Two-cultures geekcode? (Was: Didion flames Gelernter)

Jorn Barger

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Apr 21, 1998, 3:00:00 AM4/21/98

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I wrote:
> scrapie <scr...@rigel.infonex.com> wrote:
> > John McCarthy <j...@Steam.Stanford.EDU> wrote:
> > > When Snow wrote, there were indeed two cultures. Now there may be only
> > > 1.5. [...]
> > BTW, I wasn't alluding Snow's two cultures line when I alluded to
> > literary culture; my feeling is that there are many distinct cultures,
> > not two. [...]
> This demands the sort of dimensional analysis I was attempting in my
> improved geek code.
> The best scientists have always been artists in some sense. It's the
> formulistic engineers who can't grasp that.

I've gone back thru the thread and picked out most of the dimensions,
and the major case studies, and tried to guess where they differ (adding
a few clarifying reference-points of my own):

Didion Unabomber Gelernter Nash Mailer Nabokov EO Wilson

postmodernism: +? ---- ---- -? +? ---- ----
Nabokov: +++? -? ++? --? +? ++++ +?
prose style: +++ +? ++? +? ++? ++++ +++
madness: ++ +? ? +++ +? ++++ -?
poetry: +++ ? +++ ? +? ++++ ++?
intuition: +++ ++? +++ +++ +++ ++++ ++
creativity: +++ ? +++ +++ +++ ++++ +++
abstractions: +? ++? +++ +++ +? -? ++++
modernism: +? ---- -? ? +? -- --?
reason: +? ++ +++ +++? -? +? ++++
numbers: --? +? ? +++ --? -? +++
progress: -? ---- ++++ ? -? + -?
technology: -? ---- ++++ +? +? -- +?
scifi: --? -? +? ? --? -- -?

One thing this suggests to me is that postmodernism is a red herring
that hardly anybody really likes, and is totally uncorrelated with the
literary culture.

My personal results:

postmodernism: ---
Nabokov: ++++
prose style: +++
madness: +++
poetry: ++++
intuition: ++++
creativity: ++++
abstractions: +++
modernism: +++
reason: ++
numbers: --
progress: ++
technology: +
scifi: --

--
I EDIT THE NET: <URL:http://www.mcs.net/~jorn/html/weblogs/weblog.html>
"The PhD system is the real root of the evil of academic snobbery.
People who have PhDs consider themselves a priesthood." --Freeman Dyson

David Christopher Swanson

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Apr 22, 1998, 3:00:00 AM4/22/98

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Yep. I guess you can do bad science without being artistic.

DCS

http://www.cstone.net/~dcswan

Please post replies or e mail me, but not both; it's too confusing.

Fiona Webster

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Apr 23, 1998, 3:00:00 AM4/23/98

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Jorn Barger writes:
> My personal results:
>
> postmodernism: ---
> Nabokov: ++++
> prose style: +++
> madness: +++
> poetry: ++++
> intuition: ++++
> creativity: ++++
> abstractions: +++
> modernism: +++
> reason: ++
> numbers: --
> progress: ++
> technology: +
> scifi: --

It really is sad that Jorn has such a low
opinion of himself.

--Fiona

tejas

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Apr 23, 1998, 3:00:00 AM4/23/98

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There may be a geekcode, I reckon, but is there
a CODE OF THE GEEK?

Or a set of axioms or paragons by which the earnest geek strives
to live that are understandable to the lay person who wishes to
attain the laurel crown of Geekheit?

Sort of like the Singing Cowboy's CODE OF THE WEST.

ObSong: ACROSS THE ALLEY FROM THE ALAMO
--
TBSa...@richmond.infi.net (also te...@infi.net)
'Do the boogie woogie in the South American way'
Hank Snow THE RHUMBA BOOGIE

Jorn Barger

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Apr 23, 1998, 3:00:00 AM4/23/98

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Fiona Webster <f...@oceanDELETETHISstar.com> wrote:
> It really is sad that Jorn has such a low
> opinion of himself.

Sigh. Gee, you're dumb!

(It's not a report card, it's a statement of values.)

Fiona Webster

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Apr 23, 1998, 3:00:00 AM4/23/98

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I wrote, in response to Jorn's personal "geekcode":

> It really is sad that Jorn has such a low opinion of himself.

Jorn replied:

> Sigh. Gee, you're dumb!

Oh, OK. 'Glad we got that straight.

> (It's not a report card, it's a statement of values.)

Roger.

--Fiona