[sudont]

Nerd chic is as dead as punk in 1990. Most social movements are commoditized by way of cultural signifiers, and when the cultural impact of those signifiers goes away, so does the soul of the movement.

"Nerd" used to be about the intellectualism of it, the replacement of certain social interactions with an indie academic mindset. Now, "Nerd" is a marketing demographic, replete with physical identifiers: black plastic frames, object fetishism, a certain "look."

P.S. Punk is still alive in Minneapolis and SoCal. It's just not popular, so the people who actually give a shit are active. However, the rejection of populism is cool, and "cool" attracts the populace.

[hvs]

It sounds like you are describing a "hipster" more than a "nerd", but maybe the two have become one in the same in some ways.

That said, "true nerds" were never in it for the recognition as a "nerd" or as part of some "movement" they just were. And they will continue to be that way after the general populations has moved on to usurp some other image. They may not be called "nerds" but they won't care what they are called.

[gaius]

Call a hipster a hipster to their face, they really don't like it. It can't be used as a compliment as "geek" can. They are all too cool for their own subculture (or think they are).