1.) You were recently in a wired magazine article about Seasteading - homesteading the oceans. What do you think is sexy about this idea, and exactly what kind of geek does this make you?
What isn’t sexy about the idea? 
Let’s start with the idea of pioneering a new frontier - obviously something that takes drive, cleverness, vision, muscles, and lots of other sexy attributes. In this case, we’ll also have to develop some new technologies, which (for geeks) is quite sexy. And we may get to fight pirates, as well as The Man! But I’d say the sexiest thing about it is far more general - it’s a passionate idea about how to make the world a better place, and that’s always sexy.
I’d better not mention fish farming - that’s not so sexy. Oops, too late!
Types of geek involved - Pioneer Geek, Entrepreneur Geek, Mechanism Design Geek, and I guess it’s time for a new category - Seasteading Geek!
2.) Of the many types of Geek in the world, what other Geek categories do you put yourself into?
I’m definitely a BoardGame Geek, a Poker Geek, a Computer Geek, a Dad Geek, Search Engine Geek, and an Economics Geek.
3.) What types of Geeks are your favorites? Why?
I’ve always admired those who are good at hands-on creation of cool stuff, b/c, well, they make cool stuff! (and I’m bad at it). I guess that would be a Tech Shop Geek? In general, I’m a fan of anyone who is really good at useful things. Like First Aid Geeks - they’re great to have around!
4.) Do you find Geekiness to be a sexy quality in others? When/Why?
Definitely! I’ve often had crushes on people based primarily because they were damn good Geeks. And the occasional snorting laugh is kind of cute! Awkwardness is a mixed bag though, some is endearing, but too much is, well, too much. But Geeks are often really good at things, and that’s always sexy!
5.) What else do you think is sexy and why?
I’ve always been very attracted to people who were in touch with their bodies and comfortable with their physical/sensual nature. That’s been at least as much of a factor as appearance in my short-term relationships. Muscles are sexy, especially back muscles. Other things…art, talent, passion, dancing, weightlifting (CrossFit!), rock climbing, parenting, math puzzles…
6.) Other than yourself, who is the Sexiest Geek Alive? Why?
I’m not so comfortable making universal judgements like that, but I will say that the artist Bathsheba Grossman’s work is hella sexy!
7.) From all of multimediadom, what are your all time favorite things to read, watch, listen to, etc? Why?
My favorite fiction writer, by far, is Lois McMaster Bujold. (My son’s middle name is Miles, after the main character in her books). I’m also a big fan of Heinlein’s SF, and Georgette Heyer’s Regency Romances. I like too much non-fiction to pick a favorite, the best books I’ve read recently are Presentation Zen, Made To Stick, The Blank Slate, Good Calories Bad Calories, and The Happiness Hypothesis.
Currently the TV shows my wife & I keep up with are House and Battlestar Galactica, and I’m halfway through Buffy. My other favorite shows are Firefly and The Simpsons (but not recent seasons). I’ve also been TV-free for almost 10 years, I only watch shows on DVD and computers.
8.) What are your favorite personal gadgets, web tools, and computer programs? How have these things changed your life?
I love the keyless locks on my new car (BMW 328i convertible), and its convertible hardtop is awesome - the roof breaks into 3 pieces and goes into the trunk, it’s crazy transforming action. I have a love/hate relationship with my iPhone, I love the screen, browser, and iPod functionality, I hate the closed system and crappy reception. The web tools I use the most are LiveJournal (which helps me be efficiently social, keeping in touch w/ lots more people than I have time to see in person), Gmail, Google Search, and Google Reader (I work for Google, BTW). I’d say my favorite computer program I picked up in the last few years is Python. It lets me code without having to think about what the computer needs (”executable pseudocode”).
Blogs (like LJ) have definitely changed my life, since it was through a reader of my blog, Jeff Lonsdale, that I was put in touch with Peter Thiel and able to get funding for seasteading. And Google has changed my life as an inspirational employer - I’ve had 3.5 years to watch one of the most amazing companies the world has ever seen grow at an insane rate. That showed me that great things can happen when you have great geeks working on a great idea that is widely needed. And the way they take care of employees has definitely helped - my seasteading work has been accelerated by some of the leadership courses I’ve taken, and my being able to go onto 80% time last year (I took a pay cut to only work 4 days a week, to have more time for seasteading).
9.) What is your superhero power?
I’ve always had a bit of a reality distortion field - my enthusiasm and hedonism tend to be contagious. In college they created a special dorm office for me, the Proctor of Vice, responsible for making sure people have a good time. 10 years later, it’s still an official dorm position.
Which reminds me, I should tell you about Patri Numbers, because it’s a very geeky and sexy topic. You’ve probably heard of Erdos numbers, based on who has published academic papers with who. And Kevin Bacon numbers, based on appearances in movies and on TV. Well, in college we came up with Patri Numbers, based on connectedness in the graph of sexual relations. I have a Patri Number of 0, my past partners have a P# of 1, their partners a P# of 2, and so forth. I just went to my 10-year reunion, and the current students are still joking about P#s! It feels good to have a lasting impact on the world, even if it’s just in the creation of stories that continue to circulate :).
10.) If you could have any additional superhero power, genetic modification, augmentation, etc…, what would it be and why?
I’d love to be able to rewind time, 5 minutes, or even a whole day. A day might be too much for my attention span, though, maybe an hour? Not only could you go back every time things didn’t go the way you wanted, but over time, you’d learn (at least for the short term) how different actions and interactions get different results, so that you could get it right the first time more often.
Plus, it would be great for picking up other sexy geeks!
