A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, the smartest gadget that could fit in a pocket was a calculator, and to get through a firewall, a hacker needed an axe.
Before Microsoft founder Bill Gates was revered as a philanthropist and Apple founder Steve Jobs as a prophet, they were among those the world called geeks.
"Geek" used to be a put-down: a stereotype of the pimple-faced computer whiz with taped-together glasses and two left feet. Smarter than nerds, and nicer than creeps, they existed in their own universe of computer games, cult sci-fi novels and Star Wars figurines.
They might not be able to get a date but they could rewire your garage door opener and hack your VHS.
But fast-forward a generation and geeks have gone mainstream.
In the United States the tech sector, which employs 80 per cent of the nation's engineers, accounts for 17 per cent of gross domestic product, according to a study by the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank.
Three of the top-10 highest-grossing Hollywood movies of all time are based on comic book superheros.
Joining them on the list are the geek-friendly Avatar, James Cameron's 2009 computer-animated science-fiction epic, and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
Before he died in 2011, Steve Jobs made the cover of counterculture music magazine Rolling Stone and film heartthrob Ashton Kutcher played him on the silver screen. As part of his anti-poverty work, Bill Gates travels the world with Irish rocker Bono.
In 2013, 1.2 billion people worldwide played computer games, according to GeekWire.com. The same year a study by tech firm Modis showed 68 per cent of people "would date a geek." The geeks have inherited the earth - so now, they're ready to party.
Geek Pride Day was born out of three different geek culture celebrations.
Fantasy author Terry Pratchett's Discworld series celebrates the Glorious 25th of May. Since 2001, fans of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy have celebrated Towel Day on the same date. And, of course, the first Star Wars movie, a touchstone for geeks everywhere, premiered on May 25, 1977.
The first official Geek Pride Day was the brainchild of Spanish blogger El Senor Buebo, who inaugurated the Dia del Orgullo Friki in 2006 with a meetup organised online that drew 500 people, human Pac-Mans and Darth Vaders among them, to a plaza in Madrid. Their slogan: Geek Pride (We Will Rule the Earth).
Since then, the celebration has acquired media coverage and a manifesto, reading in part, "be a geek, no matter what," and "try to take over the world." This year, global geek-themed events are planned.
Westchester Geeks in White Plains, New York, have organised a day of zombie tag, board games and a costume fashion show. London's Geek Zone is hosting a Towel Day geek poetry slam.
ThinkGeek.com, a one-stop online supply shop for all things geek, from World of Warcraft robes to Harry Potter house ties, is supplying geek badges online and running a geek photo contest on social media using the hashtag #geekpride.
There's so much geek fun to be had out there, it might actually be cool. And that's the problem.
According to a 2013 report by the Silicon Valley daily the San Jose Mercury News, real geeks don't do Geek Pride day.
"I have been a geek forever," computer scientist and electrical engineer Isai Damier told the newspaper.
"We don't celebrate it."
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