Weird hypothetical question

[OddLove]

I been kind of keeping up with how data centers consume obscene amounts of water, like hundreds of billions of gallons annually, and then the UN recently release statements warning of extreme water shortages for the peasants, aka us.

That made me wonder, if every data center was obliterated into dust and the internet vanished, then what would my life be like without the internet?

So that's what I'm asking. If the internet vanished, what's your life look like?

...

For me, I think I would still write and make music, but I don't think I'd try publishing erotica like a real book in stores. Maybe I would try to find or help create a local community of smut enjoyers who can exchange printed stories for fun, but I'm still not sure. I would also probably be getting back into Magic the Gathering or trying DnD, and spending a lot of time trying to learn how to jar and pickle things, like peppers, cucumbers, eggs, cabbage, etc.

 

[SimonDoom]

I think it's like asking what it would be like to abolish cars. Virtually everything about our lives is tied to the Internet. It's made life for human beings dramatically better by improving the flow of information all around the world. Like everything, it has its downsides, but there's no going back.

Just speaking for myself, I love the Internet. I couldn't do THIS without the Internet. I couldn't do my job the way I do it without the Internet. Working remotely would be impossible without the Internet. Streaming music would be impossible without it.

 

[CalBishForNow]

That made me wonder, if every data center was obliterated into dust and the internet vanished, then what would my life be like without the internet?

I can't help wondering about the details of this scenario. It's hard to imagine the internet vanishing, completely and permanently, and not taking my job with it and that of my significant other. My home city's infrastructure (urban) would also be fairly miserable without modern supply chains. While people lived in places like this before the internet existed, going back to it abruptly would be a big disruption. Picture covid times but worse. In that case, my leisure time isn't the problem, getting food and shelter is.

But in that hypothetical case where the internet is gone, everything else is the same, and we're just asking about my free time... I like to think I'd still try writing and/or publishing. Thousands of people did so throughout the 20th century. It would definitely be more conventionally acceptable than this, though. R-rated or PG-13, in MPAA terms, rather than the NC-17 of my current output here. I don't want to belong to any club in real life that would have my output here as a member.

By the way, if you're interested in getting back into Magic: the Gathering and/or Dungeons and Dragons, they still exist offline. I don't know where you live, but multiple stores in my area hold multiple weekly M:tG events, and at least one has a weekly D&D event. The latest M:tG set is a licensed product focused on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Yes, this has made a lot of purists very mad and is expected to make the company about a billion dollars with 90s crossover nostalgia. They already did a couple D&D sets, plus some Stranger Things cards for the nostalgia-within-a-nostalgia-meta-reference.

 

[OralAllOver]

I WILL NOT return to the days of jacking off to Good Housekeeping magazine

I said NO. Good day, sir

 

[Erozetta]

Go back to making local erotic horror zines and leaving them in random laundromats.

Though I'd lose touch with some friends and that would make me sad.

Also, start a baking business finally.

 

[crookedletter]

I'd like to think I'd be fine, but in reality there would be a lot of things I would have to re-learn how to do. And... where would I look it up?

There are two versions of this hypothetical: one in which the world as we know it now is suddenly altered to no longer have the internet. In which case economies would collapse, essential networks of communication would cease to exist. It would get dark, fast. My own job would cease to exist. And... I don't really have any practical skills relevant to an internet-less world.

The other version is the sort of parallel universe version, where the internet never existed, and those of us whose livelihoods depend on it are getting by in some other way. In which case, we'd lose some things about this world that I value. The internet makes life a lot easier, for all its pitfalls.

But I'm old enough to remember life without the internet -- or at least without the internet everywhere all the time -- and... we were fine. We thought bulky car phones were fancy and 8 bit graphics were immersive. We didn't bemoan having to pick up a landline phone to call a friend and failing to get in touch with them because they were in the backyard, because we didn't know any other way. When we didn't know something we either went on not knowing it or we cracked open a book.

It's hard to imagine going back to all that knowing how things can be with all the conveniences of the internet. Even given how horrifying and annoying and weird the internet can be at its worst.

ETA: But to answer the broader question, I wouldn't do much differently. I'd read, write, watch movies rented from Blockbuster, which would have to exist again. I'd see people sometimes, and sometimes not. Everything would just be a little less convenient.

 

[OddLove]

I'd like to think I'd be fine, but in reality there would be a lot of things I would have to re-learn how to do. And... where would I look it up?

There are two versions of this hypothetical: one in which the world as we know it now is suddenly altered to no longer have the internet. In which case economies would collapse, essential networks of communication would cease to exist. It would get dark, fast. My own job would cease to exist. And... I don't really have any practical skills relevant to an internet-less world.

The other version is the sort of parallel universe version, where the internet never existed, and those of us whose livelihoods depend on it are getting by in some other way. In which case, we'd lose some things about this world that I value. The internet makes life a lot easier, for all its pitfalls.

But I'm old enough to remember life without the internet -- or at least without the internet everywhere all the time -- and... we were fine. We thought bulky car phones were fancy and 8 bit graphics were immersive. We didn't bemoan having to pick up a landline phone to call a friend and failing to get in touch with them because they were in the backyard, because we didn't know any other way. When we didn't know something we either went on not knowing it or we cracked open a book.

It's hard to imagine going back to all that knowing how things can be with all the conveniences of the internet. Even given how horrifying and annoying and weird the internet can be at its worst.

ETA: But to answer the broader question, I wouldn't do much differently. I'd read, write, watch movies rented from Blockbuster, which would have to exist again. Everything would just be a little less convenient.

I definitely wasn't trying to speculate on the global economic collapse that destroys life as we know it. In hindsight, I wish I would've just asked your other version, the parallel, or specific something like "A magic djinn snapped their fingers and erased the internet and structure society to still function" so we still are who we are currently.

To your point about Blockbuster having to exist again, and everything being less convenient. For some reason, that sounds really nice. Sometimes I scroll YouTube, Hulu, and Prime for two hours and don't watch anything. I feel like I get paralyzed by infinite choices sometimes.

 

[crookedletter]

To your point about Blockbuster having to exist again, and everything being less convenient. For some reason, that sounds really nice. Sometimes I scroll YouTube, Hulu, and Prime for two hours and don't watch anything. I feel like I get paralyzed by infinite choices sometimes.

I agree. The simplicity of it is alluring, now. And with all the streaming nonsense there are too many choices.

But then, if I went back in time and offered a trade to my Blockbuster-browsing self, describing how they could have hundreds of movies available at the click of a button from the comfort of their own couch, younger me would not hesitate for a moment in taking that deal.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

My life has the standard it does thanks to the internet - being able to work from home, chat online to people, internet grocery shopping and takeaway ordering, etc.

That said, I wouldn't particularly object to a data-throttled internet where only text-based communication was possible. Adding annoying animations and lots of graphics and features no-one really wants has made many things much worse. My local Chinese has a website that looks like it's made on Geocities in the 1990s, and you know what? I order my food and they cook it for me.

On the erotica side, one thing I miss is the quirky SMBis Chainletter from the 1990s. Each month or so you sent a person a sheet of A4 paper with writing or drawings on it, and your code number. Roughly monthly, you'd receive a thick envelope with a copy of all that month's pages. The world's slowest dating service, but had some fascinating (and seriously weird) stuff in it. Without online pictures, it might make a comeback.

 

[IWroteThis]

The first question I would need answered is, what you mean by the Internet? The things running in those water-cooled data centers are not the Internet, but merely things on the Internet. The Internet, or Interconnected Network, is the connection, not the sites it connects.

So, if you just mean many of the things I can currently access on the Internet are gone, my answer is a lot different than if you mean the basic communications infrastructure itself is gone. Also, in that case, is it gone to the point that we completely lose cell and land line phone service as well?

 

[LisaMayTurner]

I WILL NOT return to the days of jacking off to Good Housekeeping magazine

I said NO. Good day, sir

You used to do it over lace curtains and satin bedsheets?

 

[MrPixel]

I WILL NOT return to the days of jacking off to Good Housekeeping magazine

Or the women's undergarments section of the Sears catalog.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

I lived through the 60s, 70s, 80s and half of the 90s before there was a web (available to the public).

I'm not sure I'd mind going back to some degree.

 

[KittyOfSteele]

Rough on one hand. I'm still debating whether or not to come back to the camera in spite of the current zeitgeist that remains... rather hopeful considering the events of January that keep dripping. Internet going away would obliterate that chance.

On the other hand, I might try to Samizdat my stories. I'd be translating some to Spanish, and others will be written in Spanish from scratch. Might even start a pulp zine with a few friends.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

The scenario where there is no longer an internet wouldn't affect me too much. I am a people person and would find other avenues for the interactions, etc.

Now if the whole "net" didn't exist any longer, that is a different story.

No more e-commerce, point-of-sale, instant access to medical details, and everything else that is connected around the world, that would take some adjustments. Largely due to there being so many people out there now who never lived without all of the connectivity and what it provides.

 

[Britva415]

I been kind of keeping up with how data centers consume obscene amounts of water, like hundreds of billions of gallons annually, and then the UN recently release statements warning of extreme water shortages for the peasants, aka us.

You seem informed.

Are the data centers consuming all this water located in places where there's a population whose mouths they're taking it out of?

Or are they located in places where there is ample available water and not any impact on that local population?

I can't tell if this is a real issue or not. There is lots and lots of clean fresh water in the world. It's just that there are lots of people who don't live near it. If it was as easy as moving it to them from where it already is, there would be enough for the data centers and the distant populations of thirsty people. But it isn't that easy.

 

[LetsMisBehave]

I'm with Five Inch Heels on this in that I could revert with ease. But I am of a certain age.
I also feel that there are some objective truths out there (answers in Maths and Physics, for example). However, in other areas, unless you understand and agree with the assumptions programmed into AI (or understand why some of the answers are insane) then it is easy to see how we could get into Orwellian Big Brother scenarios.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

I'm with Five Inch Heels on this in that I could revert with ease. But I am of a certain age.

Well, with ease might be a stretch.

I'd kinda hate to go back to pulling an order form out of a catalog, filling it out by hand and mailing it with a check, hoping the right stuff shows up in 6-8 weeks.

 

[dirk2024]

As someone with mobility issues, it would be a struggle. I now have the ability to make and keep friends and I would lose that. I would keep writing, purely for my pleasure, and reading as well. Although nowadays, I prefer to reading on my Kindle versus a book as its easier on my eyes.

I could live without the data centers. I would have to live without the connectivity of the Internet. I just wouldn't be happy about it.

 

[ElectricBlue]

You seem informed.

Are the data centers consuming all this water located in places where there's a population whose mouths they're taking it out of?

Or are they located in places where there is ample available water and not any impact on that local population?

I can't tell if this is a real issue or not. There is lots and lots of clean fresh water in the world. It's just that there are lots of people who don't live near it. If it was as easy as moving it to them from where it already is, there would be enough for the data centers and the distant populations of thirsty people. But it isn't that easy.

It's an issue in Oz, because the data centres are all near capital cities, nearly all of which have existing water capacity issues. Adelaide for example runs a large desalination plant to keep summer supplies topped up - most of the water is pumped from the Murray River into holding reservoirs.

Ironically, we also get cyclones and weather systems in the north that are quite happy to dump a metre or so or rain in 24 hours, flooding vast swathes of land. A year or two later the water comes down the Murray-Darling river system and floods the lower several hundred kilometres - or into Lake Eyre where it evaporates. It's a long cycle, coz the country is bloody big and very flat. Once the water gets off The Great Dividing Range it takes a while to get anywhere - or goes straight out into the ocean.

 

[metropolinational]

As long as it happened gradually so it was not TEOTWAWKI, we would be fine. Back in the late 80s and early 90s, we had all this infrastructure that made life easier without the internet. Much of it is gone now, and so if you turned off the internet overnight, we'd be screwed. but if it was a managed crisis (say, internet access got progressively slower over 5 years til it was gone), then we'd have time to rebuild:

- public and school libraries with periodicals sections
- newspapers delivered to your home every morning
- blockbuster
- catalogs in the mail
- magazine stands everywhere
- every home had an 30+ volume encyclopedia set, plus dictionaries, thesaurus, world almanacs.
- phone books
- public pay phones, assuming the cell phone networks went out too, every few blocks
- cable tv
- we all carried little contact books full of phone numbers of friends and family
- enough taxi cabs that you could hail on in just about any corner
- cafes where you could play board games
- live music at tiny little bars
- every bar had a pool table, a dart board, juke boxes

personally, I think it was not so bad, and we spent a lot more time outside. we'd be ok.

 

[SmilingLez]

I do believe it would be close to what people experienced from the 1970s to the 1990s. There would be no streaming music. We would go back to records and tapes. Phone booths would make a comeback. The world would probably be a lot safer as modern nuclear weapons (the firing mechanism) today require internet connection. A lot less false information would be spread. Screen time would be the "boob tube". Newspapers will replace facebook/instagram

 

[anthrodisiac]

It looks an awful lot like me getting a Master's Degree in Animal Reproduction, since I can't just google info on animal genitals to make sure my anthros are realistic.

 

[Britva415]

It looks an awful lot like me getting a Master's Degree in Animal Reproduction, since I can't just google info on animal genitals to make sure my anthros are realistic.

A visit to the Danish Penis Museum might be quicker and cheaper!

 

[anthrodisiac]

A visit to the Danish Penis Museum might be quicker and cheaper!

That doesn't help me with vaginas, though!