Will we ever get to the point where mass media realizes there we are capable of doing things like dating an attractive woman... without even needing to shower her with money we've scored big in our IPO?
Why? Because hacking is relatively friendly ground to them. They can excel, and they will be much less handicapped by their social shortcomings than they would be in other fields.
If you want to end the stereotype, you have to make computer programming equally unfriendly to the socially maladjusted, unshowered nerds. That would be a loss. Not only would programming lose valuable contributors, we would turn some number of those talented people into sorry, helpless losers who don't contribute anywhere. And that's the endgame: if every field vigilantly safeguards its social reputation against infiltration by potentially embarrassing nerds, then it will be impossible for nerds to contribute to society at all. For various reasons, hacking is hospitable to nerds: why not leave it that way? If you're uncomfortable being associated with a field that is unusually accommodating of socially inept people, then leave hackerdom and join a field that does a better job of policing itself. There are plenty of those fields, and not many safe havens for dorks.
[Edit: I am praying that nobody starts a subthread on the semantics of "nerd" and "dork." Please don't. Just read my comment the way it makes most sense to you.]
I showed up and when he saw who I was with, his jaw literally dropped. I had one of the hottest girls as my high school sweetheart. We won a "cutest couple" award that night. We dated for 3 years.
I know a lot of hackers (of either sex) with attractive partners. It's not hacking that's unsexy. My girlfriend encouraged me to play on the computer so long as she got the attention she needed too. She loved it when I built her a computer (it was completely purple in the 1990s, a rare machine). She even played a few Quake 2 death matches online with me.
But sometimes hackers are unconfident. That's a universal turnoff. After I dated that girl I went years without finding another girlfriend because I'd totally lost confidence in myself. Get some confidence, and even a computer programmer can get an attractive partner. I thought this was thoroughly documented in The Game :-)
As more generations are born, technology becomes more ingrained. I'm in my 20's, we grew up with technology. I was navigating DOS at 4. My wife remembers using Amigas. I don't have to ask anyone my age if they know how to use '...' because they do, it's innate. You give your average 50 year old a new piece of technology and they're lost.
Simply take video games. The amount of people who play are now astounding. I know girls that play CoD, who WoW, who're making levels on LBP, who were excited when SC2 came out.
For my generation I expect a lot of nerds will be dating attractive female nerds.
Nerds are also defined by a sort of intense interest level in their given fields. (Not coincidentally, Asperger's follows a similar diagnostic consideration set). A non-nerd may play Civ5, but will a non-nerd ever mod Civ5? Will a non-nerd ever intentionally hack the AI to improve the realism of diplomacy in Civ5, or to script out realistic reenactments of the Cold War? I did those things, and I really doubt a "normal" would have done them. I'm sure you have similar passions, projects, quirks, hobbies, interests, etc. -- that unique combination of traits that will always set you apart as a nerd.
Yes, in theory, these days it's a lot more socially acceptable for you to wear that nerdery as a badge of honor. But that's theory, and then there's praxis. I find that most non-nerds pay lip service to nerd-chic, but they won't actually walk the walk. I really doubt a non-nerd will ever entertain a conversation with me about artificial intelligence or string theory.
(sorry, couldn't help myself karma be damned)
I have noticed that the "Management Types" Card is describing still treat their employees as lesser beings, not because they're hackers, but because they're employees. And they have the same outdated ideas, like "Pay them a bit more" or "give them a family fun day!", and other stuff that programmers are a bit more cynical about