What did people do before computers?
I first thought, "What a dumb question", then I thought "You're 65, want to rephrase that?"I could, quite honestly, remember over 100 phone numbers for customers. I could also remember part numbers 7-10 digits in length. Today I have to use auto dial to call my wife.I could add, subtract, divide and multiply in my head or calculate with a pencil and paper. I used books for references and went to the library when I needed a book.I could go on, but try this. Sit down in front of your computer and imagine what you would need to know in order to do what a computer does.I like computers, but I really think they have given us an awfully easy excuse to be lazy.
What did the type of people who become computer geeks do before computers were invented?
Let's see. Computer geeks could be characterized by (in random order)Know their tools in great depthLike to think of what they do as something beautifulDo some personal projects, for funLike to interact with an object (computer) which responds in one of the predictable ways. If it doesn't respond as predicted, they try all tricks in their sleeves to find out what went wrong. Worry about both speed and efficiencyLaziness in the sense that they like to automate redundant tasksLike to build things out of imaginationGood at thought experimentsSedentary work Following professions seem to come close to these characteristics (more suggestions welcome):Painters, sculptors (artists in general) [But fail at 6 i.e. automation and may be 5]Experimental physicists (scientists in general) [fail at 9]Philosophers [fail at 4 and 5]Chefs [fail at 6, 9]Anybody who invented small tools/tricks to make their life easier, irrespective of occupation
Before CD's and fancy computer programs, how did people make mixtapes?
I used to do tape to tape recording, it took ages getting the gaps right though.
What did people do on computers before internet was invented?
We played Space War http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacewar_%2... We played music either on the memory cores, or on the printer hammers (yes, really). We played a game where you chased the lights across the console and flipped switches when it was in exactly the right position. We played frisbee with the bottom covers of disk drives (about the size of dustbin lids). We played Machine-Room Football (knot a 1-kilo box of office rubber bands into a ball, turn out all the ceiling lights, ride wheeled office chairs, scoot up and down the alleys between the subsystems using only the control panel lights, quite spooky) And of course in those days, the operating system MVS was the biggest video game ever written, and sysprogs played it all day.