A little bit of weirdness

The other day, I read a social media post about a young teenager (aged 11) who visited a technology & computers museum. The post was made by the museum owner who noted that the little guy was particularly interested about the museum, knew a lot of things about the computers on display there, and about technology in general. Moreover the post mentioned that the kid knew how to write code with python and a lot of cool new technologies most of us are not familiar with. The museum owner finished with some advices give to the kid about technology and asked for comments about what other advice should be given to the young “geek”.

I couldn’t fail to notice that almost all comments written, were about how to unplug and enjoy real life and especially on how not to be a “nerd”. Although I can see the value of unplugging from digital world and I very much strongly support limits on screen time for adolescents (such limits I also impose to my own kid), I would also like to further elaborate on this notion of “nerdiness”.

What if the world needs not another “normal” guy? What if, in the pursuit of progress & innovations, we need people deviating from the standard way of thinking? How many breakthroughs in life have been achieved by the normal guy next door and how many from the nerdy, unpopular and weird-looking guy (accommodating sometimes a peculiar view of the world)? I would bet my money on the second group.