Re: Modern computer users sent back in time...

[heuser.marcus@freenet.de]

N.N. Thayer wrote:
>
> The scenario is: take a bunch of programmers, system administrators,
> hardware techies, et cetera and unceremoniously dump them in the
> 1960's.  They come only with their existing knowledge, and must adjust
> it accordingly if they are to continue along their line of work.

Interesting scenario!

Sounds a bit like the "Life on Mars" TV series where an English police
detective is 'sent back' to the seventies after he had a car accident
(he presumably is in a coma and dreams all this stuff up).
He 'awakes' in an old Ford Cortina in clothes of that period and with
a fitting haircut and often runs flatly against a wall.
Ultimately he is able to adapt and can solve cases with the rest of
the precinct's staff. But he'll always be 'different'.

> What is the manner of this acclimation to a previous generation of
> technology?

Depends on the situation they are in. What is their "mission"?
Do they simply exist and try to live a "normal" live in their trade?
Or do they try to get ahead of their colleagues and become
"great inventors"?

> What challenges are faced?

As they arrive 'naked' they'll more or less have to invent everything
anew having only the goals and their experience and intelligence as
their tools.

They are surrounded by completely alien systems with bubble
memories and other funky technologies. Completely different
handling.

Less memory and less speed of course but they would surely
work with the best stuff that is available if someone recognizes
their abilities.
This would mean access to systems that could support some of
their ideas - be it hardware or software. Almost certainly mainframes.

A software guy will have to (re)learn old languages that nobody
uses anymore for real work. Maybe he wants to create his 'old'
environment first and discovers that many things he took for
granted don't even exist as an idea in his new time frame.

A hardware guy could be a great inventor if he builds something
he knows with much much smaller components. He doesn't have
the microprocessors of the seventies, yet.

An administrator would have to adapt really fast and will become
good at his work then - will he change the world?

However, it would almost certainly be much more bureaucratic
environment with rigid hierarchies (think IBM and not wild Silicon
Valley startups).


> Would someone in a specific occupation, such as a programmer,
> be more likely to pass the inevitable weeding process?

Difficult to say. They may present themselves (or their ideas) too
radical to be digestible.

It will ultimately boil down to their personal ability to adapt, I
guess.

bye
Marcus