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Often people believe that they are using the computer when in fact the computer is using them. My first computer was a DOS machine with BASIC. If I wanted to p

Often people believe that they are using the computer when in fact the computer is using them. My first computer was a DOS machine with BASIC. If I wanted to play games I had to write them. No ads. No algorithm. The key lesson is that computers are general purpose machines that you can bend to your will.

deadbabe 2y ago
This isn’t really a lesson. Not everyone cares about computers or is destined to spend their lives tinkering with them. Most people are content with simply thinking of computers as a magic box that does things and going on with their lives. And maybe there’s nothing wrong with that. Not everything needs to be bent to your will. In very old days kids would have had to build their own toys instead of going to a toy store. Is there some lesson there?
- thomasfedb 2y ago
  The lesson is that you are not required to express yourself in terms of what’s been designed by others and placed on shelves in jewel wrap.
- bryant 2y ago
  > In very old days kids would have had to build their own toys instead of going to a toy store. Is there some lesson there? Probably, yes. People have a better appreciation for what they build[0] and seem to also be more mindful about the usage of what they build[1]. Wouldn't surprise me if this extends to tech, too, but I couldn't find anything that explored this. [0] https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/11-091.pdf https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/11-091.pdf [1] https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11002-018-9465-6 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11002-018-9465-6
KMnO4 2y ago
I remember being so excited when I found out I could get computer game books at the library. I would take one out, and spend the next hour typing out several pages of "Tour de France" in BASIC, then another hour figuring out where my typos were, so that I could spend the rest of the evening playing a primitive text based game. It was a simpler time.
poisonborz 2y ago
> If I wanted to play games I had to write them. This reminds me of "in my childhood we could only ate car tires for breakfast, then walked 10km to school barefoot, chased by a bear" posts. You most definitely did not need to write your own DOS games, they were abundant.

deadbabe 2y ago

This isn’t really a lesson. Not everyone cares about computers or is destined to spend their lives tinkering with them. Most people are content with simply thinking of computers as a magic box that does things and going on with their lives. And maybe there’s nothing wrong with that. Not everything needs to be bent to your will. In very old days kids would have had to build their own toys instead of going to a toy store. Is there some lesson there?

thomasfedb 2y ago
The lesson is that you are not required to express yourself in terms of what’s been designed by others and placed on shelves in jewel wrap.
bryant 2y ago
> In very old days kids would have had to build their own toys instead of going to a toy store. Is there some lesson there? Probably, yes. People have a better appreciation for what they build[0] and seem to also be more mindful about the usage of what they build[1]. Wouldn't surprise me if this extends to tech, too, but I couldn't find anything that explored this. [0] https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/11-091.pdf https://www.hbs.edu/ris/Publication%20Files/11-091.pdf [1] https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11002-018-9465-6 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11002-018-9465-6

KMnO4 2y ago

I remember being so excited when I found out I could get computer game books at the library. I would take one out, and spend the next hour typing out several pages of "Tour de France" in BASIC, then another hour figuring out where my typos were, so that I could spend the rest of the evening playing a primitive text based game. It was a simpler time.

poisonborz 2y ago

> If I wanted to play games I had to write them. This reminds me of "in my childhood we could only ate car tires for breakfast, then walked 10km to school barefoot, chased by a bear" posts. You most definitely did not need to write your own DOS games, they were abundant.