long amounts of time without him remembering that you borrowed them.

The disadvantage is the pizza cheese grime on the DVDs

[This message has been edited by imsoshort (edited February 08, 2004).]

The big long button at the bottom of your keyboard is your friend.

And anyway, I think most of that is accurate. But as there are less nerds, there are more evil w***ers who ostracise them. Well, at least in SE UK.

------------------
The Earth is the cradle of the mind, but one cannot stay in the cradle forever.
-- Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, The Father of Rocketry

God forbid should you actually have to take initiative and find out something for yourself, instead of having it spoon-fed to you for 12 years. School teaches you the basics of what you need to, or should, know. Of course it doesn't teach you everything - if you want to learn something, look it up in either a library or the internet.

Additionally, if you're going to complain about the current state of affairs within the educational system, learn to spell. That should have been one of the most rudimentary skills taught to you at an early age.

------------------
"LC Tusken: the idiot is the person who follows the idiot and your not following me your insulting me your following the path of a idiot so that makes you the idiot"
NMGOH || Jack Chick preaches it || The Link of the Dead

I thought it was a very good essay, an interesting read for sure. On the whole I think it's probably mostly right, but I go to a grammar school so I haven't really had it that bad in the last few years as people started to mature up a bit, but I still get stick from kids from other schools who would be lucky to get grade C to be perfectly honest. They strike out at everyone, and to be honest most of them aren't big or strong or smart enough to defend themselves in a confrontation, but they don't confront people, they intimidate. Their huge uneducated immoral numbers who all laugh when someone farts or when somebody keeps pressing the bell on the bus just make it impossible to make them see any sense - they'd refuse it because the stupidest and most popular kid can somehow seem clever by laughing or saying "Your mum".

In terms of remedying the situation in any way I can only see the reintroduction of real punishment. A kid can laugh off a detention or whatever but he can't laugh off a cane or expulsion. And somehow people who punish troublemakers are the evil ones?

------------------
tristan is the best friend of the jedi

"I am the signature virus! Copy me into your signature so that I can take over the world! Moohahahee!"

I like nerds. They are easy to manipulate.

------------------
"What I find especially funny are the neo-Celtic religions based on accounts made by the Romans. It's like learning about Judaism from Nazi lore." --stat

[This message has been edited by Kieran Horn (edited February 08, 2004).]

hahahahaha

------------------
I'm not an actor. I just play one on TV.

The majority of people at my school are like that. Stupid and immoral idiots. I don't know how the society has come to the point where we raise kids like this. It is just sad. I would classify my self as a nerd, but I think in order to be truly good at something you have to sacrafice other things like social skills.

------------------
Designers have dreams and great idea's, but the coders are who have to get their hand dirty and program everything, they are slaves to the designers will.

-Arkon

"A day may come, when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of Fellowship,
but it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you, stand,
men of the West!"

[This message has been edited by Freyr (edited February 08, 2004).]

Without reading that I know why nerds are unpopular >:}

THEY'RE ALL JEALOUS OF US!! MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

*runs away cackling, while clutching his UNIX manual*

------------------
Fragment Thoughts consume my vision.

Oh do I hate those kind of people. They throw objects at cars, at people, jaywalk on purpose, put other people down, etc. They all deserve to die.....

Now for the nerd thing. I never had much of a problem involving "nerd bashers". Then again I never hang out with those immoral people so I don't really know.

You know according to dictionary.com. All politicians, lawyers, doctors, and Cher are nerds...

Whoa, whoa, whoa. How can jaywalking even be comapred tothrowing stuff at cars and people?

------------------
I'm not an actor. I just play one on TV.

Ya... I jaywalk on purpose because the people who drive around here are awful and I'm hoping to get hit one day so I can drop out of college and get a huge settlement.

And that guy's essay is entirely right. The reason the teenage years are so ****ed is because of the boredom and idleness that comes from learning stupid, useless **** in school. Graduation should be based on Academic merit, not on "Complete this essay about what you want to do after school and then take this test putting dogs in a box after completing 12 years of school." Just like elana said, but without the 'happoned'...

------------------
please

/me finds that hard to believe....





Unless you live in SOunthern Claifornia, where it does a pretty piss-poor job with even the basics.

------------------
Bobbert006:The other day my dad said, "I think the world has passed me by."
I told him he isn't missing anything.

AGONetwork

Maybe my school is just weird like this, but I learned U.S. history, brief summaries of European and Chinese history, Spanish, acting, geometry, calculus, trigonometry, algebra, basic financial skills, how to write papers...

I'm just failing to see why this material isn't necessary and/or useful.

------------------
"LC Tusken: the idiot is the person who follows the idiot and your not following me your insulting me your following the path of a idiot so that makes you the idiot"
NMGOH || Jack Chick preaches it || The Link of the Dead

[This message has been edited by Wolfy (edited February 08, 2004).]

I have C's in all my classes and I'm not popular. Am I a defective nerd?? *gasp*

------------------
"The Oracle told me I would die with my boots on. I've worn tennis shoes ever since." - Axis