Oh yes, that was cut down from a longer passage. The point is, watching bad TV instead of ever thinking is generally agreed by people I know as not a good thing, and may lead to resenting people who do think, but Simon's list excluded several ways hobbies could not involve thought that seem pretty good.
Dancing was one example, others might involve other sorts of exercise, yoga, watching TV, etc, that are broadly approved by people I know, but seem to show to me I don't just enjoy thinking. The way I enjoy thinking definitely seems to be different to the way I enjoy puzzles, and a way someone who didn't enjoy thinking could probably cope with -- it requires effort, and concentration, and remembering (maybe more than some people would want in some circumstances), but I think someone who was down on geeks wouldn't object to it on those grounds, provided the dancer never tried to generalise the dance steps :)
Dancing was one example, others might involve other sorts of exercise, yoga, watching TV, etc, that are broadly approved by people I know, but seem to show to me I don't just enjoy thinking. The way I enjoy thinking definitely seems to be different to the way I enjoy puzzles, and a way someone who didn't enjoy thinking could probably cope with -- it requires effort, and concentration, and remembering (maybe more than some people would want in some circumstances), but I think someone who was down on geeks wouldn't object to it on those grounds, provided the dancer never tried to generalise the dance steps :)