[CORRECTED] IT geeks will rule the world. Soon

[evolve]

Kinda like how the dotcom boom made geeks all the most powerful people?

Nerds & Geeks seem to be ok with being ruled at the point of a gun. People who are not very smart but are charismatic are the ones in control of those guns.

This.

(and I very rarely agree with elwar about anything.)

You don't know anything about me. Don't assume anything.
Many people who meet me on daily basis think they know me, yet they don't.

I was just telling you what it sounds like...you are the one getting all defensive about it.

[BitChick]

If nerds and geeks do start "ruling the world" thanks in part to their BTC earnings, then all the gold digging women will then marry them for their money/status and spend it on stupid things like Prada bags (I am already married to a "nerd" and we had no money when we started out so I am exempt  )

So who will really rule the world?   

[CanadianGuy]

Nerds don't lust money as much as most other people (they care about gadgets and IT stuff instead)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4YlpOuLisU

[Coinseeker]

Nerds grow up to be old stodgey white men with little compassion for new technology, young people or liberal society. They already rule the world.

True story.

This ^^^

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

@greyhawk

Man.

Hitler and Napoleon as Geek/Nerd examples ? I Mean, WTF - seriously ? What the hell is wrong with you ?
By "geek" or "nerd" i didn't mean people who are bullied at school and later take their anger on the world. I mean enthusiasts who are fascinated by new technology and spend a lot of time developing & upgrading it.

Examples:
Nikola Tesla, Linus Torvalds, Richard Stallman, Steve Wozniak, Larry Page, Gavin Andresen, John Carmack, "Valve guys", Oculus Rift guys, young Bill Gates (somewhat). That kind of geeks.

[noedaRDH]

I hope those nerds and geeks will do what they can light up the rest of the world that aren't exposed to the Internet on a daily basis. I'm very curious of how Bitcoin can help those less fortunate people.

[wumpus]

Well I'd welcome more politicians/business elite with a science background, instead of the current crop of mostly lawyers and economists. Maybe they'd try some new ideas for society, instead of the tired and failed old crap. Pour large amounts of resources into research into sustainable energy, space travel, and other areas that really push the boundary. Creating a more educated populace, encourage sharing scientific ideas, and so on... No it won't be an utopia, but it's better than a new dark age by those thinking reality can be bended with laws.

Nerds & Geeks seem to be ok with being ruled at the point of a gun. People who are not very smart but are charismatic are the ones in control of those guns.

It's even worse sometimes. They create the guns (technology) used for their own oppression, for the people that are going to oppress them. Ie, spyware, drones, nuclear bombs, .... If they only retained control over it, it'd be a done deal.

If nerds and geeks do start "ruling the world" thanks in part to their BTC earnings, then all the gold digging women will then marry them for their money/status and spend it on stupid things like Prada bags (I am already married to a "nerd" and we had no money when we started out so I am exempt  )

So who will really rule the world?  

I don't think there is really a question there But hopefully those women will be geeks/nerds too!

[QuestionAuthority]

I think this has already happened.


William Gates       Microsoft                    $40.0 billion
Warren Buffett     Berkshire Hathaway     $37.0 billion
Carlos Slim          América Móvil              $35.0 billion
Lawrence Ellison  Oracle Corporation        $22.5 billion 
Larry Page          Google                      $18.5 Billion
Sergey Brin         Google                        $18.5 Billion
Jeff Bezos           Amazon                       $8.7 Billlion
Pierre Omidyar    eBay                           $6.3 Billion
Eric Schmidt        Google                        $5.9 Billion
Ronald Burkle      Yahoo                         $3.5 Billion
Mark Cuban         Broadcast.com            $2.6 Billion
Jerry Yang           Yahoo                         $2.3 Billion
Omid Kordestani  Google                        $1.9 Billion
David Filo            Yahoo                         $1.7 Billion
Kavitark Shriram  Google                        $1.7 Billion
Todd Wagner       Broadcast.com             $1.5 Billion
Peter Thiel           PayPal                         $1.3 Billion
Niklas Zennstrom Skype                          $1.3 Billion
Janus Friis           Skype                          $1.3 Billion
Jack Ma                Alibaba                         $1.1 Billion
Mark Zuckerberg  Facebook                     $700 Million
Simon Nixon        MoneySuperMarket       $680 Million
Andrew Gower     Runescape                   $650 Million
Reid Hoffman       LinkedIn                      $500 Million
Zhang Chaoyang  Sohu                           $425 Million
Steve Chen          YouTube                      $350 Million
Elon Musk            PayPal                        $328 Million
Chad Hurley         YouTube                     $300 Million
Duncan Cameron    MoneySuperMarket     $280 Million
Marc Andreesen    Netscape                   $253 Million
Reed Hastings    NetFlix                      $150 Million
Kevin Rose            Digg                         $200 million
Blake Ross    Mozila                      $120 Million
Andrew Michael    Fasthost                   $110 Million
Max Levchin    PayPal                      $100 Million
The late Steve Jobs    Apple                   Buttloads

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

@greyhawk

Man.

Hitler and Napoleon as Geek/Nerd examples ? I Mean, WTF - seriously ? What the hell is wrong with you ?
By "geek" or "nerd" i didn't mean people who are bullied at school and later take their anger on the world. I mean enthusiasts who are fascinated by new technology and spend a lot of time developing & upgrading it.

Examples:
Nikola Tesla, Linus Torvalds, Richard Stallman, Steve Wozniak, Larry Page, Gavin Andresen, John Carmack, "Valve guys", Oculus Rift guys, young Bill Gates (somewhat). That kind of geeks.

"A nerd (adjective: nerdy) is a person, typically described as being overly intellectual, obsessive, or socially impaired. They may spend inordinate amounts of time on unpopular, obscure, or non-mainstream activities, which are generally either highly technical or relating to topics of fiction or fantasy, to the exclusion of more mainstream activities"

I was looking for the definition so that i could side with you, but after reading it a chill went up my spine... holy shit guys, Hitler was DEFINITELY a nerd!  haha

I think the today's definition of "nerd" is no longer in sync with the dictionary definition. When people today think of "nerd", they visualise an IT, mathematics, physics or other science specialist.

[greyhawk]

@greyhawk

Man.

Hitler and Napoleon as Geek/Nerd examples ? I Mean, WTF - seriously ? What the hell is wrong with you ?
By "geek" or "nerd" i didn't mean people who are bullied at school and later take their anger on the world. I mean enthusiasts who are fascinated by new technology and spend a lot of time developing & upgrading it.

Examples:
Nikola Tesla, Linus Torvalds, Richard Stallman, Steve Wozniak, Larry Page, Gavin Andresen, John Carmack, "Valve guys", Oculus Rift guys, young Bill Gates (somewhat). That kind of geeks.

"A nerd (adjective: nerdy) is a person, typically described as being overly intellectual, obsessive, or socially impaired. They may spend inordinate amounts of time on unpopular, obscure, or non-mainstream activities, which are generally either highly technical or relating to topics of fiction or fantasy, to the exclusion of more mainstream activities"

I was looking for the definition so that i could side with you, but after reading it a chill went up my spine... holy shit guys, Hitler was DEFINITELY a nerd!  haha

I think the today's definition of "nerd" is no longer in sync with the dictionary definition. When people today think of "nerd", they visualise an IT, mathematics, physics or other science specialist.

No, no, they don't. That's a re-definition nerds use to make themselves look not as weird in their own eyes. And yes, Hitler was a nerd, the "computer + anime dude" equivalent back then was painting, which was his real obsession. He just wanted to bbe a painter.

[crazy_rabbit]

Nerds grow up to be old stodgey white men with little compassion for new technology, young people or liberal society. They already rule the world.
True story.

Source ?

Source: The universe we currently inhabit.

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

@greyhawk

Man.

Hitler and Napoleon as Geek/Nerd examples ? I Mean, WTF - seriously ? What the hell is wrong with you ?
By "geek" or "nerd" i didn't mean people who are bullied at school and later take their anger on the world. I mean enthusiasts who are fascinated by new technology and spend a lot of time developing & upgrading it.

Examples:
Nikola Tesla, Linus Torvalds, Richard Stallman, Steve Wozniak, Larry Page, Gavin Andresen, John Carmack, "Valve guys", Oculus Rift guys, young Bill Gates (somewhat). That kind of geeks.

"A nerd (adjective: nerdy) is a person, typically described as being overly intellectual, obsessive, or socially impaired. They may spend inordinate amounts of time on unpopular, obscure, or non-mainstream activities, which are generally either highly technical or relating to topics of fiction or fantasy, to the exclusion of more mainstream activities"

I was looking for the definition so that i could side with you, but after reading it a chill went up my spine... holy shit guys, Hitler was DEFINITELY a nerd!  haha

I think the today's definition of "nerd" is no longer in sync with the dictionary definition. When people today think of "nerd", they visualise an IT, mathematics, physics or other science specialist.

No, no, they don't. That's a re-definition nerds use to make themselves look not as weird in their own eyes. And yes, Hitler was a nerd, the "computer + anime dude" equivalent back then was painting, which was his real obsession. He just wanted to bbe a painter.

OK, so bad choice of words on my side. I was talking about IT geeks, not nerds in general.

I changed the original post to reflect what I actually wanted to express.

[Liquid]

Nice post mate and i do agree 

[cosmicboy]

I'm actually more excited about the number of fantastically wealthy libertarians we'll have in a few years. As my bitcoin wealth grows I will be investing in all kinds of projects that will fuel the cause of freedom!

cb

[Ichthyo]

IT geeks/enthusiasts will rule the world in about the next 20 years[/b][/size]. In my opinion, it is practically inevitable.

I know all of this may sound funny, but I am actually quite serious.

Wishful thinking. Sorry to disrupt your dreams...

The problem is: your argument is based on logic. And this gets us right at the core of the problem.

- IT geeks are smart.
- IT geeks are more logical than other people, so are less prone to manipulation
- IT geeks don't lust money as much as most other people (they care about gadgets and IT stuff instead).
- IT geeks don't lust power as much as most other people (they care about doing cool things with IT stuff instead). Which implies greater resistance to corruption.
- IT geeks actually know how to build, run & test complex systems,

...And in combination, these are exactly the personality traits which cause these kind of people in reality to end up being used and exploited by the classical elite.
At least that's what I've seen to happen over and over again in the last years.

• being smart --> still occupied with reflection and thinking while others are acting already, based on gut feeling
• logical thinking --> when geeks become older, they are filled up with resentments against ordinary people behaving so "unlogical", "dull", "uninspired".
  Which makes them unappealing as persons.
• less prone to manipulation --> a potential danger for every manipulator. Which turns them to targets, unintentionally.
  They end up being fought and defeated "pro-actively"
• don't lust money --> lack of interest in playing the business and money game.
  Thus will be outperformed in no time by people thrilled by money and business
• don't lust power --> lack of interest in the power game, lack of interest in talking, exploring social relationships
• Not immediately caused by the above, but very common is also a lack of interest in the classical topics of culture. And while these topics might indeed be not really relevant as such, these topics are typically used as a playing field by the established elites. Thus the typical geek becomes cornered and outplayed in no time, without even noticing it. Simply because the geek doesn't know the terrain
• care about gadgets and IT stuff --> easy to game by giving them toys.
  While they're occupied with the toys, other people set the political stage and prepare the battlefield. When the geek wakes up and wants to start for real, the "ordinary people" have settled everything already to their favour
• actually know ho to build, run & test complex systems --> absorbs most of their psychic energy and gets them entangled into technical details.
  Meanwhile the classical "leader type", unencumbered by any details, sees the big picture and can focus all his energy onto watching the reaction of "ordinary" people and geeks as well. The typical geek can excite only his fellow geeks, while the persons actually leading other people can spread a sense of excitement about topics they don't really care about, by simplifying matters and relating them to commonly shared patterns of perception.

The net result is that the knowledge and abilities of the typical geek get exploited easily to get the hard work done, while other people just wait to reap the benefits. The typical geek ends up as an disenchanted, resentful and immature person (due to lacks of chance for social development and "training on the job"). And in the end, even outperformed by the next geek kiddy generation.

[wumpus]

The net result is that the knowledge and abilities of the typical geek get exploited easily to get the hard work done, while other people just wait to reap the benefits. The typical geek ends up as an disenchanted, resentful and immature person (due to lacks of chance for social development and "training on the job"). And in the end, even outperformed by the next geek kiddy generation.

Wow that's really depressing...

So, in 20 years we'll either rule the world or have killed ourselves. Well, fair game I suppose... let's see how it plays out 

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

The net result is that the knowledge and abilities of the typical geek get exploited easily to get the hard work done, while other people just wait to reap the benefits. The typical geek ends up as an disenchanted, resentful and immature person (due to lacks of chance for social development and "training on the job"). And in the end, even outperformed by the next geek kiddy generation.

So I guess Larry Page & Linus Torvalds also got "exploited easily" ? Is that what you want to say ?

Of course, not all of the geeks have to be famous & powerful, but they will vote with their (Bitcoin) wallets, and that is enough. Many IT geeks are already some of the most powerful people on this planet. And there will be more and more of them.

Also, many of these new geeks will be cryptoanarchist and/or libertarian - type guys, which do not like to be controlled & manipulated. This is where your theory falls short.

But the truth is - only the future will tell for sure.

[Zarathustra]

As a hardcore anarchist, I do not need anybody who is in the position to rule the world and therefore me.
To 'rule the world' is an archist view of the world, and not an anarchist one. To rule the world you need collectivism/state/law and order/society and all this B.S.

People who still live outside of state power do still not have government/church/economy/markets etc.
Anarchy is Autarky and self-sufficiency in non-patriarchal communities.

[Ichthyo]

Have you even remotely understood what I was pointing out?

Also, many of these new geeks will be cryptoanarchist and/or libertarian - type guys, which do not like to be controlled & manipulated. This is where your theory falls short.

First off, what I pointed out is not an theory, but an observation, based on the current state of affairs.

What you are producing here is indeed a theory, and even more, a logical theory.

This is exactly the kind of attitude which puts the grand majority of geeky people into a very bad position, when it comes to "ruling the world".
Technology and knowledge and excitement regarding technology won't buy you much in that domain. Because it's better not to reason and theorise about people's behaviour, rather to favour observation, and even more, just plain interaction. With people, not with technical toys, that is.

Now I didn't assess my observations in any way....
As "Zarathustra" pointed out, not to care about other people ruling the world can be a nice anarchistic solution -- as long as those other people are fine with someone not caring about their power.

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

Have you even remotely understood what I was pointing out?

In fact, nope. I was In a hurry and I read without understanding. Sorry for that.
You are probably right it seems.

However most of you people are so pessimistic that I now regret creating this topic in the first place. It only made me feel worse.