Comments on: Amazing Brew

By: J-L

J-L — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 18:23:37 +0000

Have you ever heard people say things like, “If someone told me the internet was going to be this phenomenal thirty years ago, I would’ve thought he was crazy”?

This cartoon is basically trying to get the same point across: It’s the 1970s, and the first person to test the time machine says that the then-fledgling internet (not really expected to last for very long) is “AMAZING.”

Would you believe his seemingly over-the-top claim? Or would you be more inclined to think that he didn’t time travel at all, but rather went crazy from the experiment and should be committed to a mental institution? The other people in the comic might be thinking the latter, assuming the time-travel experiment a failure, thus turning their backs to the greatest scientific achievement of mankind.

(Oh, and by the way, in thirty years nobody remembers facebook and over 95% of the ruling class has the Alpha-Centaruian version of comicsidontunderstand.com as their home page.)

By: Scott

Scott — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 17:22:34 +0000

Elliott,
I was on from 1974 - 1977, at the U of I. I wrote the Star Trek preview column for the Red Sweater News - which I think was the first e-newspaper in history. Happy memories.

By: Elliott

Elliott — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 12:47:57 +0000

Well, with time travel it no longer matters, tofor! Welcome back.

By: tofor

tofor — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 03:29:18 +0000

You guys were on Plato in 1975? So was…wait. I wasn’t born yet in 1975. Never mind.

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 02:55:24 +0000

The fact that he looked at “only” the Internet is not the point. That’s why he was sent into the future. These three guys are trying to create what will become known as the Internet, since it was a military/scientific venture at first. This guy went 30 years into the future to see how their creation turned out, and he’s suitably impressed.

By: Elliott

Elliott — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 23:23:17 +0000

Scott, you were on Plato in 1975? So was I, at FSU.

By: Mark in Boston

Mark in Boston — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 20:44:47 +0000

A visitor from 1979, at the height of the energy crisis, would expect to find solar panels on every roof and windmills in every yard. He would be appalled at how unprepared we are for the next energy crisis (which may not come soon, but certainly must come someday).

By: Matthew

Matthew — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:35:30 +0000

The date doesn’t matter. Whether the scientist returns to 1979 or to 2009, that all he did was play with the internet, and he sounds like someone who’s been on the internet too long, is the joke.

By: Scott

Scott — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:03:36 +0000

I agree it is 1979, both from the pipe and the big hulking electronics. For me, the funny thing is how clueless they are. I used the Arpanet in 1975 or so to run a program at Stanford from Illinois. I also was on Plato, which had interactive games, discussion groups, instant messaging used by people all around the world - in 1975. The only thing we were missing is spam.

By: Kevin Andresen

Kevin Andresen — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 15:22:19 +0000

Also the previously noted reel to reel tape drive (upper right) marks the time as in the past. (not that any current read/write storage medium is necessarily better than a high speed reel to reel tape drive; yes, Seagate, I looking at you.)

I was on the way to greatness myself before I dialed in with my first 9600 baud modem.