Comment by mbesto | Hacker News Reader

Comment by mbesto | Hacker News Reader

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Disagree. If anything I think it reinforced nerd stereotypes even worse - all it did was shine a light on a culture that was basically in the shadows. Nerd culture has been perpetuated by a variety of factors:

1. Twitch / livestreaming / YT - e.g. sub counts = "look at how many people actually do like gaming"

2. Affinity groups to video games - e.g. NBA players love Fortnite (among other professional sports...see HyperX commercials with Embiid, Hayward, etc.)

3. Marvel movies - comic book reading is the ultimate nerd fascination. Marvel movies are consistently the most watched movies in the last decade.

4. Commercial success of tech startups - Zuck/Gates are the ultimate nerds who are now the envy of every banker on wall st.

I disagree as well - I think the author is confusing "normalization" with "popularization". Big Bang Theory is for people to laugh at nerdiness, not with it.

Along with the cases that you've listed, I think a clear case of normalization would be Stranger Things and DnD.

Yeah... the Big Bang Theory wouldn't have been greenlit, much less have become a hit, if the stereotypes it presented weren't already known and considered "funny" by mainstream culture.

What normalized nerd culture was the World Wide Web. Everything you mention either started or was catalyzed by the web.

And before the web, even owning a computer at all, much less knowing how to use it, made you a nerd to begin with.

+ 1 for Marvel movies. You can't even go to the cons anymore they're so expensive.

I think number 4 is the biggest here, but I agree with your whole list.

Gates/Jobs are the biggest factors for sure.

Jobs never struck me as a nerd. More like the cool preppy kid that would drive a BMW to school if they could have afforded one.

How about #5 The rise of analytics in sports?

Can you elaborate? Hasn't that always been a thing?

Since Moneyball, analytics have exploded. Some traditionalists might argue that math nerds have ruined some sports.

And Game of Thrones.

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