who runs the world? nerds. just my random thoughts :) when one hears the word nerd, what comes to mind is the high school kid who wears glasses, loves to solve maths, and is socially awkward. is that really the meaning of the word though? a nerd, according to the oxford dictionary, is a person who is extremely enthusiastic and knowledgeable about a particular subject, especially one of specialist or niche interest. in modern greek, a word often suggested as a parallel to nerd is δόκιμοι (dokimoi), which means diligent and scholarly. so the nerd isn't an awkward person with glasses but someone who is extremely passionate about a certain topic and really knows a lot about it. in other words, the nerd is a "specialist" who doesn't seek to be educated in all fields but instead narrows down on one until he knows almost everything about it. bruce lee once said, "i fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but i fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times." nowadays, i think there's too much of an obsession with knowing it all. there seems to be an unnecessary obsession with being well-rounded in everything. if there's a discussion on law, be able to contribute. if there's a conversation on medicine, you should be able to chip in something. now, i am not saying one shouldn't have a basic idea of some things, but certainly not everything. take elon musk for example. if you sat him down in a group of 5 people and everyone started talking about marine biology, he would most likely do more listening than talking, if he talks at all. if you suddenly switched the topic to space rockets, musk would have the most to contribute. he is a specialist in the field, and if you don't stop him from talking, he probably won't let you leave that day. the same can be said about most of the world's billionaires. i watched a jensen huang livestream where nvidia launched some new products. he was really knowledgeable about the products he was talking about. it was almost like he had physically participated in the production. start a discussion on renaissance art with him though, and he would definitely talk less. so, if the definition holds, even those who control large portions of the world's capital can be considered nerds. they have really deep knowledge of a single field and are maximizing that knowledge to bring them money. knowledge is like a pot of soup: it's always sweetest at the bottom. people like musk have gone deep into the pot of knowledge in a certain field and are subsequently enjoying it better than those who just want a taste of every pot. in a society where everyone is focused on being the source of all knowledge, try to become a pillar for a field of knowledge instead. dive deep into a field to a point where people can look at you as a form of authority in it. the question then would be, "how will that make me money?" paul graham said something in one of his essays: the abnormalities in the world can only be seen by those who look really, really close and are knowledgeable in the field. a doctor can never see anything wrong with the way his car is being repaired. when you are looking at something from afar, it seems so smooth and without any gaps. when you move really close, you begin to see the gaps that other people can't see. most startups arise from that. there are hundreds of startups being founded, and you ask yourself, is there any more problem that isn't already being solved? oh boy, i can tell you for sure, there are tons of them. you just need to come really close and look well enough to see the gaps you can fill. so stop trying to get a bit of everything in the buffet of knowledge. just stick with one or two types of meal and take enough from it. unconventional thinker,

17:26 est p.s.: pro-tip for engaging in conversations with people when you don't know much. if you are lucky and it's a group of people, listen attentively to them and take mental notes. when it's your turn to contribute, summarize everything they said but use fancy terms and add a bit of what you can deduce. or if you can process the information fast enough, raise questions for them. it shows you are attentive enough and actually care.