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[C. Shawn Smith]

So, because of another thread, I've been wondering just how many of you remember the Ancient Times, when the Internet and your connection to it depended on the original AOL app, 2800 baud modems, and their ilk? 

I return to this topic internally from time to time, remembering a world that wasn't so immediate, where wikis and websites were nothing more than a dream in some teenager's eye who was about to make a fortune, a time when if you knew the original HTML 1.0 code, you would be making a six figure salary for a Fortune 500 company.

My first foray was through a friend, who had a 2800 baud modem connected to his Commodore 64, and ran a small BBS role-playing game there (his online monicker was Admiral Blaster).  I can remember my first C64, and not one to be out-done, purchased a 5600 baud modem, which I seldom used.  I can remember that first AOL machine, which purported to be able to communicate with anyone In the world at no charge, though I made scant use of it as well.

It wasn't until sometime around August of 1999 that my brother bought me my first real computer system, and became instantly addicted to the Internet and the various people and cultures I could suddenly interact with.  I had just begun an internal spiritual transformation within myself, and that interaction has shaped both my beliefs and loves of all cultures and beliefs, even if they contradict my own.

Now, I look back on that time period with both a bit of nostalgia (for life was so much slower then, and required more time and effort to gain the knowledge you were seeking), but in hindsight I look at what I can accomplish today and marvel at it.  20 years ago, I would never have seen something like Outerra, would never have communicated with people (in real time, or near real time) from Slavakia, South Africa, Russia, the European nations, South America, etc.  My horizons have expanded so much that almost nothing surprises me anymore, especially when it comes to culture.

Five years ago, I worked animal control (boy, is that 180 from what I was doing both before and after), and met a family from the Middle East, during a very difficult animal welfare investigation I was conducting.  They were quite skeptical and practically hostile to me at first, but when they spoke to me over the course of a few days, they understood that I was only doing a job, and wanted to help them as much as the dog that was involved.  At the end of the investigation, the elderly father, who was a very traditional Muslim, kissed my hand profusely, thanking me for helping him, his family, and his son's dog.  His son afterwards apologized about that, but I just smiled and said that I expected it and was honored.  He looked at me funny at first, and then shook my hand laughing.

I think about that incident, and others I've encountered in the last 13 years, realizing that the Internet, our current global society, and all of the people I've met from so disparate cultures have influenced me for the positive in a way that I still find myself shocked by from time to time.  It's incredible that I can have friends from these other countries and cultures, understand them and their beliefs on at least a basic level, and accept it without prejudice.  Though I was very open-minded back then, I see today my short-comings back then, and know the shock I would have had if I'd experienced this back then.

So what were your experiences, and how has things like Outerra, the Internet, and our global society changed you?  How different are you today than you were five, ten, twenty, or even thirty years ago, because of computers and the Internet?

C. Shawn Smith

[ZeosPantera]

56K (maybe the tail end of 33) was when I started. Borrowing my cousins AOL dialup account back when the phone companies still charged by the minute.

[Steve.Wilson]

Ah.  My first computer.  An IBM 360/50 that took up a ginormous, freezing room on the first floor of Kingsbury Hall at the University of New Hampshire.  Internet?  A fantasy.  We connected our _teletype_ keyboard only terminals via a 150 Baud telephone modem just like in Wargames (long before Wargames came out), and you typed your programs in one numbered line at a time...chugga chugga chugga.  And your storage media was a roll of paper tape with holes in it.  I well remember my first program.....  10 PRINT "HELLO WORLD" 20 END.....  the year was 1973.  You want slow, Shawn???  Those were the days.  Massive programs in BASIC....800 lines max.  All nighters at McConnell Hall because that's where the fast Texas Instruments terminals were that zipped along smoothly, printing with heat on special paper.  Paper that we used roll after roll.  Seeing the sun come up, experiencing dawn on a college campus before anyone else except the nutty jocks out running in the chilly, damp air.  Those were some days, my friend.  Talk about nostalgia!!

Ancient Times?  More like Pre-Historical! 

The internet changed my whole life, though.  That was where my pseudo-geekdom in college really grew legs.  College was just a poor means to an end, that being entry into the USAF.  Many years after I left the military, PC computing allowed me to find the joy of flight that I could actually afford through simulation, and the internet permitted me to be the engineer I wanted to be, although my talents are more artistic in nature and I truly stink at higher math.  But above all else, the internet allowed me to find others like myself, and to reach my real potential by interacting with them, solving problems together.  And it's the internet that has allowed me a connection to the aviation work that I hope to be doing again soon when my consulting client gets funded.  (And when that happens, the aviation world is going to get one heckuva neat new bit of tech).

[C. Shawn Smith]

Ahhh BASIC! The stories I could tell of that first foray, when my compsci class in 8th grade was nothing more than a typing class, until the computers finally got shipped in.  It's the reason I can type 90 wpm now, and why I wowed my teacher back then, creating programs in the first two weeks that took the rest of the class the rest of the semester

It was during that time that I was watching movies and tv series like Explorers, The Last Starfighter, and then later Babylon 5, when I realized the true power of the computer (let alone the Internet, which allowed me to correspond with the geniuses who DID the graphics for all those programs).

I do fantasy art as a hobby, but through my Internet connections, I have befriended (and was befriended by) such greats as R.K.Post (of Magic The Gathering Fame), Michael Calandra, and many many other artists.  I've been in contact with authors of some of fantasy/sci fi's greatest fiction, have touched base with American planetologists, and people that 20 years ago, would have been completely closed off to me.

There's such an excess of wealth here that it sometimes scares me.

I was born in 71 so didn't know the very earliest of days, but I remember one of the last Moon landings, and the Viking landings, and remember years later being told that my senior high school calculator had more computing power than both missions combined.  Still find that hard to believe, but still ...

C. Shawn Smith

[Jagerbomber]

I had AOL Dial-up until around 2003 I think... Switched to AT&Turd 1.5Mbps DSL and that's where we're still at about 9 years later.  Thanks for no upgrades AT&T! 

Funny timing with this topic because Google Fiber just launched their website today for their Gigabit internet which is only available in Kansas City for now.  1 Gigabit/1000 (or 1024) Megabits/s for $70 a month! ($300 fee waived).  They also have 1 lower tier at the moment and guess what?  Other than the fees, it's 5Mb/s for free!  Yes, that's still kind of slow by today's (US) standards and might not even be able to load a 1080 video fast enough still, but that's over 4 times what I get at my house for "free!"  Soooo jealous. 
https://fiber.google.com/about/
Oh and also... NO DATA CAP!