Nerds: The new cool?

Numero uno nerd Chris Pirillo recently blogged about how new reality show Ashton Kutcher's Beauty and The Geek struck so close to home.

"Average Joe: Hawaii" pitted some squares and geeky-types against washboard-abs, macho-types for the hand of a pageant queen.

And a recent article in NYDailyNews.com spoke about how Nerds Make Better Lovers.

Straits-side, we have an article by Brigitte Rozario challenging the geek stereotype.

Some quotes:

Dinesh Nair: "I can pick any industry and give you the same random distribution (of the geeky-looking people). In any industry, you have some guys at (the cool) end, some at the (geeky) end, and a lot of people in the middle. The average IT guy looks like any other office worker today."

Zeffri Yusof: "I’d be more worried if people ever called me ‘cool.’ "

Lim Fun Jin: "Bill Gates was a 100% geek when he started. I heard that as he travels to work he sometimes still writes some code for his own personal use. When I heard this, I thought 'wow, chairman of a large company and he's still (coding) today.' So I don't mind (being called a geek) seeing as geeks can be successful."

In the sidebar, 'What's Cool Man', Harres Tan says:"(30 years ago) I had long hair. I was dressed in smart three-piece suits all the time. But when I was not working, I was dressed like a hippie. That was the time when everybody dressed like that. Do I think I'm cool? I was. (laughing) Not so much anymore. Today, I'm trying to be a businessman."

The pic of him, in the suit and full head of hair, has to be seen to be believed.

So, in 2005, it may be pertinent to ask, Is it Revenge of the Nerds all over again? Is it hip to be square? Is being a nerd the New Cool?

...and shall the geek inherit the earth?

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