A lot of them have a desire to be cool and fit in as well as a love for pop culture and pop soyience.

Technocrat types don't seem to enjoy things the same way that other people do. They'll get into a hobby for the pure utilitarian benefits without loving or understanding it for what it is. For example Elon supposedly loves games, but hired an Indian to level up his account. They "love" art but want to create personally curated AI experiences that completely miss the point.

I'm not sure someone who was a neckbeard atheist can change all that easily either.

People don't change easily, but the neckbeards have had their favorite things systematically degraded and eradicated for over a decade now. In the prime of neckbeards, you could go to an anime convention and express your unironic love of cosplay girls and your unironic hatred of console players. Today you can't even do that online. Movies, games, and fandoms were delivering exhilarating new experiences every year. Today's movies and games make people scream from boredom or try to spiritually castrate you.

A lot of them have a desire to be cool and fit in as well as a love for pop culture and pop soyience.

Technocrat types don't seem to enjoy things the same way that other people do. They'll get into a hobby for the pure utilitarian benefits without loving it for what it is. For example Elon supposedly loves games, but hired an Indian to level up his account. They "love" art but want to create personally curated AI experiences that completely miss the point.

I'm not sure someone who was a neckbeard atheist can change all that easily either.

People don't change easily, but the neckbeards have had their favorite things systematically degraded and eradicated for over a decade now. In the prime of neckbeards, you could go to an anime convention and express your unironic love of cosplay girls and your unironic hatred of console players. Today you can't even do that online. Movies, games, and fandoms were delivering exhilarating new experiences every year. Today's movies and games make people scream from boredom or try to spiritually castrate you.

A lot of them have a desire to be cool and fit in as well as a love for pop culture and pop soyience.

Technocrat types don't seem to enjoy things the same way that other people do. They'll get into a hobby for the pure utilitarian benefits without loving it for what it is. For example Elon supposedly loves games, but hired an Indian to level up his account. They "love" art but want to create personally curated AI experiences that completely miss the point.

I'm not sure someone who was a neckbeard atheist can change all that easily either.

People don't change easily, but the neckbeards have had their favorite things systematically degraded and eradicated for over a decade now. In the prime of neckbeards, you could go to an anime convention and express your unironic love of cosplay girls and your unironic hatred of console players. Today you can't even do that online.