the truth in the joke is that you're a huge nerd

Oh absolutely. Yes I think partly my fascination with all of this is that I think I could quite easily have gone the tech bro hype train route. I'm naturally very good with getting into the weeds of tech and understanding how it works. I love systems (love factory, strategy and logistics games) love learning techy skills purely to see how it works etc. I taught myself to code just because the primary software for a particularly for of qualitative analysis annoyed me. I feel I am prime candidate for this whole world.

But at the same time I really dislike the impoverished viewpoint that comes with being only in that space. There's just some things that don't fit that mode of thought. I also don't have ultimate faith in science and tech, probably because the social sciences captured me at an early age, but also because I have an annoying habit of never being comfortable with what I think, so I'm constantly reflecting and rethinking, which I don't think gels well with the tech bro hype train. That's why I embrace the moniker of "Luddite with an IDE". Captures most of it!