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NYT Techie Night Life Reprogrammed
Posted by
timothy
on Tue Aug 05, 2008 12:04 PM
from the for-some-values-of-most-major-cities dept.
from the for-some-values-of-most-major-cities dept.
securitas writes "Almost a decade after the Internet bubble collapsed, the New York Times reports on the revival of the Silicon Alley technology social scene — with a twist. It's now about substance. Gone are the "glitzy club ... minor celebrities, go-go dancers, an open bar and pricey giveaways" in favor of unconferences, Ignite, Pecha Kucha, ideas and 'a night life that involves actually talking to creative people doing exciting things.' Most major cities have a geek social scene like the NYC Soldering Championship [video link] featured in the article." Not surprisingly (for anyone who reads O'Reilly's Make magazine), Bre Pettis is one of the event organizers mentioned.
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Soldering Championship?!?!?!? (Score:3, Insightful)
Sounds leaden.
I'll take the open bar.
Sometimes balance means shutting off those overly acute powers of perception and going with the animal brain every so often.
Dropping the bubbly excess sounds great, but everything doesn't need to be turned into a intellectual engineering exercise.
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Re:Soldering Championship?!?!?!? (Score:4, Insightful)
I dunno. Honestly, I really enjoy decompressing with a couple beers and the whole "upscale strip club with hot women" environment. For me, over the top makes it better.
But, I agree. Just because one is geeky, doesn't mean one shouldn't stop on a regular basis and just embrace our instinctual urges without analyzing them to death.
Parent
I guess we're talking "web time", right? (Score:5, Insightful)
"Almost a decade after the Internet bubble collapsed, ..."
The bubble burst in 2001. Internet "decades" are much shorter.
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Well, it *has* technically been *almost* a decade. It's more than five years later, so I guess it would qualify, without being very informative.
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The bubble burst in 2001.
I thought that it burst in 1999, and took about two years to deflate, it's actually really subjective (I was laid off in 1999). However, Wikipedia makes the assertion (right now) that it burst on March 10, 2000 [wikipedia.org] (the NASDAQ peak), so 8 or 9 years is close enough for me to accept 'almost a decade'.
soldering contest? (Score:4, Funny)
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They should combine the two by simply drinking solder.
Re:soldering contest? (Score:5, Funny)
In geek bars, drinking solder makes girls find YOU significantly hotter.
Parent
Yeah, that's nice. (Score:5, Insightful)
Give me the old scene any day of the week. The social scene is about unwinding and meeting interesting people who help you expand your mind, not a bunch of people who think exactly like you and only are willing to challenge you in a game of Warcraft or in a heated discussion about design patterns and antipatterns. If you can't do that at work, then yeah, maybe you need that kind of interaction...but most don't because they get it all day long. Unless you're unemployed, of course.
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Your heart must not be truly Klingon.
Re:Yeah, that's nice. (Score:4, Interesting)
Parent
Re:Yeah, that's nice. (Score:5, Insightful)
There's a huge difference between chatting with people who are generally intelligent, and people who like to speak about all the same things you do. Besides, this type of gathering sounds much, much too planned. It's like a grown-up kid's birthday party, with a schedule and everything.
I'd suggest that if you find most people you speak with to be idiots, that you're hanging out in the wrong places. It's fine to sound elitist, but realize that elitism is often just another way of saying "I'm unable to relate to people who aren't exactly like myself."
Besides, it's healthy to be dumb once in a while and let loose. I'm not sure why the whole "geeks shouldn't get wild" meme persists. Maybe it's a leftover from their highschool days when they didn't get to be wild with all the "Cool Kids" or something?
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Meh. I thought the impression of intelligence was directly proportional to discussing things you agree with. This is /. after all!
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I think it's because a lot of geeks find "getting wild" kind of draining. I've gone through periods where I went clubbing and partying fairly often, and I really like cutting loose and dancing all night, or drinking with less-geeky friends... but perversely it can feel like work.
Maybe it's different for you, but I never "partied" or drank until I was in my 20s. Hanging out with non-geeks is a social skill I had to actually practice, and until you get reasonably good at it, it's not all that much fun, it's a
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However, I will agree that this particular set of events is awfully structured. Even anime and sci-fi con
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Alas, I doubt I'd be able to find what I'm really looking for, which is someone who cares more about what's in my mind than what's on my chest, but... ;)
Well, right tools for the job and all that. I'd suggest that by and large, finding life-long mates at any given quasi-random social grouping these days is a crap shoot. As much as people demean them, dating websites are much more likely to narrow your options to a few, select individuals with the desired attributes.
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Besides, you're bound to meet idiots no matter where you go. And you're also going to meet people that are truly elitist. May as well enjoy a few drinks, have some good laughs, and go home happy, if not slightly intoxicated.
Re:Yeah, that's nice. (Score:5, Insightful)
Most normal people aren't dull
I beg to differ. Most "normal" people (say, average intelligence) have little to no interest in examining/understanding the world, and as a result, aren't terribly interesting to speak with, as they bring no interesting (read: different from mine) viewpoints or insight to a discussion. That's why, I, personally, prefer the company of smart people.
Alcohol consumption immediately nullifies intellect
I disagree with this too - intellect nullification doesn't happen until drink #5+ and if there's anything I learned in college, it's that high level intellectual conversations are readily fueled by alcohol (up to a point).
Parent
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I disagree with this too - intellect nullification doesn't happen until drink #5+ and if there's anything I learned in college, it's that high level intellectual conversations are readily fueled by alcohol (up to a point).
No, they just *seem* high level at the time you're talking about them.
Look, yeah, not everyone is a geek. But there's value in learning to interact with people who aren't exactly like you are. Not everything in life is about geeking out constantly.
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there's value in learning to interact with people who aren't exactly like you are
Absolutely - but intelligence does not define who one is. My tendency to select friends who are smart does not inform the type of person I tend to choose as friends. Smart people run the gamut of interests and personality types - I don't have *any* friends who I would say are "exactly like me."
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Most "normal" people (say, average intelligence) have little to no interest in examining/understanding the world,
Neither do most smart people, who are just as happy to live in their own bubble as anyone else. Look no further then the slashdot comment and moderation system. People like their beliefs and preaching to the choir and don't venture outside that regardless of intelligence. Intelligence just tends to have a slight effect on the beliefs people tend to congregate around.
Plus, too many intelligent people think that they're right and everyone else is an idiot, which makes conversing with them slightly less enjoya
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Plus, too many intelligent people think that they're right and everyone else is an idiot, which makes conversing with them slightly less enjoyable than talking to a wall. (You can at least pound the wall for not being responsive.) I like talking to people who listen, don't really care about how intelligent they are.
That's quite true - there are a lot of smart people who think far too highly of themselves. I suppose I should have added that "open-minded" is also a quality I find necessary - as I find close-minded, intelligent people are barely distinguishable from stupid people.
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Cyber-nouveau riche (Score:5, Funny)
And we finally have a definitive answer to the question asked at least since the time of the Roman Republic: how can we segregate those with new wealth but no cultural sophistication away from the rest of society without isolating their money from the larger economy?
The apparent answer: soldering contests with expensive drinks.
Um...preplanned events? (Score:4, Insightful)
I figure just throwing a bunch of nerds and alcohol will produce more "intellectual" stimulating exercises than this whole pre-planning will. I mean, nothing wrong with a soldering contest with beer, but I'll take a bunch of napkins and spur-of-the-moment scribbled ideas after a night of drinking with my fellow guys than attend an organized town-meeting.
I mean, who HASN'T had a a great/horrible idea when drinking?
Techie Night Life? (Score:2, Interesting)
Here in South Florida we have Night Life, but no Techies. Seriously, there is no social interaction for geeks down here. You find 2 or 3 smart people and hold on to them for dear life. Nobody seems to socialize in a group larger than 5. Part of that may be how freakin huge our state is and how spread out we all are, but there are just no technology meet-ups in south florida of any decent size or regularity.
Sorry guys, but... (Score:4, Interesting)
"a night life that involves actually talking to creative people doing exciting things."
Pretension still doesn't count as "substance."
now thats a night life that i can get used to : (Score:5, Insightful)
'a night life that involves actually talking to creative people doing exciting things.'
withering away one's life in a dark bar corner with sleazy sluts and calling it fun didnt make much sense ever anyways.
Talking to interesting people (Score:2)
Maybe I'm Captain Obvious, but who wouldn't want to talk to creative people doing exciting things?
Nightlife with PowerPoint? (Score:2)
At IgniteNYC, after ... a half-hour of drink-refilling and chatting, 16 speakers made PowerPoint presentations.
I've been to evening events like that, with presentations by people who want funding. Listening to people present bad business ideas is entertaining maybe twice. Then it gets really boring.
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Rob
We use to call these "users groups" (Score:3, Funny)
I was there, it was fun (Score:5, Informative)
The event was actually pretty fun. It was in a biggish bar/lounge so there was plenty of booze and it was *packed*. The crowd was a mix of geeks, artsy types and business folks. A bit loud, but hey, it's NYC.
The main thing was a bunch of 5 minute presentations. They were NOT demos or requests for funding as someone else implied. The talks ranged from funny (how NYPD conducts undercover prostitution busts) to weird (guerilla knitting) to informative (how to raise money from angels) to cool (a prof from NYU's ITP who showed a bunch of new tactile interface ideas) to preachy (helping out in third world countries). Most of the speakers were pretty good. One guy even did his in rap/hip-hop style.
All in all, it was fun and everyone I know who went was glad they did.
Rob
Re:Sausage Fest (Score:5, Funny)
I predict a total sausage fest.
Come on, ladies.
Geeks are great, once you get to know us.
[citation needed]
Parent
Re:Sausage Fest (Score:4, Funny)
Do you mean:
I predict a total sausage fest [citation needed]
or
Geeks are great, once you get to know us [citation needed]
or both?
Parent
Re:Sausage Fest (Score:4, Insightful)
Parent
Re:Sausage Fest (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
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A plastic surgeon? :P I kid, I kid.
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Also look at the pictures. Ladies are there.
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Actually, that's a "cutting analysis" of "women with a fetish for CEOs who, in their mind, must have money to spend on them." It's got little to do with women liking geeks, and everything to do with the idea that someone women will go after anything that spends money (and nothin' spends money on a woman like a lonely geek with disposable income).
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I think you're a little too tough on our fairer-sex cohorts.
In my estimation, it's probably far more about the risk-taking, high stakes, self-confidence that is required to be successful at most things, but business in particular.
This is not really a newsflash: Women are attracted to men who act like, yes, men. A guy who doesn't need his hand held and who doesn't need constant stroking of their sensitive ego.
You don't have to be rich, gorgeous, or muscle-bound and tattooed. You just need to possess the same
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He didn't say ALL women did. Just that "someone women did", which I'd read to mean that only SOME women go for guys who flash wads of cash. Usually they're the shallow ones whose beauty is quite literally only skin deep.
Re:Sausage Fest (Score:4, Funny)
Usually they're the shallow ones whose beauty is quite literally only skin deep.
Indeed. You can't really know what kind of woman you've got until you remove the dermis [I recommend a potato peeler for this, along with suitable restraints (duct tape is surprisingly effective)].
They'll try to scream (a ball gag helps here, by the way), but what else can you expect? Nobody ever said true love was easy.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go write a filesystem for Linux.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm slightly miffed that you believe that I'm unable to find a "compelling" woman to share an evening with. My current single state is, believe it or not, due to a prioritizing of female companionship below other concerns. I'll get over it, though :D
However, I also know from experience that women who do not figure financial resources (or, should I say, "resources" in general) into their model of what they find attractive in a man are relatively rare. Even the smart ones (and sometimes specially the smar
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I predict a total sausage fest.
Come on, ladies.
Geeks are great, once you get to know us.
Where's your geek pride? We're swinging more pipe than that. It's gonna be a kielbasa fest!
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Trolling a Troll as an AC, what a chump.
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Silicon Alley, not Valley.
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