當極客成為潮流

Are we all geeks now？

現在人人都是極客嗎？

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.

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

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

“極客”一詞原指某些為人古怪或非主流之人。后來它逐漸被用來指表示熱衷追求知識的人們。極客對自己的愛好充滿熱情，絲毫不在乎別人的想法。

極客們癡迷的東西包括：科技、游戲和奇幻小說等。

現在，你是否正懷疑自己也是一名極客？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 been so blurred before.

Aside from the worlds 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.

Whether it is 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.

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

極客文化與主流文化間的界限從未如此模糊，《紐約時報》最近的一篇文章如是寫道。

文章指出，除了全球癡迷的蘋果公司產品，還有不計其數的例證可見極客文化正在日益變得主流。這篇文章雖然聚焦美國情況，但中國讀者也很容易感同身受。

文章還指出，無論是美劇《生活大爆炸》，還是漫畫改編的新版電影《銀河護衛隊》，這些曾經的邊緣文化都在各色人群中日益流行。

極客文化變得主流的一大原因在于，技術已經成為幾乎每個人日常生活中無所不在的一部分。從某種意義上，你也可以說是主流文化多年以來只是正在追趕極客們的生活方式。

Everyone knows

知識人人都知曉

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.

“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.

《紐約時報》的這篇文章還指出，隨著在線數據資源的不斷增加，極客地位的象征——了解某些鮮為人知的事情——已經失去了意義。現在，每個星座的名稱不過是維基百科上的一個詞條罷了。

《生活大爆炸》的聯合執行制片人戴夫·戈奇在接受《紐約時報》采訪時表示：“沒有互聯網的時代，在成長中掌握知識是一種標簽，但今非昔比，互聯網改變了一切。”

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.

“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.

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 works 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.

現在“極客”一詞已不再含有貶義。很多千禧一代的年輕人都酷愛思考，喜歡學習。他們不僅樂于接受自己極客的一面，而且以此為傲。從小配件到社交網站再到電子游戲，不肯接受新科技才是非主流的選擇。

美國約翰霍普金斯大學美術教授托馬斯·杜比告訴《紐約時報》：“如果你不是一個極客，那么你就會被看作一個勒德分子（強烈反對機械化和自動化的人），這可一點兒也不酷。”

澤奈普·圖費克奇在《紐約時報》極客文化的討論組里說，年輕人被極客文化深深吸引，因為他們希望擁有創造力。圖克費奇說：“很多極客都對構建東西樂此不疲。”比如，對很多計算機程序員而言，真正的工作魅力在于用代碼創造“世界”，和繪畫、廚藝以及音樂等其他創造性工作一樣，這是一個把深度知識挑戰與樂趣結合起來的令人愉快的嘗試。