from Hacker News

What Would You Do If the Internet Went Away?

by furrowedbrow on 4/1/21, 4:48 AM with 72 comments

• by hilbert42 on 4/1/21, 6:54 AM

  The early part of my life was lived without the internet and I managed fine so I would revert back to that lifestyle once again.

  Back then, I was more productive than I am now, the chances are that I would be so again.

• by vlod on 4/1/21, 2:59 PM

  Maybe build a way to connect computers together in some sort on network with some tech minded individuals (you're all invited!) and try to fix some of the problems of v1 (encryption, spam, malware).

  Let's call it "Internet-2: Attack of the Clones".

• by segfaultbuserr on 4/1/21, 7:49 AM

  This article features a list of songs about lives without the Internet, I'll add another one for the Hacker News audience.

  The Day The Routers Died, written and performed live at the 55th RIPE Meeting by Gary Feldman.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_y36fG2Oba0

  > a long long time ago

  > i can still remember

  > when my laptop could connect elsewhere

  >

  > and i tell you all there was a day

  > the network card i threw away

  > had a purpose - and it worked for you and me...

  >

  > but 18 years completely wasted

  > with each address we've aggregated

  > the tables overflowing

  > the traffic just stopped flowing...

  >

  > and now we're bearing all the scars

  > and all my traceroutes showing stars...

  > the packets would travel faster in cars...

  > the day... the routers died...

  https://catonmat.net/ftp/gary_feldman-the_day_the_routers_di...

• by thefz on 4/1/21, 10:23 AM

  I daydream quite often about what would change with a solar storm powerful enough to erase any magnetic memory on earth forcing us to go dark.

  How long will it take for humanity to bootstrap everything back up again, considering that the power grid is basically useless without computers? What about other services like water and sewage? How many lives lost?

• by Blammar on 4/1/21, 8:05 AM

  Pigeons, dogs, and small robots moving around 1 TB SD cards from place to place.

• by RGamma on 4/1/21, 8:10 AM

  Might not be a bad thing for collective mental health. One internet-free week per month might do the trick as well.

  And then it'd be back to sneaker net :)

• by m-p-3 on 4/1/21, 12:00 PM

  I'd be glad I datahoard a lot of stuff, like an up-to-date ZIM archive of Wikipedia (en all maxi), my Google Takeout data, some porn, my GOG (DRM-free games), etc.

  The ZIM archive is also on my modded Kobo Glo HD (128GB instead of 4GB) and it can natively read ZIM files. I therefore have a low-powered paper-like display to read Wikipedia that can be easily charged over a solar panel.

• by mikewarot on 4/1/21, 9:38 AM

  If the internet went down for good, I'd expect we were on the way to losing 1/5 or so of humanity due to starvation, the collapse of international trade, etc.

  We need computers and internet these days.

• by nobody9999 on 4/1/21, 8:26 AM

  I'd probably read more books.

  Then I'd probably re-watch Babylon 5 again. Hmmm, that may be coming this year or next anyway...

• by slovette on 4/1/21, 2:26 PM

  I’d build stuff. Just as I do now, only hard goods.

  I just built a few custom cabinets for our Coach that better facilitates our young kids. Running saws, designing hidden joints using dado design and pocket holes was very enjoyable and almost stress free.

  I made these big, present, things I can touch and use, that for an armature are really good, exercised by mind and hands; it was amazing.

  It was simple, stress free and rewarding. I did a lot of that kind of stuff as a kid 10-15 years ago. I’d just exercise that and other ‘building’ talents and enjoy my life probably more than I do now.

• by mbalyuzi on 4/1/21, 10:57 AM

  Get the Ham radio out, see who's around. Get a better antenna and more powerful radio and see who's around further away.

  Though these days 5 watts as a bit of wire will get you a long way with some of the low bandwidth data modes. But is that cheating for the purposes of this discussion?

• by segfaultbuserr on 4/1/21, 7:39 AM

  Just the Internet, or all forms of network or digital communication? If the Internet is gone, I'll probably start browsing dial-up BBS sites. Do you know that the SDF Public Access UNIX system still supports dial-up? Dialing into a NetBSD machine from the other side of the world via an international phone call is a cool way of doing retrocomputing in 2020 (just beware of your phone bills, there are no Blue Boxes anymore)...

  If all forms of network or digital communication are gone, I'll probably keep programming just as before (if not for profit, then for fun), but have to rely on public libraries and local user groups for exchanging information.

• by krychu on 4/1/21, 8:39 AM

  Would search for local communities and go back to disk swapping.

• by icod on 4/2/21, 3:32 AM

  Live a normal life again.

  It would be a blessing for humanity.

  I fondly remember the times before the internet was a thing.

  People would have to learn to deal with people again, face to face.

  It would be a better world.

• by L-four on 4/1/21, 7:40 AM

  Make a new internet.

• by loudtieblahblah on 4/1/21, 12:34 PM

  I bought 500 records over the last decade.

  I have 300 dvds/blurays. Plus about 12TB of video on my plex server.

  1tb of music on the same server

  About 450 books, 300 of which I havent read

  Unfortunately there isn't really any mags or papers I like/trust to subscribe to, for more current stuff.

  But regardless... I'd be OK.

  I plan to retire to a cabin in the moutains and have minimal connectivity to the outside world anyways. Been saving for it for 10 years now.

• by marssaxman on 4/2/21, 5:17 PM

  Same thing I did last time, most likely: start a BBS, or join some BBSes; start sharing files, get FidoNet going again; bootstrap the whole thing back up. Only maybe this time we could skip the WWW part and focus on store-and-forward mesh networks, for better resilience and corporate profit-seeking resistance.

• by taylodl on 4/1/21, 3:59 PM

  Buy more books and magazines.

  I'm a Gen X'er who grew up without the internet, didn't have the internet in any form until my mid-20's and didn't have the internet like we know it today until my 30's. I'd miss YouTube. I do enjoy watching instructional videos. So I guess the internet to me is news + YouTube?

• by DC1350 on 4/1/21, 4:27 PM

  I have no idea. I’ve never lived without the internet and my entire lifestyle depends on it. How did people move to new cities and find jobs and a place to live without it? Cold calling once I find out how to get a foreign phone book? Sounds awful. If it wasn’t for the internet I would be trapped in my dead end home city.

• by musicale on 4/2/21, 11:27 PM

  Interesting to collect these answers in audio form.

  Personally I'd probably try to bring back bulletin boards. And LAN gaming. ;-)

  Maybe read a few more books, but probably watch more television, take more naps, and play more single-player computer and video games.

• by KozmoNau7 on 4/1/21, 8:59 AM

  Call my friends, have some beers in the sunshine, go home and put on some music. Relax and ponder.

• by p2t2p on 4/1/21, 8:35 AM

  Back to FIDO I guess? Lemme quickly find my point's number and blow dust away from my 56k....

• by rufus_foreman on 4/3/21, 12:56 AM

  Listen to music on vinyl, play video games at the arcade, read books from the library, write code.

  Same stuff I did in 1979. Same stuff I do now, but I guess more of it if I wasn't spending time on the internet.

• by spacemanmatt on 4/1/21, 11:35 AM

  Probably a lot of things that are way healthier than anything online

• by smitty1e on 4/1/21, 10:50 AM

  Read scripture. Read and write manually. Try to rehabilitate my kids, who doubtless view the pre-Internet era as some sort of Dim Ages that followed the Dark Ages.

• by PikachuEXE on 4/1/21, 8:41 AM

  Play more single player games and board games

  NO social media anymore yesss...

• by notaspecialist on 4/1/21, 9:01 AM

  Everyone would start marrying and having families again.

• by uncledave on 4/1/21, 8:32 AM

  Ham radio. The desire to communicate is always there.

• by lolthishuman on 4/1/21, 9:00 AM

  Build ad-hoc mesh network using existing devices. Replace bgp with something automated.

  Yggdrasil was a good idea. I think another one similar was Ouraborus.

• by jsilence on 4/1/21, 7:33 AM

  Go back to FidoNet.

• by bullen on 4/1/21, 8:30 AM

  I'd build my own P2P internet: http://radiomesh.org

• by nxpnsv on 4/1/21, 7:34 AM

  I'd sure visit the library more often.

• by mgarfias on 4/1/21, 4:10 PM

  Me: start lookin for work as a mechanic or something. Kinda hard to be an SRE with out the internet.

• by mrkramer on 4/1/21, 11:52 AM

  "What Would You Do If the Internet Went Away?"

  Probably be healthier a lot of healthier.

• by rspoerri on 4/1/21, 7:57 AM

  Rtfm again

• by sprkwd on 4/1/21, 10:55 AM

  Books, CB radio, libraries. Gigs without everybody filming them.

• by rcarmo on 4/1/21, 12:28 PM

  Enjoy life, I guess. Also, likely try to reinvent it :)

• by scyzoryk_xyz on 4/1/21, 1:55 PM

  I would start a BBS

• by scruffyherder on 4/1/21, 11:47 AM

  Be thankful of my archives

• by egberts on 4/2/21, 3:13 PM

  Enjoy life?

• by woleium on 4/1/21, 9:03 PM

  build a gnu one.

• by Daho0n on 4/1/21, 9:23 AM

  Rejoice the death of social media.