Nerd culture is murdering intellectuals

A truth that ne'er ceases to amaze me: owed to the Marvel movies, a batch of moms cognize who Thanos is. No discourtesy to moms! What I mean is that arsenic a teen successful the early 2000s I personally knew why the Avengers were ever fighting large purple Thanos because I sometimes publication comic books. But backmost past I ne'er would person expected a mom (mythic figures of awesome power, existent adults) to stock this knowledge. Back then, Thanos existed only successful overwrought pages for illustration this:

Now I’m 1 of the adults and abruptly everyone is simply a nerd. In fact, nerdom is 1 of our past uniting taste forces. Thinking backmost to immoderate of the past large unifying moments of American popular civilization things outpouring to mind for illustration the TV show Game of Thrones, aft it had gotten celebrated but earlier it “jumped the shark” (post play 5). The full federation was watching it—everyone abruptly knew what a achromatic walker was, aliases a dire wolf. Valerian steel. Etc. Yet I retrieve the first clip I cracked the heavy tome of the original A Game of Thrones book, backmost erstwhile I was thirteen, having been recommended it by my relative (who is now himself an accomplished fantasy author). Reading it was mind-blowing. But backmost astatine the move of the millennium it felt for illustration location was not a teenage woman successful a 100 miles who had read A Game of Thrones, possibly not moreover 1 connected the full satellite (again—this is conscionable really it felt). Fantasy novels were concealed shameful things pinch stepping trees connected the covers that we boys, each straw and musk and pimples and excited squeaking voices, consumed voraciously and passed among each other—Have you publication this? It was profoundly uncool.

I deliberation the first clear full triumph for nerd culture, erstwhile it received its instruction of heaven, tin beryllium traced to erstwhile The Fellowship of the Rings premiered successful 2001 (other writers person besides highlighted the move of the millennium arsenic being erstwhile nerd civilization ascended). The Fellowship movie was conscionable truthful frigging good. I still retrieve sitting successful the theatre arsenic a preteen and that euphony starting, the title surface appearing, that achromatic elegant elvish-esque lettering connected the acheronian behind, and past clip itself dilated earlier maine arsenic surely arsenic if I were approaching a achromatic hole. I committedness watching that movie occupied a much solidly dense chunk of phenomenology than an full week does for maine now, pinch my thermodynamically-efficient and minimally-conscious big brain.

So ascendant has been the nerd’s ascension that it’s only occasionally remarked upon. You don’t announcement the h2o you’re swimming in, and each that. I’ll admit: a nerd-dominated civilization has surely resulted successful plentifulness of taste boons, for illustration the emergence of subject fabrication aliases the prominence of subject popularizers successful the culture. Nerdy commentary is in, particularly online. But its emergence hasn’t been an unalloyed good. A batch of things person been made worse arsenic well, for illustration the truth that large summertime movies are now each CGI slugfests. Say what you will astir 1990s blockbusters for illustration Forest Gump, but they were astatine slightest not wholly incoherent successful their plot, dissimilar immoderate video crippled trailer Marvel has conscionable released, and we were watching existent actors opinionated successful beforehand of existent things.

How did nerds travel to predominate civilization truthful overmuch that they merged pinch it? According to 1 thesis successful the Financial Times, it’s because nerds are much apt to walk money connected taste products, for illustration movies and games:

. . . being a nerd has acquired a level of taste cachet, successful ample portion because of our spending power.

There’s an undeniable truth to the idea: nerds took complete civilization because nerds will walk money. Just look astatine the marketplace for collectibles. How overmuch money does Wizards of the Coast, the publishers of Magic: The Gathering, rake successful annually?

But my ain thesis is that it goes the different way. Nerdom ascended because it was the nerds themselves who sewage rich. Really rich. Like Bill Gates rich. Because each the kids playing D&D successful 1985 were doing dot com startups successful 1995. The dot-com bubble burst, but a batch of them still sewage rich. These people, mostly men, had grown up mop-haired and spindly, the geek broadside of Freaks and Geeks. Then tech companies outperformed the S&P 500 for the past 30 years. We had the individual computing revolution, the net and associated dot-com bubble, the crypto craze, and now the AI explosion. The extremity consequence is that Jeff Bezos is now buying yachts that someway require different yachts, for illustration immoderate benignant of marsupial yacht-ception.

Of course, for illustration galore of that generation, I fishy Bezos is still somewhat ashamed of being a nerd. Unable to spot that the civilization has moved toward him, he tries ever harder (making billions, getting buff, sleeping pinch beautiful women, hanging retired pinch the Instragram famous), but it comes disconnected much for illustration an adorable ruse than thing else. Like, we each cognize Jeff knows the rules of multi-classing successful D&D.

And truthful it goes. Nerds sewage rich | because futuristic exertion and finances rewarded nerdery. Following this, the emergence of nerdom played retired successful cleanable concordance pinch René Girard’s theory of mimetic desire, which tin beryllium summed up champion as:

Man is the animal who does not cognize what to desire, and he turns to others successful bid to dress up his mind. We desire what others desire because we imitate their desires.

According to this taste trickle-down theory, we now unrecorded successful nerd paradise because those astatine the apical of the level for the past 2 decades were not the Wall Street financiers of the 1980s, aliases the mid-level firm man of the 1950s pinch his protestant jawline and achromatic picket fence, but because those astatine the apical utilized to walk afternoons reference The Silmarillion.

If you uncertainty this, here’s really an question and reply pinch Paul Graham, 1 of the founders of Y Combinator (the astir successful startup incubator successful the world) was described:

I quickly discovered that Paul Graham doesn’t for illustration the connection “incubator.” Or, for that matter, “accelerator.” The “guru of startups” prefers to comparison himself and, Y Combinator (affectionately called YC by its legions of believers) to JRR Tolkien’s "The Lord of the Rings"—in that it invented the genre.

If you’re looking to get backing and support from the biggest startup incubator you could do a batch worse than naming your institution aft an obscure elvish deity from The Silmarillion. There are now aggregate companies funded by Y Combinator that are explicitly named aft Tolkien mythology, for illustration Palantir, Anduril, Valar, and Varda. The nonstop aforesaid point is existent for Peter Thiel’s tastes:

One imagines the transportation begins: “I person started a company. May it beryllium a ray to you successful acheronian places, erstwhile each different lights spell out.”

I don’t mean to flick nosy critically aliases cruely—I for illustration the nonstop aforesaid stuff. I deliberation it’s bully that those astatine the apical are nerds, particularly successful comparison to the different choices. I besides can’t ideate this changing anytime soon. Sam Altman is moreover much of a nerd than Bill Gates, and the areas of continued economical growth, for illustration AI, look for illustration they will beryllium dominated by nerds for a agelong clip to come. Therefore, nerds will proceed to get rich. Therefore, nerds will beryllium astatine the apical of the memetic ladder. Therefore, civilization will stay successful nerdom.

Years agone I published a portion of this matter successful an essay. I was ne'er happy pinch the original (artistically speaking) truthful I cannibalized parts for this caller effort and memory-holed the original.