“When I grew up we had gym at school, two or three dance classes after school, ice skating lessons, and all sorts of sports at our finger tips. We weren't glued to computers because they didn't exist, so being active was all we knew.”
Computers changed everything, and they did it fast. These quotes track the digital revolution from early wonder to modern dependence, with observations from programmers, technologists, and people still trying to figure out why their printer will not work.
“I'm not afraid of computers taking over the world.”
“When I grew up we had gym at school, two or three dance classes after school, ice skating lessons, and all sorts of sports at our finger tips. We weren't glued to computers because they didn't exist, so being active was all we knew.”
“The technological revolution at home makes it much easier for computers to do our work.”
“I have a crazy amount of different jobs, so the way I manage that is to not do more than one at a time. It's like old computers that had small memory chips, they would do something called swapping, where they would fill the memory with one task, do it and get it out.”
“I know so many people who actually just watch television on their computers now and don't even really watch their TV anymore.”
“I continue to meet people who have had their Web pages hijacked, their browsers corrupted, in some cases, their children exposed to inappropriate material from these dangerous programs hidden in their family computers.”
“I'm a very simple person. I don't use computers.”
“Google is working on self-driving cars, and they seem to work. People are so bad at driving cars that computers don't have to be that good to be much better.”
“Home computers are being called upon to perform many new functions, including the consumption of homework formerly eaten by the dog.”
“Computers are like Old Testament gods lots of rules and no mercy.”
“Yeah, computers are going to take over the programming business because they have become so fast recently that they can solve the Halting Problem in five seconds flat.”
“I was a 'Duck Hunt' and 'Mario' guy, and stuff like that. I was never technologically driven. I never had all the cool, new toys. I was the youngest child, I wasn't the only child, so I wasn't spoiled as a kid. And, we were on the farm, so we didn't have a lot. Also, with computers, I'm not very good with them. I just check my email.”
“And it's here and it's ready and we can really revolutionize the way we educate our children with tablet computers, and I'm committed to doing whatever I can to speaking to whomever I can to send this signal - to pound this message home. Now is the time.”
“You have riches and freedom here but I feel no sense of faith or direction. You have so many computers, why don't you use them in the search for love?”
“The new information technology... Internet and e-mail... have practically eliminated the physical costs of communications.”
“I'm not afraid of computers taking over the world.”