Can you picture your life without your computer?

I was first introduced to computers in the early 90s. I only bought my own personal computer in 2006. And I feel that I have become too dependent on it.
 

We had a maths teacher who was somewhat ahead of his time and spent some of the maths lessons teaching us computer programming. This was in the 1960's and we had to go to the college of technology to use their 'state of the art' computer that had a whole 32k of storage.
Most of my career involved computing, both hardware and software, right until I left 'Big Blue' in 2002.

Now, I do without technology if I can. Unfortunately, living in a small village, the internet is pretty well essential for banking and some shopping, so I have a laptop and that's about it. I have a 'dumb' phone which I keep for emergencies, but no 'Alexa' or similar devices. The sat-nav in the car has never been switched on, and I use Ordnance survey maps for navigating in the campervan.

Yes, I would miss the computer, but I don't take in on holidays etc., I'm glad to get away from it, TV, phone etc for a while.
 

I rarely use an actual computer (PC or laptop) for personal things like accessing this site. I almost always use my phone. So...I could certainly do without a computer, but not my phone.
 
Stoppelmann said:
Do you believe in reincarnation? I doubt that "we" will go anywhere but into the ground like everybody before us.

I have thought about what computers might do for the well-being of any future generation going into space—I believe that taking nature with them is far more important. You see, I don't believe that space travel is feasible. First of all, there is the distance and the time needed. Secondly, putting people to sleep doesn't prevent bedsores. Thirdly, reaching a new planet with its own microbes will mean that our bodies will need a long time to adjust, but also, the new habitat may suffer our microbes like indigenous people did when our ancestors occupied their lands. Computers can't help us with these few examples - except if it is computers or robots we send into space.

Star Trek and Star Wars are fiction, as are the many other sci-fi novels. I used to be a geek, but once you become a nurse and understand what it takes to preserve health on our planet, the feasibility of life on another planet becomes very doubtful indeed.
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No, I don't believe in reincarnation, and by "we" I meant the human species.

The trouble with trying to solve the conundrum of space exploration today is that we're limited to the technology of today, from the mindset. There are lots of problems to be solved, but I don't see any reason to think they won't be overcome. We cure disease today that would have laid waste to us in centuries past. We travel at speeds unthinkable not so long ago. Famously, there were people who thought man would never be able to travel faster than 20MPH because we'd not be able to breathe - how wrong they were.

Of course, when it comes to habitability of foreign worlds, computers will crunch the numbers, give us analytical data, and make sure we land in just the right spot. They detect and alert us to microbes etc. Computers have a huge role to play. Better yet, they help create the knowledgebase we will require. I mean, if you go for an MRI scan today, you better believe computers are making things work. We're also just starting to see robotic surgery, which I think is fascinating. Essentially, you have a remote surgeon, and a robot/machine at the other end doing the actual cutting etc. The surgeon controls every move. We're making strides.

Star Trek and Star Wars are fictional imaginations of what could be. Will it exactly like that? I don't know. But humankind has about 4 billion years to figure it out before the sun consumes Earth. I reckon that's more than enough time to make massive progress.
Grampa Don said:
my first modem was 2400 baud that I used to connect with local bulletin boards via phone line.
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Oh, I remember 2400 baud. Can you imagine trying to surf the net at those speeds today? :D

I remember when I has an ISDN line installed, just for "fast" internet. A massive 128kbps for a terrible amount of money.

Remember this?:

 
Neither do I want to live without it- our first computer we bought in 1988- and it is amazing how things have changed.

I hardly ever give my cell # out because I would rather deal with land line or email although it is a safety feature when you live in the boonies, like me, to have a cell phone, although our tower capability is often limited for using it.
 
The computer has opened many worlds for me and made my life much easier, years ago at work I went from manual drafting to computer drafting and from there I've had personal computers with many different service providers that have improved speed and service. I still find it all amazing.
 
I can! Life was more complicated. I'd have to go to the library with all my questions about one topic or another, but on the other hand, I think life was better in terms of human connections and interactions.

I think people talked to each other more in the old days. I still have paper maps. I can still navigate without GPS.
 
I would not like to go back to the time without a home PC. I believe my first purchase was in the 1990's and
was a Gateway system ( remember those neat cow pattern boxes). Dince then I have had Dell and and HP laptops.
In 2016 I took the leap and now have an Apple desktop and iPhone.
 
I usually play a guitar or draw stuff if I feel bored. It would take 1/2 - 45 minutes to get internet on line 88 ish.
My first PUTER was a Commodore 128, 2 floppy disc drives and a Okidata printer.
I was doing the games for a while and enjoyed Jane. Microsoft's arguably 1st Office program.
Spread sheet, word processor and money. Learning it was what I did. I kept it till about 99 and
bought a Millenium programed Desk Puter, then a couple of Laptops in 2002 XL was great. the vote on 11 pro still out.
 
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VaughanJB said:
No, I don't believe in reincarnation, and by "we" I meant the human species.

The trouble with trying to solve the conundrum of space exploration today is that we're limited to the technology of today, from the mindset. There are lots of problems to be solved, but I don't see any reason to think they won't be overcome. We cure disease today that would have laid waste to us in centuries past. We travel at speeds unthinkable not so long ago. Famously, there were people who thought man would never be able to travel faster than 20MPH because we'd not be able to breathe - how wrong they were.

Of course, when it comes to habitability of foreign worlds, computers will crunch the numbers, give us analytical data, and make sure we land in just the right spot. They detect and alert us to microbes etc. Computers have a huge role to play. Better yet, they help create the knowledgebase we will require. I mean, if you go for an MRI scan today, you better believe computers are making things work.
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The Gospel according to scientism ;-)
 
Sure. My exciting, precious, senior life is very multi-dimensional. Computers make it much more so but not inherently necessary. Were it not for computers in medical science, I'd already be long dead and gone from maladies our ancestors died from.

4-decade career in Silicon Valley hardware electronics including UNIX computers and their programming languages that were developed before the personal computer era. Was involved in earliest implementations of semiconductors and microprocessors that were not chips but rather whole complex computer function, printed circuit boards.

My life is far more interesting given technology, including computers, however that is not at all necessary for my happiness and well-being like such is similarly with some seniors limited to watching old TV Westerns on their boob tubes. What computers allow for this person is consumption of knowledge via media that is far more effective than books. Without computers, I still experience natural lands, enjoy exhilarating snow skiing, listen to and dance to music, enjoy live music concerts, communicate face to face with people, enjoy eating myriad modern foods, hiking in incredibly wonderful landscapes our ancestors could only dream about, and watching the Sun rise over mirroring alpine lakes from within 2 mile+ high spectacular craggy mountains.

UD03889-03969-3x1vy.jpg
 
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Stoppelmann said:
The Gospel according to scientism ;-)
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Well, it's evidence based, if that's what you mean. My life in 1970 was nothing like my life in 2024, and I couldn't have imagined hos things would be. We move forward. Of course, we won't see it in our lifetime. But why are people going back to the moon? In part because launching missions from there is far cheaper than what can be done from Earth. As I say - we progress to the point of interstellar travel, or we die.
 
We have not taken a newspaper since our parrot died and we got rid of her cage.

We got a hand me down Windows 95 early in the 2000s.
 
Capt Lightning said:
We had a maths teacher who was somewhat ahead of his time and spent some of the maths lessons teaching us computer programming. This was in the 1960's and we had to go to the college of technology to use their 'state of the art' computer that had a whole 32k of storage.
Most of my career involved computing, both hardware and software, right until I left 'Big Blue' in 2002.

Now, I do without technology if I can. Unfortunately, living in a small village, the internet is pretty well essential for banking and some shopping, so I have a laptop and that's about it. I have a 'dumb' phone which I keep for emergencies, but no 'Alexa' or similar devices. The sat-nav in the car has never been switched on, and I use Ordnance survey maps for navigating in the campervan.

Yes, I would miss the computer, but I don't take in on holidays etc., I'm glad to get away from it, TV, phone etc for a while.
Click to expand...
A question about those "Ordnance survey maps " Do they have Bench Marks " indicated on them ? Here in Canada BM's are very important for military use, and they are physically found on buildings that are likely more than 50 years old. They are a physical oval made of bronze with location details engraved on them. Using a BM you can figure out exactly where you are in relation to everything else on the survey map you have in your hand. Jimb.
 
Bella said:
Yes, I can picture it, but it's not a pretty picture. It's made a lot of things easier for me. Although I could certainly live without it, I don't want to.
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Same here; it'd be like what my life was like in childhood and teens: not much other than books or tv. Now with sites like this one, I get to interact with people (only digitally but still) and, as others here have pointed out, can look things up on google rather than trying (almost always unsuccessfully) to get someone to drive me to the library.
 
If my computer quit, or the internet didn't connect, I would be pissed I must confess. Still, I can't help but think it would be better if all that went away, and we were left to deal with each other on a personal basis.
 
No computer I assume means no internet, no smart phones, smart tv, GPS guidance system, most of all no SF, I would just die without SF
 

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