liamc2 Posted February 21, 2003 Share Posted February 21, 2003 Ah the wonders of the modern computer. We all know what it can and has done for us. The question is, where would we be without it? I know plenty of you are thinking, 'sure, I can live without my computer.' But I'm not talking just about personal computers, I'm talking about the whole shibang. For instance, a calculator, that has a microchip and processor, which by definition is a primative computer. Now onto medicine. X-ray machines, Cat scans etc etc. All of their images, specifically Nuclear medicine and Magnetic imaging, is stored in a huge fat computer. Say goodbye to that. Buzzing along now, the stockmarket, banks, automatic tellers, genetic research, bitechnology, modern Television, VCR's, Army Technology, Sonar, smart bombs, F1-11'a... The list goes on and on. Just think, this one invention has thrown us lightyears ahead. Not just the microchip, but magnetic storage. The first computer had a 2kb hardrive and took up a couple of storeys. It ran on vacuum tubes that burnt out every five seconds and had to be replaced instantly. The first 'bug' was a moth that flew into it and got caught (it's still kept in a museum by the way). Just think of our primitive ancestors, the Neanderthals. It took them 150 000 years and a new species of Humans (Homo Sapiens Sapiens) to realise that you could create pretty things like jewelry. We've been alive for 50 000 years or so. Look what we've created in 200 years alone. Actually, 20 years. The computer has helped us an insane amount. The ability to communicate and transfer so many billions of documents, to increase the standard of living, to discover so much more about ourselves.. It's almost laughable that this one hurdle, the computer, has helped us so much. Its almost scary that our brains are infinitely more powerful than any computer created or to be created. So really, how do you think our lives would be now without this technology? Do you think our generation would have developed so many different sub-cultures or would we still be pressured into a horrible 50's type of life where we see nothing but the same people...day in...day out...and never learn of anything outside? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankie Posted February 21, 2003 Share Posted February 21, 2003 Heck i could not go about 4 hours with my computer *hugs it tight* My only family is on this sucker... the OB of course... OB IS MY HOME!!! when ob was down forever ago.. for a long while.. i could have died... and when i went on a weeks vacation last summer to florida i wanted to find the nearest computer and get on OB or.....on a computer. . . And at school now.. the way we do mosto f our reserch is over the computer. No calulators are even allowed though.. stupid teachers... .stupid privet schools..... stupid flora with her stupid life *pounds own head in* this has nothign to do with technology but its kind of the same deal... last year here on ob i posted and a few times i seemed depressed ... well ok i was suicidal at the time... if someone had not pmed me just to have a friendly chat i would not be alive today.. and the thing is.. that would not matter much.. to anyone im sure... but then i was talking to my boyfriend on the phone the other day... a week or so ago actualy and we were talking and i asked him what would have happened if i had not been around when he was depressed. he said "Do you really think i would be alive right now. . . think about it" i mean i did not know i could make that much of an impact.... i mena go back in time.... kill myself and then see how it crazily changes things. kind of like the computer... if no one invented technology we would all be in mud huts with fires and dead animal skins for cloaths... lol... smoke filled houses and heck.. back to herbal medicine... or just killing off the weak *laughs at her own stupid post* Flora will be shutting up now ~Flora Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Asphyxia Posted February 21, 2003 Share Posted February 21, 2003 [color=darkred][size=1]I tink that we would not have advanced in the same way. We'd still have advanced, but differently. Instead of computers, we'd still be doing things by hand. However, we'd have concentrated on and acheived different things. Cultures and sub-cultures would probably be different. Chances are, kids would be healthier. They wouldn't be sitting around on their butts all day playing PS2 or whatever. [Not that I'm saying I don't, only, I use the internet as my lazy-tool] I'd say we'd be more prejudiced, because we would go as far or talk to as many people. We wouldn't know any differences, and we wouldn't accept them. I think.[/color][/size] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sere Tuscumbia Posted February 21, 2003 Share Posted February 21, 2003 Once again you've brought up another wonderful point, love. But just one question: Where do you come up with this?! And, ok, so we people would be unable to survive without technology. Frankly, if we were banished (by some weird loophole in fate) to be without technology, about half the population wouldn't be here today. Sad, yes, but most likely true. But several countries go without technology, day by day. Take Africa for example (yes, I know that Africa isn't a country, but it has several countries that I'm not going to list off, so deal w/ it.). Ok, so Africa is not going with the good, but that would be the rest of the world if not for technology. Because, through technology, we are able to diagnose and treat diseases, and also find new medicines everyday to combat diseases around the world. And, to pull myself into this conversation (bad me), if it hadn't been for technology, I, most likely, would not have my father here, my mother, or my sister. I owe the life I live right now to technology. How many of [I]you[/I] owe their life to technology? And think. I owe my life to a [I]thing[/I]. Wires, chips, and various other pieces of junk all bundled up into one little package. And I owe the life I live right now to [I]that[/I]? What's next, I ask? What's next? --Sere *xxx- And Liam, love, if you do read this again, I know the question you've been wanting to ask me (unless you've changed your mind in, what? Two to three days?), and the answer is yes. ^_^ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cloricus Posted February 21, 2003 Share Posted February 21, 2003 I can't live with out it... Tech that is. I go 10 days every so often without any pc at all and I guess I could go longer but I don't want to. [quote]Liam(C2) The first 'bug' was a moth that flew into it and got caught (it's still kept in a museum by the way).[/quote] Your going to say I'm lying but I know the man that was on the team that looked after that computer and was one of the three men who removed it. I know him in person. :D As for nowhere near the capacity of the human brain, I'm in a project to change that... ... ... I'd like to point out a few facts wrong with your post but I don?t want to be burnt alive. Hehe! The world would be noticeably different, there is no argument about that. Oh one thing I?d like to say that even though you think that computers have only really advanced in the last 20 years. It really started to advance 103 years ago. And was the collaboration of thousands of years of our species trying to make things easier for it?s self. I'll pop in later for more weird answers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Posted February 21, 2003 Share Posted February 21, 2003 [b][color=003399]20 years? One of the first computers that actually performed a useful task was back in the '30s, but you're definitely right about the size of the darn things back then. I think that the speed of progress will only continue to increase, as it seems that one new piece of technology leads onto plenty of others. The only problem to technology is that it seems to be the solution to many problems, but somtimes it's the core of many serious problems too.[/b][/color] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Harlequin Posted February 21, 2003 Share Posted February 21, 2003 [font=gothic][color=crimson]Actually, to you all, Archimedes was doing things that technically were primitive computers. Personally, I think modern computers have a lot to answer for. Primarily Cloricus.[/font][/color] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cloricus Posted February 21, 2003 Share Posted February 21, 2003 Exactly, worthless anti-social geeks, or just me. I'd like to see a good answer to that. Though in Harlequins case I believe that I may get the last laugh. *Points to possible pay check for being a worthless geek* As for computers getting faster and smaller, Moore' Law. No I'm not going to explain it you should know it by now. Another fact that may have passed you by but nothing really new has happened to cpu's since the 486's and early P1's. Sure they have cool new words like "Hyper-Threading" but I bet that I am one of the only ones here that knows what that really is. Also Harlequin Archimedes did not doing any that the modern day tech would even call basic computing. Sure he made matrixes but that had been done before him. I know what your getting at because I saw that doco to, but it was blown way out of proportion and if you look at his work it's got nothing to do with computers. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Harlequin Posted February 21, 2003 Share Posted February 21, 2003 [font=gothic][color=crimson]As opposed to possible pay check for being a top level military research scientist....Bite me baby. About the Archimedes thing though, it may not look like it has anything to do with computers as we envision them, but when applied to what a computer by definition is, then really, he started the whole thing. Damn smart bastard....Too much time on his hands. Just like the modern day tech.[/font][/color] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cloricus Posted February 21, 2003 Share Posted February 21, 2003 Harlequin I'm not going to argue with you because you are wrong. Sure if you use the broadest possible definition, but you have to remember that includes every thing from the modern day computer to a game of norts and crosses. So it doesn't count. And is some thing completely different. He did not start it and should no be given credit for any of the achievements of modern day computing. Though I respect his work greatly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Posted February 21, 2003 Share Posted February 21, 2003 [color=red] Cloricus, here's a sucker, suck on it for awhile. Harlequin, here's a book, read it for awhile. Now lookey here, you're all happy and away from eachother. Count on Mitch to break up the fights. ;) Deus Ex Machina as a man onced named [strike]Deus[/strike] Ben said. God comes from the machine. The machine who you ask? The machine may be us, or whatever you see so. Just drop me a rain check so I can give it to Deus, Ben I think his name is...bleh. Deus Ben, what's the difference? The way I see technology is as the downfall of the human race. It may be very far off, but when you think about how far technology is going to take us, sometime or another it has to take us back, too. That's why the came up with the movie [i]Back To The Future[/i], heh. All technology is going to do is aid and complexion all of the things that happen here on the Earth naturally. Technology I see as the end and the beginning of the human race as it stands. Somewhere far into the future overhead there dangles something of a thread like this. Somewhere far off there dangles our own destruction. But no one cares, our lives our now. We'll all be dead before we see our deaths. So my points no one will even adhere to anyways. Well, most.[/color] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syk3 Posted February 21, 2003 Share Posted February 21, 2003 The first computer was created by the ancient Greeks, but yeah, technology has really advanced and put our lives into a situation where we would doubt that we could live with them. They are our necesities that make life simpler, but if we had to, we would probably be able to survive without them. Obviously, lol, seeing as we've lasted this long. Personally, it's hard for me to live without a personal computer, much less all these other things that have to do with computers. If I didn't have all that...I'd probably be reading a lot more. *shrug* I'm trying to do that even with this technology. Anyway, if past generations have survived without computers, I'm sure we would be able to, but we wouldn't even know what we are missing out on, and different things would seem exciting to us back then. I also wanted to say that, to an extent, a calculator is not a computer. A computer would be defined as something that has to decide what to do, such as 'If x and y = z, Then do [i]this[/i]' or 'If x or y = z, Then do [i]that[/i].' So...these new graphic calculators would be computers, but not those other ones. If that's what you were trying to say though, then nevermind, haha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liamc2 Posted February 22, 2003 Author Share Posted February 22, 2003 [size=1][b]Sere:[/b] *dances around* ^^[/size] I don't know what it is, irony maybe, but my computer is now stuffing up...basically I'm typing all of this on borrowed time. *Worst message to see when your computer starts up at 8am* [b]Operating system not found[/b] [b]Operating system not found[/b] [b]Operating system not found[/b] ~~~~ Gah...so yeah...it makes a clicking sound and then freezes up and restarts... took me an hour of attempt to just get Eden on disk. But now its working normally...and I'm scared... [size=1]EDIT-Ah all is clear now. The council was playing havoc with the power supply, giving us half power (which is highly illegal as it can fry any form of circuit) and so the computer paid the price and wasn't able to warm up the hardrive or something... alls well now...[/size] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fall Posted February 22, 2003 Share Posted February 22, 2003 Things would look more natural. All these things made by machines now days look perfect. If they were made by hand, they wouldn't look so perfect, and the world today would look more of a mess. But then again we mightn't even have thought of the things we have today. A hand-made car. Haha. -_- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mei Posted February 24, 2003 Share Posted February 24, 2003 *would go even more insane without her computer...*T.T...That...would suck...if it left me! AHHHHH! It's my fwiend...*suddenly looks at snow outside*sooo cold...I'd be out there without my precious computer...so precious.>>...back pun...oh well. Hehee!^^ Liam should member moi...maybe he figure out who I am..*pounces on Sere*you think he will?OO *hiss*...cold...bored...insane...post doesn't fit together and makes absolutely no logical sense... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vegeta rocker Posted February 24, 2003 Share Posted February 24, 2003 well i love otakuboards so i don't know where i would be i love video games and cds so that would bite if technology was gone and we all lived in forests that would rule but if we lived in crappy towns without technology that would bite humans will always come up with something they are never satisfied the insistant strive for perfection will be their undoing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corey Posted February 24, 2003 Share Posted February 24, 2003 You and me both Vegeta. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladycathren Posted August 11, 2005 Share Posted August 11, 2005 okay how about this, since summer vaction i've been without internet. i have missed so much..... :animecry: i just got it fixed a few days ago. Life bites. I almost went sane. Almost. but i've been told by my friends that i am insane. but who cares... Try to do that. 3 whole months... wow. and my parents had internet the whole time and wouldn't let me get on their labtops because they said that they didn't want to take the chance of me chrashing them like i did this one. But people there wouldn't be a playstation2 without technology. duh! If you compair friendship to a rose you must realize a rose has thorns such as fights backstabbing and the cussing. But hold on to that friendship even if it doesn't seem worthwild. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panda Posted August 11, 2005 Share Posted August 11, 2005 Please do not resurrect long dead threads. The last time this thread was active was back in 2003! If you feel there is still discussion value in an old topic please feel free to start a new thread on the topic instead of bringing back an old thread. If anyone has questions on posting on the boards feel free to PM myself or any of the moderators on the boards. Thanks! -Panda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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