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Monty Python, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Star Trek are becoming old. These are references from the 70s. I'd say anime took over as the stereotypical geek culture thing. Japanese otaku and western geeks got along. Also fantasy became popular over science fiction, the video game landscape has changed dramatically, and of course, younger geeks grew up with the internet more than with TV. Also, there are series like Stranger Things that are definitely geeky.

Things are moving on, we are just getting old.

Back in the day of The Internet of 1994, HHGTTG was only 15 years old.

But today, HHGTTG is very nearly 45 years old.

For how many decades should references to novel fiction persist, do you suppose?

It's hard to believe that a 15-year-old book was a defining cultural touchstone. What do we have from 2009 that has the reach of HHGTTG in 1994? Twilight? Hunger Games?

We didn't read books in 2009 like we did in 1979.

In 2009, we already had pocket supercomputers.

42 years, and then never mention it again.

The TV version was broadcast just over 42 (!) years ago

I think you are missing the point. It's not that interest in these things is what is essential to the old internet but that a shared interest and shared language is - and this includes as gp has pointed out metaphors and imagery.

But to your question, Tolkien, Asimov, Lovecraft, et al. are still a heavy influence on modern Fantasy, Sci-Fi and Horror. Why do you think a mere 45 years should mean that something is no longer referenced?

>geeks and nerds shouldn't be gatekeepers about what the entertainment is, or the literature, because that cuts out a lot of people who should feel included.

But the sports fans never felt this way, and were always happy to cut out the geeks and nerds that didn't give two shits about the sportsball game they watched that weekend. Why should the geeks and nerds need to worry about including the sports fans, but not the other way around?

>I think social media, politics, streaming services, etc. have totally blown away these shared frameworks in society, and it's kind of a bummer, even though it's great to have lots of choices. People used to watch the same TV shows and talk about it the next day.

When Game of Thrones was the new hot TV show, it seemed like everyone and his dog was watching it, and that included the sports fans and the nerds too.

>I guess sports is basically the last thing that's shared.

Back to my first point. I don't know any sports fans in my circle of friends and work colleagues (who are all techies of course). If any are, they keep it to themselves, thankfully.

> There used to be certain things that all nerds knew, and could talk about, use as analogies and metaphors.

Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra

> because that cuts out a lot of people who should feel included

Why.

> People used to watch the same TV shows and talk about it the next day

That's the societal cost of having personalized experience. Nobody watches the content I watch because I pick content that's specifically relevant to just me. Even my closest friends watch different things.

the analects of confucius, or, in europe, plato, cicero, and the bible