As I mentioned last week, I’m going to be exploring the role of geeks as citizen. What is our place in a functional society? Where do we belong? Where are we needed? I think a lot of us kind of have an idea, but it’s worth exploring in an age where, almost accidentally, we kind of created modern society and to a lesser extent run it.
I’m not sure we intended to do this, but there you go. Me, I’d want better environmental policies and a reduction in stupid reality shows. But that’s for another time.
In order to actually ask “what is the ideal role of a citizen geek” we kind of have to define geek. I’ve taken a stab at it – many have taken a stab at it – and doubtlessly we’ll be arguing about it for years to come. But I’m going to make an effort (again) to try and do it at least to solidify my recent insights and give us a working theory.
Let me note that my definition is designed to be descriptive and not exclusionary. I have no interest in promoting geek exclusion or exclusivity, there’s enough “not geek enough” garbage out there. Instead I’m interested in it as a kind of demographic description – pretty much a case of “you are one if you think you’re one and identify as one.”