geek culture is an oxymoron

[substitute]

I was thinking tonight about Larry Wall's famous quote in which he says that the great virtues of a programmer are laziness, impatience and hubris. He's probably right: Larry is a smart guy.

Those three things are a big loser in just about every other area of life, however, from cooking to sex to financial planning or even just showering. And most geeks seem to carry their technical values over into every part of life with a determined consistency, as if all of our experiences and challenges were just special cases of software engineering.

This is disastrous. It's a kind of Slashdot mentality in which Geek Culture becomes an end to itself and a source for wisdom in all areas of life. I think we'd be better off if in most situations we asked "How could I do this in a non-geeky way?"

Comments

contrary points

[flipzagging.livejournal.com]

Ordinarily I'd be the first one to agree with this. I think Jaron Lanier mused that the origin of "geekiness" is the reduction of human activities to the technology of the day. Near-quote: "Music becomes MIDI; art becomes Photoshop." And I suppose relationships become information/fluid exchange.

However, I'm going to indulge my howevering nature. I think it's kind of nice when people attempt to act consistently and at least try to see things from a neutral perspective. "Illogical, captain" can be a starting point to moral behaviour.