tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post8015280245106294105..comments2024-03-28T19:14:33.619-07:00Comments on The Splintered Mind: Celebrate the Nerd!Eric Schwitzgebelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11541402189204286449noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-8703768363615124442015-06-27T19:22:47.785-07:002015-06-27T19:22:47.785-07:00I've hypothesized similar - it's that pass...I've hypothesized similar - it's that passion shapes/forms intellect. Folds it over and over, like folding steel. It's the nuances of passion that eventually result in E=MC squared.<br /><br />However, I also think it's escapism - the squid details are a world unto itself like any fantasy novel someone knows far too much lore about.<br /><br />It's actually easier with the squid, because what occurs is lifting the ideas of certain facts on the subject as becoming important not because Jim, five minutes ago, said it was important but instead just important in and over themselves. Then every new fact about the squid gets coated (like some kinda ink? ;) ) with this important in and of itself.<br /><br />An importance that can be far more rewarding than the world the nerd faces. Social or otherwise.<br /><br />But as the 'importance in and of itself' calls, that bubble remains. Or if you can see it - well, it bursts and I use that as one excuse for my lousy accademic capacity. Passion all spills away without a bubble to surround it. And I'm not cool either, so worst of both worlds!Callan S.https://www.blogger.com/profile/15373053356095440571noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-52893272097103598912015-06-27T04:43:08.813-07:002015-06-27T04:43:08.813-07:00Yeah, nerds are good.
There's one danger whic...Yeah, nerds are good.<br /><br />There's one danger which I think is worth mentioning. A nerd is, almost by definition, someone who doesn't do their thing professionally. I'm sure, for example, that Paul Krugman is an economics nerd, but it'd be weird to call him that, because he's an economics professor. Scientists are nerdish about their areas; I'm a nerd about comparative linguistics, but that's because it's my job (or vice versa). So nerds are always at risk of the problems that come from being self-taught, and out of the mainstream on their subject. 9/11 truthers are nerds. The recognition nerds get as nerds from non-specialists is simply ill-informed - it's that aura of cleverness that laypeople see; they're not in a position to detect actual cleverness. And there's always that suspicion: if you know so much about Napoleon, why aren't you teaching history? If you're such a big health nerd, is the reason you couldn't get into medical school because you think that crystals have healing power?<br /><br />I guess I should create some terminology: there is a fine line between a nerd and a kook. A nerd is someone who loves one subject, but has failed to (or chosen not to) make that passion a driver of positive things in her life (e.g. career, reputation); often (but of course not always), that failure is because she is in fact a kook.chinaphilhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14572591745611690731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-10256966187301706562015-06-26T09:22:16.226-07:002015-06-26T09:22:16.226-07:00"There's also just something glorious abo..."There's also just something glorious about a world that contains people who care as passionately about obscure intellectual topics as the nerd does."<br /><br />I have an experience where nerd may be a negatively defined negative character in the abduction of obscurity. As such, I would say: what isn't the nerd is not well known. You see, I've been held in reproach for using the term 'pseudointellectual' in philosophical company. Claims of pseudoscience and psuedoreligion score some points for the same vanity as our company's pseudointellectual cliche in philosophical dialectic. These claims are something which I would think is obscured when involving intellectual tropes of philosophical merit by way of vanity. Is philosophical vanity an agency to obscurity?psychemulationhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02450454636419031792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-55132007435131678272015-06-25T11:01:52.864-07:002015-06-25T11:01:52.864-07:00Awesome, Sean -- thanks for the links and defense ...Awesome, Sean -- thanks for the links and defense of neediness everywhere!Eric Schwitzgebelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11541402189204286449noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-41739957987054458642015-06-25T10:15:10.673-07:002015-06-25T10:15:10.673-07:00Great post! I'm similarly fascinated with this...Great post! I'm similarly fascinated with this topic: I'm about to leave for six weeks to teach at a <a href="http://cty.jhu.edu/summer/" rel="nofollow">self-described "nerd camp"</a> for teens, where we celebrate the merits of nerdiness. I wrote a critical defense of nerds a while back: <br /><br />1. <a href="http://nerdrecord.blogspot.com/2009/05/are-nerds-irrational.html" rel="nofollow">Are Nerds Irrational?</a><br />2. <a href="http://nerdrecord.blogspot.com/2009/05/are-academics-irrational.html" rel="nofollow">Are Academics Irrational?</a><br />3. <a href="http://nerdrecord.blogspot.com/2009/05/not-all-nerds-are-irrational.html" rel="nofollow">Not All Nerds Are Irrational</a><br />4. <a href="http://nerdrecord.blogspot.com/2009/05/maybe-some-academics-are-irrational.html" rel="nofollow">Maybe Some Nerds Are Irrational</a>Sean Keegan-Landishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16387989235982669451noreply@blogger.com