This is from the first chapter of Hackers & Painters, which I was raving about.

In there, Paul Graham talks about the unpopularity and persecution of nerds in American schools.

And think about how many of the richest people in the world who are nerds.

I love his analysis:

Why is the real world more hospitable to nerds? It might seem that the answer is simply that it’s populated by adults, who are too mature to pick on one another. But I don’t think this is true. Adults in prison certainly pick on one another. And so, apparently, do society wives; in some parts of Manhattan, life for women sounds like a continuation of high school, with all the same petty intriques.

I think the important thing about the real world is not that it’s populated by adults, but that it’s very large, and the things you do have real effects. That’s what school, prison, and ladies-who-lunch all lack. The inhabitants of all those worlds are trapped in little bubbles where nothing they do can have more than a local effect. Naturally these societies degenerate into savagery. They have no function for their form to follow.

When the things you do have real effects, it’s no longer enough just to be pleasing. It starts to be important to get the right answer, and that’s where nerds show to advantage.

I’m thinking beyond schools now. Think about our military organisation, think about our civil service, think about some of the probably large organisations you work for, and tell me that this doesn’t ring a bell.

Anyway, I’m still thinking back to my school days. Was I a nerd? I really don’t know. I guess I don’t fit very well into any particular category. Wait - I belong to the misfits category.