Being a geek
Philip S Tellis
How does one define a geek?
- An obsession with books, studies, gadgets?
- Wearing thick glasses?
- Having no [social] life?
- Speaking in large incomprehensible terms and not caring about sport?
2200 years ago, knowing only that at a particular place in Egypt, on a
particular day of the year, at noon, the sun cast no shadow, Eratosthenes
accurately calculated the circumference of the Earth.
It's about being curious about everything
- Why doesn't it work?
- Why does it work?
- How does it work?
- How do I break it?
- How do I fix it again?
It's about being an explorer
- Seek out unsolved problems
- To boldly go where no one has gone before
- Do something just because you can
- Do something because someone said it can't be done
And about Experimenting
- Change small parts and observe differences in the whole
- Tinkering can get really addictive
- You learn more by doing than by reading
Not being afraid to break things
- Geeks are like children
- The thought of breaking a system doesn't arise
- Fear limits possibilities, geeks hate limits
- This could be dangerous - Curiosity killed the geek
Geekdom isn't limited to a domain
- Physics, Math, Hi Tech, Comp Sci
- Biology, Gaming
- DIY
During the Atom bomb testing, Enrico Fermi accurately calculated the intensity
of the blast by throwing a few small pieces of paper up into the air as the
explosion took place and measuring how far they fell.
Software Geeks
- Need to be involved in every part of the system
- Some geeks are hackers
- Boredom and Drudgery are evil - unless it's personal
So what about linux and FOSS?
- That's like the big prize you get for being geeky
- Software geeks love to use FOSS
- They can fix bugs that annoy them
- The transition from user to developer comes naturally
Dispelling the myths
- Geeks like to study
- Not all geeks wear glasses. Some use lenses.
- Geeks have great social lives, and very large social networks
- Geeks are active in sport like UT, Warcraft and Everquest
Why be a geek?
- It's exciting
- Something's always happening
- What do you do when you get to 42?
Contact:
- Philip S Tellis
philip.tellis AT gmail.com
http://bluesmoon.blogspot.com/
- Uses Eric A Meyer's S5