Geek Vs. Non-geeks

You have probably experienced situations before were two groups of people have complete opposite ideas and opinions about mostly everything. Geeks and non-geeks have patterns in the work place that causes problems for both parties. These differences have been defined as contraxioms. There are seven common ones that happen in the work place between geeks and non-geeks.

The first one is we have different ideas of what work is. Geeks need to find a problem and solve it, by having a structured approach for having goals to accomplish. We do not like working on something that we do not know what we are trying to fix. Most problems that we encounter are in the here and now. For non-geeks they are all about achieving a vision. This way of working is based on looking into the future and working towards what things could be. Since we disagree on what work is it can be hard for us to plan together for a common goal.

The second is we relate to the future in vastly different ways. Us geeks have to plan for the future and think of all possibilities for something to happen in the future. We try to find and figure out everything and anything that could go wrong. We happen to dislike the future because, it is completely unknown. The only way for us to see the future as real is if there is a logical chain of events leading to it. Otherwise we consider the future to be something we just dream about. Non-geeks on the other hand tend to be all about the dream and how attractive it is. They just want people to support them even if the dream does not seem possible. When geeks try to help non-geeks by testing their ideas, they think all we are trying to do is ruin it for them. Having these different viewpoints makes planning for future task and projects hard because, you have to be able to figure out to make the future look plausible in order for the geeks to get on board with it.

Third we come to know what we know very differently. Geeks are all about things being in their head and having a detailed analysis of how they know what they do. Non-geeks however, know things from having relatability to it. They think that if they can relate to the situation and have a feeling about something then it is considered to be true. These two ideas of knowledge are completely opposite of each other. On the one side you have the geeks who only understand and know things by breaking down and testing the different components. Then you have the non-geeks who do not seem to care a whole lot about whether something is factual or not, but if they can relate to the situation.

Another contraxiom is lying, we disagree about the definition and significance of lying. For geeks lying is something that you do not do at all. Lying is evil, to go against this is to deny the common recognition of objectively verifiable truth. While, non-geeks know that it is bad, but do not consider it bad to stretch the truth in order to spare someone’s feelings.

There are other contraxioms that geeks and non-geeks have. It is because of these contraxioms that we disagree, fight, and have trouble working together. In all work situations you will have at least one of the contraxioms happen. This is why it is important to understand them in order for geeks and non-geeks to be able to work things out.