# What Would Ever Have Become of Them? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 27, 1999, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-ever-have-become-of-them/5594 "1999-12-27T02:43:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![NanoByte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecc23a/32.png) [@NanoByte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NanoByte)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 1999, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-ever-have-become-of-them/5594/1 "1999-12-27T02:43:00Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 1999, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-ever-have-become-of-them/5594/2 "1999-12-27T04:33:00Z")
Here’s my wild ass guess: 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. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 1999, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-ever-have-become-of-them/5594/3 "1999-12-27T08:01:00Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 1999, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-ever-have-become-of-them/5594/4 "1999-12-27T19:41:00Z")
**Finagle** I am a computer programmer and I would be offended by your comments, if they weren’t so accurate. * * * Virtually yours, DrMatrix ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 1999, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-ever-have-become-of-them/5594/5 "1999-12-27T22:11:00Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![NanoByte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecc23a/32.png) [@NanoByte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NanoByte)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 1999, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-ever-have-become-of-them/5594/6 "1999-12-28T06:06:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Now we not only fit in, we rule the world! Ha, ha, ha! Well, how come you guys can’t program it a little better then? It wobbles a bit and there’re too many commercials. Ray