When did nerds become so popular that sitcoms and movies started revolving around a quintessential yet cool nerd character? So popular that people want to be like them?
First, let's define a nerd. A typical nerd knows 46 different ways to make love to a woman but hasn't yet done it. Do people really want to be them?
The nerd probably got its start back in the '50s when companies like IBM and Xerox catered to a small niche of businesses that demanded something as boring as raw computing power. The only people who were able to provide that power were the mathematically-inclined, and there was a shortage.
Full-scale nerd cultivation didn't really begin until the Soviet Union beat us to space with Sputnik in 1957; President Eisenhower put the nation on a feverish pace to produce nerds in large quantities by stressing math and science at public schools and steering college graduates toward science degrees.
Uniquely, America was the only country to create the stereotypical nerd. The Soviet Union was ahead of us in math and science during that period. In fact, it was not uncommon for American college graduates of that era to go overseas for advanced degrees. We simply did not have the institutions in place for cutting-edge and innovative learning (we do now - MIT is Nirvana to the college-bound nerd), but somehow, we have been the only country to create a subculture of nerds.
In a nutshell, the middle class of the '50s and '60s, with its ever-growing consumerism, put powerful doses of disposable income back into our economy and spurred enormous economic growth. This was the electric current needed to pass through the primordial nerd soup to give them life, the building blocks of the tech sector (we continue to have the largest middle class in the world).
The middle class of the '50s and '60s, from places like Silicon Valley, CA, gave their children the opportunity (and spare computer parts) to dabble in the newly emerging field of computer technology. Their children (the first generation) had the opportunity to pursue their hobby.
This new group, for the most part, wasn't interested in sports, social standings, four-year college plans, traditional jobs or fast cars. They were motivated to be the envy of their peers and desired to become a demigod of tech. The Internet was their playground to communicate and show off their clever and complex intellect (I've heard that arguing with a nerd is like arguing with a computer - you end up looking ridiculous).
Fast forward a few decades to the '70s and '80s, when technology had invaded every office and infected many homes. Technology, for the first time in history, allowed a single person to gather and compute data to find a cure for a disease. (This power has also been used to analyze and market Girls Gone Wild Videos; I'm guilty of consumerism, too.) Businesses were now able to move more quickly than any other time in our history. And our appetite for technology only kept growing.
This uniquely American sub-group helped sustain the longest bull market in our history. American nerds have cornered and practically own the technology sector! In doing so, they changed (and will continue to change) the way we work, study and live our lives. They defined, built and controlled (and still control) an entire universe in a box. Names like Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Steve Case, Jerry Yang, Larry Page and Sergey Brin have become household names.
By the way, remember the things they weren't interested in? Well, they probably have all of the above and more, including their own sports teams!
Yep, it's cool to be a nerd. Don't you want to?
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
