I liked a comment that Steve Keen made to me before we recorded our podcast last week. He suggested that “the world needs more nerds”. He put both of us in that category.
The suggestion might sound flippant, but it isn't. The problem we are facing right now is that we have a political and economic hierarchy in the UK and across the West that is dominated by a single mode of thinking: neoliberalism. Neoliberalism implicitly assumes that economic equilibrium is the normal state of affairs, although, as far as anyone can tell, it has never happened. Worse than that, it assumes that reversion to equilibrium always occurs after an economic disruption and that this reversion is normal and does not require government intervention.
This assumption is fundamentally false. There is no evidence to support it. There is plenty of evidence to the contrary. Despite that, our “normal” politicians, typified by Rachel Reeves and many of her forebears, as well as all those in the single transferable parties who want to succeed her, are completely unwilling to accept this fact. Their top-down thinking (follow the link for an explanation of what that is) is what is dooming us to the economic crisis now coming our way. It is beyond their imagination that this crash might happen. As a result, they cannot comprehend that they must act to prevent it.
Nerds, on the other hand, do bottom-up thinking (again, follow the link for an explanation as to what that is), basing their thinking on observable facts, and not upon dogma. They then interpret the facts as they see them within a moral framework to suggest policy that might work, rather than promoting dogmatic lines which cannot.
Using this definition, both Steve and I are bottom-up thinkers. We are also nerds, and unashamedly so. It is our job at moments like this to shout out and tell those afflicted by the curse of being "normal" that they are wrong and that it is time to wake up and smell the coffee, because their assumptions are leading us to disaster, as we are both sure is the case right now.
The choice available is very simple. Are we going to manage the crisis we face on the basis of an evidence-free dogmatic belief, as our “normal” politicians and their advisers desire? Or are we, alternatively, going to look at the facts, interpret them, understand the consequences and manage the resources we have available to us in the best interests of everyone, so that we have the best prospect of surviving, and even living free from fear?
The right choice appears obvious. The problem is that “normal” thinkers do not even recognise that the alternatives that nerds can see exist. Their dogma says that there is no alternative to their thinking, and that is good enough for them, but it is simultaneously what is consigning us to our fate.
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Given the life stories around me of neoliberalism harms, people are drowning not waving…we are taught to look sideways and blame, never look up.
What are those (we) who like the nerd lens called?
Nerdettes ? Nerdites? Nerdkins?
Nerdies?
Caring?
Well as a fellow nerd I agree completely! I get rather tired of people who repeat things which upon analysis are blatantly incorrect. Far too many people either repeat the dominant narrative because they think that is right or act as amateur analysts saying “I googled this and the data says…. therefore this proves X.” You have to have an understanding of the subject to analyse data and information properly. Even when you have a pretty comprehensive knowledge about an issue you find that there are elements that you need to examine more carefully before you can get to a conclusion. Even then there are often questions about the data and what it means!
Agreed
I couldn’t agree more. Most of our current politicians are Oxford PPE graduates who seem totally incapable of thinking out of the box. They just repeat the same tried,tested and failed ideology and ridicule anyone who challenges it. I remember commenting to a friend in September 2008, that what we were experiencing would go down in history as the Wall Street crash had, to be belittled. I now feel vindicated. I knew next to nothing about economics, but I’d studied social history and the impact of the Wall Street crash on the US.
We need people who think out of the box, can problem solve and are not scared to try something new. I guess they also need not to be too tied to any historic ideologies. I’m just a bit wary of using the word nerd in case it excludes women who meet your criteria, but might not identify as nerdy. One person worth watching is Naomi Klein. She’s originally a social scientist but in books like Everything Must Change examines why capitalism and climate change are inextricably linked and what needs to happen to prevent run away climate change. And whilst Rachel Reeves is totally ignoring climate change and instead is fixating on growth at any cost, climate change and it’s impacts will soon dominate our foreign policy as we fight for scarce resources and rich countries try to preserve their consumptive way of life.
Geek, then?
As a woman with a Computer Science degree and years working with data, I probably am. I guess my point is not all such women want to identify as geeks, so you might exclude some excellent very talented people.
I admit my wife is very happy to identify as both, and seemingly to be married to one.
Geeks Versus Nerds – What’s the Difference?
* Geeks have a deep interest in specific subjects and often collect related tech or memorabilia.
* Nerds are focused on learning everything about subjects they are obsessed with and mastering related skills.
* Geeks often engage in social situations discussing their interests, whereas nerds prefer solitary activities.
You may consider the terms “geek” and “nerd” to be synonymous. While geeks and nerds share certain common traits (and it’s possible to be both at once), there are distinct differences between the two groups.
For more see https://www.thoughtco.com/difference-between-geeks-and-nerds-609445
Both trump (bridge not Krasnov) “suits”
FTFY
Thanks
The Oxford Cambridge PPE gene pool is becoming vanishingly small. Is this part of the problem?
Good call regarding Naomi Klein.
Her next book – End Times Fascism and the Fight for the Living World is scheduled for September 15, 2026.
Will it arrive too late?
Naomi’s books are very thoroughly researched and referenced so can’t be written and published quickly. I see your point. Hopefully Trump can be kept from initiating world destruction until it’s released. Unfortunately it will still be relevant on it’s release and I doubt if Farage etc al will read it!
As a lifelong nerd, I fully support this post.
Geeks are also useful, if a little trendy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Tvy_Pbe5NA
EXCELLENT thread post!
Thanks
As an example, consider a young child learning any subject or playing at any hobby, perhaps, that requires them to learn. If they make a mistake or simply could achieve an improved outcome, their parent or teacher will show them a better way. Thus they learn from the simple to the more complex. So, I would suggest that children, as they develop, are exposed to bottom up thinking.
I must therefore wonder at what point in life the growing child or young adult effectively unlearns the procedure they are used to and become ardent top-down practitioners?
I have no answer, I can only speculate. Is it that they are in fact taught by top-down thinkers? How often now is a child, as they get older, challenged to “work it out starting from scratch”? Now they can look everything up when they need an answer using Google or whatever. They rarely have to start at the bottom and “think it through” to an answer?
The young child asks incessantly “why?” driving adults around them mad. Us adults are pleased when “the rate of why?” dwindles and probably gives vibes of pleasure to our young. Maybe there’s a totally different reason, but could it be that adults train our children to be top-down questioners and thinkers?
If so, perhaps we need a campaign to educate the adults in “How to teach our young to be bottom up thinkers”
Broadly speaking, my experience suggests primary schools help bottom up thinking and secondary education after Gove is heavily top down.
You touch on a few resonant points here – starting from basic principles, thinking for yourself, and working things out. Not just repeating mantras or blindly taking someone else’s word for it – whether that is politicians or the internet or anyone else – but actually looking at the real-world observational facts to test explanations. A synthesis of induction and deduction.
And some humility, and flexibility of mind. You might not have all the relevant facts, and your treasured explanation may turn out to be false.
At its bottom, it is the scientific method.
I am proudly a geeky, nerdy person. It is just the way I am. My wife too. And our children. It is not a recipe for happiness. But as Socrates said, the unexamined life is not worth living.
Thanks, Andrew. Appreciated.
Much in the same way that toddlers will bend their knees, to pick something up from the floor.
Observation of the parents & other adults around them, teaches them to bend-over, using the lower-back.
They had it correct the first time and are shown this in adulthood, if their job requires them to “manually-handle” heavy items.
Kids often show the way and are then taught to unlearn it!
Neoliberal thinking: the council tax exemption for full time students is of some benefit to Landlords as it allows them to negotiate higher rents to students. How much of the exemption is incident on the Landlord and how much of it benefits the student is a subject of analaysis.
Nerd thinking: none of the above is true. Thinking about tax incidence is profoundly neoliberal. And anyway Council Tax is incident on the tenants.
Elsewhere on this site today Ian Stevenson suggested we need a government of ‘Pragmatists with principles’. That is the only kind of political ‘ist’ I would ever want to be described as but am also happy to be both a nerd and a geek of the first order, at least one of which is possibly a prerequisite for membership of the POPP (Party Of Principled Pragmatists).
Might it make our society, and others, more effective, equitable and sustainable if our state education set ups, which “teach” some 93% of future citizens, taught-learned the attitudes and skills of being a querist and an impert?
Querist – one who asks questions
Impert – one who has does not have official qualfications in a subject but has studied it and so has knowledge, ideas and unofficial fresh inputs on a subject
I like that!
One other definition:
Impertinent What an impert will be described as when suggesting that a formally qualified person may be wrong.
Some very interesting comments. As a Scot the ONLY option is independence..like other nations on the planet.All our resources should go to US and the decision as to WHO uses our land to attack other nations is OURS….while at present we sit with a target on our back in Faslane.
I have just finished reading ‘CHUMS’. (How a Tiny Caste of Oxford Tories Took Over the UK) by Simon Kuper
A great read ..maybe where our downfall began?..and continues…
‘Eleven of the fifteen post -war British Prime Ministers went to Oxford…how the privileged atmosphere of this narrowest of talent pools- and the friendships…rhetoric and worldviews it created shapes modern Britain.’ (ref: Chums….Simon Kuper)
Found it in a charity shop ( 20p)… the contents a million miles from a Scot born in abject poverty on the east side of Glasgow.