Click to visit our sponsors!

homeGeek CultureWebstoreeCards!Forums!Joy of Tech!AY2K!webcam

  The Geek Culture Forums
  Our stupid lives
  What would you do if there were no computers? (Page 1)

Post New Topic  Post A Reply
profile | register | preferences | faq | search

UBBFriend: Email This Page to Someone!
This topic is 2 pages long:   1  2 
next newest topic | next oldest topic
Author Topic:   What would you do if there were no computers?
Nitrozac
Moderator

Posts: 527
From:
Registered: Dec 1999

posted July 26, 2002 12:17     Click Here to See the Profile for Nitrozac   Click Here to Email Nitrozac     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I was chatting in #aftery2k with SpinyNorm, and he had a great idea of having a Computer Appreciation Day. What would you do if there were no computers in the world?

I think I would be painting and making crafts for a living.

IP: Logged

maxomai
Super Geek

Posts: 213
From: Portland, OR
Registered: May 2001

posted July 26, 2002 12:57     Click Here to See the Profile for maxomai   Click Here to Email maxomai     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Math. Lots of it. It's my first love. Sadly, I'm too old to really get into the professional mathematician game, and there aren't nearly enough jobs for PhDs in math. It's even WORSE than the job situation for computer geeks these days.

IP: Logged

Twinkle Toes
Highlie

Posts: 670
From: a place that no longer holds my soul...
Registered: Mar 2002

posted July 26, 2002 13:14     Click Here to See the Profile for Twinkle Toes   Click Here to Email Twinkle Toes     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I think a Computer Appreciation Day would be the greatest. I don't want to think about what I wouldn't have as a result of not having computer... *sniff* I wouldn't have Bees . I miss him, damnit! *more sniffles* I love you, sweetie! I wish he could just be right in front of my door... .

But what I'd be doing... probably lots of math, too, as it's my 2nd love . I'd also be listening to TONS of rock music (yay to 99.9!) and creating more conspiracy theories...

And looking for another geek... ahhhh!! The horrible-ness...

------------------
"If it's made with Schmucker's Brand Rasberry Preserves, you know it's good."

IP: Logged

Fimbrethil
Geek Larva

Posts: 22
From: Olympic Peninsula of Washington
Registered: Jul 2002

posted July 26, 2002 13:31     Click Here to See the Profile for Fimbrethil     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
If there were no computers in the world I would be studying linguistics instead of Network Engineering. I'd be trying to get the attention of local idiots instead of enjoying the most beautiful relationship I've ever known (LDR sucks, but sometimes more than worth the effort). I'd be reading books instead of this forum because I'm sick today. And I'd have actually had to talk to my boss on the phone instead of e-mailing her.

Every single day I am grateful for my computers.

But I'm still happy to enjoy other things like books and long walks.

IP: Logged

Janeway
Alpha Geek

Posts: 339
From: Cyberspace, Delta Quadrant
Registered: Sep 1999

posted July 26, 2002 13:57     Click Here to See the Profile for Janeway   Click Here to Email Janeway     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Writing and drawing and legos and boardgames and biking
and skating and swimming and karate and reading and hiking
(*sings* these are a few of my favorite things)

...does Nintendo count as a computer?

IP: Logged

SpikeSpiegel
Highlie

Posts: 618
From: my chair
Registered: Jun 2002

posted July 26, 2002 14:28     Click Here to See the Profile for SpikeSpiegel   Click Here to Email SpikeSpiegel     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
well i would probably go insane from no deathmatch and no internet.. but id probably take up another sport or activity or get back into karate

------------------
Real funny scotty now beam down my clothes

IP: Logged

Xanthine
Uber Geek

Posts: 809
From: the lab
Registered: Mar 2001

posted July 26, 2002 15:34     Click Here to See the Profile for Xanthine     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
1) Lose touch with my family - not exactly a good thing.
2) Most of what I do now, but it'd be a lot slower and painful as I would have to use real film to visualize my experiments and spend countless hours in the library to look up the same thing I can find in all of three minutes using an online database.

------------------
Take by surprise and the world gives up resistance.
- Tennesee Williams

IP: Logged

GMx
Geek

Posts: 93
From: Somewhere inside the TARDIS
Registered: Jul 2002

posted July 26, 2002 15:56     Click Here to See the Profile for GMx   Click Here to Email GMx     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Probably I would be doing my art on paper and canvas again. Writing (scrawling on paper), and doing the things I usually do when I'm not at my computer-doing crosswords, reading, watching TV, or probably going back to heavy drinking. You can check out examples of my digital art at http://homepage.mac.com/gregmx/

------------------
"If it ain't broke-you're not tryin'" Red Green

IP: Logged

Alien Investor
Assimilated

Posts: 457
From: New York City
Registered: Jan 2000

posted July 26, 2002 16:22     Click Here to See the Profile for Alien Investor   Click Here to Email Alien Investor     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I would probably be a librarian, or maybe a mathematician.

There was a stock market before there were computers, but the niche for people like me was about 1% as large as it is today, and the entry threshold was a lot higher (in terms of capital needed, training needed, and particularly in terms of personal connections needed).


IP: Logged

Steen
BlabberMouth, the Next Generation.

Posts: 1407
From: Maryville, TN, USA
Registered: Jan 2000

posted July 26, 2002 16:46     Click Here to See the Profile for Steen   Click Here to Email Steen     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I'd probably be a repairman or handyman of some sort. I've spent my whole life tinkering with things, fixing what's broken and figuring out interesting ways to use what's not. I can't imagine doing anything else because nothing else has ever appealed to me that much.

/me pulls his pants down six inches to show off some butt crack and yells "Someone call for a plumber?"

IP: Logged

Snaggy
Moderator

Posts: 1729
From: Canada
Registered: Jan 2000

posted July 26, 2002 16:53     Click Here to See the Profile for Snaggy   Click Here to Email Snaggy     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I'd be a rock star.

IP: Logged

daveyt
Geek-in-Training

Posts: 38
From: Vancouver, BC
Registered: Jul 2002

posted July 26, 2002 16:59     Click Here to See the Profile for daveyt   Click Here to Email daveyt     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
ride my bike, and then ride it some more. And then, maybe go for a bike ride. When not biking, I'd probably be building small structures out of mud and waddle. Perhaps a sailboat to explore the wetter parts of the world...

------------------
What the..?! How'd I get here?

IP: Logged

neotatsu
Highlie

Posts: 722
From: A place my soul no longer resides
Registered: Jun 2002

posted July 26, 2002 20:28     Click Here to See the Profile for neotatsu   Click Here to Email neotatsu     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Refuse to think about it as I wouldn't be a geek, and, worse yet, I wouldn't have met my Twinkie...that's a depressing thought...I'd also have joined the football team last year when I was invited too, mainly because I would have the time, not having a computer and all...

IP: Logged

mephisto
Highlie

Posts: 643
From:
Registered: Feb 2001

posted July 26, 2002 20:28     Click Here to See the Profile for mephisto   Click Here to Email mephisto     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Assassin/blade master. And i would be a damn good one at that.

IP: Logged

quantumfluff
Uber Geek

Posts: 933
From: under the mouse pad
Registered: Jun 2000

posted July 26, 2002 20:29     Click Here to See the Profile for quantumfluff   Click Here to Email quantumfluff     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Carpentry, or maybe auto repair. I build things. Always have, always will, and I don't give a wet slap about much else.

Of course, if I knew when I was young what I know today, I would have spent my youth caddying rather than fooling with computers and today I could have been a pro at some country club. I mean, getting paid to be out on a golf course. It doesn't get better than that.

IP: Logged

SpikeSpiegel
Highlie

Posts: 618
From: my chair
Registered: Jun 2002

posted July 26, 2002 21:50     Click Here to See the Profile for SpikeSpiegel   Click Here to Email SpikeSpiegel     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
janeway what style of karate do you do?

------------------
Real funny scotty now beam down my clothes

IP: Logged

Janeway
Alpha Geek

Posts: 339
From: Cyberspace, Delta Quadrant
Registered: Sep 1999

posted July 27, 2002 05:24     Click Here to See the Profile for Janeway   Click Here to Email Janeway     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by SpikeSpiegel:
janeway what style of karate do you do?


Shotokon. I haven't been to lessons in a few years (the dojo closed down) but I still work out now and then. There's a place near here that teaches Tae Kwon Do, and I'm thinking about going there.

IP: Logged

Xanthine
Uber Geek

Posts: 809
From: the lab
Registered: Mar 2001

posted July 27, 2002 07:35     Click Here to See the Profile for Xanthine     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Janeway:
Shotokon. I haven't been to lessons in a few years (the dojo closed down) but I still work out now and then. There's a place near here that teaches Tae Kwon Do, and I'm thinking about going there.

Hey, I do Shotokan too!

I say go for TKD. I didn't like it, but I'm me. Marialt arts are great though. Just a quick note about changing styles: it'll be rough. I had an especially interesting time since I came into Shotokan from an Aikido background (I still do Aikido, but there's no dojo I like out here so I can only train on those rare occassions I go home).

Sorry 'bout that. We can drift back to the topic now.

------------------
Take by surprise and the world gives up resistance.
- Tennesee Williams

IP: Logged

Tau Zero
BlabberMouth, the Next Generation.

Posts: 1757
From:
Registered: Jan 2000

posted July 27, 2002 08:00     Click Here to See the Profile for Tau Zero     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I'd be working with electronics, or electrical stuff, and mechanical stuff.  I've got the aptitude for engineering all of that kind of thing, but computers got to me first and hardest so that's what I do - but I can still kibitz with people in other specialities because I know enough to be able to understand the big points even if I don't have the depth of details to be able to do their jobs.  If I hadn't had computers to play with, I would.

IP: Logged

Zwilnik
Assimilated

Posts: 423
From: London, UK
Registered: Dec 2000

posted July 27, 2002 08:04     Click Here to See the Profile for Zwilnik     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
First thing I'd do is dig up my old designs for a steam driven pong table and get down to building it. Then I'd learn a bit more mechanical engineering and possibly archeology.

IP: Logged

GameMaster
Highlie

Posts: 618
From: State of insanity
Registered: Mar 2002

posted July 27, 2002 16:39     Click Here to See the Profile for GameMaster   Click Here to Email GameMaster     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
invent one

IP: Logged

ilovemydualg4
Highlie

Posts: 610
From: *GASP* THE 3RD DIMMENSION
Registered: Mar 2002

posted July 27, 2002 16:45     Click Here to See the Profile for ilovemydualg4   Click Here to Email ilovemydualg4     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
sail sleep read ski
in that order...

i could probably get some sponsers, though not for sleeping

------------------
my geek code
Hazards: "There is an island of opportunity in the middle of every difficulty, miss that, though, and you're pretty much doomed."

IP: Logged

neotatsu
Highlie

Posts: 722
From: A place my soul no longer resides
Registered: Jun 2002

posted July 27, 2002 23:02     Click Here to See the Profile for neotatsu   Click Here to Email neotatsu     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by GameMaster:
invent one

I'd like to change my answer to 'seeking out those who are trying to invent one, that way I don't have to do so myself '

IP: Logged

SpikeSpiegel
Highlie

Posts: 618
From: my chair
Registered: Jun 2002

posted July 28, 2002 08:09     Click Here to See the Profile for SpikeSpiegel   Click Here to Email SpikeSpiegel     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Janeway:
Shotokon. I haven't been to lessons in a few years (the dojo closed down) but I still work out now and then. There's a place near here that teaches Tae Kwon Do, and I'm thinking about going there.


oh thats cool. i did tae kwon do for a year but i moved. there was a kempo dojo so i started on that. i have a first degree black belt from that place but i moved.... again now there is a aikido place nearby that ive been meaning to go to

------------------
Real funny scotty now beam down my clothes

IP: Logged

SupportGoddess
Highlie

Posts: 601
From: The Digital Temple
Registered: Jul 2001

posted July 28, 2002 18:23     Click Here to See the Profile for SupportGoddess   Click Here to Email SupportGoddess     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Besides waste away in misery?

I'm not sure. I've never really thought about it. I'm trying really hard, and I can't think of anything else. I guess that makes me boring or obsessive.

------------------
"Programming is like sex: one mistake and you have to support it for the rest of your life."
-Michael Sinz

IP: Logged

MacManKrisK
Super Geek

Posts: 243
From: Southwest Lower Michigan, USA
Registered: Oct 2001

posted July 28, 2002 19:53     Click Here to See the Profile for MacManKrisK   Click Here to Email MacManKrisK     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I really don't know what I'd be doing if there were no computers. To be quite honest, I can't even imagine it. I don't have any other interests, at least none as tuned and honed as my computer skills. (ICK, someone remind me to fix the K key on my keyboad). I'd probably be more into music, either that or I'd just sit around and watch TV all day.

IP: Logged

greycat
Assimilated

Posts: 362
From:
Registered: Oct 2001

posted July 29, 2002 06:02     Click Here to See the Profile for greycat     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Besides computers, the torrid love affairs of my youth were music, mathematics, and fantasy/SF. (Not necessarily in that order.)

To be honest, I really don't know if I would have the ability (both in terms of talent and dedication) to be either a writer or a professional musician.

For writing... it's really an untapped field for me; I've never spent enough time trying it to know whether I could have done it. (I'm good at spelling and grammar, of course. I like to think that I can write coherently as well; but I really don't know whether I have that creative "spark" that would be required for developing stories.)

For music... I certainly wouldn't have been a "rock star", but something like a studio/session musician or a member of a band/ensemble might have been possibilities. Or maybe a songwriter/producer sort of thing. (But I haven't spent much time attempting to write songs, so I don't know whether I have enough creative "spark" to do it often and well.)

Now, at least one of you is probably thinking "writing... music... MUSIC CRITIC!" God, I hope not.

If both those areas failed to work out -- which I suspect is likely -- I'd probably have been in some unspecified branch of engineering. (Probably not mechanical engineering; my spatial/3D visualization isn't up to par for that. I met a lot of Mech.E's and AerospaceE's in college, and they all had a certain "gift" that I don't have.[1] Probably not civil engineering, either.) Maybe electrical engineering, or something else involving that unique blend of math and logic that goes into computers.

But in a computerless world, who can say what fields would exist that don't exist in our world? Or how our own fields would be different? (Electrical engineering without computers... would that be all analog?)

[1]On the other side of the spectrum, there were many people in the computer science and computer engineering fields who had the opposite of that Mech.E. spatial gift. One of the required courses for engineering (incluing Comp.E.) was a basic drafting/drawing/CAD course. I'd done a bit of it in junior high school, and I was able to sail right through it pretty easily, though I'm sure I would have found it challenging/frustrating as a career, once we got beyond textbook examples. But many of my fellow Comp.E. students found the course nearly impossible. These were people who could design and implement their own computer programming languages or operatings systems, but trying to visualize a relatively simple 3D object in their minds and then draw what the left face looks like was as hard for them as brain surgery. I'm sure at least one person has switched their major from Comp.E. to Comp.Sci. because of this course, though I don't know any names. I'm somewhere in between these extremes.

IP: Logged

Alien Investor
Assimilated

Posts: 457
From: New York City
Registered: Jan 2000

posted July 29, 2002 06:38     Click Here to See the Profile for Alien Investor   Click Here to Email Alien Investor     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I note that Greycat and I, members of the Classic Geeks, are both thinking of what we would do for a career. That is, even though I have lots of fun with computers, I think of them on the "work" side of life first.

Whereas the posters from Geeks: The New Generation, would replace their computer activities with other recreational activities.

IP: Logged

Swiss Mercenary
BlabberMouth, the Next Generation.

Posts: 1527
From: All the way from the land of Chocolate, Cheese and Cuckoo Clocks.
Registered: Feb 2000

posted July 29, 2002 07:47     Click Here to See the Profile for Swiss Mercenary   Click Here to Email Swiss Mercenary     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Be an actor and singer of course.

Then write sci-fi on the side where there would be people typing away on these weird machines enabling them to talk to people across the other side of the world, calculate huge numbers, play games etc.

IP: Logged

perfectstormy
Geek

Posts: 60
From: New Hampshire
Registered: Jun 2002

posted July 29, 2002 14:05     Click Here to See the Profile for perfectstormy     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote

Brew beer, perhaps...or cook.

IP: Logged

annie
Alpha Geek

Posts: 337
From: somewhere in Canada
Registered: Sep 2001

posted July 29, 2002 14:55     Click Here to See the Profile for annie   Click Here to Email annie     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by mephisto:
Assassin/blade master. And i would be a damn good one at that.

When you're in a bad mood perhaps, but when you're in a good mood (which hasn't been for a while ) you'd probably be a physisist.

As for me, who knows? Maybe I'd go into math, or maybe i'd become a dancer. Depends on whether you're asking what would probably happen or what I would want to happen.

IP: Logged

Xanthine
Uber Geek

Posts: 809
From: the lab
Registered: Mar 2001

posted July 29, 2002 14:59     Click Here to See the Profile for Xanthine     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by SpikeSpiegel:
again now there is a aikido place nearby that ive been meaning to go to


Go go go!
But I'm a shodan so I'm biased.
Seriously though, Aikido leveled me out big time. I've never regretted it, not even one the morning after a seminar when it hurt just to get a coat on.

------------------
Take by surprise and the world gives up resistance.
- Tennesee Williams

IP: Logged

ilovemydualg4
Highlie

Posts: 610
From: *GASP* THE 3RD DIMMENSION
Registered: Mar 2002

posted July 29, 2002 15:57     Click Here to See the Profile for ilovemydualg4   Click Here to Email ilovemydualg4     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
without computers, mass production wouldn't be the same. things would be more expensive, by far, since their design/production wouldn't be the same.

You phycology would be different too. You wouldn't have spent your life arruond computers (duh) and may have had more social interaction, making you a different person. or you may have found life worthless and went to live in the wilderness and write poems, but right now, you may think that that would be impossible. but who knows, you may not even have been born.

there are infinte other universes, and infite other time streams, and think about how many things may be different if there were no computers, it is really what you COULD do at all, far different from what you would do every day

------------------
my geek code
Hazards: "There is an island of opportunity in the middle of every difficulty, miss that, though, and you're pretty much doomed."

IP: Logged

SpikeSpiegel
Highlie

Posts: 618
From: my chair
Registered: Jun 2002

posted July 29, 2002 16:49     Click Here to See the Profile for SpikeSpiegel   Click Here to Email SpikeSpiegel     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Xanthine:
Go go go!
But I'm a shodan so I'm biased.
Seriously though, Aikido leveled me out big time. I've never regretted it, not even one the morning after a seminar when it hurt just to get a coat on.



i think i will.. but after getting my first degree black belt in kempo the pain cant be thhhhaaaaaaaaaat bad.

------------------
Real funny scotty now beam down my clothes

IP: Logged

neotatsu
Highlie

Posts: 722
From: A place my soul no longer resides
Registered: Jun 2002

posted July 29, 2002 17:54     Click Here to See the Profile for neotatsu   Click Here to Email neotatsu     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I've been thinking about it, and I think I'd proably be a Sci-fi or fantasy writer, as my passions before I descovered the joys of computers were reading SF and fantasy, and writing, and using my immagination to come up with all sorts of stories and plots to the, what I now realize were essentially rpg's, games that my friends and I would play outside in the woods..

------------------
"so what are you going to do?"
"Oh, just take her out to dinner, then I'm going to take her back to my apartment and introduce her to my monkey"
"And to think, he's *not* being metaphoric"

IP: Logged

Tyler Durden
Geek

Posts: 95
From: Richardson, TX
Registered: Jul 2002

posted July 29, 2002 20:37     Click Here to See the Profile for Tyler Durden   Click Here to Email Tyler Durden     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Without computers, my college track is basically down the toilet... but I can still drive and I would probably attempt to become a taxi driver... not sure if my CD player counts as a computer, but I can't drive without my CDs... Craig David - Born to do It and Beatles - 1 are too good to lose...

------------------
GASOLINE: For Youth on the Move

IP: Logged

nekomatic
Assimilated

Posts: 439
From: Manchester, UK
Registered: Mar 2000

posted July 30, 2002 01:51     Click Here to See the Profile for nekomatic   Click Here to Email nekomatic     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
If there'd been no computers when I was a kid, I'd have been more into analogue electronics (audio and radio). I might even have ended up studying the subject, 'cos I dismissed elec eng as too boring (digital circuits... yawn!) whereas analogue is more of a black art and therefore interesting.

Then again, I might still have gone into chemistry, but I don't know which branch of it I'd have ended up in - modern analytical technology is underpinned by the availability of computing power. Spectrometers and things would've been far less interesting gadgets to work with, tho they would have more funkily retro knobs and dials

I'd spend far more time at work doing tedious calculations, but far less time slacking on the Web, so those two would probably cancel out nicely. I'd spend less time getting stressed out about user interface boneheadedness but would probably compensate by a proportionate increase in geekiness and pedantry about something else like typography.

I'd probably still be doing most of my leisure activities, though that might be harmed by possibly not keeping in touch with friends so well. I might well still be single

Oh and Tyler, CD's DEFINITELY need computing power, so it's strictly back to the 8-track carts for you

IP: Logged

ilovemydualg4
Highlie

Posts: 610
From: *GASP* THE 3RD DIMMENSION
Registered: Mar 2002

posted July 30, 2002 03:20     Click Here to See the Profile for ilovemydualg4   Click Here to Email ilovemydualg4     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
but how are 8 tracks produced?

------------------
my geek code
�Water outside boat good. Water inside boat bad. Water in air bad� - �Tim�

IP: Logged

spungo
Highlie

Posts: 687
From: Hell's toilet
Registered: Jan 2002

posted July 30, 2002 03:31     Click Here to See the Profile for spungo     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I'd be a Lapp dancer... you know, earn money in bars dancing around in Finnish national dress... (I'm not even gonna tell ya what happened when I went to the Pole dancing club - let's just say plenty of vodka was drunk. )

------------------
"This week I are be mostly scripting in perl."

IP: Logged

nekomatic
Assimilated

Posts: 439
From: Manchester, UK
Registered: Mar 2000

posted July 30, 2002 04:30     Click Here to See the Profile for nekomatic   Click Here to Email nekomatic     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
How long have you been saving that joke up for, spungo?? It smells mouldy.

Anyway, we don't allow such seedy goings-on dane norway, I can tell you.

IP: Logged


This topic is 2 pages long:   1  2 

All times are Pacific Time

next newest topic | next oldest topic

Administrative Options: Close Topic | Archive/Move | Delete Topic
Post New Topic  Post A Reply
Hop to:

Contact Us | Geek Culture Home Page

� 2002 Geek Culture� All Rights Reserved.

Powered by Infopop www.infopop.com © 2000
Ultimate Bulletin Board 5.47e

homeGeek CultureWebstoreeCards!Forums!Joy of Tech!AY2K!webcam