geeks did stuff like harness and learn to use fire.
It strikes me that geeks have existed thousands of years before the word was ever spoken. The first geeks did stuff like harness and learn to use fire. They figured out that rocks could be used as tools and weapons for survival. Later the geeks invented the wheel and invented time with the sundial. Throughout time there have always been geeks that walk amoung the rest of us, figuring out new and more efficient ways to get things done.