NYT Techie Night Life Reprogrammed 97
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Re:Yeah, that's nice. (Score:3, Insightful)
Your heart must not be truly Klingon.
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?
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.
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?
Re:Yeah, that's nice. (Score:2, Insightful)
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).
Re:Sausage Fest (Score:3, Insightful)
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:Sausage Fest (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Yeah, that's nice. (Score:3, Insightful)
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 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.
Re:Yeah, that's nice. (Score:2, Insightful)
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 actually kind of stressful. Even now I have to be in the mood and think about what I'm doing, otherwise I come across as boring, aloof, and a bit of a prick.
I still go clubbing because I really like dancing, but more than once every couple weeks is too much. That's not enough to really keep good friends in the "scene", which means there's not much pulling me back in, which means I don't go back very often...
Re:Yeah, that's nice. (Score:3, Insightful)
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."
Re:Sausage Fest (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 smart ones) do such, consciously or not. Since we are not that far removed from our hunter-gatherer origins, mates with significant resources are still (though filtered through our society models) sought after due to the higher likelihood that both the mate, the attracted, and the offspring will survive.
I also realize that most of the time, geeks in this type of conversation are complaining they never get dates/attention/laid. However, in this case, I was merely relating what I've experienced in the past.