Subculture: a social group within a national culture that has distinctive patterns of behavior and beliefs. Nerd: an intelligent but single-minded expert in a particular technical field or profession. What is Nerd Culture? That question makes me cringe. It sounds like something a TV reporter would say. Generalizing a concept into childlike terms to fit their audience. What is a Nerd? That question makes me cringe, but a bit less. Every person who makes the same Monty Python/Hitchhiker's Guide jokes, internet meme references, or t-shirts with words on them, you know who you are. The internet has all but killed any individuality we have as people. With the whole world connected, for any self-definitions that you have, there are guaranteed to be about 100+ other people with those exact same definitions. Why is nerd culture any different? When a defining characteristic of your subculture becomes a global phenomenon, something changes dramatically. Blog buzzwords of "geek chic" or "Better not bully a geek, he may be your boss someday." The same thing happened with countless other ideas. Yoga, vegan diet, tattoos, video games, innumerable fashion trends. Nerd culture is not different, it's just newer. After WWII we stereotyped all of Japan, Sushi, politeness, chop sticks, and samurai. Every subculture that reaches a critical population, eventually gets used for monetary gain. Nerd, black rimmed glasses, antisocial, good at using a computer, has no fashion sense, plays video games, likes D&D, reads comic books, is really good at school. This is the way we have stereotyped nerds. Personally, I fit some of these traits, but I wouldn't say I was a nerd. I know it's cliche to say, "I don't like to label myself" but who does. Old people do because they don't care, but they don't count. Nerds don't see themselves as nerds, they are just interested in the things they like. Unlike hipster culture, I use the term culture here lightly, if you call a hipster a hipster they will tell you that they are most certainly not, even though all of them drink PBR, listen to the newest local band, and ride the same fixed wheel bike. Nerd culture is special in that the people who are truly apart of the culture, don't really care about how other cultures see them, and they don't realize that they are part of a culture. It's like if people started idolizing salmon culture. Would the salmon really care? No, they are not cognizant of people caring about them. In ten years, there will be no nerd culture, it will be part of the national culture and with the advent of the internet and computers everyone will be a nerd. It's just like sports culture, it's not a culture because it is just part of life. As it will be with nerd culture. In my opinion as it stands now there is no nerd culture. Just people who enjoy the things that they enjoy. If my realization about nerd culture makes me not a nerd then so be it.

Thoughts about the mind

I used to believe that people were simple. I imagined the world through another person's mind. I could not fathom a world where a majority of someones thoughts were about sports, or television shows. But I know now that on Earth there doesn't exist one simple mind. Their may be uneducated minds, and some minds sharpened to a razor's edge. Most people make a conscious effort to appear in the world the way that they do. They don't just shamble around like a zombie, and then go someplace. Every person has ideas, problems, issues that they compete with on a daily basis. If we ever discount a single person we have thrown away everything that we know to be true about ourselves and humans in general. We may not always make rational decisions, but the decisions we make have a reason. Is a mind trained in higher level mathematics, different from a mind subjected to animalistic thought? The way an artist chooses what technique or color to use, a human chooses what they want to think about. What we think about is a choice that we make. We may think about something for an instant or for many years, but the choice to think about an idea is the choice we get. All we get to interpret our world is chemical reactions, and the best biological processing unit money can't buy. Our bodies are merely a way for our brains to interface with the world. I wondered how people could be so shallow with their thought, not testing or even trying to make themselves better at an academic pursuit. People don't enjoy thinking because it is difficult, it takes time. The enjoyment we receive from shallow entertainment is instantaneous. A direct shot of adrenaline to the animal part of our brain. Movement, flash, competition, simplicity. This is what the people want. This stuff is what "life" is made of. There are those of us, who enjoy a challenge of mental ability. Both laughing at the man who gets his balls kicked. But also laughing at the witty comment he says afterward. We solve problems, we create problems. We see the world as humanity vs. humanity, and we want both teams to survive. I have decided to split up the world into those people who enjoy thinking for themselves, and those who don't. It's the precise reason I despise mass religion. Who are you to tell me how the bible is "supposed" to be read? Hopefully as we move into the future, people will realize that the hero's of our society are the people who enjoy solving problems. The other people are the people we look to to distract us from those problems.

The Sum

What are we in this life? Are we the sum of our parts? Are we the people we associate with? Are we our parent's children? Are we a product of our environment? Are we the things we create? Are we the things we destroy? Are we the way we spend our time? Are we the books we read, the movies and tv shows we watch, the music we listen too? Are we the ideas we have? Are we the atoms that compose our bodily form? Are we what we say we are? Are we what others say we are? Are we what influences us? Are we how we influence others? Are we the good things we have done? Are we the bad things we have done? What are bad things and good things? Are we the things we own? Are we the things we don't own? Are we the things we want? Are we the things we need? Do we get to decide who we are? If not, then who does? Are we who we are? Are we who we are not? Who are we?