&gt; Underlying? Nope. Selfism, belonging and the like are way more deeper&#x2F;pervasive (human&#x2F;animal) attributes than any such superficial (human) motive of knowledge acquisition.<p>While probably not the norm, I suspect a decent portion of &#x27;geeks&#x27; might not be able to pursue belonging, or might perceive this to be the case, so they elevate &#x27;knowledge acquisition&#x27; and&#x2F;or other pursuits that don&#x27;t require other people.<p>This can apply to kids that don&#x27;t fit the norm and&#x2F;or were outcasts or bullied in school, for example. I&#x27;ve met quite my share of solitary figures who while I&#x27;m sure they would probably be happier &#x27;belonging&#x27;, nonetheless prioritize knowledge acquisition or other activities and appear to find quite a bit of happiness in this.<p>And then there are the significant number of people who just are not like other people and do not or barely seek to belong: (some) autists, the solitary figure living in the woods, spiritual seekers (&#x27;wandering the desert&#x27;, sometimes literally).<p>It&#x27;s quite possible that in a roundabout way, through the internet, a number of these people who do or did not prioritize belonging suddenly find themselves belonging anyways.<p>Arguing that everyone seeks to belong is a bit like arguing that everyone deep down is straight, or wishes to have a partner or children, or any other prejudice we&#x27;ve had throughout the ages based on what is &#x27;common&#x27;.<p>If there&#x27;s one thing I think we should&#x27;ve learned by now is that there&#x27;s an incredible variety in what makes humans happy, and working toward a society where this can be pursued, rather than assuming that outliers need to be fixed, is a good thing.