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Geek Culture / "Geeks" - the future of mankind?

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HWT
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Posted: 13th Jul 2007 15:08
Check it and please post comments:

http://www.space.com/searchforlife/seti_shostak_science_070215.html

Hello world tommorrow
Manic
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Location: Completely off my face...
Posted: 13th Jul 2007 16:04
I struggle to come up with a snotty enough explaination for this phenomenon...

but suffice it to say, we (although I don't think of myself as a geek, I'm sure a Hello! Magazine reader might) are in a terrifyingly small minority. Far too many people are content to be alive, rather than to actually live, and by that token around 80% of the population could disappear tomorrow and, provided it was the right 80%, science, society, progress and culture would barely notice.

It reminds me (as many things do) of a quote from my favourite film, Waking Life:
Quote: "Why do so few reach their potential?
The answer to that question can be found in another question; What is the most common human characteristic, fear... or laziness?"


It's not hard to imagine a future nilhistic world where humanity has diverged into two species, an educated upperclass and a cattle-like majority, transfixed on their TVs, filling their lives with inanity until the educated elite deem it more humane just to put them out of their misery.


now there's a tangent!

Manic

I don't have a sig, live with it.
indi
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Posted: 13th Jul 2007 16:10
5% of the worlds population already control 95% of the economy, we are that lower class cattle as you speak today and now mate
I digress though because that vision is far too shocking to know its happening now however
33% of our fellow human beings, live on less then $2 bucks a day.
anyway thats a bit deep

Manic
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Posted: 13th Jul 2007 16:40
I'm not talking so much about economy (although you're absolutely right), more of a broader concept of intelligence and yes, sadly privilege. I'm thinking back to a story i read on the BBC News site by an evolutionary biologist about his theory that our species will diverge into two sub-species. I'll be damned if i can find the story now though. The thing is though, you can almost see it happening already; a university graduate is very unlikely to get married and have kids with a Chav (or whatever the Oz equivilent is, Bogans?) so that's some genetic material that aint gonna get mixed isn't it?

perhaps i should go and watch The Time Machine again.

I don't have a sig, live with it.
Fallout
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Location: Basingstoke, England
Posted: 13th Jul 2007 16:56
I'm an intelligent bloke who wants to achieve my potential. I even wrote a track about time ticking by as your dreams die (Here if you're interested). I also believe I'm capable of great things. But yet, here I am, without any real achievements to me name, and I'm 26 next month. We're all naturally completely sh*te at achieving our potential.

As a wise man once said:
"Hard work pays off in the future, but laziness pays off right now"


HWT
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Posted: 13th Jul 2007 17:29
The thing is that intelligence isn't simply genetic based - I know. All the claim that genetics is the basis of everything is not true - the environment plays the major role. Genetics is like the door and the environment is the key - without one the other is useless.

Regardless, I believe that we humans are incredibly weak. After having watched all those alien invasion movies I realise one thing - we *know* we are weak but we're too *lazy* to do anything about it.

Consider this: if we all just stop fighting each other and focus on the real problems like the climate and helping those in poverty, we might have be able to solve those problems (but only to contend with new ones of course) and probably even dominate a larger portion of space - any comments?

Hello world tommorrow
Fallout
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Posted: 13th Jul 2007 17:37 Edited at: 13th Jul 2007 17:38
Yes, we are crap. But you're talking about the common good, where as our instincts are to look after no.1, so they contradict each other. I'd love to invent a faster than light drive so we can explore space, but I'm not gonna do it unless you give me lots of money and bitches, no matter how much good it does for the human race.


Zotoaster
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Posted: 13th Jul 2007 19:50
I think what stops alot of people is that you start off always having school, when always uni/college, then always a job, and you never have any free time, and, you stop learning new talents around 25 (so they say :/). That worries me a bit, heh. I wish I could just take some years to see the world, and do stuff.

"It's like floating a boat on a liquid that I don't know, but I'm quite happy to drink it if I'm thirsty enough" - Me being a good programmer but sucking at computers
Cash Curtis II
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Location: Corpus Christi Texas
Posted: 13th Jul 2007 20:04
Quote: "I'd love to invent a faster than light drive so we can explore space, but I'm not gonna do it unless you give me lots of money and bitches, no matter how much good it does for the human race."

Right on, I'm down for that kind of research

Geekiness and reproduction are incompatible. That's just how humans are wired. So, intellectuals ponder the reasons that people don't think that they're interesting and write witty and scathing blog articles about how people should think, and the jocks are too busy drinking beer and hooking up with the ladies to care. Such is life.


Come see the WIP!
HWT
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Posted: 13th Jul 2007 23:28 Edited at: 13th Jul 2007 23:31
Quote: "Geekiness and reproduction are incompatible. That's just how humans are wired. So, intellectuals ponder the reasons that people don't think that they're interesting and write witty and scathing blog articles about how people should think, and the jocks are too busy drinking beer and hooking up with the ladies to care. Such is life."

You have accepted your fate as it seems. Not surprising - swimming upstream is harder than downstream. Going against society's typical views is always harder than just accepting them. Which brings me to another point - the fact that we repeat history way too many times for it to be coincidence - agree? How can we be so stupid?!

But geeks is the wrong word (my mistake entirely) to use to describe the intellectually endowed. I always thought that geeks refered to people who'd been rejected from society and ended up attempting to find solace in their own fantasy world. We've got computer game geeks, techno geeks, music geeks, book geeks, magic tricks geeks, fantasy life geeks etc... Any agreement?

Another question that has been lingering in my mind is this: take a moment to think back to the old old days when men and women were no more than cavemen and cavewomen. In such simple times, the most reliable factor for survival was physical strength - those who weren't physically strong were weened out - as Mr. Darwin so elegantly put it in his theories. BUT! now that physical fitness is no longer a major factor and intellectual property is, would that eventually lead evolution to ween those without such capacity?

But to consider reproduction; obviously all positives have negatives and all objects have an opposite. Surely this can be applied to human beings as well (although not all the time)? Therefore, although in a small number, mentally adept individuals will continue to be produced.[quote]

Hello world tommorrow

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