There are many kinds of Geek: calculus Geeks, who have a lot in common with programming Geeks; sports Geeks, with their baseball cards and fantasy football; hamster Geeks; History Channel Geeks, who want to make documentaries when they grow up; Longaberger Basket Geeks like my mom; wine Geeks like my dad; Christianity Geeks and atheist Geeks; conspiracy Geeks and skeptic Geeks; political Geeks, who pick up acoustic guitars and become liberal folk music Geeks; Geeks who swim and Geeks who jump off really high places; Geeks who have sex; Geeks who watch sex; gardening Geeks; birdwatching Geeks; knife Geeks; and then, there's me. A Geek Geek.
The capital-G Geek has become a 21st century philosophy. To Geek is to find pleasure in learning, to learn not just enough of a thing to get by, but to learn something special about a thing. We look to Google like our laureled Geek god of knowledge, because unlike the rest of the world it never seems to grow tired of hearing the question why?
What a beautifully Geeky game, by the way: the Why Game. We play it instinctively in response to the definition and power of why. It is a milestone in our awareness. As child Geeks piece the world together, we realize that the world is not a list of separate why-because combos, but an intricate spiderweb of connections and relationships. Why can't I fly? Because you don't have wings. Why don't I have wings? Because you weren't born with them. Why wasn't I born with them? Because you're human. Why am I human? Just shut up and eat your cereal, kid.
Ultimately, we are left with a single profound truth:
If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.
Carl Sagan, Cosmos
Geeks spit in the face of their cosmic powerlessness. In light of the world's complexity, the Geek's solution is to try as hard as they can, carving out tiny niches like "gerbil" and "dragon" until they have shouldered some burden of the world's knowledge. There was a time when the world was simpler, when a single mind could contain vast categories of knowledge. Imagine: where now there are pediatricians, surgeons, and gynecologists, medicine used to be handled mostly by barbers.
It did not take long for the jack of all trades to become a master of none. But a Geek of all trades is a master of some.
I put it to you that everyone who has read a book or seen a library has had the same thought: I could never read them all. Nothing short of a post-human technological epiphany whereby we could read books the way Neo learns kung fu could make it possible to read even 1% of the word mankind has taken the time to write. This applies to other forms of expression as well--there are too many paintings, too many songs, too many sculptures, too many antique malls, too many video games, too many of everything for us to ever claim expertise on anything.
As the "Springfield Geek culture examiner", I will represent not only a region, but a way of life. I will look at Springfield Geek culture not as an isolated entity, but as a microcosm, a test sample of Ancient Geek Philosophy.
So, to the first of my readers and those who some day read the first post of my archives, I leave you with this question:
How do you define Geek?
Comments