Why Nerds are Unpopular

Both felt most comfortable in the meritocracy of academia, where brains trumped everything else. Both had an innate understanding of how the ultraconnected world that they enjoyed as computer science (CS) students was about to spread throughout society. Both shared a core belief in the primacy of data.

When I first got access to the internet as a kid, the very first thing I did was to find people who liked the same things I liked — science fiction novels and TV shows, Dungeons and Dragons, and so on. In the early days, that was what you did when you got online — you found your people , whether on Usenet or IRC or Web forums or MUSHes and MUDs. R

The irony, of course, is that the very place where inventive thinking could be—some would say should be—cultivated is where it gets snuffed out. Except, of course, for the lucky few who get pulled out of school and given an opportunity to diverge, experiment, and make mistakes.

when I was thirteen, despite living literally in Silicon Valley, I didn’t have the self-confidence to be seen in the computer lab, I was too worried about being popular.” The world is a noisy place, and it can be hard to tune it out and listen to what makes your heart beat.