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Weekend Open Forum: What if the Internet didn't exist?
Have you ever wondered what would life be like if the Internet didn't exist? The Internet as we know it had its early development in the 1960s as a point-to-point communication between mainframe computers. Then the TCP/IP protocol was standarized in the 80s, and by 1995 it was revolutionizing communication worldwide.
This tidbit of information from Wikipedia really caught my attention: "It is estimated that in 1993 the Internet carried only 1% of the information flowing through two-way telecommunication, by 2000 this figure had grown to 51%, and by 2007 more than 97% of all telecommunicated information was carried over the Internet."
Sure, people had already lived long and well without the Internet, just watch an episode of Mad Men and you'll get the drill, but for us, tech and computer enthusiasts that almost feels like going back to the stone age.
I remember with particular fondness the early days of connecting to the net using a dial-up modem and waiting an hour or two for the latest version of Netscape to finally download. Waking up in the early morning (4-5am) to download the latest game demos before my ISP's lines got too congested. Add to that your fair share of positive experiences using Amazon, Google, your instant messenger of choice, and most recently social networking sites and the on-the-go capabilities of today's smartphones.
But aside from all that, remove the Internet and I'd be left without TechSpot, my true and only full-time job in the past decade. Heck, without the Internet I may have become an architect or a doctor instead.
What would you do if the Internet never existed, or why not, if the Internet somehow ceased to exist? Discuss.
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User Comments (79)
Post a comment|
chaboi390
on August 6, 2011 3:27 AM |
What if there is no internet? Hmmm well, i wouldn't be able to type in "FIRST" in the comments |
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red1776
on August 6, 2011 3:44 AM |
Weekend Open Forum: What if the Internet didn't exist? Al Gore's claim would be merely puzzling. |
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Guest
on August 6, 2011 3:50 AM |
I've worked in Dell for the last 17 years and without the internet Dell would probably not have grown as big as it did and I may have never have worked for them |
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thewind
on August 6, 2011 4:13 AM |
The world would implode! |
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Mindwraith
on August 6, 2011 4:39 AM |
we would still have to get up at 6am and drive to a building to attend our jobs every day =_= |
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ramonsterns
on August 6, 2011 4:47 AM |
There would be a whole lot of bored people to deal with. And we all know what happens when a lot of people get bored, right? |
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ET3D
on August 6, 2011 5:10 AM |
If the internet didn't exist something equivalent would have been invented. |
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bakape
on August 6, 2011 6:13 AM |
ET3D said: If the internet didn't exist something equivalent would have been invented. A new addictive drug perhaps - HTTP? |
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Archean
on August 6, 2011 6:24 AM |
Internet never really influenced my career so I would still be doing exactly the same things in exactly the same sequence. Now that out of the way, I think without internet a) world's population growth rate would have been umm far greater b) we would still be playing games like Prince of Persia / Pac Man (and the likes) c) securing computers would not have been an issue like it is today d) we wouldn't have any open source stuff e) we wouldn't have facecook f) we (probably) wouldn't have any malware + spyware g) and importantly Obama would never have been able to become president |
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yorro
on August 6, 2011 7:27 AM |
Hint1: Just ask people who lived in the 80s. Hint2: Its not anything like the dark ages. |
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edison5do
on August 6, 2011 8:11 AM |
bakape said: ET3D said: If the internet didn't exist something equivalent would have been invented. A new addictive drug perhaps - HTTP? Add in Some FaceBook Pills, And MMORPG on Veins.! |
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Guest
on August 6, 2011 8:14 AM |
World would have been saved from Justin Bieber |
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dedparrot
on August 6, 2011 8:24 AM |
Without the internet, I'd be so stupid. |
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Lokalaskurar
on August 6, 2011 9:00 AM |
Guys would still know what a telefax is. Girls would still be told the virtue of making short telephone calls. Aliens would still think we're all ******. |
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Trillionsin
on August 6, 2011 9:30 AM |
without the internet... i'd have hobbies such as cycling, playing the guitar, wood crafting, metal fabrication... now all i do is learn shit and play with computers... what good will this do me in life?! hahahah |
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Guest
on August 6, 2011 9:33 AM |
Easy, there would be someone else. cmolinap. |
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M1r
on August 6, 2011 9:37 AM |
Without the internet, I'd be stupid - I use the internet for like 90% of my research. |
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Guest
on August 6, 2011 9:51 AM |
When I think "the world without internet," I think broadband-internet. Before the broadband era, it really wasn't the internet as we know it today. It was an expensive, pay per minute luxury that few people could afford and only people who really needed it for job purposes had an internet connection. Gamers were still gathering for LAN parties at this point. Nobody I know does that anymore, apart from these massive anual events. I could say I remember a time when nobody knew what the internet was, but I can't say I remember it well. I was born in 1979, and I didn't get internet until around 2000 when broadband got big in Norway. Before that, it was all about the LAN parties. I got my first apartment when I was 19 and my friends lived at my place for weeks at a time. I was buying computer-magazines with attached discs to get patches for games. That's the world without internet. Lots of hazzle + squatters. If the internet never existed, I'd still have friends living at my place and we'd all still be virgins. :P |
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nismo91
on August 6, 2011 10:34 AM |
i agree with most people here. and then console and split-screen games would be popular. |
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BMfan
on August 6, 2011 10:37 AM |
Without internet game developers would have to finish the game properly before selling it to people. |
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Guest
on August 6, 2011 11:04 AM |
We'd still be typing in long code examples from magazines instead of downloading them from a website. Remember those code examples that covered multiple pages?? |
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hitech0101
on August 6, 2011 11:43 AM |
A-holes like Mark Zuckerberg wouldnt be billionares & off course i would toast doing my college assignments without google books which i consider to be one of the biggest copyright breach in history, yup words of a hypocrite. |
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Scrub206
on August 6, 2011 11:44 AM |
No internet? i would probably be doing a little better at life... |
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Guest
on August 6, 2011 12:25 PM |
We'd be using pen and paper! |
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Guest
on August 6, 2011 2:36 PM |
We would survive. |
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