Say you found out that you had the opportunity to go back in time to the mid to late 80’s, back when BBS ruled, and the internet was something only snotty college kids used. You found out that the only thing you could bring was a desktop computer, but you were allowed to outfit it however you wished, could install anything you wanted, and could download all the data you wanted to.
However, you also found out that the “magic” that allowed you to travel back in time doesn’t allow you to do anything that greatly disrupts the time-space-continuum. So, basically, you can’t send data to your past self to make him rich, or change major life events (otherwise, you would never find yourself in the position to go in the past, PARADOX!!!) You also can’t sell the hardware of your future computer (Paradox!), and you also can’t do anything that would greatly change the future, no warning about 9/11, the dot-com bust, who wins the presidency, or anything like that.
Basically, you are sent back, as a normal person, knowing what you know now, with a normal desktop computer outfitted however you like, but can’t sell anything. You are stuck in this past, with no way to go back to where you came (it’s only 20 years, not like you’re lost in the way back past!).
So, what are you going to do? Pretend you came up with the greatest BBS door game ever? (even if you can’t update it), Be prepared tp be in the for front of the browser wars with your copy of Firefox? What are you going to do, with the limitation that you can’t totally chance the future (ignore the butterfly effect")?
If I can’t sell anything, can I buy anything? My first thought was download a database of every sporting result of the last 20 years, and then get to the bookies. Screw my past self - that guy was a jerk, and also an infant in the late 80s so he has limited opportunities to invest.
I’d also download Nethack and Dwarf Fortress, as with all my newfound wealth I’ll need something to occupy my time.
Are we allowed to use the computer for commercial exploitation of processing power? I could see going into business doing complex calculations, raytracings, etc. that took days or more on a 1980’s computer, charging less for more. We can assume that my marketing materials state that I have highly advanced processing capabilities, but assume that the customers don’t get to see the actual hardware, or if they do, they don’t see it as sufficiently different from 1980’s technology to raise a serious concern in their minds.
What good would a 2010 computer be in 1980? All the programs and systems are based on such advanced technology that you would not be able to use it beyond your desk top. All the programs are so bloated now. Transmission speeds were so slow. Nothing would communicate with your programs.
I understand your concept, but the details need to be filled in or it won’t work. You need some black box converter to interface with the 1980 world.
My bottom line is that going back is not that much fun when you know what was there. Going forward would be so much more fun.
I would totally plagiarize the RFCs for all of the networking protocols that invisibly make life awesome, from spanning tree protocol on up. That’d be a start.
It would be useful if I could connect the computer to the networks of the time. Can one get PCI-based 10BASE2 network cards? Anyone know? I’m reasonably confident that if the hardware is available then Linux will support the necessary protocols.
If I could take some network cards with me, I’d set up a peer-to-peer Gigabit network, then charge spectators to see how fast I could transmit data. Whee!!
I’d grab myself a nice memorable (and badass) screen name, and place myself at the forefront of every oncoming internet trend. Alt.newsgroups, geek chatrooms, 4chan in the early days… wherever script kiddies gathered. Based on this I could build up a pretty huge online network of rich geeks. I could place myself strategically to be friends with influential people (like Moot, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs etc) and perhaps get a cut by guiding them to what they would have discovered without me anyway.
I could easily save the contents of every popular webcomic ever written and make my own webcomic based on that material.
Or better: I WILL INVENT BLOGGING. Or, if I must refrain from convoluting causality, I’ll be like, the first major internet personality to start blogging right as blogging is invented.
Audio/MIDI interface, DAW with lots of effects and softsynths, and lots of hard drive space. Record, dump to analog tape or DAT, and no one is the wiser.
Buy stocks, gold, and make sports bets in moderation, like just a few real big bets you know you will win, and don’t forget you know who some bad people will be, either make sure others know or get rid of some of them yourself. Madoff for instance. You’d have time if you can’t go back to do all this.