The link to the essay by Paul Graham is at: http://www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html

It's a lot to read, so here's the tl;dr version of my blog post: In his essay, "Why Nerds Are Unpopular," Paul Graham explains that the hierarchy of popularity in high school works well for jocks, but not for nerds. Nerds choose to be intelligent rather than popular. He offers some relief to young nerds by informing them that, in the real life hierarchy of success, nerds have the advantage and jocks don't.

In my response, I argue that a nerd who deviates from the status quo still meets relentless opposition to real world success; perhaps even more so than a nerdy jock who deviates from the status quo path to popularity.