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primesuspect
The Icrontic Guy
primesuspect
27,803 Posts
24 Aug 2008, 5:54pm

Question A question for a lazy Sunday

Perry asked me today:

If computers weren't invented, what would you be doing for a living?

Think about it. It's a lot more difficult than I thought at first. Really made me think.
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Thrax
Cad
Thrax
23,417 Posts
24 Aug 2008, 5:56pm
Writing for a newspaper. Heh.
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Nomad
-
Nomad
3,503 Posts
24 Aug 2008, 6:00pm
Dying alone in a gutter.
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primesuspect
The Icrontic Guy
primesuspect
27,803 Posts
24 Aug 2008, 6:18pm
That's exactly what I said, Thrax. I said I'd either be working for a newspaper, or making movies.
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MrBill
Support Our Troops
MrBill
2,135 Posts
24 Aug 2008, 6:20pm
Interesting question.

I would probably still be working in the automotive aftermarket parts business, but not as a distribution systems manager. Really hard to say what position I might hold today (without the invention of computers). I had already worked at a retail auto parts store for 7 years before we had computers. Touched my first computer when I was 25 years old!
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Winfrey
kaishakunin
Winfrey
1,860 Posts
24 Aug 2008, 6:23pm
I probably would have realized I wanted to be a teacher about 3 semesters earlier.
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V|P
Formerly SCAR
V|P
1,430 Posts
24 Aug 2008, 6:26pm
Quoting primesuspect
...or making movies.
Would the movie industry really be as big as it is without computers?
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fatcat
sasquatch wannabe
fatcat
3,990 Posts
24 Aug 2008, 6:42pm
playing golf
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Winfrey
kaishakunin
Winfrey
1,860 Posts
24 Aug 2008, 6:44pm
Quoting fatcat
playing golf
Professionally
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Gargoyle
We can't stop here...
Gargoyle
4,685 Posts

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24 Aug 2008, 7:50pm
Hmm, I guess it'd be hard to do computer mapping without computers. I'd probably be doing touchy-feely geography instead. My senior capstone project was on historical geography, so I might have continued on that path.
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fatcat
sasquatch wannabe
fatcat
3,990 Posts
24 Aug 2008, 7:54pm
Quoting FreeC8675
Professionally
i have a job that doesnt require a computer, so...
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UPSLynx
The Dean of Computer Graphics
UPSLynx
2,141 Posts
24 Aug 2008, 8:01pm
Great question. I can visualize this being a Prime tweet soon enough.

Really hard to answer, computers have been a major part of my life for so long. I have to really reach back.

I'd like to say I'd (still) be pursuing a career in filmmaking. That's squelched by the fact that my interest in that field escalated because of computers. non-linear editing and computer animation specifically push me in that direction. Without those two technologies, who knows?

I'd probably be pursuing a career in photography (stills). I originally went to school pursuing photog. Didn't see it as being very lucrative so I moved forward.

This question really makes you think about the core of what it is you love to do. I love telling stories. What mediums would allow me to do that without a computer? writing, perhaps, or maybe even illustration based like comics.

Dangit, computers literally made me the man I am today!
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Black Hawk
Metaphysically wrinkle free
Black Hawk
4,121 Posts
24 Aug 2008, 8:26pm
Nothing, since I only deliver computer parts to help my dad.
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csimon
Veteran Icrontian
csimon
7,069 Posts
24 Aug 2008, 9:15pm
I'd be doing what I did before computers came around ...manual technical drawing
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kryyst
CTRL+ALT+DEL
kryyst
5,166 Posts
24 Aug 2008, 10:02pm
I'd probably have gotten into construction or some other kind of trade, industrial electrician or plumber.
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Clutch
I'm the man in the box
Clutch
4,805 Posts
25 Aug 2008, 12:22am
I would be installing elevators like my last job was.
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Lincoln
Snapperhead
Lincoln
15,966 Posts
25 Aug 2008, 12:41am
Teaching high school.
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Kwitko
Sheriff of Dicktown
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25 Aug 2008, 12:46am
Lawyer. WHAT!?!?!

I told prime he'd be a photographer for Playboy.
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Nomad
-
Nomad
3,503 Posts
25 Aug 2008, 1:05am
Quoting V|P
Would the movie industry really be as big as it is without computers?
Porn was popular before computers.
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Gnome Queen
Ms. D
Gnome Queen
1,415 Posts
25 Aug 2008, 1:25am
I would probably still be becoming a high school teacher, though I would probably consider becoming a literature professor.
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PurplezArctic
Crashing out at supermarts.
PurplezArctic
301 Posts
25 Aug 2008, 2:50am
For me, however, this is a very easy question to answer. My plan currently is to pursue a career in graphic design, so it may seem obvious to continue a career in art. I would either find myself painting or being a graphic illustrator without computers.
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Nomad
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Nomad
3,503 Posts
25 Aug 2008, 3:04am
Quoting PurplezArctic
For me, however, this is a very easy question to answer. My plan currently is to pursue a career in graphic design, so it may seem obvious to continue a career in art. I would either find myself painting or being a graphic illustrator without computers.
The vast majority of graphic designers and illustrators who do their work on computers would not exist in that field when. Hand illustration and manual graphic design aren't exactly fall back careers.
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RWB
Thank God for Blue Monsters
RWB
7,357 Posts
25 Aug 2008, 3:36am
No computers? I'd be out back playing with my stick. Though I always wanted to be one of those cool, old fashioned guys running his own bar with the swinging doors or running my own barbershop with that spinning candycane thing
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drasnor
124 Golden Eye Drive
drasnor
2,292 Posts
25 Aug 2008, 3:56am
Flight Engineer on an airship.

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QCH
Guru
QCH
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25 Aug 2008, 4:25am
History Professor at a college... Car Mechanic.... Haz Waste.... Probably one of the later ones while working towards the first.
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Crazy Joe
Cousin Zeke
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25 Aug 2008, 5:14am
I would still be teaching, just math or history, not computers.
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bothered
pondering and wandering along
bothered
4,548 Posts
25 Aug 2008, 7:20am
I am doing the same job I did before computors were invented anyway, I'd just have a lot less bs at work without them.
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Gate28
Resides in your bowels
Gate28
964 Posts
25 Aug 2008, 8:44am
id be a rawk star

...or I would be a fiction writer
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CB
Doktor Schnabel von Rom
CB
5,966 Posts
25 Aug 2008, 2:42pm
I'd still be a collegiate instructor, I think. I would just be teaching R/T/F Production instead of Computer Science as my secondary teaching focus. English would still be my primary teaching focus, but I'd have to do it a lot differently.

A bigger difference in my life would be social: Only very few of my good friends were met in a way that didn't have to do with computers. Most of my closest friends I met in computer classes in high-school. Most of the rest of my friends were met in online forums or video games. I met my wife on an online matchmaking site.

My friends have made a big impact on my life, and there is no way to even guess where my life would have gone with different friends, or even who those friends might have been.
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GHoosdum
tequilavangelist
GHoosdum
10,277 Posts
25 Aug 2008, 5:51pm
I'd probably be in either some form of consulting work or I may have pursued one of my earlier interests, general contractor.

Good point about the friends, CB. It would be a true shame to have never met another Icrontian.
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TvManPwns
The drink of champions.
TvManPwns
155 Posts
26 Aug 2008, 3:49pm
Well, considering my life has been rather short and the past 3-4 years has been focused on nothing but computers I would say for one I wouldn't be typing this out right now because I wouldn't be at school wasteing time and slacking on getting my comp technichions diploma. So basically I might just be a super fat vegetable that finds it hard to get up off of the couch cause he's watching tv.... In other words what I was like 3-4 years ago .
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RADA
New Icrontian
RADA
2,297 Posts
26 Aug 2008, 6:38pm
Quoting primesuspect
That's exactly what I said, Thrax. I said I'd either be working for a newspaper, or making movies.
I agree - you've got too much geek in ya' not to be doing something technology related. Probably be elbow deep in a huge printing press fixing/improving it, or inventing some new camera for the movie industry...
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it.padawan
Meatshield and ammo bearer
it.padawan
1 Posts
26 Aug 2008, 9:14pm
What a question! Probably still doing something in bookkeeping/accounting but my fingers would be inky - ack! ledgers! One thing is sure...my handwriting would be much neater. Anyone else see a deterioration in penmanship due to word processing programs?
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Winga
Swimming Against Time
Winga
1,838 Posts
28 Aug 2008, 6:42am
Pretty much what I'm doing now. Financial Advisors have been around for centuries.
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PurplezArctic
Crashing out at supermarts.
PurplezArctic
301 Posts
28 Aug 2008, 7:55pm
Quoting Nomad
The vast majority of graphic designers and illustrators who do their work on computers would not exist in that field when. Hand illustration and manual graphic design aren't exactly fall back careers.
Now that I think about it, your absolutely right.. I can't see myself making a comfortable living doing the manual part of design. I suppose I'll have to rethink my answer.

::Edit::

Author in fiction.
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Leonardo
F@H Reign of Terror is back!
Leonardo
14,703 Posts
29 Aug 2008, 7:19am
I'd be doing the same thing I'm doing now - researching, consulting, analyzing, reporting. It would just be at a much slower pace. Yeah, I used to do that through typewriters, pen and paper, and printed materials.
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TheSmJ
Whatever!
TheSmJ
3,985 Posts
29 Aug 2008, 11:47pm
Something zoology related for sure.
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Black Hawk
Metaphysically wrinkle free
Black Hawk
4,121 Posts
30 Aug 2008, 3:06am
Quoting TheSmJ
Something zoology related for sure.
Haven't the animals suffered enough?
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rolleggroll
Love by the TSA
rolleggroll
453 Posts
30 Aug 2008, 11:13am
I'd probably be a boring alcoholic. Getting porn would be so much more troublesome and expensive.

Otherwise, I would probably be a baker or something dealing with the food creation industry.
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-tk
incorporate
-tk
386 Posts
30 Aug 2008, 4:51pm
music teacher...I quit school to go into IT. The pay is better and I don't have to teach disinterested kids about minor thirds.
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TiberiusLazarus
I Miss Keebler
TiberiusLazarus
769 Posts

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30 Aug 2008, 7:10pm
Hard question. Most of my life I've known that I wanted to work with computers, though never really sure exactly what I would do with them. But I think I've always thought it would be interesting to work with cooking, like a chef or something. Don't think I could stand to do any sort of teaching, people annoy me too much.
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airbornflght
McLovin
airbornflght
5,567 Posts
30 Aug 2008, 8:08pm
Well hell. My interests as of 4th grade or so have been in computers. And my primary major is MIS (computers with some consulting thrown in) so I'm not sure. I'd probably still be in the business school, most likely pursuing an entrepreneurial degree since I eventually want to be my own man at some point anyway.
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tmh88
Custom User Title
tmh88
2,487 Posts
1 Sep 2008, 4:36pm
If there were no computers I'd invent computers.
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Armo, thanks for hosting
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UPSLynx
The Dean of Computer Graphics
UPSLynx
2,141 Posts
1 Sep 2008, 5:27pm
Now now TMH, that's cheating.
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tmh88
Custom User Title
tmh88
2,487 Posts
2 Sep 2008, 6:13am
It's a job, isn't it?
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