Forum Moderators: phranque
If Al Gore had never invented the Internet</joke> what would you be doing for a living? What career path would you have taken if there was no such thing as the Internet and all of the advanced networking that has come as a result of it or types of jobs that have spawned from it. Think a little bit, the Internet has created a lot of new types of businesses.
For me, I probably would have either completed my Archaeology degree or gone into Real Estate. Totally opposite sides of the scale, eh? Would have been cool to do both though - I could excavate ancient villages, then sell them. :P
After you come up with an answer, here is the fun part ... Pick two associates or co-workers who work in an internet-related industry: the one you like the most, and the one you like the least. What would THEY be doing for a living? :)
I wrote an op-ed piece once on my "Virtual Legacy". It bothered me a lot, and still does today. My problem is, I have spent my whole adult life plugged in to the net. From wiring offices for internet access to SEO / SEM / Design. Lots of people make a tangible difference in the world. Fixing cars, helping people, building buildings... et cetera. I live in cyber space. If the proverbial plug were pulled, my life's work would be gone. People like my dad (owns a company that builds $90-150 million hospitals & malls) have something they can take their grandkids to and say "SEE! I DID THAT!" Whereas a site I make in my late twenties, or a SERP I get, will have long since evaporated.
So, I guess the answer to the question is; if I hadn't been caught in the net since it's proliferation started, I'd probably would have gone to school to be an engineer, one of steel and concrete, not HTML and Java.
What would I do if I didn't HAVE to work, or could do what I want?
Well, if I could figure out how I can claim my piece of the $11+ billion Google is projected to make from the IPO, I would travel the world with my wife and daughter, collect cars, and spend a lot of time hunting upland birds with my trusty pointer.
Alas, back to work as an SEO.
Tchuss!
I'd have more time to do it since I wouldn't have to work on my web site :)
Prior to being on the Internet (1998) we were on the verge of bankruptcy. Since the Internet we have had tremendous sucess. Yesterday alone I spent over 6 hours answering e-mail inquiries (and this is supposed to be low season).
My golf game is suffering and I have back problems from crouching over my keyboard all day.
But...we couldn't survive without it. If it wasn't there I'd probably have to go back to Canada and start working again...bummer!
Pick two associates or co-workers who work in an internet-related industry: the one you like the most, and the one you like the least
Err... well I only have one associate who works in an internet-related sector. He'd probably be operating some kind of Anglo-Russian business networking startup in St. Petersburg.
If Al Gore had never invented the Internet
You know, of course, that Al Gore never even implied this except in the sense of promoting legislation that facilitated the development of the internet? It was part of a smear campaign that got picked up, and never questioned, by the mainstream media. As the Salon article on it says:
Gore never claimed to have "invented" the Internet. What he said was: During my service in the United States Congress I took the initiative in creating the Internet.As my colleague Jake Tapper carefully reported here last year, at worst that statement is a minor exaggeration of Gore's legislative record...
Several of the people who could claim to have "invented" the Internet... are out there ... asserting that he was the politician in Washington who took the "initiative" to support the Net in its early days.
If computers in general were out I would hope that I'd pursue teaching because I think I'd really enjoy that.
I write. I will be retired (again - retired first time in 1980, went back to work in 2000) by the end of August, at which point I will return to writing full-time, riding my horse, hunting whatever's available, travelling all over the world, etc. The net makes life simpler for a writer; laptop/satband makes reaching the net simpler/faster; both make life for a writer easier.
Otherwise, though, there's a library in most every town (except here, where we have only 40 full-time families.... but then, we DO have bookmobile, and one can always call the Library of Congress).
Or I'd start playing guitar on the street, get a job, and develop my drawing skills until they were profitable, trying to gather enough money to start up a small video game rental store. Which I actually want to do anyways.
Except for that bit about freedom not coming from following rules; my own perspective is that freedom can only exist if rules are followed, but that's another discussion! :)
Actually, scratch out my last answer, I'd win the lottery. Or become one of those hobos living in the forests near the freeway, living off of the meat of rabbits and a few other small animals of the sort.
Don't go there. This isn't so far from describing my life for a period of years in the mid-1980s (at the height of the Reagan years no less). As it turns out, planning to win the lottery is not the best plan and, you know what, living indoors and having plumbing and heat are luxuries not to be scoffed at.
As a historian, people sometimes ask me what time period I would like to live in. Late 20th, early 21st century baby. I just love plumbing, antibiotics, refrigeration, full-time all-wheel drive, the internet and, most recently, LASIK. I strongly recommend occupations that, even if relatively low paying, still let you buy your way into this century!
But I digress and start to divert the thread...
Both of which are the equivalents of what I'm doing now, with the Internet.
