Redartz: As we all sit around conversing, we are making use of various tech devices- smartphone, tablet, or laptop. Some of us may even have come to take such items for granted (not me yet, I still find myself amazed at the capabilities of my phone these days). But one thing we all have in common is the memory of a time before such innovations were available. We had surely seen the concept of high technology- in the form of Reed Richards' room-filling devices and Tony Stark's famous suit. But we largely hadn't experienced much technology beyond the television and radio.
'Back in the Bronze Age', we gradually gained access to certain technologies. I recall when pocket calculators were introduced, and thinking they were pretty amazing (and remember that they were not allowed in school, the thinking was we wouldn't learn math calculation if we relied on a device).
We had some early electronic games- remember Pong? First encountered this at our local bowling alley. My pals and I thought it was incredible, actually playing something on a tv screen! Little did we know what lie ahead within just a few years...
So.......what are your thoughts on technology? What were your earliest encounters with it? Video games? Were you one of those who got into computers early on? How did tech affect you, and your interests (cataloging my comic collection is infinitely easier now than it was in the 70's, all on index cards). Discuss anything tech, from tech-inspired comics and movies to your first cellular phone. Now pardon me while I go charge my tablet...
11 comments:
Red - Nice one!
Well, as I go through some tough times, it was recommended to keep a daily "list of things for which you are grateful." They can be big or small.
Technology has clearly enabled this blog... these great, sometimes really off beat, always enjoyable conversations!
And that tops my list of gratitudes this morning!
Cheers All!
I often think about the technological advances my parents have lived through and talk about this with my 92 year old Mom. In the late '20s in a small midwestern town, even indoor plumbing, cars and phones were just starting to be more normal. Dad out on a farm still had candlelight. Even I still remember certain relatives having party line phones as late as the 1980s.
When I was in grade school, I loved my battery operated robots. They either moved forward or backward with the switch of a button and some had random movements. Of course, now there are roombas and drones and so much more. Many of the things they were experiencing in fiction like Dick Tracy and Doc Savage would become reality in another 50 years!
I remember spending $150 for a calculator in 1977 that did basic math and algebraic functions. A few years later, my calculator could do programs for Physics and Calculus classes and most likely had much more memory and capabilities than the 1960s NASA missions.
William Shatner did ads for the early Commodore 64 computers. My friends had an early game system, Intellivision. I used up lots of quarters in the first Pac Man video games in 1981. Now we can go to incredibly immersive holodeck-type amusement park attractions!
I introduced my older nephew to Jonny Quest on VHS tapes. In fact, he taught himself to read just so he could figure out which tapes to watch from the TV shelf. From there, the newer generations of nephews and nieces saw JQ and Disney's Gargoyles on DVDs and Blu-Rays. Now they can fire up Disney+ on their choice of devices and watch all of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars with much less difficulty than it is for me.
And, though I still prefer comics and books to be hard copies in my hand, I am reading books on my phone ever now and again. Plus, I can listen to podcasts of just as many topics, though it sometimes feels like a throwback to my parents 'watching' shows on their radios.
Yes, we are definitely in an amazing age of technological advances. Who knows what we'll be able to do in 10 years time?!
Let's see...
I was the first kid in my class to have a pocket calculator, which cost the mammoth sum of £8, in, I think, 1976. It was made by Texas Instruments and couldn't fit into any normal person's pocket.
The first time I ever played a computer game was the aforementioned Pong, in 1975, on a machine in a cafeteria in the Isle of Man, that mystical land where the cats have no tails, the man on the flag has three legs and the locals still tell you pixies lurk behind every bush.
My first computer was a Commodore Vic-20, in 1983. It cost £140 and had a massive 3.5k memory. It was of no use for anything and, to be honest, I think I was robbed.
My school had had a computer but you were only allowed to use it if you were doing A-Level maths, on the grounds that normal people couldn't possibly learn how to use something as mind-bending as a computer.
Following on from what Disneymarvel's said above, when I was a kid, we'd go to visit my Grandmother's aunt who, given her age, must have been alive in the 19th Century. In retrospect, it seems amazing to me that, when she was a child, no one had ever flown a plane but, by the time she died, she'd seen men walking on the moon.
Yeah, I remember all those. I've gone through a number of calculators over the years. I spent a fair amount of time at the arcade pumping quarters into Defender, Gorf, Missile Command and so on.
I still have my Commodore 64 someplace (though we used Apple II+ and IIc's at school) and of course the Atari 2600 was a big deal at the time.
By the way, I see Marty Pasko has died; too bad, he wrote some pretty good Bronze Age stories for DC.
I'd also like to add non-IT/Telecomm improvements!
It's nothing for a car to get 150,000 miles these days. Back in the 60s, I guy who had a car for 100,000 miles was seen as some soft of guru! Not to mention safety, gas efficiency, tire life, etc.
My gas furnace. They were basically 50% efficient. Now they burn 99% of the gas and convert it to heat.
Viagra (so I hear) lol. No need to slaughter tigers, rhinos, etc. to eat their "parts" for "stamina."
Medicine: MRIs, various drugs for blood pressure, cholesterol...
Inexpensive travel! No longer must today's youth listen to their parent's out-dated view of the world! Especially so in America where parent's still think Europe is sending us its poor, tired, toothless masses!
Heya Teamsters--! Busy day--
And I'm killing time during a 2nd act of an online (ZOOM) play reading in which I don't appear after the first act. . .
A veritable BUFFET of possible little side topics here, eh? Solid post, Red--
C-Horse47-- regarding your last note there about inexpensive travel: I've been binge-listening to the Classic Radio detective series "Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar"-- and on his action-packed expense account he diligently lists air-fare. . . and the prices (NOT adjusted for inflation) are often in the same range as what we pay today. Who knew?
My Dad did get the "family" one of the very first-- er, PONG-knock-offs to hit the market, so we did get one quite early on. . . It was engaging for awhile-- but even then there was sort of a "this is it?" feeling to it.
Ha! Does anyone remember that very first pseudo-3D tank battle game? TANK COMMAND? BATTLEZONE? Something like that? It was one of those wire-framed objects games. I do recall a primordial bit of video-game lore that did the rounds: there was a "volcano" in the distance of the background... and the story was that if you drove your Tank all the way to it, you could climb the side and go into the crater, and get. . . lord knows what. . . Complete foolishness, of course.
And. . . ASTEROIDS. . . that damned near IMPOSSIBLE control system! I don't think I ever had a full game last longer than 90 seconds. . .
HB
Many thanks for the comments, all!
Charlie- great point about the bountiful benefits of technology , both high and low tech. Sometimes in forums such as ours we focus so much on the glorious past that we overlook the advantages we enjoy now. And as you mentioned, the availability to communicate like this is a big plus!
Disneymarvel- nice detailed response! Funny, is it not- that 150.00 you spent on that early calculator. What that same 150.00 would get you now in terms of processing capability...
And love that you spread the word about Jonny Quest to the next generations! Indeed, JQ introduced our generation to some of that technology we're discussing.
Steve DC- most impressive that you had the opportunity to visit with a relative with that much history behind her. Bet she had some fascinating tales to tell.
Mike W- yes, those Atari advertisements were everywhere. They sounded incredible at the time.
And yes, sorry to hear about the passing of Marty Pasko. Yet another prominent industry talent gone to the eternal Hall of Comics Fame.
HB- yep, those Asteroids games were Mighty Tough. Those '3-D' linear type games were big for awhile. I remember Tank Battle, but my favorite was "Red Baron". You flew a WW1 biplane, dodging enemy planes and ground fire, trying to blow up dirigibles. At least until your linear plane got hit and shattered into dozens of plummeting angular pieces...
Tech has certainly exponentially grown since those days.
Our first video game system was an off bran from K-Mart that had pong, breakout, breakaway and pinball. All the games seemed paddle related with a square ball. That was probably the mid to late '70's.
I remember getting a calculator watch for my birthday right around 1980, man I thought I was James Bond with that thing.
Does anyone remember early digital watches? The early ones that were red LED displays. I got an LCD watch in 1978 and it cost $80.00. By the mid-80s you could get a digital watch for about $5.00.
Travis Morgan
Killraven- yes, those watches have you a feeling right out of Dick Tracy. Of course now with Apple watches and Fitbit, we've kind of surpassed those old 'wrist radios '.
Travis M- Quite so, the red displays were emblematic of digital products back then. Clocks, watches, calculators; all had that warm crimson light. And on those calculators, some of us who were easily entertained got a kick out of entering 71077345. You turn the display upside down and you had "Shell Oil"...
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