Spend long enough on the internet and you’ll come across this phrase: “And the Geek will inherit the Earth.” It is the modern day battle cry of the geeks as they find others just like themselves and band together in online communities, plotting the day they take overthe world between heated debates on just when mankind can hope to create Faster than Light drives and laser swords.

Follow up:

Alas, my fellow geeks, I have seen the future, and we’re not inheriting anything. Why not? A good question and one that can best be answered in the past, in the time before the internet and the power of online guilds and forums. It was a simpler time, when the geeks and nerds were subjected to the horrors of what is known as “the playground.” Despite a stunning understanding of the timelines of the entire Star Wars universe and hand eye reflexes honed by hours of video gaming, geeks around the world have ever been the easy target for school bullies, older siblings and anyone who has trouble operating their MP3 player.

By the time a geek grows into their powers, they have already endured years of wedgies, swirlies and torments unimaginable. Their psyches are scarred, and these scars are the source of the trouble. Log into any video game forum and you’ll see the trash talk, the bragging and the desperate need to best their brethren any way they can. If you’re truly brave, head into any online video game and read through the chats. A more aggressive herd of curb stomping hooligans would be hard to find. Give any gamer player a chance to destroy an ally and gloat, and sadly they’ll likely take you up on it and dance a jig on the character’s grave. In my spare time I help to run an email based game of Dungeons and Dragons that spans nearly forty players in a dozen countries, and what I have learned that no matter what culture or creed those players call their own, at their heart they all share certain "geek" characteristics. A need to gloat, a strong sense of personal vengeance, and a drive to “win” that overwhelms all social niceties, manners and an understanding of anything vaguely resembling diplomacy.

Oh sure, there are exceptions. But even the best of us has our moments of madness. For every time we were picked last in gym class, we want our moment of glory; even if that moment comes at the expense of our fellow geeks. And that is the crux of the matter. Until the Trekkie (or Trekker, don’t get your pointy ears in a twist) and the Star Wars fan can lay down like the lion and the lamb, until the Player Killer can dwell on a Carebear server and not slaughter the entire population while screaming N00BS! We will never inherit anything. We’ll to be too busy digitally destroying the only other people in the world who understand us. United we may conquer the world, but divided we’re just the only ones who can speak Klingon and fix the rest of the world’s computers for them.