Friday, September 18, 2009

Punchcard blues

Modern objections to the prevalence of information technology are largely based on the allegation that omnipresent sources of knowledge – Google, BlackBerry, Wikipedia, iPhone, satnav – reduce us to a state of passive idiocy, unable to retain information without technical support. It’s something I touch on in Chapter Five of The Noughties; not that this is a new observation, of course:
Wife: Have you had a good day at the office, dear?
Husband: No, it was terrible. The computer broke and we all had to think!
(Contributed by Joanne Shakeshaft of Moston to Whizzer and Chips, 8th April, 1978, given away with today’s Guardian.)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The equivalent in my office would be: "It was excellent. The computer broke which also brought down email and the phone system, which is a bit rubbish. So we went for a drink."

Tim F said...

So it didn't affect the level of thinking?

Anonymous said...

That was phased out and farmed out ages ago.

mamigo said...

That joke can be found (in cartoon form) two years earlier in the "Mathematical Times" produced by Chipping Norton School pupils. See http://www.exchippy.org.uk/1975archives5.html