It's been quite the year for the nerds. In mainstream media, Judd Apatow has championed the underdog- he and his bands of similarly pathetic heroes (Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, Jason Segel) have created movies such as "Role Models" and "Forgetting Sarah Marshall". Gone is the Marlboro man, instead, we turn to the new vision of manliness, Isaiah Mustafa, who coined great quotes like, "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like". (Not only does this signal a change in male stereotypes, but also hints at the growing consumer power that women have in the economy nowaday!
Alright, so maybe Isaiah is not quite a nerd (he's still built like a football player!) but who are the types of men who inspire us nowadays? Billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg? Steve Jobs? Even companies are increasingly shifting funds away from the "sexy" projects in marketing and putting them toward the "sexier" (read: more profitable) investments in customer analytics.2010 was the year of groundbreaking stories like Julian Assange, who isn't trying to capitalize on his information sources, but really wants to champion the freedom of information. When asked why he didn't use his entrepreneurial spirit into riches, he famously replied, "I enjoy creating systems on a grand scale, and I enjoy helping people who are vulnerable." And then almost as an afterthought, he added, "And I enjoy crushing bastards". Who are the bastards in this situation? "The Man"?
How do we explain this movement toward the (much deserved) brains in the world? Maybe it's because we need it- global warming is an issue and we instinctively know that the brains have the best probability for survival (or the best ideas- see Cement from Thin Air), or maybe it's because we know that it's financially lucrative (see Steve Jobs) or financially responsible (see Timothy Geithner). Maybe it's just more fun to be a nerd now than ever before (3D television, crazy-immersive games like the Assassins Creed trilogy). Whatever the reason, I think this year will be greater than ever for the nerds.
Most of the reason I think 2011 will be great for nerds is because I think we're at a point in history where we have enough technology to explore the existence we live in and make our lives more efficient and better (trapping CO2 emissions in cement, using light wavelengths and pulses to power supercomputers). Our technology also allows us to access places and things in ways we never have been able to before. (The Hubble Telescope, for example, found the oldest galaxy ever (13.2 billion years old) in January.) By combining things to explore and ways to explore them, both on our planet or not, I'm excited to see what 2011 will bring.
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