> When you think of the archetypal "nice guy" are you more likely to picture a geek or a frat boy?
Indeed. I think one of the bigger distinctions between the "cool" crowd and the "geek/nerd" crowd is taht the cool ones seem to have a much more highly develoiped sense of personal ambition. While the nerd might dream of, and work toawrds, changing the world (through, computers, medicine, space colonization, whatever), you're more likely to find the Cool Ones dreaming of personal power, vast wealth, yes-men and sycophants.
Which group of people is better for society? The quiet and socially unpopular ones who nevertheless are responsible for the bulk of the progress mankind has made since the first Australopithicus Nerdicus figured out that he/she could generate more moment arm with a stick... or the loud ones who know how to play the system to put themselves at the peak of the tribe so's to get the first dibs on the dead zebra?