沉溺於自我愛好 極客翻身把歌唱

Are we all geeks now?

現在人人都是極客麼？

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.

“極客”一詞原指那些或爲人古怪或非主流之人。後逐漸被用來指熱衷追求知識的人們。他們沉溺於自己的愛好，絲毫不在乎別人的想法。

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

極客們的愛好包括：科技、遊戲、奇幻小說等。

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

現在，你是不是懷疑自己也是一名極客？如果是，那麼恭喜你，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.

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。

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，除了全球流行的蘋果產品，還有不計其數的例證可見極客文化正在成爲主流文化。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。

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.

文章還指出，不論是美劇《生活大爆炸》，還是漫畫改編的電影《銀河護衛隊》，這些曾經的邊緣文化都成了備受歡迎的流行文化。

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.

極客文化進入主流文化的一大原因在於，技術已經成爲幾乎每個人日常生活中不可或缺的一部分。從某種意義上，你也可以說是主流文化在努力追趕極客們的生活。

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.

《紐約時報》的這篇文章還指出，隨着在線數據的不斷增加，瞭解某些鮮爲人知的事情已經失去了意義，也不再是極客地位的象徵。現在，每個星座的名稱不過是維基百科上的一個詞條罷了。

“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》聯合執行製片人戴夫•戈奇在接受《紐約時報》採訪時表示，“沒有互聯網的時代，掌握知識是一種標籤，但如今卻今非昔比，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.

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。他們不僅樂於接受自己極客的一面，而且以此爲傲。從小插件到社交網站再到電子遊戲，不肯接受新科技纔是非主流的表現。

“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.

美國約翰霍普金斯大學美術教授托馬斯•杜比在接受《紐約時報》採訪時表示，“如果你不是一個極客，那麼你就會被看做是個勒德分子（譯者注：強烈反對機械化和自動化的人），這可一點兒也不酷。”

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.”

澤奈普•圖費克奇在《紐約時報》極客文化的討論組裏說，年輕人被極客文化深深吸引，因爲他們希望擁有創造力。很多極客都對創造事物樂此不疲。比如，對很多程序員而言，真正的工作魅力在於用代碼創造“世界”，和畫家、廚師以及音樂家等其他從事創造性工作的人一樣，他們都被各自領域的知識挑戰和樂趣所吸引。