4 ms·

After reading a couple of pages of this, I had one of those moments where I feel sort of like the earth is shifting beneath me, and everything feels unreal for

After reading a couple of pages of this, I had one of those moments where I feel sort of like the earth is shifting beneath me, and everything feels unreal for a moment. It struck me (hard) that in my lifetime, I have watched technology go from these printouts, to what we have today. I used my first BBS in around 1986, and it hadn't yet evolved terribly far from where it was when these archives were produced. It's both amazing and terrible (in the "extreme in extent or degree; intense" sense) to think about. In 1980, that was a pretty impressive piece of machinery, but it was not even in the same league as a smart watch today. But, raw numbers (32k, 1.5MB disks) don't begin to express how different the world we live in today is. At the time this BBS was almost unique. A few thousand people in the entire world used an online messaging system like this. Today about 3 billion people are online somehow, and the majority of people under 30 in the developed world use some sort of online messaging every day. Long distance telephone calls were expensive enough that few people made them more than occasionally. International communication was an extreme rarity except for the richest and most powerful. (And, 12 year old me had to break the law to communicate across the country, using stolen calling cards to call BBSes in other states.) The 8BBS software, unique and impressive for its time, was positively simplistic by today's standards. The BBS I ran back then operated on a similar system (BASIC plus an assembly communications core) called Color 64, and some little games and tweaks were the first real independent programming I ever did. Thinking back, I'm struck by how simple the system was--I printed out the entire BASIC source code on a small stack of paper, to study it--compared to the codebase I'm working on now (500,000 lines of code spanning four programming languages and 15 years of development). The world of computing was so small back then, and it is now probably the single most important industry in the world, touching billions of people's lives daily, in both good and bad ways (mostly good). I carry multiple supercomputers with me almost everywhere I go; my phone dwarfs the power of the first dozen, or more, computers I owned. And, equally importantly, it is connected to the world via satellite and cell tower at speeds beyond imagining in 1980. The first modem I used was 300 baud, and I could read the words as they came down the line. Now I can download a 1080p movie in 30 minutes, and when Google Fiber arrives, the same download will be almost instant. All of this change has happened in my lifetime; heck, I was old enough to participate in BBS culture a few short years after these archives began. And I don't even feel that old. I've got a few grey hairs in my beard, but I'm not a grey beard, yet. Moore's law predicted (and maybe even drove) the increasing transistor count, but couldn't have predicted the vast difference in what computers would become and where they would reach. 12 year old me wouldn't have believed in the stuff we have today. It's not jet packs or personal space ships, but it's pretty neat. And, despite the general silliness that seems to pervade our industry lately (so many toy web apps consuming so much effort and brain power and investment), I suspect the general trend is accelerating rather than decelerating. We are constantly on the cusp of revolutionary change, and have been since most of us have been alive. It was suggested by some in the 19th (and 20th) century that invention had peaked and that it would only be a process of improvement from then on. I suspect people are still suggesting that, or thinking it. I even find myself in that mindset now and then, and I know better. I know I'm rambling here...but, the history in this archive is fascinating. I probably won't read more than a couple dozen more pages, as I feel vaguely like the best thing I can be doing is getting back to figuring out what the future is going to look like and figuring out how I can best be a part of it. I may not have as many years left ahead of me as I have behind me...it would be easy to let nostalgia win my mental bandwidth.

sekasi 12y ago
Great post. I think what you're referring to is Buckminster Fuller's 'Knowledge Doubling Curve'. I get a sense from your post that we're most likely roughly the same age and grew up in very similar circumstances. If you do get around to reading this comment, can I just ask; Do you feel a sense of marvel at where things have ended up, or disappointment? Thanks for a good read, as comments go.
- SwellJoe 12y ago
  "Do you feel a sense of marvel at where things have ended up, or disappointment?" Both. But, mostly marvel. I'd certainly hoped we would have made more progress on health and life extension by now (I started reading about it when I was maybe 15), but the progress that has been made is also wonderful. Hell, we're on the verge of an effective vaccine for malaria. That alone would be a miracle that saves about a million lives each year. And, I'd hoped space exploration would have gotten further. We seem to have lost vision on that front. The space shuttle was a bad idea, and I think it cost a lot of momentum only now being re-gained. And, flying cars. Where are the flying cars? I guess electric cars are almost as good. Maybe better in terms of reducing the harm humans do the earth. Which brings me to the disastrous behavior of humanity toward the environment. I was much more optimistic about humanity's willingness and ability to stave off climate change. We have only accelerated the destruction in my lifetime. That's a serious disappointment. I also think I'm just now beginning to understand some things about the global economy that aren't so flattering to humanity. My lavish developed-nation lifestyle is built on the suffering of people in poorer nations. My computer, phone, shoes, appliances, clothes, etc. are all made by near-slave labor in horrific conditions. Even if I try to minimize my impact in that regard (and I do), it's impossible not to be part of a pretty horrific system. That's disappointing, and not something I knew to think about (because the access to information needed to begin to understand it wasn't within my reach back then).
  - digi_owl 12y ago
    I marvel at the pace of the technical (mainframe in pocket), and despair at the uses (masses and masses of vapid trivia).

sekasi 12y ago

Great post. I think what you're referring to is Buckminster Fuller's 'Knowledge Doubling Curve'. I get a sense from your post that we're most likely roughly the same age and grew up in very similar circumstances. If you do get around to reading this comment, can I just ask; Do you feel a sense of marvel at where things have ended up, or disappointment? Thanks for a good read, as comments go.

SwellJoe 12y ago
"Do you feel a sense of marvel at where things have ended up, or disappointment?" Both. But, mostly marvel. I'd certainly hoped we would have made more progress on health and life extension by now (I started reading about it when I was maybe 15), but the progress that has been made is also wonderful. Hell, we're on the verge of an effective vaccine for malaria. That alone would be a miracle that saves about a million lives each year. And, I'd hoped space exploration would have gotten further. We seem to have lost vision on that front. The space shuttle was a bad idea, and I think it cost a lot of momentum only now being re-gained. And, flying cars. Where are the flying cars? I guess electric cars are almost as good. Maybe better in terms of reducing the harm humans do the earth. Which brings me to the disastrous behavior of humanity toward the environment. I was much more optimistic about humanity's willingness and ability to stave off climate change. We have only accelerated the destruction in my lifetime. That's a serious disappointment. I also think I'm just now beginning to understand some things about the global economy that aren't so flattering to humanity. My lavish developed-nation lifestyle is built on the suffering of people in poorer nations. My computer, phone, shoes, appliances, clothes, etc. are all made by near-slave labor in horrific conditions. Even if I try to minimize my impact in that regard (and I do), it's impossible not to be part of a pretty horrific system. That's disappointing, and not something I knew to think about (because the access to information needed to begin to understand it wasn't within my reach back then).
- digi_owl 12y ago
  I marvel at the pace of the technical (mainframe in pocket), and despair at the uses (masses and masses of vapid trivia).