[CORRECTED] IT geeks will rule the world. Soon

[johnyj]

Just read this:

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He added that he thinks Bitcoin is poised to be a true game-changer for the business world, and the tech community in particular. “Hackers are the animals that can detect a storm coming or an earthquake,” he said. “They just know, even though they don’t know why, and there are two big things hackers are excited about now and can’t articulate why–Bitcoin and 3D printing.”

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[Zarathustra]

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.

I am optimistic that the archist world of gods, masters and rulers (organised crime / state mafia / church) will be replaced by the natural anarchist world, which 'ruled' human being a million and more years. Archism (patriarchism/society/collectivism) is a relatively recent phenomenon (about 10'000 years). It is not sustainable an therefore it will disappear, regardless of whether a majority wants to be free or to continue to pay protection money as tribute slaves for the state mafia.

[enquirer]

geeks can be had for $5/hour at freelancer.in, in the millions

[wumpus]

Is it not the prerequisite for actually ruling the world effectively?

+1

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.

Well, you posted on a subject matter that is bound to divide people very strongly. That doesn't mean that you're wrong or right, but even if you're right, people wouldn't admit it. Everyone likes believing in their own perceptions of power and will contradict all allegations or evidence to the opposite. It's difficult to define and not something that makes a good discussion subject (see all the libertarism discussions on this forum).

You took a few anecdotes to one side, someone else attacked them point by point with other anecdotes. It has no predictive ability. But don't let the pessimists get to you...

Software is eating the world, and that means that people that understand software will get a greater influence, overall. It does not necessarily mean that one group will "rule the world", that's too black and white, but I'm sure you realized that

Personally I believe that in the long run, cooler heads prevail, and despite the power struggles logic will eventually win out in a certain issue. There's just so long that you can deny physical reality and try to bend around it with laws and mind games before it catches up to you. But it is not the kind of power that gives you direct control of day-to-day affairs.  "Nerds" may not directly take the seats of power (in public perception) but control from the background, even to the point of making the seats of power empty puppet shows.

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

geeks can be had for $5/hour at freelancer.in, in the millions

Yeah, they can "be had" because everybody needs money, but that does affect their opinions.
Just geeks' opinions on technological matters could change the future (or actually: are already changing).

Reason: most people don't understand technology, so they turn to geeks when they seek "guidance".

[CasinoBit]

Programming is diffidently a thing of the future, it would become as basic as knowing math for kids in the future.

[Mahn]

Nah. History shows that those who ruled the world did so by influencing, convincing and brainwashing the people, and the ability to do so well is usually the result of having a great EQ (emotional intelligence), which nerds and geeks usually lack (see for instance satoshi's infamous quote of "I'm better with code than with words")

[sdp]

IT geeks: Bill Gates and Richard Stallman.

Bill Gates has brought computers to the user.  It is hard to imagine what we would have had without MS-DOS or Windows.  I guess it could have been IBM-DOS and different OSes for each non-IBM PCs.  Software would have been set back ten years.  He has also made himself a big fortune.

Richard Stallman once said "I've always lived cheaply ... like a student, basically. And I like that, because it means that money is not telling me what to do."  Yet with little money for himself he has influenced the world greatly.

[wumpus]

Nah. History shows that those who ruled the world did so by influencing, convincing and brainwashing the people, and the ability to do so well is usually the result of having a great EQ (emotional intelligence), which nerds and geeks usually lack (see for instance satoshi's infamous quote of "I'm better with code than with words")

His code could end up influencing the world quite a lot. No need for words.

History also isn't really a good guide. Computers don't quite exist long enough to draw parallels.

[Bitcoinm]

Most IT geeks don't have the personal skills required to rule the world outside of their computer.  I would however expect that more "world rulers" will start gaining IT skills in order to have more power and be able to do more things.

[2112]

I just wanted to inject an example of a rare IT person (I wouldn't call him geek) who understands the divide-and-impera concept.

His comments are in the Alternate cryptocurrentcies subforum in the "A proposed fair premine idea":

The banking system is where it is because of the greed, because they want more that they can need. But the banking system is using a "centralized greed", but in crypto world is a P2P greed, envy and hypocrisy. The ones that have a lot of coin X (this is including BITCOIN) will defend that coin no matter how broken or flawed it is, the ones that are late will hate them and will try to bring the coin down or to clone it for a quick profit.

At this pace, the crypto coins will remain a geek only thing, where the guys that where early on the bitcoin can afford big rigs to take down new coins, and the late guys will clone some coins to make a quick profit.

Unless we don't get our shit together and don't acknowledge that:
1. we need incremental coins
2. the developers need to be payed in some way for their work, like the miners are now.

You think that a good programmer will quite his job to donate his time just so you can mine and make a profit?

In a way, the Bitcoin is a nearly perfect example of how to execute a divide-and-impera strategy: draw a bandwagon with 21000000 seats and make the early jumpers-on fight the late jumpers-on. Then watch the commotion safely from the distance.

[cypherdoc]

I just wanted to inject an example of a rare IT person (I wouldn't call him geek) who understands the divide-and-impera concept.

His comments are in the Alternate cryptocurrentcies subforum in the "A proposed fair premine idea":

The banking system is where it is because of the greed, because they want more that they can need. But the banking system is using a "centralized greed", but in crypto world is a P2P greed, envy and hypocrisy. The ones that have a lot of coin X (this is including BITCOIN) will defend that coin no matter how broken or flawed it is, the ones that are late will hate them and will try to bring the coin down or to clone it for a quick profit.

At this pace, the crypto coins will remain a geek only thing, where the guys that where early on the bitcoin can afford big rigs to take down new coins, and the late guys will clone some coins to make a quick profit.

Unless we don't get our shit together and don't acknowledge that:
1. we need incremental coins
2. the developers need to be payed in some way for their work, like the miners are now.

You think that a good programmer will quite his job to donate his time just so you can mine and make a profit?

In a way, the Bitcoin is a nearly perfect example of how to execute a divide-and-impera strategy: draw a bandwagon with 21000000 seats and make the early jumpers-on fight the late jumpers-on. Then watch the commotion safely from the distance.

you're an example of a geek that has been wrong for so long and yet you still don't get it.

the whole project is voluntary and we have more than enough devs to step in.  i understand jeff garzik is now mining with an Avalon and making money hand over fist having been the first.  why don't other devs freely choose to do this as well if the guy you're quoting is complaining about miners?

btw, the free market price of 1 BTC is now $119.

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

Most IT geeks don't have the personal skills required to rule the world outside of their computer.  I would however expect that more "world rulers" will start gaining IT skills in order to have more power and be able to do more things.

Now the situation is different. They don't need any personal skills.

1. They will have a lot of money to vote with their wallets.
2. They have the Internet using which they can communicate with other people and shape their minds (already happening)
3. They will have companies & lawyers at their disposal so they can push legislation they want.

[gogxmagog]

high intelligence and being adept with any sort of technology have always been valuable skill sets. these will usually go nowhere unless there is a balance of emotional intelligence as well. geeks prolly wont rule the world, they will just be standing very close to, maybe hiding behind, those who do.

sorry about your experiences at highschool. you've got to let it go, man.

[2112]

high intelligence and being adept with any sort of technology have always been valuable skill sets.

The problem probably starts with needlessly putting the equivalence between the two clauses of the above sentence: high inteligence and high aptitude in the CS or EE fields. But anyone who had a closer experience with the CS/EE education/training/testing will know that the field is full of way-below-average-intelligence people who can compensate with extraordinary memorization skills or simple extraodinary perseverance in trial&error development.

Because the feedback from the computers is completely free of emotions the dull-but-persistent will naturally gravitate towards workplaces where the nearly entire workflow is performed alone with no human interactions and the only material consumed is the workers time and a little electricity.

And this board is full of the people from the above paragraph: painstakingly working alone trying all possible combinations and publishing only when the success was achieved. To an outside observer it may look like extraordinary inteligence and/or productivity, but the reality is completely different.

Again anyone with closer personal experience with CS/EE project development knows and recognizes the bitter, aggresive and humourless burnouts that are casualties of some such projects. It is a kind of occupational hazard, sort of like ADHD for traders.

[Operatr]

Can we stop using the term "geek" to describe tech professionals and enthusiasts...

[Stunna]

Most IT geeks don't have the personal skills required to rule the world outside of their computer.  I would however expect that more "world rulers" will start gaining IT skills in order to have more power and be able to do more things.

I completely agree with this, IT skills are nothing without personal skills to go alongside them. For example making the next major virtual currency is one thing, and getting people to use it is another. You need to be persuasive and social as well.

[Zarathustra]

3. They will have companies & lawyers at their disposal so they can push legislation they want.

Yes, as I said before: This is not an anarchist view on human being, but a deeply archist one. The most powerful (archist) companies & lawyers will always have the most power and chances to "push legislation they want", which is always guaranteed by the State Mafia. State violence (legislation) has always been the basis of any economy/market/church/society/citizen/collectivism. The absence of the State is equivalent to the absence of economy/market/church/society/citizen/collectivism: the non-patriarchal, non-monogamous, autark, selfsufficient community, which is not taxed and dominated by masters, rulers, strangers. Most 'libertarian anarchists' believe in individualism as the opposite of collectivism. They are wrong. Individualism exists exclusively in collectivist (state) organisation of 'citizens'. The opposite of collectivism/individualism of the citizen is the human in the selfsufficient community. A citizen is not a human.

[gogxmagog]

Ding dong.
That is all for now.

[mobile4ever]

This was something Bill Gates said a while back:


http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/b/billgates382922.html

Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

Right now is the "rise of the machine"... to borrow a quote from a movie.

We need some good programmers.