Wil Wheaton Quotes

American actor and writer

Richard William "Wil" Wheaton III (born July 29, 1972) is an American actor and writer. He portrayed Wesley Crusher on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, Gordie Lachance in the film Stand by Me, Joey Trotta in Toy Soldiers, and Bennett Hoenicker in Flubber. Wheaton has also appeared in recurring voice acting roles as Aqualad in Teen Titans, Cosmic Boy in Legion of Super Heroes, and Mike Morningstar/Darkstar in the Ben 10 franchise's original continuity. He appeared regularly as a fictionalized version of himself on the sitcom The Big Bang Theory and in the roles of Fawkes on The Guild, Colin Mason on Leverage, and Dr. Isaac Parrish on Eureka. Wheaton was the host and co-creator of the YouTube board game show TableTop. He has narrated numerous audio books, including Ready Player One and The Martian.

From: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Alternative Names: Richard William Wheaton III

From Wikidata (CC0)

Yes, he called Voyager “V’ger,” in reference to Star Trek: The Motion Picture. But he’s not a Trekkie. Because “Trekkies are weird.

Next Generation was immensely popular at the time, and I was still riding high on the success of Stand by Me. They couldn’t understand why I was so intimidated by these actors – my face was splashed across the cover of every teen magazine in print. Why was I so intimidated? I was a 16 year-old geek, with a chance to meet The Big Three from Star Trek. You do the math.

And this is why I believe that ART is an important part of a well-rounded education, not as an alternative to STEM education, but as a fundamental part of it. I want us to start putting ART into STEM, to make STEAM.*

Still, I accepted this invitation to speak tonight because if one of my fundamental rules for living a successful and happy life is: don't be the smartest person in the room, it's corollary is: if you look around and see that you are the smartest person in the room, find a new room. This is the only way you keep growing and challenging yourself to be the most interesting human you can be.

Mister “I am not a Trekkie” gives me the Vulcan “Live Long and Prosper” salute as I walk away. Of course,

don’t be the smartest person in the room, its corollary is: if you look around and see that you are the smartest person in the room, find a new room.* This is the only way you keep growing and challenging yourself to be the most interesting human you can be.

And if everything is geeky, maybe nothing is geeky, and that means that gate-keeping in geek and nerd culture is a pointless waste of time.