Why Geeks Should Write

Geeks should write for three main reasons. The first is that for hundreds of thousands of years, human knowledge has been passed down generations through the form of story-telling. This ultimately contributes to what "makes us human", and is intrinsically a part of our understanding of culture and even technology. Story-telling gives us the opportunity to express opinions, human subjectivity, and connect on an emotional level - all of which constitutes our idea of a human being. As a geek, coding is just not enough. Coding is an objective communication tool for humans to manipulate computers (that is, until AI came along), and is not enough for humans to communicate with other humans. This leads to my second point. Writing enables geeks to communicate with one another and the general public in a way that is understandable and relatable. This is important when we (as geeks) want to pass on information to the next generation of geeks. Story-telling and writing to them, whether in the form of blogposts, books, or essays, will make the material more interesting to learn about. When communicating with the public, it is especially important for geeks to present information in an understandable way for the lay individual. This can increase literacy of the general public, which is always good. The third argument for the "Geeks should write" argument is that we do not want to form an exclusive "geek cult" where we use coding languages to separate ourselves from the rest of society. I personally love hackathons, and I am a part of many hackathon groups on Facebook. One of the largest ones I know, called "Hackathon Hackers", has over 11,000 members. It is especially interesting to observe the way geeks communicate with each other. The most successful hackers are those that are able to present his or her ideas in a well-written way.