This essay can be read in my 2020 book, Essays on Free Knowledge. Perhaps ironically, it is no longer free.
UPDATE: I’ve posted a very long set of replies.
UPDATE 2: I’ve decided to reply below as well–very belatedly…
This essay can be read in my 2020 book, Essays on Free Knowledge. Perhaps ironically, it is no longer free.
UPDATE: I’ve posted a very long set of replies.
UPDATE 2: I’ve decided to reply below as well–very belatedly…
[…] surely absurd notion that there is a new geek anti-intellectualism is broached in this much-discussed essay. AKPC_IDS += "1107,";Popularity: unranked […]
I think what you call anti-intellectual geeks can probably appreciate that studying and college as such are worthwhile.
What makes them say that college is pointless is the fact that in today’s day and age it is (if you want to acquire real knowledge). The standards have lowered ridiculously and just about everyone graduates with top marks.
In the past, I bet all the geeks were going to college… because that’s where real learning was being done. Now that only bullshitting happens at university/college, it doesn’t surprise me that they turn away from it.
Pity, because their is no way that they can recreate on their own something as splendid as centuries of traditional education did. Perhaps they should found their own geek university, with the standards of old.
Actually, I’m very sympathetic to these charges. This is one of the main reasons I’m not in academe any longer myself: in so many ways, the system of higher education is completely screwed up.
That said, there are my other five points to consider. The overall trend is toward anti-intellectualism among Internet geeks…
[…] Sanger, co-founder of Wikipedia, has recently argued his perceived increase of anti-intellectualism among geeks. By denouncing anti-intellectualism, he turns into an anti-anti-intellectualist. However I […]
[…] Is there a new geek anti-intellectualism? […]
I think there’s something to this. Especially after seeing all the sneers in the comments about reading the classics or getting a higher education. I can’t understand why we’d want to build a culture that holds growing ones knowledge in contempt. In a recent BBC article they sited a study where a number of grade school children said they would be embarrassed if another child caught them reading a book.
“A cynic is someone who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing” Oscar Wilde.
[…] I had wanted to create a parody of both kinds of anti-intellectualism I’ve mentioned recently–among geeks and among educationists–I couldn’t have invented anything better. Wheeler hits many of the […]
[…] Anti-intellecutualism: so hot (among geeks) right now. […]
I visited my mathematics professor and he lamented that students today don’t want to learn from chalk boards or going to class.. it’s too old fashioned. He also listed some stats showing they aren’t as smart.
This reminds me of interesting short sci-fi story. It’s not wholly related but a good read none the less.
Profession
by
Isaac Asimov
[…] via Larry Sanger Blog » Is there a new geek anti-intellectualism?. […]
[…] anti-intellectualism. Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger has written about what he describes as “a new geek anti-intellectualism.” Perhaps the shifting portrayal of Vulcans in Star Trek is a reflection of that geeky […]
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