Steely-Eyes

Although I am a computer scientist, I wouldn't consider myself to be entirely introverted.  I can work alone on a project for 20 hours straight until 5am, but I also have been guilty of postponing studying in favor of socializing.  This inclination to treat my associates as human beings has, unfortunately, given me a lack of understanding to some of the more complicated aspects of a computer scientist.

Let me give you an example:  The Computer Scientist's Gaze.

When individual A matches the searching gaze of individual B (given that A and B are elements of the set of all Computer Scientists), this process is a mere formality for what must come next.  A must always submit themselves to an endless pontification from B about B's work, its complex theory, and its possibility to solve the most complex of problems (WLOG, we can assume these problems include—but are not limited to—world peace, starving children in Ethiopia, and any religious debate).  Through the course of this dialogue, A will also be required to understand several sloppily-written proofs on the back of a greasy napkin, providing some level of feedback, if only to suggest that "It would be easier to understand for a reader less knowledgeable than I if you changed the variable r here to be the Greek symbol ρ."  By the end of the mind-numbing conversation, A will also have promised B (upon penalty of another painfully boring lecture) that he or she will attend the next group meeting, lecture series, and sit in at least half of the remaining periods of their graduate course.

It's easy to see why you don't want to catch someone's gaze when you're into computer science.  It's not that we hate each other's work, it's just that we've spent so much time trying to convince ourselves that we're actually doing something worthwhile (instead of just tweaking parameters and hoping for marginal success stories to publish).