When I was handed a number indicating what portion of the population I fit within, I was very upset. A simple calculation told me I would likely never find a person like myself.
I don't know if hearing this was good or bad. It did cause me to decide to stop looking for one person entirely like myself. Instead, I decided to be satisfied by being around a variety of people who had some subset of qualities like myself.
Thinking I belonged in the geek crowd turned out to be a big mistake. Luckily I had grown up initially with no access to this crowd and by the time I found it, I realized a life in this single crowd would not have been very satisfying. Not that I don't have any geek friends, but they are only a portion of the people I have in my life.
I recommend finding a way to expose a person to a wide variety of people. Using simplistic methods to choose the right people is often not a good way to find the right people. By simplistic methods, I mean basing choices on academic scores, interests in common, lifestyle choices, group membership, gender etc.
Random is what I think is probably the best way I can think of to find the right people. Using some discretion is a good idea. I have some relatives who grew up in an area where they found the geek crowd they think they belong in. They constantly talk of not being satisfied and still refuse to step outside the life they have locked themselves in. Sadly, I feel they will never get to know what they are missing.
