So, with the discussions of geekdom that have been posted lately, I’ve been thinking about geekdom. Geekiness is generally thought of as a personality type, perhaps even a personality disorder, but after the comment from “tangent” a few days ago, I’ve been rethinking the whole concept of geekiness.
Tangent’s comment was that geeks typically are not satisfied to “experience” something, they have to dive as deeply into it as they possibly can in order to get satisfaction. His example was beer, a typical person drinks beer, a geek who likes beer will inevitably analyze beers, compare beer types, and eventually brew their own beer.
So this made me think about my own interests, and upon reflection I think Tangent was right. When I got interested in fishing, it was not long (a few months perhaps) before I was learning to fly fish and tying my own flies. I was researching fish behavior and mapping out the topology of local lakes. I was comparing and contrasting boats, fishing rods, reels, line and lures.
When I got interested in astronomy it wasn’t long before I was researching telescope design and designing and building my own telescopes. I learned enough about lens design that I could calculate achromatic lens shapes and determine the optimum focal plane for different light frequencies. I learned about lens coatings and how spherical lens designs had inherent flaws and why a particular telescope was worth $3,000 while one that looked virtually the same might be worth $300. I researched eyepiece designs and mirror coatings. I researched astrophotography and automated mounts. Amateur astronomy turned out to be a veritable smorgasbord of fine details that kept me fascinated for years before I finally felt like I had plumbed the depths of the hobby.
When I bought my first home computer it wasn’t more than a few weeks before I purchased a programming environment for it and was learning the assembler language needed to program it. Eventually I even got a job programming for that computer (the Macintosh).
Looking back at things I think that this is somewhat profound, although others may say “duh, dude, we’ve always known that.”
Basically I think the enjoyment I get out of a hobby is directly related to the opportunity that hobby has for exploring the fine details of the hobby. The more arcane and difficult, the better. While other people may just grab a beer and jump in a boat, I will spend hours researching the lake, determining the best places to catch fish, and then either tying the proper flies for the endeavor or else purchasing the proper bait or lures to maximize my chances of successfully catching fish. Then I throw them back in the lake because the goal wasn’t to actually CATCH fish, the goal was to solve the PUZZLE of catching fish.
And that’s what I think it boils down to, the solving of puzzles. At least it is for me.
Is this typical geek activity? Or is this well beyond typical geekdom into the uber geek area?
9 users commented in " Uber Geek "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackWould I be considered a geek or a geek user if I: 1.) Borrowed your best fly to fish with, 2.) Asked you where the fish were biting and you told me the truth,(all fisherman lie about this!), 3.) Looked through your telescope just to check it out(maybe your binoculars, LOL, inside joke), 4.) spilt my tea (since I don’t drink) on your computer key board.
Well, numbers 1-3 would not qualify you for geek, but #4 would definitely qualify you for “dork”….
Hey CC…I think you are talking about my friend there, and he is definitely not a “dork.”
He is really “square” (an admirable quality as far as I am concerned), but he is not a dork.
So, what are you if you don’t have any hobbies, interests, or talents? (I’m just asking…NOT FOR ME…but for a friend). I HAVE THIS FRIEND that can’t do anything well…doesn’t like movies, dinners out, or shopping malls…does not fish, golf, hunt, or even watch NASCAR. Would this be the “Uber Dud?”
I like Geeks, and CC may discover that he is the Uber Geek when the comments are all in. I like Dorks (even though Bart the Builder is not one).
Two of my sons would probably qualify for Uber Geek status. I guess that’s why I like Geeks.
I’ll reiterate the definitions:
Nerd: someone who can’t distinguish between their deep interest and expertise in a subject and the interest within the community at large.
Geek: a nerd with obsession added in.
Dork: a Geek without the expertise and deep interest.
I would say that you are a classic geek. A nerd happens to wallow in the minutiae of a subject, and can’t understand why most people aren’t the least bit interested in that subject. But, for a nerd, it’s just one of many areas of interest. A geek, though, is an all or nothing kind of person. Either the subject is worth knowing everything about, worth the effort to gain unassailable expertise in, or not important.
For a geek, a subject’s importance translates to the world at large. A geek insists that the subject of interest has universal, fundamental importance, almost spiritual importance. For a nerd, it may only be important that you are knowledgeable and right. A geek, on the other hand, knows that it does really matter. A geek, for example, will give you the history of beer making in the totality of human civilization, insisting that beer is one of the fundamental earmarks of human civilization. A geek will tell you that without really observing the marvels of the visible universe you can’t truly make that Copernican leap beyond this simple, marvelous rock of a home. A geek will tell you that tying a fly gives you profound insight into the complexity of the interaction of species in this world.
A dork will tell you, “it’s fishing … it’s the best … there’s nothing better than fly fishing … no worms … just you and the fish … nothing like it … nothing else compares … there’s like you and the universe and the fly and the fish and.” And, nerds and geeks can’t stand dorks because they don’t know what they’re talking about, but yet they keep going on and on and on.
I’m a geek. I won’t bore you with the details.
So, what does obsessing over the definitions of nerd, geek and dork make one?
Oh, nevermind. You’ve already confessed to being a geek…
I think someone threw a rock in the geeks’ oxidation pond! What is that smell??
tangent:
I like your definitions, but it appears from the context of the article I linked in the “hyperwhite” post that “geek” and “nerd” are generally considered interchangeable by the general public.
Actually what I like about fly fishing is that it’s the best. There’s nothing better. No worms, no bait, no $200 reel (well, you can HAVE one, but a real fly fisher only uses a reel to hold the line when they aren’t fishing) just a long pole, a long line and a fly you tied yourself… It sort of makes you feel that you could have done the same thing 2,000 years ago, and had the same enjoyment.
CC:
Exactly. The general interchangeable nature of “geek” and “nerd” as viewed by the general public is a clear indication that they just don’t ‘get us.’
BTW, do you use only natural materials in your flies? I’ve heard that some fly tying purists insist that you need to use only natural materials to best approximate natural flies. Do you have a favorite fly fishing stream near you? Do you sometimes catch real flies in the evening (to see what’s emerging) and then go home and tie a fly specifically for next morning’s angling?
I agree, the general public will never get the l337 folks like us.
My flies…. sigh, I haven’t tied any flies in a long time I’m afraid to admit. But I’ll try to answer your question according to how I used to do it…
I tried to locate some supernatural materials, but couldn’t find any. I’m not sure what I’d use to tie them to the hooks anyway.
I used mostly fur or feathers of some sort, much of which I harvested from animals I or my brother hunted (ducks and pheasants particularly). I substituted a lot of materials too, such as using slate gray mallard quill in place of mottled turkey quill since I had tons of mallard feathers and turkey quills were much harder to come by.
There are a lot of patterns that call for materials that are now rare or protected (such as polar bear fur or many rare tropical bird feathers), and for those I would either substitute something that seemed to “work” or else I’d purchase synthetic substitutes. Many patterns call for yarn of some sort, and most of those now come as synthetic blends simply because they last longer. I have no problem with that. Probably the most common synthetic material I used in my flies was reflective mylar gold or silver tinsel. Especially for bass, who seem to really love a bit of flash in their meals.
There are a lot of fly fishing streams “near” me that I like. “Near” is a relative term in Colorado. The closest stream is private, unfortunately, and I’ve never been able to finagle an invitation to the local fly fishing club who owns the rights to fish it. So the closest blue-ribbon streams are about an hour away. The most famous is probably the South Platte River, which actually runs through Denver, but up in the mountains it has long stretches of catch and release areas where the fish are big and tough, but also very, very skittish, having been caught several times.
There’s a short river between Eleven Mile and Spinney Reservoirs that is usually pretty good during the week since it’s a long drive from Denver or Colorado Springs, but on weekends it’s packed. Other than that the best streams are further away, and the closer streams are not blue ribbon streams. There are a couple of close by lakes that are usually good for a bunch of stocked rainbows.
I have not caught and released flies to “match the hatch” because there are some really good websites that pretty much tell you what the fish are hitting on a daily basis all over the mountains.
I actually don’t fish that much anymore, my fishing hobby was one of those most directly impacted by the hobby of having and raising kids.
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