I answered “sort of”, but I’ve thought about it more and now think “not at all” may have been a better answer.
I think the two Scotts are talking about a real problem but
the main commonalities between my experience and theirs are:
not particularly successful with women (I was single for
most of high school and have been single for long
stretches of my adult life)
afraid to let people know I was interested in them
depressed about lack of romantic success
and I don’t think it’s particularly controversial that those
are common straight male nerd experiences (or common
experiences for other demographics, especially the second
and third things on the list). The controversial thing is
whether these problems were caused or worsened by feminist
ideas, which in my case was not true at all.
Possibly relevant:
I am about ten years older than both Scotts.
I did not “go to college” in the sense of earning a
degree. (I took a bunch of music classes at a community
college—i.e., a college without dorms. I never attended
anything like the sexual-assault prevention workshops
Scott Aaronson mentions.)
I answered “sort of”, but I’ve thought about it more and now think “not at all” may have been a better answer. I think the two Scotts are talking about a real problem but the main commonalities between my experience and theirs are:
not particularly successful with women (I was single for most of high school and have been single for long stretches of my adult life)
afraid to let people know I was interested in them
depressed about lack of romantic success
and I don’t think it’s particularly controversial that those are common straight male nerd experiences (or common experiences for other demographics, especially the second and third things on the list). The controversial thing is whether these problems were caused or worsened by feminist ideas, which in my case was not true at all.
Possibly relevant:
I am about ten years older than both Scotts.
I did not “go to college” in the sense of earning a degree. (I took a bunch of music classes at a community college—i.e., a college without dorms. I never attended anything like the sexual-assault prevention workshops Scott Aaronson mentions.)