Culture

Geeks: Connection and Division

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The weird thing about us progeeks? We are busy redefining how the world works, and were not exactly representative of the population.

Think about us. We play video games, read e-books, use social media, surf the web, indulge in assorted fictional exercises, and so on. We're geek–hip, cutting–edge, wired, and on top of the techno-cultural curve.  We often live in megaregions and cities that are where it's all going down, from inventing new tools to Greentech to running the culture engines.

We are defining the world of the future. People love the stuff we work on, from mobile tech, to games, to movies, to websites. When you think about it, it fills you with geek pride.

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Bullestorm As Evolution

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As we've seen in the last few months, I have a strange obsession with issues of originality and media. That obsession exists because we progeeks work in media, we consume media, we experiment and play with media in the form of fan fiction fan art and mods, and we improve by manipulating media. As originality is part of media and questions about the value of media, thus I obsess over it.

Also, people complain about unoriginality all the time, so by addressing it I hope to explore issues about originality, media, and consumption. Also I'm just a curious guy that will analyze anything; come on you know that by now.

One last subjects are talked about was that originality seem to be most useful to creating media sales and interest was part of the gradual evolution of a game concept, literary concept, genre, and so on. I may have just found the perfect example of a successful implementation of originality–and-gradual-evolution in the form of the game "Bulletstorm."

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Cleantech, Greentech, and Geekery

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You may have noticed lately that the News of the Day links that Bonnie and I post sometimes contains sections on Cleantech and Greentech. Now I admit I include those instinctively, but this led me to ask myself an interesting question: are Cleantech and Greentech jobs and careers actually “geeky”? Of course you know I'm going to explore this issue.

So without further ado, let's take a look at the question: are Cleantech and Greentech jobs geeky?

Well, yes they are.

Okay, okay, I have to go into more detail. You're not going to let me get away with it otherwise. So now, let's explore why Cleantech and Greentech jobs are indeed for geeks.

  • They are about science. Science is geeky. Okay, some people may say economics is a science and it's not geeky (or not even a science to some). Me, I argue most sciences are partially or totally geeky. So I'm going to leave it there. We can argue about economics in another post.
  • Cleantech and Greentech involved interesting and unique applications of technology. When you have windows that took themselves, bacteria that make fuel, and all the other wonders of Cleantech and Greentech, these are in credibly geeky.
  • Cleantech and Greentech are about changing the world. Changing the world with cool technology and science is very, very geeky.
  • Cleantech and Greentech involve a lot of imagination. People don't just wake up one day and find ways to use holographic film to improve solar panels. Imagination is very geeky.
  • Finally, Cleantech and Greentech are futuristic. As much as some of us love our dystopian science fiction novels, we'd rather live in a clean bright Star Trek-esque future. Cleantech and Greentech help build that future.

So is Cleantech and Greentech geeky? The answer is simple: hell yes!

Now, assured of being geeks, you scientific types go forth and save us from environmental problems, peak oil, and everything else we've gotten ourselves into. And remember: you are geeks.

– Steven Savage