Comment by alasdair_ | Hacker News Reader

Comment by alasdair_ | Hacker News Reader

> “elite science, technology, engineering, and mathematics graduate students (N = 478) identified in 1992. Their educational histories were assessed at age 25 and they were followed up at age 50 using the same psychological assessments.”

One thing to consider is the fact that America during the period 1992 to 2020, has seen a vast societal shift from nerds being seen as social outcasts to being seen as the thing a huge portion of the people at the top of society claim to be.

As a counterpoint, I wonder if the exact same study, when conducted in an anti-intellectual society (say Nazi Germany in the late 1930’s) would still return the same results, or if the people that were “held back” would end up better off psychologically.

I strongly suspect the huge change in how cool it is to be nerdy today is a significant factor in today’s wellbeing.

> say Nazi Germany in the late 1930’s

I'd say Nazi Germany in the late 1930s was more of an anti-Jewish intellectual society, more than an anti-intellectual society pure and simple, the reason being that them being mostly a technocratic State they highly needed those intellectuals, engineers and technicians. One of the many proofs is the work of von Braun, without which us as a species wouldn't have gotten to the Moon as fast as we did. The same discussion goes for Soviet Russia, with some exceptions (mostly genetics-related work, where the politruks intervened in a very harmful way for their scientists).

IMO the only true anti-intellectual regime that I know of from the 20th century is represented by Mao's relatively short-lived Cultural Revolution in China, a policy which was pretty quickly reversed.

Pol Pot.

Yeap, that too, had forgotten about his atrocities.

Anti-intellectualism is usually largely about "intellectuals who keep on bringing up their annoying facts instead of just being useful to those currently in power and not rocking the boat" although it often takes on a life of its own to their own detriment. There has been a large history of rage at military innovations which disrupt the "elite's" favored tactics from Spartans lamenting siege engines to the hatred of crossbows.

One example which comes to mind as similiar but more practical than intellectual is millers being portrayed as literally satanic in European feudal systems for getting richer through cleverness not a part of neither the church hierarchy nor conquest or even patronage.

Any evidence to back up that "nerds are cool"?

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