If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

I don't know what made me think about this, but what would you be doing if there were no computers? No INTERNET? I think I would be spending more time at the library, with the books or listening to music... it's hard to think about all this.

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

I must say, that if the internet/computers hadn't been invented, your time at the library would be quite odd.

First of all, since so many books are now computer-printed and so forth, i.e., the machinery is managed with software, you'd have quite a time making books. Also, the spread of ideas would be slower, so literature would be different.

I'd spend more time with my family. I'd spend more time doing stuff outside. I'd have a social life *GRIN*.

Keep in mind also, you'd eliminate huge aspects of FIRST if there was no Internet and/or computers

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

I would listen to music and watch TV

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

If there was no internet then somebody in FIRST would probably invent it. But til then I'd be playing with my PS2 and watch way too much TV.

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

Actually if not for the internet/computer FIRST would not exist. No microproccesors for the robot controller, no easy way to get the rules out, printing over 1000 rulebooks.

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

Actually getting my programing work done!

Thanks Al! :)

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

After reading most of your posts, I've realized you probably wouldn't be doing ANY of that hehe.

That deffinately wouldn't be happening....

What need? There's no computers ;)

I personally don't think we'd know what to do with ourselves. We'd be listening to records, sitting outside and doing nothing with technology...Oohh the nightmares are starting now :(

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

Hmm, I'd probably do a lot of car models... or something =/

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

I'd have a lot less "useless" knowledge that i gained over the summer...such as teaching myself HTML and stuff, even thought that wouldn't be needed without the internet/Pcs.

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

Social programing then. :)

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

I'd be reading books- lots of books..... You know- those bound paper things...

Before the internet (yeah I'm old) I would read about 3 books a week on science and my favorite topics in biology.

But now it is so easy to connect with others. But unfortunately the internet is largely superficial in the depth of the information it offers. More people seem to be concerned about the most trivial things and selling product seems to be the driving force.

The potential for greatness in the internet is there but it doesn't seem to be working up to what it could be. Maybe in the future?

WC

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

I'd probably end up drafting all my designs instead of CADing them, which is cool, but you can't stress test paper designs. As well as reading books a whole lot more, probably playing more Golf and Ultimate, seeing more movies, and probably trying to convince someone to invest money in the concept of computers.

What would the alternative to CD be then?

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

Yeah, I wouldn't even be a drafter if there was no computers or CAD. I can draw if I had to, and I do once in a while for enjoyment, but I don't think I could make a living on it (re: forced to do it for someone else). Also, I totally suck at lettering and have bad handwriting. :eek:
(Side note: Do they even teach cursive handwriting at school anymore?)
Wow.. that made me sound old asking a question like that. :yikes:

If I had to choose, I would probably be a carpenter/builder.
I love to work with my hands, but the whole allergy thing comes into play then as well. I always tell people, that if I didn't have severe seasonal (year round) allergies, I would of probably gotten into carpentry. I love the idea of creating something that hasn't been there before, hence the CAD choice for my career.

As for free time *if I had any then* it would probably be spent reading or working on cars as well. Painting, or welding, metalwork.. All kinds of cool non-computer related stuff.

It's nice to know about computers and electronics, but don't make it take up your whole life (unless that is your career, and you want to be buried in your work). Get some other hobbies, and interests.

edit: oh, and for all you computer geeks out there, I do think google would still be around, but it would look more like this:
:p

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

I would probably be more healthy. :D

~picking some Cotton

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

I would be healthier and smarter. :)

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

i would be doing my geometry project, due tomorrow, that i am "doing" right now....actually, i would probably be sitting on the floor next to my geometry project picking at carpet fibers....ah, the many wonders of the offseason....

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

Yeah, I'd probably be buildling some sort of nerdy mechanism to do what i wanted it to do, and (OMG!) it'd have to be all mechanical.

I'd also be taking apart all the [now-broken] appliances in my house, like the washing machine, (have you ever taken one apart? the dials at the top are AWESOME as to how it times stuff, and i still cant believe its all mechanical... it just mind boggles me), the hair dryer, the toaster, the blender, etc etc.

Oh, and math problems - all by hand! wow.. math team would be so different!
Also, science experiments.. dont forget those!

Course i do most of that stuff now ;) (i'm so upset Mom won't let me take apart the blender yet cuz its not broken... yet.. *gets hammer*)

~Stephanie
Team 1351

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

I think I would work in a hat shop, selling hats

what size are you? seven and a half? oh I think we have that!

You know, I think I could do that. It depends though, what are the hours?

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

I think that I would have to do things I havent done in a while. Such as clean my room, start studying for finals and hang out with my sister. My life is online so I really dont know what I would do. If it was during one of my sports seasons I would be practicing till about 5:45 and then I would come home to do homework.. I just cant live with out the internet because how would I be able to contact my friends from FIRST without racking up my phone bill. If it was during build season that answer would be a lot easier! :D

Tiffany

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

I may be forced to go back to my cheerleading days...
Or I would be in sports... those have been around forever...
I do think that it would be a lot of fun to make clocks though...

And oh yea... that photo project 'lil Gach and I are supposed to be doing...

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

Right now, as in this very second right now? I would would be eating my lunch outside underneath a tree while reading a book. It's beautiful out, 74 degrees, slight breeze, bright blue sky with white, fluffy clouds... so I think I'll give technology a break for a short while and go sit on the soft green grass underneath that Cherry tree, I don't have a book with me, but I'm sure I can occupy my time by watching the clouds roll by. I see a cloud from my window that looks like a snail!

Heidi

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

Reading a book. Actually doing my homework.

Or more likely sketching (my long lost love) and writing poetry (how many months have gone by?). XD

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

If the computer and internet was not invented, I would be building Robots (yes I know I wouldn't be able to program it, but yea.. IFI controllers do come with the default code) :)

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

Hmm... well, for one thing, I probably wouldn't be replying to this thread. :rolleyes:

I would be spending more time on the piano, and I'd probably have learnt to ride a unicycle by now.

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

I was thinking about this question during lunch, and its really hard to imagine our world without digital computers.

you would have to go back before 1940 to undo digital computers, and the math and research goes back even further

the impact to our world and our culture is hard to imagine, if computers had never existed

a program like FIRST could still exist, because engineering and science encompasses many fields that are not based on computer technology

but you would literally have to push us back to about 1940 to imagine the world with no digital computers of any kind

so another way of looking at this would be, what would you be doing right now if you were living in the 'world' of 1940?

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

I would be reading or playing with the radio. (Ham Radio that is.) I don't have as much time for either while I am replying and reading here. But I have met a lot more interesting people on the Internet with many different hobbies and interests even though radio does a nice job of introduction.

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

I would be studying my chemistry notes for the final exam. This means I'd be looking through my great big file cabinet that contains all the notes I've taken for the class (theory: since a lot of work now is made using computer applications, if we had to hand write them, it would take a lot more space. Yet again, the printing press was available.:rolleyes: ). Also, I'd probably have something to do in the woodshop. Instead of using inventor, I'd have to use a drafting board, T-square, 30/60 and right triangles, rulers, tape, pencil, erase, that curvy thingy, and whatever else manual drafters use.

Then after all that, I'd be maintaining the front and back yards of my house. Before going to bed, I'd read LOTR.

Basically, without the computer or internet, my life would be much, much different and so would be what I'm doing right now.

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

That would be another way of looking at it, but it wouldn't really be even nearly the same thing. A woman's role in society was very different in 1940 and if the original question had been "what would you be doing right now if you were living in the world of 1940?" I would have answered very differently. I would either be a spinster, most likely a teacher or a secretary, or even more likely, since my family would not have had the money to send me to school, I would be married with several children. I would have married young, and so my children would most likely be in their teens by now. With the rest of the world at war, I would be content and happy with my country for staying out of it, horrified, of course, that it was happening, but with little impact on my daily life of raising children and keeping up a home.

Heidi

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

thinking on this topic during class today, and talking it over lunch with a couple of friends, I've determined that I'd probably sit down and bang my head on a desk at the lack of ingenuity and creativity that engineers and inventors have.

Or maybe I'd find myself playing/viewing/using whatever else they created instead of Computers and Mass Networking, any one have any idea of the alternatives? Or maybe we will never know...

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

if there were no computers

that means there would be no calculators either

and that means we would all still be using [shutter] gasp! SLIDE RULES!

Agggghhhhhh!!!!

how did people live without square-root buttons?

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

Well......I WOULD GO NUTS!!!!!! this site would mabe have to be done by mail..... Email would be ...mail BUT mail with out the E is meaning less, the E puts the E in the mail....understand? "Fore without the E in Email, mail is pointless" -unknown

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

I would be reading, avoiding sunlight, and listening to radio.

And libraries wouldn't be all that different, sans the notecard system...ugh...

Stores would be very very different though...imagine no barcode system? Grocery lines would take forever?

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

How did they live without square root buttons? Going back to middle school algebra, I think we used factor trees, which could get us down to all the whole numbered roots of any number we chose.

If you think about it, if we didn't have calculators today, we'd be practicing the many hand methods of calculating that brought us to the technological level we are at today, for it had to start by hand. At the same time, we'd in theory have a better grasp of what we are doing with the numbers we manipulate.

Today, it turns out we have these calculators which we can freely use and without much thought punch in a few numbers, operators, etc. and get an answer, and we believe it. We take this granted unfortunately.

So to answer the question at hand, again, I think I'd be doing hand calculations for something.

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

Welll.. I wouldn't be about to throw my cable modem out the window for dropping the connection on me for many times in the last 2 weeks and now 8 times within 5 hours or saying a few choice words about Adelphia.. :mad:


Btw, I'm kidding.. I'm not that violent. But in reality, more problems are created than solutions are made because of the internet. The same may not be so for computers in general, but for the internet I believe so.

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

Sleeping, because CD wouldnt be here to keep me awake.

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

i would be sleeping probaby at this hour...my time would be more devoted to drawing, painting, doing puzzles and reading probably....

i'm soo glad that the computer was invented along with the internet....evenutally someone had to come up with it of course... i wonder what great things are in store for the future....

:D

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

::Covers ears:: LALALAL I CANT HEAR YOU!!

[I dont even want to imagine my life without the internet!]

But, I guess that I would get myself involved in maybe music/ a band. I always wanted to be in a band.
Also, if there wasnt internet, maybe I would have more instate friends then outa state friends. Then I would actually have people to hang out with.
But. I still dont want to think about life with computers. Technology is like my everything! hehe [I mean, not to many people I know hug robots and practically live on their computers.]

-Ashley

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

wow life without computers.
well no more easy way doing technical drawings. Its time to bust out the old drafting tables and start doing the drawings by hand ( and with some parts it can be a true thorn in the side) also no more CD.
Totally agree that technology is everything nowadays. Every new tool, appliance, medicine, medical procedure is all due to technology whether it involves robots or not. Really without the computer and our ability to utilize it to quicken the pace at which technological advances are made or without the internet toquicke the spread of the ideas behind these new breakthroughs we would probably be 40 years behind our atual time. really in my opinion the internet and computer are very beneficial if used in proper manners.

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

They're practically all made with robots too!
Factory tours are awesome! It's amazing they can make things that do the things they do. (My favorite is the robot that folds and wraps hershey's candy bars.)

~Stephanie

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

Probably paying attention to my algebra class .... but in a littl eless than an hour .. I wil be done all my classes in high school ... ... ::goes and bawls my eyes out::

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

actually studying for my english FINAL exam which i need to pass to pass english for the year and graduate =X *yes i know i am a slacker... if you read this and think OMG HARRY YOU IDIOT!!! go right ahead and IM me :D

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

Yeah, I just decided... I would deff be dead. I dont know what I would do. AHH

[and I wouldnt be able to talk to/know my "brother" haha.]

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

After my cable modem got hit by lightening during a bad storm we had Thursday afternoon I got to see what it'd be like without the internet. It gave me a chance to watch tv for two days until I got a new modem earlier today although the tv could never take the place of the computer.

It's good to be back online! :D

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

So that's how he got so smart! :D

I'd probably be studying more...like for the SATIIs I have tommorow (Saturday), and yeah..I'd be reading more. Like Cokeley said, the internet has great potential, but I think right now we end up using it for a lot of the wrong reasons ;)

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

I'd be a little less lazy and therefore a little less fat maybe?

But nowa days everything has a computer in it! It is like trying to think what it would be like to live in 1843!!!!

Oh no!!!Bad dream!!!
:ahh:
*wakes up*

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

Before I had a computer in the house and before the Internet became commonplace I read a lot (I still have two or three books going at a time), did a lot of crafts, wrote a lot of letters (by hand) to friends. I had thought of drafting as a career before CAD existed (yes, I learned to do it by hand and loved it), worked in a library where I did know how to file cards in the card catalog, and my current career maintaining websites did not exist. I did not suffer from repetitive stress syndrome, tendonitis in my hands, wrists and elbows. I did not sit at a desk staring at a screen all day.

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

Now don't everyone panic but there would be no eBay either ----

what I think young people and old would do again is start or continue collections and through collections letter writing/corresponding with other collectors -

coins, stamps, Matchbox toys, train sets, buttons, Santa ornaments -

and then there is always mixing all the strange ingredients in the kitchen cabinet to make scientific discoveries - I always loved that.

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

I'd be reading more of the suspence/fiction/manga/medical/classical I can get my hands on. My bookshelf would be sagging more than it already is. I'd probably be sleeping earlier too.

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

My life would be drab, dreary, dry, dull, flat, heavy, humdrum, jading, leaden, monotonous, pedestrian, ponderous, stodgy, stuffy, stupid, tame, tedious, tiresome, tiring, unanimated, uninteresting, wearisome, weary, wearying
boring!!!!
I love the internet and computers !!!
I love chatting with people!!!

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

I cant even imagine a world without computers. It would be a nightmare I would not want to live or think about, but it would make a good Twilight Zone episode.

But I guess my answer would be that I would know a lot less people and probably spend most of my time thinking of something to do.

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

maybe have a life or more likely play video games almost non-stop or a barely possible scenario i work at my parent restaurant full time :ahh:

or another question what kind of state would nerdom be in? :confused:

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

It is quite simple really, I would be drawing object models on an Etch A Sketch.

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

I'd be busy inventing the Internet. :p

I wonder if I invented the Internet instead of Al Gore, would algorithms be called artdutraithms? :yikes: [/joke]

I wonder if you could come up with some sort of "Internet" based off of teletype machines and the telegraph using only technology available up to the 1940s. I would think at least a simple bulletin-board (like a stripped down Chief Delphi) would be possible using TTD machines...

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

I certainly would not be replying in this thread, that's for sure. ;)

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

There was a time I didn't have a computer or access to the internet.. simply put, that was a very boring time for me. Seriously. Sometimes I worrry about how "stuck" I am, as far as my need for the internet goes. I remember times when the internet would go out at Clarkson for an entire day, and I'd find myself sitting and twiddling my thumbs, wondering what to do to ease the extreme boredom that started to come over me.

Re: If the computer and internet was not invented, what would you be doing right now?
 

Fishing, alot of fishing.