Patricia Quintin

A member of the Philip Greenspun's Homepage community since November 23, 1999

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March 1, 2000, on Career Guide for Engineers and Computer Scientists:
The study on the nerd monkeys which were trained to procure popcorn by pressing a series of levers was cited in the February 2000 edition of Discover Magazine. I thought it was worth noting here that while it's true that the nerd monkeys achieved no elevation in their social standing within the group, they were allowed to keep some of the popcorn for themselves by the alpha monkeys. When the alpha monkeys just beat them up and took their popcorn, the nerd monkeys quit procuring it. The alpha monkeys learned that if they wanted to get popcorn from the nerd monkeys, they had to let the nerds enjoy some of the fruits of their labor. The moral to this story? Heck I don't know. Draw your own conclusions. Maybe nerds will never be able to command the respect they deserve, but they *should* at least be able to demand a cubicle with a window?