Quick update regarding the future of Geek Wisdom

Hello everyone!

First and foremost, I would like to thank everyone who’ve been reading my musing on Geek Wisdom. I do appreciate all of the Likes and comments that I have received since I have started writing this personal project of mine. While I’ve never really posted anything here other than those nuggets of knowledge, I have something important to write about regarding the future of this site.

Unreality will be making Geek Wisdom a regular weekly feature on their site! Unfortunately, this also means that I will not be able to actually post the full Geek Wisdom article on this site anymore. As a compromise, I will be posting a quick teaser here and the direct link to the weekly Geek Wisdom post on Unreality.

I hope that all of you visit Unreality as well and read the other articles since they are pretty good overall.

Thanks again to all of the people that have been reading! I really, really, really appreciate it!

Regards,

Victor “Fiefo!” de la Cruz

PS: I guess I’ll take this opportunity as well to ask for some assistance in the future. If you have any particular quotes you would like to contribute and see if it can be made into Geek Wisdom, please write it in the comments.

“I have a bad feeling about this!”

From: Star Wars

Genre: Movies

Who said it?: A lot of the cast!

The story behind the quote: During the Star Wars films, the prequels and the original trilogy, practically all of the heroes (Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and even C3-P0) will deliver this quote. A lot of the time, it’s used for a humorous effect: there’s obviously something wrong is going to happen so it’s obvious that they feel that something wrong will happen. In fact, it became so popular that a lot of geeks will deliver the quote out of instinct when they know something obviously bad is about to happen.

If you want to see the quote delivered in all of the Star Wars movies, you can watch them in the clip below:

Geek wisdom:  You don’t need a mystical Force to know that something is wrong. You’ve got your gut to do that for you. Other people may think it’s just paranoia but there is going to be that time when your gut will be correct even though conventional logic says otherwise.

It’s that gut feeling that tells you to avoid taking that shortcut through a dark alley or crossing the street even though you don’t see any cars incoming. This same instinct help mankind survive for as long as we have. So, it’s something that has worked (and still does) for all of us.

“More than meets the eye!”

From: The Transformers

Genre: Cartoons, Television

Who said it?: No one really… it’s part of the intro song

The story behind the quote: The Transformers is one of the most beloved cartoons of the 80’s. You probably know the story: Optimus Prime and the Autobots fight to save the Earth from the evil Decepticons led by Megatron. What made the characters incredibly memorable was the fact that they could (as the name suggests) transform into other things. Optimus Prime would transform into a gigantic trailer truck while Megatron would change into a gun. This led to a fantastic toyline. Never mind that people would complain that the cartoon was just a big commercial for the toys. It didn’t matter; the show was fantastic as well.

The quote actually comes from the theme song of each of the seasons of the regular (so-called) Generation 1 continuity (none of the Michael Bay movies or even the later cartoons). The title song lays it out: there is more than meets the eye for the series.

Geek wisdom: There is more to people than what we just see on the outside. Each and every one has different facets and you will not be able to determine them with just a simple look. You would have to go deeper than that.

We can shun people just because, from our initial impressions, we judge them instantly without really getting to know them. But everyone has something to offer so it’s best to really try to understand other people before we judge them. You never really know if your first impression should be your last impression of a person.

“My goal is not to wake up at 40 with the bitter realization that I’ve wasted my life in a job I hate because I was forced to decide on a career in my teens.”

From: Daria

Genre: Cartoons, Television

Who said it?: Daria Morgendorffer

The story behind the quote: Daria was an animated series from MTV that started during the late 90’s. It was a spin-off from another MTV series, Beavis and Butt-Head. However, while Beavis and Butt-head’s humor is usually derived from the duo’s stupidity, Daria was a bit more intellectual. Daria is a very smart teenager but with a very realistic, cynical   and anti-social view in life. She may come off as an underachiever but prefers to see things in her own point of view.

The quote comes from the Season 2 episode “Gifted.” Daria is invited to a school for gifted teens and, during the program, one of the counselors asks her what she wants to do. Daria comments that it’s a little too soon to be thinking of that simply because she hasn’t decided. The counselor pushes her to answer and that’s when she delivers the quote.

Geek wisdom: When we are young, all we see from our perspective is what we think we should be doing in order to be happy. We may like video games so we think that being a programmer and getting a job making video games will make us happy. However, what we don’t know is that, as we grow older, we gain and lose interest in different things. It’s a fact of life: as time moves on, we change in subtle and different ways.

It’s fun to dream as a child, but we should always leave room in our minds for the possibility that the dream may become a nightmare.

“The controls are online. The switch — and consequences — are yours.”

From: Mass Effect 2

Genre: Video Games

Who said it?: EDI

The story behind the quote: While not particularly remembered by a lot of gamers, this quote comes from the 2nd Mass Effect game. Developed by Bioware, each of the Mass Effect games lets you take command of Commander Shepard, a tough space soldier who is destined to save the entire galaxy. However, each game has you making choices that will impact the other entries of the series. For example, in the first Mass Effect game, Shepard has to decide to sacrifice two of his loyal officers, Kaiden Alenko or Ashley Williams. Now, who you select does die and, if you import your save game to Mass Effect 2, this will impact the story. So, each choice you make becomes important.

The quote comes after you retrieve a krogan (think lizard alien) in a pod. Your ship’s AI, named EDI, informs Shepard that it cannot tell if the alien is hostile or not. However, if Shepard says that he/she (you get to choose Shepard’s gender) wants to release the krogan, EDI tells him/her that the choice is ultimately up to him/her… but he/she will have to live with the consequences.

Geek wisdom: Every decision that we make will always have a consequence and we cannot simply run away from the results of our actions. We have to take responsibility for our choices, whether it be good or bad.

“The answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything is 42.”

From: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Genre: Books, Movies, Television

Who said it?: Deep Thought

The story behind the quote: This is actually my first “book” and “radio” categories entry, but I am cheating a bit here since I’m getting it from the latest movie adapted from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series. The overall story follows Arthur Dent, an ordinary man who survives the destruction of the Earth with Ford Prefect (an alien in disguise) and goes off to have different adventures.

The quote comes from a scene early in the story. Aliens created a supercomputer named Deep Thought and ask it to answer the question of life, the universe and everything. Deep Thought mentions that it would take seven and a half million years to get the Ultimate Answer.

So, seven and a half million years pass. The aliens (their ancestors anyway) come back to Deep Thought to get the answer. Deep Thought gives his reply that the answer is 42. The aliens complain that the answer cannot be correct. Deep Thought then says that he cannot give an answer since the aliens don’t know what the question actually is. The computer does say that another computer, even more powerful than itself, will be able to know what the Ultimate Question is.

SPOILER: The computer more powerful than Deep Thought is actually the Earth.

Geek wisdom: The “meaning of life” question is meaningless since the answer is, and always be, something different for each person. The reason being is that the question is also going to be different for each person. Deep Thought felt that it was a perfectly legitimate answer since, for him, it made sense. For others, it was rubbish. That’s because the Ultimate Question is different for each and every one of them.

When we ask ourselves “what is the meaning of life” we are actually asking how we personally think what we want in life. If you ask ourselves the Ultimate Question and we cannot find what the Ultimate Answer is within ourselves, then you may not know what direction your life is going. If you are able to answer it, then you have already found your purpose in life.