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From: laura@hoptoad.uucp (Laura Creighton)
Newsgroups: net.singles
Subject: Re: Titles, Singles, and CS
Message-ID: <576@hoptoad.uucp>
Date: Sat, 1-Mar-86 18:25:29 EST
Article-I.D.: hoptoad.576
Posted: Sat Mar  1 18:25:29 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 2-Mar-86 19:08:33 EST
References: <951@nmtvax.UUCP>
Reply-To: laura@hoptoad.UUCP (Laura Creighton)
Organization: Nebula Consultants in San Francisco
Lines: 33

In article <951@nmtvax.UUCP> fine@nmtvax.UUCP (Andrew J Fine) writes:
>
>Nerds seem to be socially perceived as dull, interesting, unlovable, eccentric
>personalities who are distinctly unglamorous to the extent of bearing a social
>disease.  Nerds are considered to be unmasculine (unfeminine), unassertive, and
>weak-willed.  Nerds therefore hold low rank in the business world since fields
>like public relations, communications, business administration, law,and working
>with people in general are considered superior to working with ideas and 
>things; ie., they are considered to lack the social skills needed to run a
>firm.

I think you are onto something here, but I fear the problem is a lot worse.
I think that intelligence is still feared, and people who work with ideas
and things are thus feared by the average-run-of-the-mill person.  One
of the most intelligent people I know was also one of the lonliest.  For
a short while I tried fixing him up with other people I knew, and every
person came back to me asking ``how could I do suchg a thing!''  They
rejected him because he was intelligent and didn't hide it.

(This story has a happy ending, though.  he joined Mensa and met 3
girlfriends in three months, one of which, last I heard, he had been
living with for the last 5 years.  They have matching t-shirts
which read ``intelligence is the best aphrodisiac''...)

But I still think that people at large are turned off by intelligence.
This is one of the most attractive things about the ``hacker communittee''
intelligence is respected there, rather than feared.


-- 
Laura Creighton		
ihnp4!hoptoad!laura  utzoo!hoptoad!laura  sun!hoptoad!laura
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