When nerds become the norm 极客翻身把歌唱

导读：曾经被黑的非主流极客一族，如今终于守得云开见月明了，在这个网络时代，极客才是正常人类。不信?一起来看极客们如何翻身把歌唱!

Are we all geeks now?

现在人人都是极客么?

The word “geek” originally meant someone eccentric or outside of the mainstream. It gradually evolved to mean someone obsessed with an intellectual pursuit. A geek is enthusiastic about a hobby regardless of others’ opinions.

“极客”一词原指那些或为人古怪或非主流之人。后逐渐被用来指热衷追求知识的人们。他们沉溺于自己的爱好，丝毫不在乎别人的想法。

Geeks’ obsessions include technology, science, gaming and fantasy-based fiction.

极客们的爱好包括：科技、游戏、奇幻小说等。

Are you now wondering if you, too, are a geek? If so, congratulations — you are cool.

现在，你是不是怀疑自己也是一名极客?如果是，那么恭喜你，你也是潮人一枚啦!

A recent New York Times article says the boundary between geek culture and mainstream culture has never before been so blurred.

极客文化与主流文化间的界限从未如此模糊，《纽约时报》最近的一篇文章如是写道。

Aside from the world’s obsession with Apple products, the article says there are numerous examples that show geek culture is increasingly mainstream. The article focuses on the US, but Chinese readers can easily relate to its premise.

文章指出，除了全球流行的苹果产品，还有不计其数的例证可见极客文化正在成为主流文化。这篇文章虽然聚焦美国情况，但中国读者也很容易感同身受。

Whether it be TV series like The Big Bang Theory or comic-book movies like the new Guardians of the Galaxy, the article says once-marginalized bits of culture are increasingly popular with people of all stripes.

文章还指出，不论是美剧《生活大爆炸》，还是漫画改编的电影《银河护卫队》，这些曾经的边缘文化都成了备受欢迎的流行文化。

One reason geek culture has become mainstream is because technology has become a ubiquitous part of nearly everyone’s daily life. In one sense, you could say the mainstream is just catching up to how geeks have lived for years.

极客文化进入主流文化的一大原因在于，技术已经成为几乎每个人日常生活中不可或缺的一部分。从某种意义上，你也可以说是主流文化在努力追赶极客们的生活。

Everyone knows

知识人人都知晓

The New York Times article also points out that with the growth of online data sources, knowing obscure facts about certain subjects, a big signifier of geek status, has lost its value. The name of a certain constellation is only a Wikipedia entry away.

《纽约时报》的这篇文章还指出，随着在线数据的不断增加，了解某些鲜为人知的事情已经失去了意义，也不再是极客地位的象征。现在，每个星座的名称不过是维基百科上的一个词条罢了。

“Growing up, pre-Internet, possession of knowledge was an identifier,” says Dave Goetsch, co-executive producer of The Big Bang Theory. “That is no longer true; the Internet flattens things out,” he told The New York Times.

《生活大爆炸》联合执行制片人戴夫•戈奇在接受《纽约时报》采访时表示，“没有互联网的时代，掌握知识是一种标签，但如今却今非昔比，互联网改变了一切。”

The word “geek” has lost its former pejorative meaning. Many from the millennial generation are excited about thinking and learning. They are comfortable with and proud to show their geeky side. From gadgets to social networks to video games, the decision not to embrace the newest technology is a choice to be out of the mainstream.

现在，“极客”一词已不再含有贬义。很多千禧一代的年轻人都酷爱思考，喜欢学习。他们不仅乐于接受自己极客的一面，而且以此为傲。从小插件到社交网站再到电子游戏，不肯接受新科技才是非主流的表现。

“If you are not a geek, you are Luddite, and that is not cool,” Thomas Dolby, an arts professor at Johns Hopkins University, told The New York Times.

美国约翰霍普金斯大学美术教授托马斯•杜比在接受《纽约时报》采访时表示，“如果你不是一个极客，那么你就会被看做是个勒德分子(译者注：强烈反对机械化和自动化的人)，这可一点儿也不酷。”

Young people are drawn toward geek culture also because they want to be creative, says Zeynep Tufekci in a New York Times discussion panel on geek culture. Many geeks are motivated by the deep joy of building things, says Tufekci. For example, for many computer programmers, their work’s true draw is the pleasure of creating “worlds” through coding, “a delightful endeavor that combines deep intellectual challenges with the pleasures common to other creative activities such as art, cooking or music.”

泽奈普•图费克奇在《纽约时报》极客文化的讨论组里说，年轻人被极客文化深深吸引，因为他们希望拥有创造力。很多极客都对创造事物乐此不疲。比如，对很多程序员而言，真正的工作魅力在于用代码创造“世界”，和画家、厨师以及音乐家等其他从事创造性工作的人一样，他们都被各自领域的知识挑战和乐趣所吸引。