Metablogging

This is more for me than it is for my readers, but I felt that my readers would benefit from this too, especially if some my readers are fellow bloggers. 

Since I’m nearly thirty posts into this blog, I thought I’d take some time to reflect on this blog, my writing style, and the challenges I face when writing on this blog. I’ll also give you a bit of info about me, too.
 

Cybermantics, The Blog

 

First, this blog. This blog is written with the purpose of celebrating my love of technology and my love of culture. I often intermix the two when writing to showcase just how technology influences culture, and the inverse, how culture influences technology. Before this blog, I was a fan of social commentary. This blog is the result of me combining my love of social commentary with my, more recent, love of technology.

I have a rather unfortunate habit of starting things and never finishing them. Over the years, I’ve learned to be a bit more patient with myself and my endeavors. My posting goal is to upload a post at no greater than five day intervals. I know I won’t always achieve this goal. I don’t believe in pushing myself to write and post every single day because I know, if I do, I’ll burn myself out. And that’s no fun. This isn’t a “for-profit” blog (despite the “donate” button). It’s a for-fun blog. If I’m not having fun, then why would I post? 

Writing Style 

 

I’m still fairly new to writing social commentary, and writing in general, so I constantly face challenges when writing about worthy subjects. I had one blog prior to this one. That blog was on a completely different subject matter though, so the transition to writing about technology was difficult to make since I also did a lot of social commentary on my previous blog. Though I’ve been writing for a little over a couple years, I’m still trying to find my writing style. I opt for a mixture of formal and informal, question and answer styles. I don’t mind being serious from time to time, and I love to be silly and facetious. 

Challenges

 

Some of the challenges I face are staying on topic (both staying in tune with the blog’s purpose and staying in tune to a particular post’s theme), formatting, clunky writing, consistent formatting, paragraph transitions, tagging my posts, and organizing the content of my posts. Perhaps the biggest of these challenges is staying on topic while keeping my post content reasonably organized. I’ve been known to branch off into irrelevant (or relevant, yet out of place) rants and ideas, but, I suppose that’s part of the fun and full-part of the blogging experience. 

One of the more irritating challenges I face while writing is figuring out how to end a post. It’s irritating to start off so strong, yet finish so weakly.
I’ve also been trying to strike a balance between simplicity and complexity. Most of my posts are rather short and simple, and thusly, read rather clunky. I’m a fan of concise posts. I’ve yet to figure out how to make my posts concise and readable!

Finally, a particularly irritating challenge for me as of late is knowing when to stop writing. Sometimes, I can keep writing, writing, writing forever. I’ll spend tons of time making a post the most perfect it can possibly be, and it’s difficult for me to know just when to stop. This is another reason why I set the goal of making one post at least every five days. When that five days is up, I post what I got no matter the quality. Usually the quality is more than sufficient.
And then there are times when I feel that I posted something prematurely, so then I worry about that. ARGH!!! Why is something like blogging so stressful! 

Signing Off

 

All of the subjects I write about are worthy of discussion (some worthier than others), which is why I write about them. I can only hope that my writing ability does sufficient justice to the topics I write about. One of my longer term goals for this blog is to post consistently for the length of a year. I’m happy to say that I’m over two months into that goal. I’ve got a long way to go and I don’t know if I’ll make it. But, if I don’t make it, I’ll put in a heroic effort before failing.

Some quirks and facts about my style/posts/posting habits:

• I don’t like to make more than one post a day since, when I do, my blogging template “runs” the posts together and makes it seem like two posts are one giant post
• I have a rather irritating habit of using the word “that” too much in my posts. I hope to change that…dammit!
• I try to put in at least one hour of writing, per day. It doesn’t always happen, but it’s good to have goals
• I use the words “machine” and “computer” / “articles” and “posts” / “conscious” and “ghost” interchangeably
• I can’t figure out which font size I prefer
• I’m terrible at citing my image sources. I would like for my readers to know that none of the images used belong to me.
• I don’t usually make corrections to my past posts because, when I re-upload the post after the correction is performed, it screws with all the links that linked to that post. I’ve decided let past imperfections become beauty marks.

Cyberpunk Society and Our Society: Present and Future Drugs

I’m drunk and I want to make a drunken post on, what is currently, a Monday night. Living the dream right here. That may sound sarcastic, but there are few things I love more than drunken writing. Anyway, as I’ve probed my mind for things to talk about, in my drunken stupor, it has occurred to me that I rarely touch upon drug use. Come to think of it, have I ever even mentioned drug use? I can’t think of a single instance in which I remarked on it. The fact that my blog was inspired by Cyberpunk fiction, and the fact that drug use is rampant in said fiction, makes it glaringly clear that something is missing from my blog discussions. How could I have neglected such a thing? After all, cyberpunk is “high-tech; low-life” and all low-lives have one thing in common, they like drugs. When your life is in the gutter, what better way to find that shred of happiness than through either biological augmentation or the bottle? It is a sin for this blog to exist while not having a single post about drug use, namely, the future of drug use. And that’s what I want to talk about here, the drugs of our present and our future, and the drugs that reflect our lives and our culture. But what do I mean when I say “the drugs that reflect our lives and our culture”? Let me explain.

Mainstream drugs reflect mainstream cultural issues and challenges. The primary drugs in use reflect the era. They are both a consequence and cause of the era or, more accurately, the culture of the era. The 60’s and 70’s, the era of free love, mysticism, and music, had LSD, marijuana, and Mescaline. The 80’s, the era of parties, late nights, and disco, had cocaine and amphetamines. The 90’s, the era of seeming hopeless and despair, had heroin.

And what are the drugs of the new millennium? Necessarily, these drugs must reflect the issues, culture, and challenges of the new millennium. These drugs are marijuana, alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, and Adderall (cocaine, too, makes the occasional appearance). Is it any coincidence that over half of these drugs are stimulants? Is anyone really surprised?

It seems every few weeks we are greeted with a “shocking” and salacious report about college students using stimulants like Adderall, Ritalin, and Vyvanse. Again, why are we so surprised? I think the better question is, why do people pretend to be so surprised? Stunningly enough, people who are put into a vice, day-in and day-out, look for a means to cope with that vice. Either they drown their worries in booze and party or, alternatively, they endeavor to beat their overscheduled lives by taking heavy-stimulants. The drugs we use reflect the culture we live in. And those drugs go on to shape our culture.

The modern era is a rush. Everyone rushes to get somewhere for some reason and for some end, only to find the final end in the ground. Humans are bombarded with information as never before in the history of the world. We’re overstimulated. We need to ingest booze or other depressants just to slow down for a moment of recovery. Our poor minds, in order to not overload, need to erect filters. Indeed, even with these filters, our minds are filled to burst with information. Never before have humans had so much information crammed into their heads, yet, the average person has so little control over that information.

Where am I going with all this? I’m about to introduce another, completely legal and widely distributed, drug offered in our present, by our media and our technology. That drug is information. A recent study suggested that people would rather stimulate themselves with electric shock than be left alone with their own thoughts. People would rather inflict pain on themselves than be disconnected from the world of information. They need the stimulation even if that stimulation is a painful electric shock, such is the degree of their addiction to information. Do the results of this study support my idea of information being the drug of the future? If there is still doubt, let’s take a look at the beast itself, social media.

Literally billions of people enjoy the fruits of social media websites and forums. Facebook, Twitter, Pintrest, Tumblr, Flickr, Youtube, Instagram, and, yes, even Blogger. And don’t forget all those “news” sites, magazines, “studies”, surveys, and articles that get linked to those social media sites. And all those comment sections and share “buttons” and up-votes/down-votes. All spreading, spreading, spreading. Sharing…sharing…sharing. Sharing…what? You guessed it, information! Did you get your information fix today by reading this post? Don’t shy away from it. Embrace it. Own up to it. I’ve got no problem admitting I have an addiction to information. It’s the drug of the future. Presented in a way no other drug has ever been distributed, virally by electric fire! Flashing images, gripping sounds, byte-size quotes to thesis-size rants. Information is intoxicating. And it’s all at our finger-tips, provided you have a computer of some sort. You can get your information fix at, pretty much, any time; just like the gentlemen in the image above.

I’ve said that the drugs society uses both reflect and reinforce mainstream culture. The information drug is the perfect supporting example of this claim. Our culture is all about that information. It’s all about being in-the-know. Being privy. Being knowledgeable. Being hip and savvy. So it isn’t shocking that information has become our go-to drug. And, for the second part of my claim, how does the information drug shape our culture? The information drug creates the addiction, an addiction which must be satisfied. How is it satisfied? More information is created, produced, and distributed. Yes, another vicious cycle. Our culture created the information drug and the information drug created more need for the information drug within the culture, which creates more sources of information. There are so many vicious cycles in this future of ours. How appropriate that most cyberpunk fiction takes place in dystopian societies. We have our own cyberpunk dystopian society filled with a drugged-out populace looking for their next information fix.

You may say the information drug isn’t unique to the 21st century; people have been craving the information drug since, at least, the 50s: the television era. This is true. In fact, the information drug has been on the market for at least as long as humans have existed. People have always craved information in one form or another. What makes the 21st century unique is that humanity now has the capacity to overload itself with the information drug, to form a serious addiction, and to propagate that addiction to no end.

Is there any hope for us information-riddled addicts? I think there is some hope even for the most craven and depraved of addicts. As the old saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. The best way to beat information addiction is to never become an addict. But what about those billions who are already addicted? If they are going to beat their addiction, they need to come to terms with the fact that they don’t need to be up-to-date on the latest news, “study”, gossip, or information. They need to take a step back, take a deep breath, and just let go.

It’s important to note that some people are more addicted than others. I’m addicted, but not nearly to the degree as the average teenage girl or the average Facebook user. I don’t seek help for my addiction because I can control it within reason. I even enjoy my addiction, as far as an addiction can be enjoyed. I understand that I am the one in charge of my life and I accept responsibility for my addiction.

In our society, this addiction can’t really be avoided, but it can be easily controlled with a little intelligence and a little willpower. So, the one question that remains is, “Will you accept responsibility for your own addiction?”

 

Thank you for choosing this blog to satisfy your information cravings.

Information: Please Learn Responsibly.

No Knowledge of Computers = No Future?

It’s funny how thoughts and memories from the past occasionally pop up in your head without any warning. Recently, I remembered a conversation with a coworker about my intent to learn more about computing. After I told him this, he said something which I found to be remarkable at the time, but even more remarkable now. He said, “If you don’t have knowledge of computers, you don’t have a future.” This is simply a paraphrase, but I think I captured the spirit of what he said.

As I mention in many of my posts, and it’s likely my readers are tired of hearing me say it, computers are ubiquitous, pervasive, and, even, invasive. This seems like common knowledge, and it is common knowledge, but how often do people think of the repercussions of this commonly known fact? Computers are everywhere and they are heavily integrated in most workplaces, organizations, homes, etc. Computers run our society’s infrastructure, our entertainment, our jobs, our…everything. If you are averse to learning how to operate a computer, then you are quite limited in our society.

The average person, if he is to have at least some success in his working career and life in general, must have at least a rudimentary understanding of how to use a computer. User-interfaces, however, take much of the burden off the average person, which is a good thing, to an extent.

So, I have to agree with my coworker’s sentiment. If you are to operate a computer, you need to have some knowledge of it. And, since computers increasingly rule our world, not knowing how to use a computer means you don’t have much of a future.

 

After digging through my memory banks a bit more, more of that conversation resurfaced. I think I may have misinterpreted what my coworker said because I simply misremembered the situation. But, I’ll leave the above paragraphs in this post because they are important and, more importantly, I like them.

Now, after further reflection, my coworker made his remark after I informed him about my interest in learning about programming. Perhaps, by his comment, he meant that if a person doesn’t have knowledge of programming, or other, more specialized, computer knowledge, then, that person doesn’t have much of a future.

Well now, that seems to be more open to debate.

So, how about it? Does a person who doesn’t have a specialized knowledge of computers have a future? I’ll go with “yes” on this one. A person who doesn’t have special knowledge of computers still has a future. Today, a person doesn’t need to have specialized knowledge of computers in order to use a computer. Thanks to all those user-friendly interfaces, a technologically-illiterate person can survive in the future just as well as the technological know-it-all next-door. Now, the technological know-it-all may have an edge on the illiterate, however, the illiterate can still survive and thrive (likely thanks to the works of the know-it-alls). And, to be fair, the tech-geeks do have better career prospects than most folks, but this doesn’t mean that only the tech-geek will flourish in the future.

The future has a place for us all. Though, for the technologically-illiterate, that place may not be as glamorous as the place occupied by the know-it-alls. So there may be some truth to my coworker’s sentiment. I guess the lesson to take away from all this is that, if you want to live the high-life in the future, then get to working on the foundations of that technical knowledge right now. Your future will shine in proportion to the amount of work you spend polishing your tech-skills, today. Get to it.

Technology as a Fashion Accessory and The Technology/Culture Feedback Cycle

In It’s Cool to be a Geek? Technology Influencing the Culture of Cool, I remarked on how smartphones are cool and, if you possessed a smartphone, your cool factor got a bit of a boost. And, because I am so kind, I even gave a bit of an explanation as to why smartphones are seen as cool. In summary, smartphones are cool because they symbolize wealth, hipness, and tech know-how (which is no longer considered “geeky”, at least not in the negative sense of the word). The geek is vindicated and his world is now a fashion accessory. This may be cause for a bit of resentment and weeping. How would you like it if something that you cared for deeply (say, technology), something that once meant social ostracism, now became something that merited acceptance and accolade? Not only that, but to have your passion be reduced to mere fashion accessory by mainstream society? Kind of a kick in the teeth if you ask me. But let’s look on the bright side of all this. This means the geek’s passions are no longer disparaged, at least, not as as they once were. It also means businesses are striving to produce even greater, more innovative, tech. So, fear not geeks, there are pluses to this fashion accessory trend. So, let’s take the time to examine this trend a bit more.

In the named post above, I observed that some technology was becoming more of a fashion accessory. Here, I’ll speculate that this trend will continue into our future. Today, technology isn’t just something you use. It’s also something you wear. Something you showoff. Something you aren’t afraid to take out in public, like the wrist calculator of yesteryear. This is an interesting, and recent trend within the tech industry.

I’m not the first to notice this trend, but it’s something that deserves to be pointed out over and over again.

Why do I think this technology as fashion accessory trend will continue into the future? This speculation is based on what I perceive to be a cause of technology as fashion accessory. That cause being the growing pervasiveness of tech in modern society. I riff on this chord quite a lot, almost to a sickening degree. But it’s incredibly important to understand how technology influences our culture and how our culture influences technology. This technology as fashion accessory trend is just a symptom of a larger phenomenon.

The above paragraph is a bit confusing to read (and this is largely due to my inability to write), so I want to better explain it here, with a flowchart!

I just knew I’d find a use for Visio 2013. Hopefully this flowchart illustrates what I mean when I say “technology influences cultures, culture influences technology”. I also threw in another factor that contributes to the presence of technology in pop-culture: profit. If businesses make money by introducing tech-themed gadgets (see the bracelet above) or technology, in general, into the culture, then you will see more tech introduced into pop-culture. If you want to see more tech in mainstream society, then vote with your wallet. Buy the gadgets, gizmos, and other tech produced by businesses. Send a message with your dollar that you want to see more tech in society.

Something I want to clear up about the flowchart is the arrow that points from the “influence” circle to the “Technology advances far beyond…” parallelogram. It’s true, as the arrow suggests, that pop-culture supports the advancement of technology. However, pop-culture also directs the advancement of technology. For example, think about the Apple iPhone, would it look the way it does (sleek, slim, and simple), if pop-culture (or, rather, the makers of that culture: mainstream society) didn’t want it to look that way? Again, culture influences tech and tech influences culture. That can’t be repeated enough. We’re stuck in a perpetual feedback cycle. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

What does the future hold for us? My guess: more of the same.

I probably could have broken this post up into two separate posts, but I was on such a roll that I couldn’t help but relate the technology as fashion trend to the tech/culture feedback cycle. Oh well, such is life.

Will Machines Gain Rights?

In Programming a Ghost, I briefly explored the possibility of a computer developing, or being programmed with, a ghost or, more simply, a conscious. In that post, my focus was primarily on the possibility of a machine obtaining a ghost, how we would know whether a machine had a ghost, and what it would take to program a ghost. I also briefly mentioned that there would be enormous political, social, and economic repercussions if machines were to become conscious. Now’s the time to explore just one of those repercussions: machine rights.

I think it’s likely humanity will see serious “machine rights” movements within the next ten years. The debate has already started. And talk about the relationship between humans and machines is gaining political undertones. And why wouldn’t it? Machines are now closer to exhibiting human thought patterns than ever before.

The current understanding of rights is that, to have rights, something must possess the mental faculties of the one rights bearing organism on the planet: a human. If something possesses human thought patterns, or at least appears to possess human thought patterns, then how can someone argue that humans should have rights while machines should not have rights? The arguer would need to either disprove that the robot is thinking (how would that be possible?) or use another standard to determine whether something has rights. Would the new standard be the human soul? Perhaps “No Soul, No Vote” will become a popular political slogan in our near future. But, then, how would a person know whether a machine has or doesn’t have a soul? But this wouldn’t matter much to politicians, since politics has never been about honesty or intellectual debate. Politics is about political expediency and interest. What political candidate is going to run on a platform that seeks to give machines rights and, thus, lawfully prohibit people from interacting with machines against the machine’s “will”?

I don’t like the idea of having to ask my computer whether I can type on its keyboard or use its programs. But whether I like the idea of machine rights or not is not really relevant. I could dislike the idea of some person having rights, but this isn’t reason enough to strip someone of their rights.

While I don’t believe politicians, at least not mainstream politicians, will adopt machine rights as a political goal, I do believe the debate for machine rights will gain some steam in the coming years. It will be a slow process, but it will happen.

And what would happen if machines did gain rights? What machines would gain rights? Desktop computers, laptops, smartphones, infrastructure machines? Surely, if we are using the old standard of rights, the only machines that would gain rights would be those machines that exhibit human intelligence and reason to the same extent as an adult human. But, wouldn’t “lesser minded” machines also have some rights of their own? After all, children and the mentally retarded still have rights, though not the same set of rights as their adult, mentally-advanced peers.

Additionally, if machines were to gain rights, humans, since we depend upon machines, would need to develop machines that are safely below human intelligence and reason so that we could still use them without the long-arm of the law coming down upon our heads. But, wouldn’t machine activists simply argue that we are still abusing mentally-handicapped machines for our own ends? It could happen.

I don’t think machines will gain rights in my lifetime and I expect to live, at least, another sixty years. Remember, politics is about political expedience and interest so no popular politician, in his right mind, would advocate machine rights if giving machines rights would mean forbidding people from using them, unless the machines consented to being used.

We’re in for some interesting times.

Is the User an Idiot?

Once upon a time, in a distant wondrous past known today as the 80’s and 90’s, computers were complicated and, often, difficult-to-use machines. It would take a special group of people, known then and today as the geek, to master and use them effectively. Computers weren’t for everybody. And not everybody could afford them and not everybody had the time to learn how to use them. And, to be fair, computers back then didn’t have nearly the functionality of the computers today, so there wasn’t much point in learning how to use a computer, if you were the average person. But, then, in the late 90’s spanning into the early 2000’s, computers became a very useful thing, even to the average person. However, the computer was still a complex thing that the average person still couldn’t understand with ease. Enter “user-friendly” machines and interfaces. Say good-bye to the command line interface and say hello to the shiny, new graphical user interfaces (GUIs). Complicated and complex is out and simple is in. But at what cost? I’ll get back to this later. First, a little history.

Needless to say, the new found usefulness of computers and the new, easy-to-use interfaces, made the computer accessible to just about anyone. Now, computers were for everybody because everybody had use for them and could use them. As time went on, into the 2000’s, computers were gaining functions and abilities that could have only been imagined by a few geeks in the 80’s and early 90’s. But as these new functions came into play, they necessarily made the computer more complicated, so even easier, user-friendly, interfaces needed to be developed. In the early 2000’s entire industries committed to the development of “user-friendly” interfaces sprang from the void. The term “user-friendly” became mainstream and a bedrock within the tech industry. Everything needed to be user-friendly and ergonomic: the operating system, the applications, websites, interfaces, the hardware/software/firmware, the plug-in-play hardware, even the computer chair. If a product was user-friendly and easy to understand, it gave the manufacturer a serious edge over the competition.

Of course, “user-friendliness” wasn’t invented by the tech industry, however, it can be argued that the tech industry took it to its fullest implementation. If a new product isn’t user-friendly, then it’s shelved or redeveloped until it is user-friendly.

Just how user-friendly can things get? How far does the user-friendly rabbit hole go? I’ll tell you how far it goes. One day, there won’t be a user-interface. One day, the user can just say “Do my taxes” and the taxes will be done. The user won’t even need to speak in coherent sentences. He could say, “OJFWOojfoewjofw ojwaf o”. And the computer would do its best to figure out just what the hell the user wants and then perform the action in record time. I feel for machines, I really do.

There is, of course, a serious problem with all this “user-friendly” emphasis. The technology has become too damn “friendly”! I think user-friendliness has its place. After all, in the end,  the end-user is a human, not a machine. And the average human doesn’t have the time, or doesn’t have the interest, to learn the ins-and-outs of a computer, on a basic level. But, as I mentioned, all of this user-friendliness has a cost.

This is where I explain the first image in this post. It looks familiar, doesn’t it? Doesn’t the text capitalization style seem to resemble the style used on a rather famous product line? Don’t worry if you don’t see it at first, I didn’t either. Here’s a picture to clear things up.

Yes, you guessed it. Apple is the prime culprit in making things too user-friendly. But what do I mean when I say something is too “user-friendly” and how could such a thing possibly have a downside? There are, in fact, trade-offs when it comes to making a product user-friendly. These trade-offs can be circumvented, however, but it would require far more effort and all that effort is already being thrown into making the product the most user-friendly thing on the planet. So, just what are these trade-offs? The trade-offs are low access to the backend of a product and the general dumbing down of the population.

Cut off from the Back End

There are few joys that are comparable to seeing the inner-workings of a technological miracle like the computer. But, what do I mean by “cut off from the back end”? I mean the gates to the inner-workings of the computer have been shut tight for fear that the user will, somehow, mess up the device (which is a possibility). Apple is a prime culprit of this crime (along with most smartphone manufacturers and Microsoft in their Windows Vista years). Seriously, in most smart phones, the user can’t even access the file system, let alone the deeper levels of the device. Does this seem like a strange complaint? I mean, why would anyone want to access the lower-levels of an operating system? That’s for those tech geeks and tech-support guys out there. Well, I like having the opportunity to augment certain functions of my computer that can’t be changed unless I have access to the computers registry files. There’s a psychological consequence to this, as well. When I can’t access the basic layers of my machine, it feels as though my machine isn’t really mine. I feel more like a simple user rather than the owner of the machine, an outsider rather than an insider. And I don’t like feeling like an outsider when using my beloved machines.

Dumbed Down Population

The famous philosopher/sociologist Herbert Spencer once said The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly, is to fill the world with fools. If this can be applied to this user-friendly trend, then it may be said that making everything so damn user-friendly has effectively dumbed-down the population. People don’t really have to think when it comes to technology. Just push a button and you’re off to the races. What incentive do people have to think about their technology when their technology can, effectively, think for them? The technology, sometimes, even goes so far as to treat the user as though the user is an idiot. And, in turn, the user kind of becomes an idiot or, more politely, an ignorant. Not a bad deal for the technocrats, though.

 

I’m pretty harsh on user-friendliness, but I’m keeping it within reason. I have admitted that user-friendliness does have its place since people are people, not machines. Additionally, keep in mind that user-friendliness depends on the user. The geeks may pine for the glory days of MS-DOS. But the MS-DOS command prompt was user-friendly. Though, I think we can all agree that things have become incredibly user-friendly, to a fault.

Perhaps we can strike a balance between user-friendliness and accessibility to the machine. It’s been noted that the reason businesses make computers so easy to use is so they can have that competitive edge in their respective market. And it’s been noted that most people desire the benefits offered by the computer, but can’t particularly be bothered to learn about the computer’s inner-workings. I’m not bashing those folks who just want the goods without understanding how a computer dishes out those goods. We can’t all be tech geeks and we don’t all have time to understand how to use the command line. I’m just going to leave them be. They have their lives and I have my geeky life. Sometimes, though, I just wish people would take the time to learn a little about the machine on which they depend so much. I’m not asking for the moon here.

Finally, there are alternative operating systems out there for those geeks looking for both accessibility and a challenge. I’m looking at you GNU. And that’s enough for me.

It’s Cool to be a Geek? Technology Influencing the Culture of Cool

When exactly did it become cool to be a geek? No really, help me out; I can’t pinpoint the exact time it became cool to be a geek. It kind of just snuck up on us, didn’t it? A slow, gradual, unnoticeable process that sought to lift up the lowly geek from his cradle of public ostracism. But it’s here, no doubt about it. Cool geeky action heroes star in mainstream movies, digital watches are chic, tech know-how no longer means you’re a loser, science-related Facebook pages have millions of followers, and “geek fashion” is trendy. I’ve got a theory as to why the geek has made a comeback, but, like all theories, it’s only a collection of observations and assumptions, and it has some holes. It’s not perfect, but perhaps it will help explain why the geek is the new king.

But is the geek truly the new king or am I simply losing my mind? Let’s make some observations.

First, let’s look at fashion. When I look at “geek fashion”, the primary thought that flashes in my mind is: What’s going on? How did dressing like a geek become fashionable? Fashion has always been the domain of the cool and hip, and now that geek-wear is accepted and cool, what does that say about society’s opinion of the geek? The fashionable parts of society have welcomed the geek with open arms. Is this “Geek is the New Sexy” fashion movement simply an offshoot of the hipster’s ironic fashion? Is there something more to this? I think there is, but let’s look at the action heroes next.

Shia Laboef is a prime example of how the geek is gaining momentum. Years ago, in the 80’s and 90’s, the geek was heavily stereotyped in cinema. At worst, he was made a target of ridicule. At best, an object of sympathy. Only occasionally was the geek the star of the show (see Revenge of the Nerds), but, even then, he was heavily lambasted for exhibiting the stereotypical geeky traits. But, now, Shia Laboef is the hero. Albeit a mostly reluctant hero. But, in the end, he still gets the girl (a standard trope of the hero within cinema). Additionally, look at the romanticizaton in cinema of king geek, the hacker, who is cool in his own way, but he too benefits from and adds to the geek’s new, cool image. Next, let’s look at cool technology.

In the 80’s and 90’s, you would be publicly ostracized if you were caught wearing a wrist calculator. The wrist calculator was the scarlet letter of the geek and all the reason anyone needed to poke-fun, at best, or humiliate, at worst, the geek. In 2015, if you don’t have the latest tech and the latest, hottest, smartphone, you’re cool status is called into question. What trendy teenager would be caught dead without their beloved, sleek, slim, sexy, cool smartphone? And not just teens. Everyone loves their phones, but it seems that teens and young adults in particular use their phones to boost their cool factor. Indeed, we are looking at a relatively new trend in technology. New technology needs to not only to function properly, like in the good ol’ days of the 80’s and 90’s, it also needs to look cool. Next, those science-related Facebook page and Youtube channels. 

Some of these Facebook pages, like IFLS, command the attention of millions of people. Numberphile, a channel that analyzes numerical and mathematical theories and relates them to practical matters, has over 1.2 million subscribers on Youtube. How the hell did such geeky subjects gain cultural momentum? In the 80’s and 90’s, mathematics and science were niche subjects that were only studied in university classrooms or under cover of night. These days, if you haven’t seen the latest post on IFLS, you’ve left the in crowd. All the cool kids love IFLS.

Perhaps I’m looking at this all wrong. Maybe geekiness never became cool. Maybe what became cool was the revised idea of the geek. Historically, the image of the geek involved bad skin; messy, dirty hair; a bad facial complexion (think acne); and social awkwardness. What does the new image of the geek look like? It sure as hell doesn’t look like me. The geek’s new image looks like a handsome, muscular guy with good skin, presumable social grace, and clean hair. How do we know he’s a geek? He’s also wearing horn-rimmed glasses.

Maybe I’m just looking at that wrong, because I just described a fashion model modeling “geek fashion”. The fashion industry both reflects and influences culture, so it may be safe to assume that something had to cause the fashion industry to take up the geek banner.

Still, maybe Shia Laboef is a fluke. Maybe it’s all just a fad. Maybe smartphones are seen as cool because wealth equals cool. Maybe Facebook pages are only cool to certain niches, albeit, large niches and have other appeal aside from their technical subject matter. Maybe there is more to the above observations. I suspect there is more in the works that influence these phenomenon, but I’ll just look at just one of the trends at work. I’ll argue that there is a serious, overriding, trend in the works. What is this trend? The lessening and removal of the geek stigma; it is the vindication of the master of tech, the geek.

But, why? How did this trend come about? Why has the geek made such a comeback? What made the fashion industry take up the geek banner? Here’s my imperfect theory.

Given that technology has become increasingly prevalent and, even, invasive, it only makes sense that those folks who understand it all, the geeks, share some part in the fame and coolness that new tech radiates. But, there is a problem with this. Why didn’t this happen in an earlier time, like the 90’s, when technology was just as new? Well, it was new back then, so why wasn’t the geek romanticized, then? My only explanation is that the technology back then, while revolutionary and becoming more common, was simply not as common as it is today. It was “in” people’s lives, but most people didn’t notice it. It just wasn’t as obvious, and in-your-face, as today’s tech.

All of this obvious tech that, quite frankly, rules our lives more than ever has had more than its fair chance to influence the culture. Tech influences the culture and the culture influences the tech (see iPhone culture for proof of that). In the past, the geek was a mere hobbyist whose hobbies didn’t impact much of anything. Today, his skills and abilities have made him a veritable technocrat, and he, thusly, enjoys a golden age that most other subcultures can only hope to catch a glimpse of.

It’s a good time to be a geek. As long predicted, the meek have inherited the earth. The culture of cool is only a reflection of this fact.