Could you live in a world without computers?

tomwaterford · 30-09-2017 10:51PM

Sam Kade wrote: »

Early 80's 1.6 32mpg 2016 1.6 40 mpg if you drive like a granny.

And which engine

of the early 80s

Sam Kade · 30-09-2017 11:00PM

tomwaterford wrote: »

And which engine of the early 80s

What are you on about? Over 30 years not much improvement in mpg.

Permabear · 30-09-2017 11:01PM

This post has been deleted.

REXER · 30-09-2017 11:03PM

tomwaterford wrote: »

It's increased 6 fold since the 70s??
(Going by what we were taught anyways)

A 1.6 petrol in the 70s vs 2017 is miles apart in effectiency (despite the 4 stroke engine being v.inefficent)

But sure look....you head out and work away with a spluttery troublesome carb ,if that's what your happy with

Along with the points and distributor!

Carry · 30-09-2017 11:09PM

Addisyn Rough Logging wrote: »

Agreed. Not everything is available on the internet and what is, by that very fact, is known and well used. I had, for example, to seek out 18th Century letters in Germany to see the birth of a theory and to get a feel for the process that led to it, for a PhD. I still can't find that material on the internet.

Of course the internet is wonderful and I love it but it's not the be all and end all.

Indeed it gets my goat at times when I refer to a study on a subject and someone posts "post a link" when the study is published in hardcopy only or is only available in a particular archive.

Ah, that's interesting

. I once did research for 18th century biographical information (on a once famous but long forgotten artist) at the state library in Berlin.
It was a stunning experience to be lead to the sanctuary of the library, getting cotton gloves and being presented with original books and scripts which were never photocopied or digitalised, and never will. I had to do handwritten notes, there was no other way to memorize the information.
Recently I tried to find out about those scripts on the internet. No luck.

And I fully agree to the current fashion to "post a link" whenever you have an opinion or an information. There is no link to everything. There is a whole world beyond the internet.

twowheelsonly · 30-09-2017 11:10PM

The greatest computer of the lot is the one surrounded by your skull .
Living without that might be a bit tricky but I reckon I'd get by without the modern ones ....again !! I wouldn't want to do without one but I reckon I'd get by.
On the other hand, my daughter, who has grown up with computers and is profoundly physically disabled, would be seriously struggling.
She essentially has the use of one finger and some control over that hand but has managed to fly through school and college and run her social life via computer. I also have Alexa set up with her lights and plugs etc so she has some degree of control within her own room (and we're no longer called at 3 in the morning to come down and turn off her lights !! :mad:) Take all that away and she's goosed !!

tomwaterford wrote: »

It's increased 6 fold since the 70s??
(Going by what we were taught anyways)

A 1.6 petrol in the 70s vs 2017 is miles apart in effectiency (despite the 4 stroke engine being v.inefficent)

But sure look....you head out and work away with a spluttery troublesome carb ,if that's what your happy with

Well it was always the carb, the battery, the alternator or the belt and most of the time we could fix them ourselves. Almost everyone that could drive could also find their way around an engine bay. Now it's a chip !! A chip that costs €500 to replace so it can tell you there's something else gone wrong that costs another €500 !! All those MPG savings aren't long disappearing once super duper engine develops a fault :rolleyes:

Sam Kade · 30-09-2017 11:16PM

tomwaterford wrote: »

It's increased 6 fold since the 70s??
(Going by what we were taught anyways)

A 1.6 petrol in the 70s vs 2017 is miles apart in effectiency (despite the 4 stroke engine being v.inefficent)

But sure look....you head out and work away with a spluttery troublesome carb ,if that's what your happy with

Tom, what mpg do you think 1.6 cars were doing in the 1970's?

http://blog.consumerguide.com/5-most-fuel-efficient-cars-of-1976/

tomwaterford · 30-09-2017 11:17PM

Sam Kade wrote: »

What are you on about? Over 30 years not much improvement in mpg.

Simply put...by 1980 a lot of engines were electronic injection

You can comprehend that to use electronic injection takes a computer?

Like I said....if you wish to harp back to a time before computers...head out and put a carb into your car....it's all the one to me,like..I'm bit bored now tbh

....just I cannot believe people still think times before computers were better...it's like passing up working a proper modern tractor with all the gizmos to go pulling and tearing outta levers in an ould type fiat or something :pac:

Sam Kade · 30-09-2017 11:20PM

tomwaterford wrote: »

Simply put...by 1980 a lot of engines were electronic injection

You can comprehend that to use electronic injection takes a computer?

Like I said....if you wish to harp back to a time before computers...head out and put a carb into your car....it's all the one to me,like..I'm bit bored now tbh

....just I cannot believe people still think times before computers were better...it's like passing up working a proper modern tractor with all the gizmos to go pulling and tearing outta levers in an ould type fiat or something :pac:

Look at the last post.

Sam Kade · 30-09-2017 11:25PM

tomwaterford wrote: »

Simply put...by 1980 a lot of engines were electronic injection

You can comprehend that to use electronic injection takes a computer?

Like I said....if you wish to harp back to a time before computers...head out and put a carb into your car....it's all the one to me,like..I'm bit bored now tbh

....just I cannot believe people still think times before computers were better...it's like passing up working a proper modern tractor with all the gizmos to go pulling and tearing outta levers in an ould type fiat or something :pac:

Tom, guess what I've a pre computer tractor, no electrics to go wrong and an easy fix

My neighbours tractors PTO stopped working a few days ago, he had to contact the main dealer, my tractor is only a lever works every time

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 01-10-2017 09:47AM

tomwaterford wrote: »

Simply put...by 1980 a lot of engines were electronic injection

You can comprehend that to use electronic injection takes a computer?

Like I said....if you wish to harp back to a time before computers...head out and put a carb into your car....it's all the one to me,like..I'm bit bored now tbh

....just I cannot believe people still think times before computers were better...it's like passing up working a proper modern tractor with all the gizmos to go pulling and tearing outta levers in an ould type fiat or something :pac:

Nobody is saying it was better. The question was simply could you live in a world without computers. The fact remains that we did just that and still had cars and tractors that did their job back then. They were in no way superior to today's but they existed.

CalamariFritti · 01-10-2017 09:54AM

I use computers a lot in my private life like we all do, phones are computers btw. But I could live without them and it probably wouldn't be a bad thing at all. I'd actually have to entertain myself with 'real stuff' like sports or culture or people for example more than simply plonking myself in front of the computer going on boards or playing a silly game or watching some netflix or whatever.
I'd have to re-educate however, without computers I wouldn't have a job.

donegaLroad · 01-10-2017 10:05AM

Until I was about 13, there were very few computers. We had a Spectrum 128 and our cousins had a commadore 64. Life was simple back then.

Widdershins · 01-10-2017 11:07AM

Thanks to growing up with people with no great interest in the internet, I can take it or leave it. I enjoy what it offers and makes possible for me but I've never had an enjoyable time and left feeling enlightened and stimulated after sitting with a screen, in the way I do when I sit and chat with a person with interesting stories to tell.

OP doesn't specify personal computers or computers of all kinds including the ones that run machines.

What do people want faster cars for, drivers and roads aren't capable of handling more speed. And going faster when you feel the car under you less and less is quite stupid.

AMKC · 01-10-2017 11:30AM

tomwaterford wrote: »

Your average car contains 10-15 mini computers/ecu.....hope you've a descent bike to get about

I don,t drive so ye that really does not worry me. I also think the world would be a better place with less dirty diesel cars in it too.

AMKC · 01-10-2017 12:06PM

twowheelsonly wrote: »

The greatest computer of the lot is the one surrounded by your skull .
Living without that might be a bit tricky but I reckon I'd get by without the modern ones ....again !! I wouldn't want to do without one but I reckon I'd get by.
On the other hand, my daughter, who has grown up with computers and is profoundly physically disabled, would be seriously struggling.
She essentially has the use of one finger and some control over that hand but has managed to fly through school and college and run her social life via computer. I also have Alexa set up with her lights and plugs etc so she has some degree of control within her own room (and we're no longer called at 3 in the morning to come down and turn off her lights !! :mad:) Take all that away and she's goosed !!

Well it was always the carb, the battery, the alternator or the belt and most of the time we could fix them ourselves. Almost everyone that could drive could also find their way around an engine bay. Now it's a chip !! A chip that costs €500 to replace so it can tell you there's something else gone wrong that costs another €500 !! All those MPG savings aren't long disappearing once super duper engine develops a fault :rolleyes:

On the other hand, my daughter, who has grown up with computers and is profoundly physically disabled, would be seriously struggling.
She essentially has the use of one finger and some control over that hand but has managed to fly through school and college and run her social life via computer. I also have Alexa set up with her lights and plugs etc so she has some degree of control within her own room (and we're no longer called at 3 in the morning to come down and turn off her lights !! :mad:) Take all that away and she's goosed !!

Great point and great to hear that computers can make her life much better and easier for her.

It is amazing what computers can do for people that are not as lucky as the rest of us but I also think because they have not been as lucky that they learn to use there most important organ and muscle in the body the brain a lot more than the average person. We can get lazy sometimes but maybe I am wrong I don,t think they would be as lazy. Just look at Stephen Hawking or Joanne O'Riordan. These two people are amazing and super smart. He never let the disease he got stop him from living his life and computers have been of great benefit to him too or her the disorder she has. She has never let it stop her living her from living her life and thanks to computers she can do as much as most people and she is very funny and smart too.

Widdershins · 01-10-2017 12:35PM

Someone mentioned the gizmos on tractors. I don't know about them but when driving a modern car I never, ever use any of the buttons/touch screens. I hate them. There is nothing there that I need or want to use. The same with phones. I'm sure some apps are handy but most seem a bit idiotic. They're just electronic shiny things for people with tiny attention spans. The drive is the thing with a car, and the repairability and straightforwardness of a vehicle that isn't full of sensitive and expensive little chips. I cannot stand modern vehicles. Plus, they get uglier and more bulky every year.

Pac1Man · 01-10-2017 01:02PM

This kind of topic always brings out the hipsters and the back-in-my-day folk.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 01-10-2017 01:57PM

Pac1Man wrote: »

This kind of topic always brings out the hipsters and the back-in-my-day folk.

Any suggestion as to how one can discuss living without computers and not refer to when such a thing was actually achieved?

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo · 01-10-2017 02:16PM

Maybe the OP could have made the distinction between computers and the internet. Although they are synonymous with each other now.

Without the internet we would still drive places, ring each other, planes flew, boats sailed, books were read, music could be listened to ect.

Life would be exponentially worse if we didn't have computerised technology.

I would miss the internet terribly, but it falls more towards convenience than 'essential for living a life'.

Samaris · 01-10-2017 02:21PM

My childhood was just about before computers was a huge thing, so I remember dem days and all, but I'd find it hard to give up all computer-related devices now (you will wrest my kindle from my cold dead hands, etc).

If there was a global power surge that knocked out all computers, I guess I'd have a lot more to worry about than whether my laptop was working, so I'd probably adapt just fine to that, given the rest of the stuff that would inevitably go badly.

M.T. Cranium · 01-10-2017 06:44PM

I will mail in my answer, so it's

Boards.ie
After Hours Forum
Can We Get Along Without Computers

I just need the rest of it.

Hal1 · 01-10-2017 06:53PM

I lived without a pc or a mobile for the first 25 years. Then the 286 arrived...

Wanderer78 · 01-10-2017 07:08PM

the majority of the population of the planet would probably die fairly quickly if every computer in the world went boom, so id give it a no.

FizzleSticks · 01-10-2017 07:30PM

This post has been deleted.

badabing106 · 01-10-2017 07:32PM

The agricultural revolution was a mistake which led to more hardships, but once a technology takes hold in society, it is not possible to reverse

Rubberchikken · 01-10-2017 07:37PM

Of course I could. They're a great invention but having grown up without them I'd have no problem. It's the people 35 and down I'd worry about (If I cared enough)

Widdershins · 02-10-2017 10:26AM

Rubberchikken wrote: »

Of course I could. They're a great invention but having grown up without them I'd have no problem. It's the people 35 and down I'd worry about (If I cared enough)

We're not all born with a USB port for a brain, luckily

Sleepy · 03-10-2017 01:05PM

I daydream about it quite a bit actually. I know I'd struggle to learn skills as quickly as I can in the internet age but I think I'd rather enjoy a simpler lifestyle of living off the land, building things myself etc. I'd love to do that Bear Grylls show The Island but you need a British passport to apply.

sbsquarepants · 03-10-2017 01:10PM

Could I? Absolutely

Would I like too? Absolutely not!

Computers are far too ubiquitous now, life with out them would require too enormous an adjustment to go smoothly.

Could you live in a world without computers?

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