当极客成为潮流

Are we all geeks now？

现在人人都是极客吗？

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.

“极客”一词原指某些为人古怪或非主流之人。后来它逐渐被用来指表示热衷追求知识的人们。极客对自己的爱好充满热情，丝毫不在乎别人的想法。

极客们痴迷的东西包括：科技、游戏和奇幻小说等。

现在，你是否正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 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.

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。

文章指出，除了全球痴迷的苹果公司产品，还有不计其数的例证可见极客文化正在日益变得主流。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。

文章还指出，无论是美剧《生活大爆炸》，还是漫画改编的新版电影《银河护卫队》，这些曾经的边缘文化都在各色人群中日益流行。

极客文化变得主流的一大原因在于，技术已经成为几乎每个人日常生活中无所不在的一部分。从某种意义上，你也可以说是主流文化多年以来只是正在追赶极客们的生活方式。

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.

“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.

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

《生活大爆炸》的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，在成长中掌握知识是一种标签，但今非昔比，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.

“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.

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。从小配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选择。

美国约翰霍普金斯大学美术教授托马斯·杜比告诉《纽约时报》：“如果你不是一个极客，那么你就会被看作一个勒德分子（强烈反对机械化和自动化的人），这可一点儿也不酷。”

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。图克费奇说：“很多极客都对构建东西乐此不疲。”比如，对很多计算机程序员而言，真正的工作魅力在于用代码创造“世界”，和绘画、厨艺以及音乐等其他创造性工作一样，这是一个把深度知识挑战与乐趣结合起来的令人愉快的尝试。