Two issues that I see. First, the author's confusing an increased cultural prominance for geekish things with an increase in the number of geeks. One does not necessarily imply the other and geekish things have gone through a constant ebb and flow in popularity for years. Comics and SciFi were big business back in the 1950s and I'm sure The Beav would have rocked him some Counter Strike if he'd had the opportunity. The question of *why* geek culture is becoming more popular or more accepted is probably less inflamatory, but probabaly tells us more about who we are and where we're going.

Second, the author's operating under the assumption that "mainstream" or "non-geek" culture is any less disfunctional than geek culture. At that point we're operating in the Land of Value Judgements and Idle Speculation. I've never seen a single study showing that gamers, comic readers, or CS people are any more socially retarded than anyone else even if the conventional wisdom dictates that it's the case. What's the difference between playing in a D&D campaign every Wednesday night and keeping your eyes glued to the TV whenever The Game is on? The distinction has everything to do with culture, specifically the social affect attached to different kinds of knowledge or interests.