lindsey

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！曾经被黑的非主流极客一族，如今终于守得云开见月明了。在这个网络时代，极客才是正常人类。不信？一起来看看极客们如何翻身把歌唱！

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。”