I first met Patri Friedman in person in 2002 when he was visiting the East Coast and he came to crash at my apartment in NYC for a few days.

What had drawn us together online was our mutual interest in the possibilities of colonizing the oceans of earth. We both believed that while outer space might be the “final frontier” that the oceans could well be the next frontier. We also shared a feeling that a frontier was something that was currently missing from the world, that the existence of a frontier had been very useful to human progress in that past, and that opening a new frontier for people to explore would be very beneficial to the future progress of humankind.

During his visit we talked almost non-stop during our waking hours. His infectious laughter, and boundless enthusiasm were quite contagious, and the place felt emptier when he was gone. Although he did leave something of himself behind – he had dyed his hair blue shortly before his visit, and when he was gone I noticed a blue smudge on a wall he had leaned his back against for many hours while typing on his laptop. I left it there to remember him by for just as long as my wife would let me keep it…

So what makes Patri one of the Sexiest Geeks Alive?

Its not just his occasional purple mohawk, sometimes stylish goatee, or muscular physique (see pictures), nor even just his brilliant mind. Patri even comes from a line of great thinkers, being the grandson of Milton Friedman, and the son of David Friedman. But his good breeding is not his sexiest quality either.

What makes Patri one of the Sexiest geeks alive is his ability to ignore “common wisdom” in the pursuit of a good idea, and even overcome the burden of “common wisdom” in others.

New ideas can not happen without someone who is not just brilliant, but also strange enough to either lack, or to be able to ignore, that part of the mind that acts as a governor concerning what is considered normal by others. The sense of what is normal is what defends old ideas from new ones, and it is only by overcoming this that new ideas can evolve. People who can not overcome their inhibitions about not being “normal” are not capable of having great ideas, or if they do have them, they are incapable of acting on them. They are too busy worrying about what their neighbors will think to ever be great.

In order to have new ideas, and act on them, one has to be something of a freak, and in order to produce good ideas, one has to have a logical mind. And that is just what Patri is; he is a very logical freak. Patri can follow a chain of logic beyond the point where most people stop because it is drifting into an area that seems strange. He is not only capable of acting on strange but logical ideas, he can also use his enthusiasm for such ideas to inspire others – to overcome their inhibitions about what is normal and make them see what might be better.

Patri’s current project, The Seasteading Institute, is a good example of this.

Patri has taken the ideas that he and I (and many others) have discussed concerning colonizing the oceans, and he has built a plan of reasonable sized steps to make this happen. He has created a non-profit institute to pursue these goals, and has even raised enough money to get started.

Patri is capable of thinking that the world can be a better place, coming up with a logical plan to make it happen, and convincing other people to help make his dream a reality.

And that is what makes Patri Friedman one of the Sexiest Geeks Alive.

• For more Patri:

  • http://patrifriedman.com/
  • http://patrissimo.livejournal.com/
  • http://distributedrepublic.net/blog/patri-friedman
  • http://seasteading.org/

• Patri’s SGA Centerfold Picture:

(click for larger image)

Centerfold Data Sheet

Height: 5′ 4″ Weight: 118 lbs

Birth Date: 7 / 29 / 76 Birth Place: Blacksburg, VA

Ambitions: Make cheap, turnkey new countries on the ocean. Have at least 3 kids. Live a free and happy life.

Turn-Ons: Brains, muscled backs, blinking lights, health, competence.

Turn-Offs: Beer, cigarettes, people who don’t like children.

IQ: ~145

Political Compass Test Results: Economic: 6.00 Social: -4.92

Jungian Personality Type Test Results: ENTP (Strong NT, weak E/P)

Purity Test Score (Version & results): 500 question version, 40.4% pure.

Geek Code (Version & results):

—–BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK—–
Version: 3.1
GB/CS/M/MD d+@ s–:- a C++$ UL++$ P++ L+$ E$ W+++$ N o? K !w– !O M++ !V PS+++ PE++ Y+ PGP t+ !5- !X R* tv– b+++ DI+ !D G- e+++ h—- r+++ y+++
——END GEEK CODE BLOCK——

1.) You have described yourself as a “Sex Geek” or “Sex Nerd” – What does that mean to you? What is Geeky or Nerdy about your sexuality?

It’s funny – Violet Blue actually named me to her list of Top Ten Sexy Geeks for 2006, and when I saw that I was on her list, my first thought was, “I’m really more of a nerd than a geek.” I think that my geekiness about tech and the like is very much learned, while my nerdiness about books and learning and stuff is very much innate. I don’t think there’s anything particularly nerdy or geeky about my sexuality as an entity, but I am very nerdy about the topic of sexuality.

2.) Of the many types of Geek in the world, what other Geek categories do you put yourself into?

History and media, and the combination thereof. I have a BA in Cultural Studies and a MA in American Studies – so I’m one of those interdisciplinary, interconnectedness of all things people. I’m especially fond of nineteenth century medicine and sexual politics. And the history of vaudeville and the circus!

3.) What types of Geeks are your favorites? Why?

I like people who get really excited about their projects. Doesn’t even really matter what the project is – if you’re passionate bordering on obsessive about stuff you work on, that energy is infectious. In a good way.

4.) Do you find Geekieness to be a sexy quality in others? When/Why?

Definitely. Especially the aforementioned obsessiveness.

5.) What else do you think is sexy and why?

Glasses and open-toed shoes/well-maintained feet on women. Kinda husky dudes. On both sexes – a slight oblivion to the world around them and a disregard for societal expectations/norms. Sharp writing and unpretentious eloquence get me every time, especially when combined with a filthy fucking mouth.

6.) Other than yourself, who is the Sexiest Geek Alive? Why?

I think naming names is a little gauche. So I’m going to play my elusive and mysterious card here.

7.) From all of multimediadom, what are your all time favorite things to read, watch, listen to, etc? Why?

Though I never used to be a TV type, there is some bad reality TV I love, like I’ve been pretty obsessed with Celebracadabra, on which c-list celebrities compete to be the best magician. Totally awesome. That was probably a terrible foot to start off on, now I have to redeem myself.

Though sometimes I tire of reading sex blogs that are one orgasm after another, I love reading personal blogs, especially about sexuality, that are intensely personal and exploratory.

Though it isn’t precisely media – I love visiting peculiar museums, especially anatomical museum that have archaic medical devices on display.

When coupled with babies in jars, I’m ecstatic. To that effect, I totally love the blog “Morbid Anatomy“.

8.) What are your favorite personal gadgets, web tools, and computer programs? How have these things changed your life?

I don’t use any super obscure or elaborate tools. I’m always armed with my iPhone and a digicam, and usually my MacBook Pro. I’ve been taking my Canon HV20 with me more and more these days too, especially since I started doing a video blog for the Village Voice as part of NakedCity.com, the blog I edit for them. On the web, I use Twitter, Flickr, Blip TV, Bloglines, have a few sites that run WordPress, and I run almost all my office applications through Zoho. I like tools that let me consume, create, and communicate about interesting content on a variety of different levels, depending on what my brain can handle.

9.) What is your superhero power?

My steel trap of a brain. Recently, in starting to prepare to write my second book, I realized that I have terrible note-taking habits because I’ve always relied on my ability to remember things like what page of a book a particular paragraph is on, who wrote the book, what color its cover is, and where it is on my book shelves. This is very useful if it all functions perfectly, but incapacitating if it fails.

10.) If you could have any additional superhero power, genetic modification, augmentation, etc…, what would it be and why?

Teleportation. I think schlepping my shit around would be a hell of a lot less stressful if I could just friggin teleport around. Then I could spend more time working and doing my thing instead of sweating my ass off on the subway and running perpetually 10 minutes late.

• For more Audacia:

  • AudaciaRay.com
  • Akimbo: The IWHC Blog
  • Hos, Hookers, Call Girls, and Rent Boys
  • Live Girl Review
  • Sex Work 101
  • Sex Work Awareness
  • Sex Worker Literati Reading Series
  • Waking Vixen

• Audacia’s SGA Centerfold Picture:

(click for larger image)

In my ongoing quest to find newer and sexier geekdom, I attended a meet-up for the members of io9.com – the 6 month young science fiction themed blog from gawker Media. It was held at The Magician Bar on a Wednesday night.

I had not previously read io9, but was going to meet up with Editor in Chief, Annalee Newitz, whom I knew from her previous incarnation as a writer on technology. Since she certainly qualifies as a Sexy Geek, and had once written a column about a party that she attended at my house during CFP 2003, it seemed only fair for me write something for SGA about the party she was having in NYC for the readers of her new blog.

The gathering was actually a fairly special occasion, Annalee and the other two io9 editors were appearing in the same place at the same time for the very first time ever. In fact, in a brief discussion with Meredith Woerner (third editor on the io9 masthead and also a very sexy young geek lady) I had the distinct impression that she had never met Annalee before that very night. So this was a get-together at which the three editors were not only getting a chance to meet their adoring fans, but also a chance to actually all meet each other.

Oh, and the second editor, Charlie Jane Anders – yet another very sexy (and in her case, also very tall) geekgrrl.

Coincidence? I think not…

If this trio of sexy female science fiction obsessed ladies is not part of a deliberate formula by Gawker to guarantee success with Science Finction Fandom, then it definitely should be. Gawker’s stats for i09 show an 80% male audience, and I know that when I was a young male science fiction geek, there was nothing more attractive to me than a woman who could hold her own in a conversation that ranged from Asimov to Zelazny. In fact I will confess to still being a bit turned on by an SF literate woman, even now that I have matured into a middle aged (still male) philosophy and economics geek.

But please don’t think that these editors were chosen just for their lack of external genitalia. Annalee is an excellent writer who also brings tech cred to analyze the science inside the fiction, and while she is most definitely my favorite (maybe just because I have had a crush on her longer) the other two ladies are both also very bright, well informed, and great writers. I only skimmed a bit of the content on io9 (and boy does it have a lot of content – more posts per day, maybe, than any blog I have ever tried to read) but from what I did read, each of the editors, and pretty much all of the other contributers, are well worth reading at a more leisurely pace. (And I intend to go back and do just that.)

My favorite post was one of Charlie’s entitled, “Posthumans, Rise Up And Destroy Hollywood!” in which she examines the way in which SF movies are much more biased against transhumanism than the SF found in books.

But back to the event…

To my eye it looked like a great success – lots of happy geeks enjoying each other’s company – talking about all sorts of wild and wonderful things.

Personally I did not mingle as much as I would like, but NYC bars are always too loud and crowded for me, and my natural instinct is to flee from them. Science Fiction geeks are wonderful company one on one or in small groups, but when you get this many of them together, they could become an angry mob as fast as any other group of people. The sociophobic monster in me always fears that the villagers are going to break out the torches and pitchforks, so I did not stay long.

But I might try it again if there is ever another one of these events. Maybe a few extra drinks can mute this feeling I get, when there are too many bodies pressed together in a closed space, that makes me want to charge through the crowd like a bull on a Pamplona street – knocking everyone to the ground and trampling them a bit. Either that or the extra drinks might remove the inhibitions that normally prevent me from doing this… in any case, I will have more fun.

Final analysis:

io9 – A great blog if you are into science fiction.

Annalee, Charlie, and Meredith – Three very sexy geek grrls and wonderful writers.

io9 meetup – A very sexy event with an excellent turn out for a Wednesday evening, and probably a great deal more fun for anyone who is just a little bit more comfortable in a crowd than I am. (That is to say – pretty much everyone else in the world.)

Oh, and I will try to dig up some pictures of the girls of io9. I brought my camera but forgot to take any pictures. Hopefully my journalistic skills will improve with use…

I promised Cyan that I would try to post to Sexiest Geeks Alive  once a week, and that I would try to be funny and/or write about sexy geeks. Well my last post was last Tuesday, and it is now Wednesday, so it is time to write something. I am not feeling particularly funny (except maybe in my tummy a little… I think it was the pickled herring and pepperoni slices I ate for breakfast), so the topic will have to be some serious thoughts on what it means to be a sexy geek. And apparently serious thinking gets done in the shower around here, so that is where I am headed. Be right back…

…Ok, here is what I came up with:

* * *

When I told all my friends that I was now officially one of the “sexiest geeks alive” I received many interesting responses ranging between:

We already knew that.

and

I still don’t think you’re sexy. Or a geek really.

But the response that made me do the most thinking was what my friend Rex Kerr wrote. (Please note that I am using the term “friend” here based on a most peculiar definition – inspired by such internet phenomena as social networking sites, online forums, and mailing lists – which means roughly “A person for whom I inexplicably feel genuine affection, even though I have never actually met him, often get into heated arguments with him, and seem to experience no guilt whatsoever when I find myself publicly quoting his email without permision…”)

Anyway, he is the guy that wrote:

Congrats!

Although I wonder whether a “sexiest geek” is something like a “most peaceful general”, “most mathematical art historian”, or “ditziest chemistry Nobel prizewinner”.

–Rex

So this made me wonder, Is the term “sexy geek” actually an oxymoron? Just what does it really mean?

Cyan invited me to this blog, so I should probably be using her definition, whatever it might be. I could just ask her, but first I thought I might try to pin down a more objective (widely understood) definition. So I went to my favorite (because it has the shortest url) online dictionary m-w.com, where I found the following definitions:

SEXY

1 : sexually suggestive or stimulating : erotic
2 : generally attractive or interesting : appealing

I think it is obvious that the first definition here can be folded into the second one, so I am just going to assume the broader case of general attraction or interest in my understanding of what it means to be a “sexy geek.” For example: when Cyan declares that someone is sexy geek, she may not actually be having erotic fantasies about them (although I certainly wouldn’t rule it out), but she probably, at a minimum, finds them to be quite interesting.

GEEK

1 : a carnival performer often billed as a wild man whose act usually includes biting the head off a live chicken or snake
2 : a person often of an intellectual bent who is disliked
3 : an enthusiast or expert especially in a technological field or activity

I am pretty sure that Cyan did not have definition number one in mind when she said that I was a sexy geek. Now, I am not denying that I have ever bitten the head off of a live chicken or snake, but it is not something that I am likely to ever do in public as part of a carnival show, and I seriously doubt that this is an aspect of Cyan’s mental picture of me (or at least it wasn’t until now.)

It is pretty clear that definition three is the way that Cyan would intend the term “geek” to be understood in the phrase “sexiest geeks alive” and it certainly gives us a nice result. The combination of sexy2 geek3 with a superlative emphasis added to the former and a plural version of the later, produces a definition of:

The most attractive or interesting enthusiasts or experts especially in technological fields or activities.

But as nice as this definition is, we skipped over definition two, and I think it contains some information worthy of consideration. It certainly reveals the degree of oxymoronicism (is that even a real word?) that Rex noticed in the term “sexy geek,” as we can plainly see in the combination of sexy2 geek2 which yields:

A generally attractive or interesting person of an intellectual bent who is disliked.

There is clearly some serious contradiction here between the terms “attractive” and “disliked.” There is no denying that the word “sexy” has almost entirely positive connotations, while the word “geek” definitely carries a negative undertone.

The reason for this is that the word “geek” as it has been applied to intellectuals, experts, and technology enthusiasts, did not start out as a friendly term of affection. As the order in which the three given definitions are listed suggests, it started out as a term of derision that any social group might use to brand an outcast or outsider with different ideas or customs, and came to be used by groups of less intelligent and less educated people to brand those who stood apart from the crowd due to greater intellectual capacity.

That we can now refer to our friends affectionately as geeks, is a phenomena seen in oppressed cultures throughout history. The smaller oppressed group tends to adopt the hurtful words of the larger group and turn them into friendly terms of endearment – thus removing the sting of the word. For example, homosexual men have no difficulty referring to each other affectionately as “Faggots” and African Americans often use the word “Nigger” or the slightly altered term “Nigga” in a friendly and affectionate way, even though these words started out as hurtful and derisive terms.

Geekdom has embraced a previously insulting label.

But that does not mean that the underlying problem has gone away. While Cyan, in thinking that I am a geek, almost certainly means “enthusiast or expert in technological fields or activities,” the same “intellectual bent” that gives me technological enthusiasm and expertise, certainly also makes some people tend to dislike me. I am willing to examine, with honest intellectual curiosity, the real underlying basis for ideas that many people like to think of as unquestionable truths. This often creates anger in faithful believers. Such anger comes from the same root cause as the feeling that there is some degree of oxymoronicism (again, sorry if that’s not a word) expressed in the term “sexy geek.”

“Sexy,” is a term that can have strong roots in collectivist thought. Although we each personally generate our own ideas about what is and is not attractive, these ideas are strongly influenced by the ideas of those arround us. Our likes and dislikes, which are a large part of the basis for our individuality, are also a basis upon which we are judged according to the standards of a larger social construct. The collectivist impulse is that all people should exhibit the same behavior, and for this to happen, they all must have the same desires – the same ideas about what is and is not sexy.

From an evolutionary standpoint, the ideas that hold a social group together have evolved resistance to new ideas that might replace them. But being a “geek” is to embrace different ideas – particularly new ideas. New technology – and especially technology that involves new forms of communication – disturbs the environment in which old ideas have evolved and to which they are best adapted. It makes sense that old ideas should fight against such change – the ideas are fighting for their lives. So it is no surprise that those who express different thoughts, and particularly those who make it known that their minds are a fertile place for the growth of brand new ideas, should be socially ostracized.

So where “sexy” is taken to be only what current popular culture says it is, and a “geek” is someone who has ideas that go beyond what current popular culture is, and into what it could be, there is an obvious conflict of interest between the collective impulse to conform and the individualistic impulse to create – between the geek and what is accepted as sexy.

What Cyan and the rest of us are doing here, by declaring that there are indeed “Sexy Geeks” in this world, is to not only continue to defuse the word “geek” by using it as a term of affection, but to also reclaim the word “sexy” as something to be defined by individual values, rather than controlled by any collective dictate of what attributes we should or should not find attractive. We are pointing out that some of us place great value on new ideas – on the fruits of logical thought and scientific experimentation – that even if some larger societal organism is not ready for the changes that such new knowledge might bring, some of us are more than ready. Some of us welcome and embrace these changes.

New ideas make some of us quite hot.