Mingle2.com - Ten Ways Being a Geek Makes You More Attractive

This came up on Digg and while I agree with a lot of it, I also felt the need to argue.  I am a law student, after all.

Mingle2.com - Ten Ways Being a Geek Makes You More Attractive
# You're probably very smart.

True, and yes that makes you more attractive, but we're already slipping into a geek-centric value set here.  First of all, what do we mean by smart?  Psychologists are now saying that there are different types of intelligence: IQ and EQ (Emotional Quotient).  Many (most?) geeks have a very high IQ but a low EQ.  This does not make them more attractive.

Secondly, what do we mean by "more attractive?"  I'll assume we mean primarily attractive to girls (or more generally, someone we want to sleep with), as well as the general "people are excited when I walk into the room" kind of attractive.  If we're mostly talking about girls, now we're suddenly assuming that girls want a guy who is smart.  If you read those women's magazines, they usually don't rank "smart" at the top of the list.  I think "nice butt" usually ranks higher.  So if being smart makes you more attractive, it only does so for girls who are specifically looking for that kind of thing.  Granted, the percentage of girls looking for a smart guy increases with age, but this is still a weak generality.

Finally, "more attractive" for what?  For settling down and having children?  Sure.  For dancing with me at a club?  Probably not.

# It's hip to be geek. Everyone is familiar with the stereotype of thick glasses, a pocket protector, an obsession with star trek, and social skills akin to a sack of potatoes. Times have changed: geeks are often fashionable, hip individuals who are very aligned with the trends of their own generation

Very, very true.  Although there is still a difference between geek chic and "the bin is spoken for."

# You geek out on more than just your computer. Ever seen the movie collection of a film geek? Ever had an automotive geek work on your car? Ever seen the body of a fitness geek? The tenacity of someone like us, when applied to hobbies outside computers and the like, can yield impressive results.

"Fitness geek" = "jock."  And jock is usually the opposite of geek.  I'm not sure all these things even count as being a "geek" in the traditional sense.

# Geek humor is the best humor. This is perhaps a biased opinion, but I've never laughed as hard as I have while reading some of the random, funny things that came out of geek culture.

Me too.  But again, this doesn't apply to the hot girl in the dance club.  "sudo rip off all your clothes and have wild sex with me" is more likely to result in a syntax error, if you know what I mean.

# You listen to good music. Geeks have access to tools that allow us to hear music that extends well beyond top 40 radio. Want the entire discography of Aphex Twin by tomorrow afternoon? Ask a geek. Not only do they listen to good music, they can find just about anything you're looking for in a heartbeat.

True.  But does the ability to look up information really belong in a top ten list?  Most non-geeks know how to use the internet now.  Granted, geeks still have an edge here.  But does my ability to get you a pirated copy of Microsoft Office really make me "more attractive?"

# You make good money. If there's one stereotype about geeks that usually rings true, it's that they rarely have trouble earning a decent income.

Not only is this very true, but it probably belongs at #1.

# You fix stuff. Everyone loves a handyman, especially one that can fix one of the most frustrating devices ever conceived: a personal computer.

Very true.  No argument on this one.

# You've got your own stuff going on. You'll never meet a geek who runs out of things to do, they've got lots of hobbies and interests and are more than happy to dive head first into one of those when they've got some spare time. In other words: they won't rely on you to give them a life.

True, but sometimes this is a hinderance as much as a benefit.  If you're a geek and you do manage to get a girl at a bar to start talking to you, what the hell are you going to say to her?  Not only are your hobbies not likely to intersect with hers, but in fact your hobbies are likely to turn her off.  Most girls don't want to see your lego collection.

# You're very articulate. Compulsively reading a few hundred RSS feeds a day yields a vocabulary that could put most college English majors to shame.

Not true.  Your vocab might be better than a normal person's, but it's not going to be better than someone versed in Shakespeare and Dickens.  Besides, when it comes to making yourself more attractive, which one do you honestly think will be more useful: "The Sorrows of Young Werther" by Goethe, or "Introduction to the Linux Kernel" by Linus Torvalds?

# You're passionate. When a geek becomes interested in something, they tend to immerse themselves in it entirely. They'll strip a new gadget down to nuts and bolts and re-build it with an xhtml compliant grappling gun. This intense passion can extend to many areas of a geek's life, not just computers and hobbies.

True, but the real challenge is translating this passion into something that other people can understand.  Too often geeks come off as obsessive, and more interested in their computers than in the girl.  Passion is only a good thing when channeled properly.

I was going to do my own, shortened version of the list.  But I think the biggest revelation is not that there are limited ways in which being a geek makes you more attractive.  The real revelation is that being a geek gives you a tremendous source of power--if you know how to use it.