Geek in Practice

I was chatting with a friend today and I told her “What can I do? I’m a geek” in response to some geeky stuff that I said. So she answered me “Things like that shouldn’t be said in public!”. Well, honestly, people always tell me that but I, like most geeks, never stop saying it! Geekdom is more of a badge of honor we, geeks, carry on our chests. Yes, I’m a geek where is the shame on that? Usain Bolt is an athlete do you see him ashamed? Well, of course not, he’s the damn fastest man on earth! but my point holds! No use being ashamed of being what you are (Dr. Phil will definitely agree) just try to be the best at it! And that’s what the phenom did!

Geekdom is a lifestyle. It’s the interest you give to everything around you! That self-cleaning-thinner-than-a-hair polymer invented in Purdue University, that new MMORPG launched a month ago, the new features Sony-Ericsson’s new Xperia phone, just about anything related to technology. That doesn’t mean we don’t understand anything else, It’s just when like economists and financiers enjoy reading about what did Ben Bernanke do in the last Federal Reserve board meeting. Many geeks, unlike what people think, tend to know a little bit about everything and everything about what they like. The stereotype says geeks are anti-social which holds true to an extent. That extent stopped exactly before the internet was invented (which melted any sort of boundary anyway) I bet that the source that linked you here is over-saturated with geeks. Facebook, Twitter, Plurk, Digg, younameit.com … etc they’re all geekdom utopias. They’re a part of everyone’s life whether you agree or not! Geekdom is not what it used to be in the 70s but the stereotypes stuck around till the new millennium and beyond!

It’s a good time to be a geek, go 1337s!

Exactly two days after my pleasant chat with a developer of Shaheen Blue Gene computer, the 14th most powerful computer in the world, I start a course in Electric Engineering department at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) called Digital Systems Engineering. It talks about the architecture of microprocessors and how to program them. Sounds fun so far, only thing is we’re gonna study the 8086 and 8088 processors which are, to computers, like dinosaurs to us. Now, one might argue that we should know the basics of microprocessing in order to understand more modern processors. My only question is, why, then, do we need to go all the way and build those old processors if we’re intended to use, learn and perhaps help develop much more modern processors? Why not know the simple basics and just move on?

I don’t want to start ranting about my Uni, I know I will not stop, but it’s something I noticed in KFUPM. They tend to teach some obsolete technologies for a reason I never figured out. Another example, there is a course that teaches Fortran language (Old and almost unused anymore language) and many departments require it in order to finish freshman year! Oh well, I hope one day someone with a little sense changes that.

Today after I had lunch/dinner with the family in the most amazing Persian restaurant*, a cousin called me and tricked me to go to Edgware Road in London (An Arab “colony”, for those never been here). He knew that I’ve never been there and he knew that I would never want to go there so he just told me the directions and I found myself there (being all new to London). Ok, I admit, there’s nothing to be ashamed of but I try to avoid my people here for reasons I’d rather keep for myself. Anyway, that doesn’t even relate to my subject, what I want to say is. He assured me why I should stick with my alias, geek in practice that is.

I know how geeky/nerdy I am, but I never looked eye-to-eye to people who call me a geek or a nerd. Let me explain a bit, when I’m in Saudi there are few people who I can debate with in few occasions. Mostly, it’s just chitchat and sport talk (read football, soccer for Americans). Hence, I usually keep my debatable thoughts for myself most of the time which leads us to my point, that is, how on earth do you know I’m a geek or not? However, when my cousin and I were talking we were exclusively debating about everything from society to finance to politics to engineering (of course to our extends of knowledge). We agreed on many things but I played a devil’s advocate just to enjoy discussion (I think he did as well, sometimes). I felt at the end of our evening that I am, actually, a geek in practice.

While I am pouring my thoughts into my keyboard, let me say something about us Saudis. We like to argue and we think arguing is debating but we lack the basics of any debate. We don’t see that arguing hurts others while a healthy debate enriches thought and diversifies minds. And at the end of the day, most of us believe that “debating” is unhealthy for our bodies, minds and souls and try to avoid it and consider some sort of “taboo”. Wait what? you read it right,we love to argue but try to avoid it most of the time but when we do engage ourselves in arguments we don’t respect our arguers. And that is exactly why sometimes I doubt my potential as a geek!

(*) Alounak, That’s for you Hish