In today’s corrupt world of computers, there are many, many folks madly cranking out intricate programs for those things. What exactly was it persons with that sort of talent used to choose to do, prior to the coming of age of the computer?
As a hardware engineer, I used to do a certain amount of coding of microprocessors, but I was definitely not in league with those who today spin out all the tediously generated wild stuff that appears today on the horizon to fill up multigigabyte hard drives. Back in school, liberal-artists regarded engineers as nerds, but I wouldn’t say many of the then-engineers were anything like the software geeks of today. Such geeks are also quite different from mathematicians. What was it their genetic ancestors used to do for a living? I don’t think they wove oriental rugs. Did, perchance, a bunch of genes suddently mutate upon exposure to digital hardware?
If one had a curious nature or a zest for learning, the Church was pretty much your best bet. You could become literate, become a scribe and maybe when feeling mischevious, slip a word in edgewise.
Well, let’s see. Computer scientist have a reputation for being unfashionable, over-educated geeks who speak a language only their fellow computer scientists can speak and who don’t date.
Five hundred years ago, monks wore tonsures and rope sandals, were more educated than most, spoke Latin, and weren’t permitted to date. Sounds like a match to me.
The MST3K guys riffed a 60s era horror movie that had a geeky character they charitably described as a “load”. One line they put into his mouth was, “Will somebody please invent computers so I have someplace to fit in?”
Thank god somebody did invent computers. Now we not only fit in, we rule the world! Ha, ha, ha!
My grandfather died as was resurrected on the third day, but no one called him the son of god. They just said, “Hey, look! There’s gramps!” – Steve Martin
world of computers, there are many, many folks madly cranking out intricate programs for those things. What exactly was it persons with that sort of talent used to choose to do, prior to the coming of age of the computer?