Broadening the definition of Geek
a bit here, I like to think a geek is any person so heavily wrapped up in their field of interest
that they leave most mortals
behind. Thus you can just as easily be a Geology
geek as a computer geek. If the conversations you have with your colleagues are beyond the comprehension of 99% of humanity then you are a geek. You got that way by being intensely interested
and learning as much as you can as fast as you can.
A word about computer geeks: Because our culture mistakenly attributes divine and inscrutable
powers to computers, those of us who can command them are viewed with an awe disprortinate to the difficulty and complexity of our knowledge
. Personally, I find the intense mathematics of the Quantum
world not only more complex, but more important than writing a Linux driver
for my Hitachi Magic Wand
. Thus the computer geek is seen at the überGeek, the archetypal egghead.
Another way of deciding if you are a geek or not is if you get the jokes. As a computer geek I get why 2B || !2B is funny, just as a physics geek will get why "Poor Heisenberg, he knows exactly how fast his keys are moving!
" is funny.
When I began to fancy myself a computer geek, I realized that, though I understood the computer
part, I hadn't had enough exposure to the culture
to really understand that. So I sat down and read the Jargon File
cover to cover, multiple times (It still sits on the back of the toilet for idle perusal). Now, this was not motivated solely to "fit in
" but I honestly found that reading about all thoise obscure concepts and historical minutae was fascinating. So I guess that would be another criterion for geekhood, if you revel in the trivia
of your field as well as the important questions.