Hey everyone! Special thanks to Tristan from Step Back History, his channel link is in the description. The question I had for you guys was. "How different would you be in a world without the internet?" How'd it influence your personality and views. Let me know.
I wouldn't even exist - my parents met on an internet chat room hundreds of miles away, got chatting and everything went from there. If the internet didn't exist, the chance that I would even exist potentially is abysmally small
You never know. Back in 1968 my mom went to a bar with a friend and my dad had arrived on a train from Michigan a few days before that. He'd missed his bus and wandered into the same bar as my mom. Here I am 49 years later. The chance that any of us are ever born is pretty damn small.
You would exist, but technically two different versions of you would exist, if you think about it. If both your parents find other companions, then one of the chromosomes that comprise you today would be paired with another. So, if you look at it this wy, it would mean there would be two halves of you existing in that alternate timeline.
Coaster Weirdo We’re just talking about the rest of america, like the majority of the people living in the 48 mainland states, that aren’t the brightest people in the world.
Nicolas Salamanca Same I learned English through the internet the education system sucks here and most public schools students can barely speak English
I'd be dead. I was so horribly depressed I was planning on.... checking out on my 25th birthday... I then met my current wife, and she changed me. Funny enough, she was also in a depressive state. The internet allowed us to meet and save each other. 7 years later and we're still happy together :)
@@itstooearlyforthisst4633 it is. and im honestly happy the two of them truly care for eachother. however.....you still cant deny just how overwhemlingly negative cruel and terrible many people on the internet are. anonymity brings out the worst in people. there have been times when some folks say some really REALLY fucked up shit that they would NEVER say in real life, because they think they can get away with it. and when that kind of stuff gets attention and "exposed" only, it only spreads more. i bet you 9 times out of ten the internet does way more harm then good, and while saviorMK2's story is an exeption, the majority is not as positive.
I've spent most of high school on TH-cam and Wikipedia. Without that, I probably would never have went to university. Now I work at CERN. My live would be radically different without the net.
Awesome! Hope you don't get any of that conspiracy nonsense. Or at least not too often. My aunt genuinely believes you're sacrificing people and trying to open gates to fictional realms of eternal torture.
Second Thought coincidentally uploaded a video about this topic two days ago ("What If the Internet Stopped Working?") and everyone was like "this could be a great topic for AlternateHistoryHub". You two should collab one day!
Channels like these tend to occasionally share the same topic a lot. I think they are already in contact with each other behind the scenes and compete against one another.
I have been really depressed recently but seeing the “it’s 4 am and I’m not animating that” genuinely made me laugh so hard that I will be going to bed happy tonight. I love this channel!!
Emanuel Nicholson It would be closer to Back to the Future 2 with a lot of cable channels & monster media stores.. The malls would be bigger & better.. Everyone would be more attentive to each other.. Less distracted.. It would be almost like the 80's on steroids!! In ways I think it'd be better.. Other ways not as good.. BTW we actually had internet in 70's & 80's but it just became more inclusive to further ideas as we went along..
Brian Kelly They had good computers in the 80’s and also computer dating.. I recall a lot of hype about CompuServe.. Although it was obviously more expensive
I was born in 1972. I remember a life without internet very well. To the person whose parents met through online dating...there was phone dating services. Served the same purpose but you actually had to talk to the person hundreds of miles away. If you had a good long distance plan...as I’m sure would’ve been much cheaper over the years even without internet cheapening the value of Sprint and AT&T...you could talk to anyone you wanted if you were in the market for blind dating. The person who said they found a cure to their debilitating disease via the Internet, there was microfiche, which was accessible to any of the world’s data but on a manual device and from medical journals or newspapers from across the world. Like Emanuel Nicholson said...we could still do a lot of the things we do now but it would much much slower and you’d have to be way more ambitious and creative with where to look. If you didn’t know the internet existed...like no one outside of the military or computer science knew anything about before 1990’s, you wouldn’t even realize you were missing out on anything. Computers were good for a VAST amount of things besides computing. My mom had two computers for video editing in the mid 80’s. You could listen to music stored on a jump drive or a CD. You could play a wide assortment of video games. You could type papers for school. Certainly you know someone who has a computer and was late on their WiFi and phone bill at least once. They watched movies on DVD. Edited and downloaded and stored all kinds of media. We still had technology before the internet and I’m certain it would’ve greatly advanced by now. Or at least been much faster than in the 90’s.
11:45 I highly doubt videogames are not as popular. Single player and split screen coop will still be a huge thing. Competitive gaming existed in the 80's. However it's more like people competing in single player for high scores.
Before the Internet I always wandered about how to make two people play in two different tvs because I hated a split screen. When Nintendo 64 came with 4 players sharing one screen, that looked so wrong for me. Probably companies would try to invest on connecting video games even if that meant to put all of them in the same room with lots of cables.
if i hadn't found netflix, anime, and eventually pokemon, i would have been an author instead of a weeb. Edit: Pokémon wasn’t my gateway because video games weren’t really a thing in my house growing up, and I was born after poke mania.
10:00 In an Internet-free world, I'm pretty sure CDs would still be quite popular. People still buy CDs in our timeline, so they unquestionably would still be popular in a world without the Internet.
@@lindenlynx Im in a hurry so sorry if i get the country wrong, but there have been stores where you could go in, listen and then download the music directly from the shop. Mainly in Japan i think.
No, they would probably compete with Blockbuster since Netflix wouldn't have overtime fees, since that's why the founder founded it in the first place.
In a world without the internet, my life would be radically different. For starters, I would not have had to take a course in elementary school where I created my own webpage (to date myself here, this happened at around the turn of the millennium). I probably would not have had as much interest in computers outside of word processing and video gaming (since video games would have still been made for it and sold as physical media rather than via Steam). I still would play video games on actual consoles. As a teenager, I made friends easier online and it was one of the main ways I was able to connect with others since I was always seen as "off", "creepy", or just downright "weird" due to my social awkwardness stemming from Autism and more (which I don't wish to go over due to the fact that it's a depressing topic). So I would just be even more isolated and with fewer friends. I would still have been likely to take a film class for fun, but there'd be less reason to since youtube wouldn't exist (this would be about 2004-ish). I would have graduated High School with less of an idea of what I wanted to do with my life and with less of a chance to find what few things I'd be good at or even interested in. My adult life would be when my life would have taken a different turn. I wouldn't have really left home like I did and I'd have less direction or even friends when my dad kicked the bucket when I was 20. I'd be likely to still have all of the same irl friends I have in this timeline, but I'd still have no direction or skills. I wouldn't have been exposed to computers as much and then wouldn't have discovered my affinity for technology. Furthermore, my major of Information Technology would simply be non-existent, only existing as the separate branches of computer programming and repair. The whole area of computer networking and security would simply not exist. I would not have had to go through multiple quarters/years of the intricacies of routing, switches, TCP/IP, the multiple layers of computer communication, and the how's and why's of designing, implementing, and troubleshooting intranets. Much of my field of study would simply not exist, as would the sectors I'm working towards getting into (database management and/or intrusion response). And I simply would not be watching this video and leaving an essay of an answer.
You know, for people like us, our lives might be better w/o Internet. Think about it: without the Internet to distract us, we'd go outside more, or at socialize with other people more (Internet or not, multiplayer is still a thing.) This gives us more time to work on things that matter.
Regarding video games, I think they'd still be mainstream, but they'd be different in significant ways. PC gaming may be very different without the MMO craze, but consoles would not change much, at least not initially. The PS2 and GameCube were designed as offline consoles, with only the Dreamcast and Xbox being able to connect to the internet out of the box (and the Dreamcast, which did only natively supported dial-up, flopped anyway). Even then, online gaming on consoles took a while to get mainstream, and wouldn't become relevant until the release of Halo 2. In this alternate timeline, the Gen 6 consoles still get made, but nothing is connected. Xbox Live never exists, and local multiplayer remains the norm for shooters, including the aforementioned Halo 2, which would still be very popular as it followed the also very popular original Halo. That generation probably would still look 99% the same and still be massively popular. The following generation is where things start to look even more different, but still very familiar. It was the first where every system had built-in broadband connectivity, but it still took a while for online to become the norm. While Microsoft never revealed the split between Xbox Live Silver and Gold, there is some evidence that even by the end of the generation the majority of 360 owners did no have Gold accounts, and thus were not playing online titles, and the 360 was the most connected system that generation (Sony was lagging behind Xbox initially, and the Wii's online was bare-bones basic). All of the best-selling 360 and PS3 games could, in part or in whole, be played offline. However, without the popularity of its online multiplayer, Call of Duty would probably be not be anywhere near as popular as it is in our timeline, and likely have ended up with more middling sales as a series of semi-realistic single-player military shooters (with maybe a local split-screen). Halo may remain popular, but with the multiplayer part having grown more popular in our timeline, in this alternate timeline Halo 3 and subsequent games in the series might not have sold as well purely on the basis of the single-player and local MP. But most other popular games that generation were games that were either single-player only or had only a token multiplayer mode. So, while CoD and a handful of other series known mainly for their multiplayer would likely have not been as popular, console gaming as a whole would likely not be considerably different even as recently as 2012 in this alternate timeline. The Wii in particular would still have been a massive success, and it was a system that was not known for having a strong online presence. Perhaps the biggest difference we'd see last generation in a world without the internet would be the absence of digital distribution. No Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, or Wii Shop Channel means no downloadable content and no digital games. There would be no XBL Arcade, no Virtual Console, and almost certainly no indie games. So many smaller titles released over the past 10-15 years have only been possible because of digital distribution making things easier for smaller companies. Games like Braid, Fez, Limbo, and Super Meat Boy might never exist. Mega Man would never have experienced a revival without Mega Man 9. The "retro revival" as a whole might have never happened without indie titles and other small games that would have struggled to find space on store shelves. As for DLC, this meant fighting games would still be subjected to multiple re-releases every time there was a roster expansion; in the 16-bit era there were several versions of Street Fighter II & III, and two versions of Mortal Kombat 3, which if you wanted to always have the latest version it got damn expensive since you had to re-buy the whole game all over again. Many games with multiplayer modes would likely be limited to the maps/tracks the system came with. However, it's possible that expansion discs could have taken the place of DLC, since hard drives could still have become relevant as a replacement for memory cards, and any content from an expansion pack could be loaded onto the hard drive and accessed by the primary game (Halo 2 notably had its DLC maps released on a disc). The lack of internet and thus digital distribution would also mean the lack of the ability to issue patches for games. That means that any titles that had critical bugs or glitches would be stuck that way forever, as they were for every game released in the pre-internet days of gaming. This could be viewed as a double-edged sword. It is argued that the ability to change a game post-launch has resulted in a "release-and-patch culture" in the industry, where games are intentionally rushed out to market even if they aren't quite ready for prime-time, and then fixed after the fact, making early adopters de facto beta testers of sorts. On the other hand, even if a developer tries to make sure the game is running as good as possible before launch, sometimes unexpected things get through the cracks, and the inability to fix an unforeseen critical bug could hurt the game's sales and reception and thus the reputation and bottom line of the developer and publisher. Moving to the current generation, things will start to look even more different. Without the internet, MS's PR debacles leading up to the launch of the Xbox One would not have happened, as the entire concept of always-online would not exist. Gaming would still be 100% physical, and there could be no countermeasures against used games. As the concept of always-online wouldn't exist, it has ramifications for game development as well. PC gaming had already been bereft of MMOs for many years, with EverQuest, World of Warcraft, and so on having never existed, and their modern counterpart, the "live service" title, would not exist, either. That means Destiny, The Division, Anthem, and Sea of Thieves would not exist. It also means that online-only competitive multiplayer games would not exist, meaning no Overwatch and no "battle royale" games. The kids of today would not only have never had Minecraft or Five Nights at Freddy's to get their attention (and no TH-cam meant no Let's Players and other internet personalities to shape their opinions), that means Fortnite would never have existed. Single-player games would absolutely remain dominant as gaming would not be the massively social experience it has become this decade. The social element of gaming would be relegated to local play, things like split-screen and "couch co-op" continuing to define multiplayer as it did during the 90s. The fate of the competitive scene is ambiguous. Without the internet to popularize it, it may have never become as big as it is today, but it would still exist as it has had a long history. Fighting games would probably be the dominant genre since it has only required a single screen, and the Evo tournament has been around since 1996. However, first-person shooters would probably have never entered the competitive scene if they were relegated to split-screen. If the LAN still existed in this internet-less world, then it may have given some shooters the potential to be a major competitive genre. In conclusion, video gaming's massive mainstream success had already been cemented before online gaming became the norm. In a world without the internet, this almost certainly would not change. However, without the existence of online connectivity the face of gaming today would be noticeably different. Some genres would have taken entirely different trajectories, and many titles and even entire genres (e.g., the MMO) would have never existed. The overall market share of the Big Three in the console space would probably be different. Science fiction involving the internet would also not exist, meaning any games that had such a thing as a story element would not exist. The internet shaped our culture significantly, and as a result our different culture would result in at least some developers producing different games. Games journalism may still also be limited to magazines, though perhaps a TV channel dedicated to games would still arise and be popular, showing gameplay videos and having the latest gaming news and otherwise doing things a magazine couldn't do. But as a whole, video games would still be a popular mainstream form of entertainment.
Well written. Thank you for this. The only thing I have to say is games with a science fiction setting that involves an advanced level of communication would still exist and would be similar to the internet. I say this because phones still exist and scifi stuff (like Star Trek) has shown stuff only possible through the internet, like video calls, which is based on the idea that somehow, like using phones to communicate long distance, even the internet is an inevitability (even if the concept is fictional).
I feel that point-and-clicks, text-based games (such as Zelda) and adventure games would also be more popular, but video games as a whole would likely be seen as childish, temporary.
I would argue that physical isolation would less prevalent without the internet. I grew up without it and friends spent a lot more time face to face. I see my friends less every year as they all spend more time online.
really tho? Is it really due to internet tho? I spend way more time with friends after internet cause they're always friends that you like but aren't close enough to call, the internet is a great way to ask them out. And I don't really see people (the ones not addicted to gaming at least) choosing sending time online instead of hanging out. Those who spend so much time in door gaming would still do so but with consoles anyways.
kaka Ho yeah I’d say the internet has a big influence on communicating face-to-face and talking on the phone. Before the internet I went to a person’s house or called their house. Now, the people I enjoy and remain friends with communicate via text message on FB Communicator. I’ve been lucky enough to be in a band that plays instruments and loads/unloads equipment for local shows...we spend the majority of our time communicating on Messenger. It’s so much easier than having to confront or visit anyone. But I could EASILY live a life without it. Most people born after 1995 could not. Idk what my daughter says or how much “lecturing” I’ve given her over the years about a world without internet or technology for that matter...she’d be lost without the internet. And she’s 21! But I do appreciate your perspective! ❤️
I'd be dead without the Internet. It allowed me to locate successful medical treatment for an extremely debilitating condition that I never would have found otherwise. So yeah.
No. “Crowd sourcing” diseases is a real thing. People share information easily and openly about rare diseases that otherwise wouldn’t have been connected , allowing doctors to do their job
Which is good because you are mobile reading the porn magazines in convinience stores in Japan. Or in America using public library and masterbating in bathroom.
Oh the horror! I'm Grammie Norma, I'm old and I got grey hair! But I remember when- the internet- were everywhere! And no one had to pay for- porn- so I say, let it grow! (Lol, outdated meme).
If internet never existed I would be reading a book or playing outside with friends. It is weird when you think about it, no internet, hard to imagine.
In the early 90s, before the Internet went public, there was a dial-up gaming system called ImagiNation. Members could play many different kinds of games, incluidng card games, casino games, kids games, and an adventure game. It also included email and chat. And before that, there were local systems called Citynets. I lived in Boston at time time so I used Boston Citinet. I don't remember it having games, but it did have email, forums, and chat, which was the main reason I used it. So there may not have been an Internet, but there were smaller networks that would have provided many of the same services, and there's no reason to think they wouldn't have eventually expanded. Incidentally, at one point near the end of this video, you said something like "we all would still be here" or something to that effect (I'm too lazy to go back and find it now). The problem is that there are many young people around now who would not have existed if their parents hadn't met online.
Also considering now with COVID-19 that alternate world would be real dangerous and hope you still have a good stash of videos and video games here along with actual devices to run them on or still hope it works.
I actually remember a time without the internet, I didn't have access to it until my late teens. Life would be simpler, social circles would be more immediate, people would be more private, there'd be less influence from international trends.
matochi506 and many incidents that happened in secluded areas wouldn't be known about 4 months because of person couldn't stream back the information to an international source
Same here. I was kid during the 90's. Most people I know didn't have internet and it wasn't a bad time at all. I had dial up for a bit but I didn't do much on it anyway. There was way more socialization back then as well and people more open to criticism then they are now. Video games were another source of fun and socialization. Them saying video games would a be niche during an alternate timeline with no internet is laughable. They were always popular. Their argument seems to come from a generational point of view of online gaming now. The industry was very profitable when there was no internet, even after the video game crash of the 80's.
Tell that to the young girls who ended up with eating disorders because the only source of new information was teen magazines. Where you paid for them to advertise clothes, as well as products for your stretch marks and cellulite. They also had died and exercise plans and advice on how to choose the best clothes and swimsuits for your body shape to hide your flaws. I mean if you feel good about yourself then you aren't going to buy all these clothes and products to make you look and feel better... Temporarily
This brings me back to like 2008 when I was in elementary school and this one kid walked into 4th grade with a smart phone and no one really knew what it was.
Follow up episode idea: Working on this same premise, I believe the internet is a bit of an inevitability. Eventually in order to sell new products companies would try and find ways of connecting devices together to try to gain an edge over their competitors by reducing dependency on physical media. But rather than a global open internet, it likely would be internal company intranets similar to what we see today but for the giant companies. In other words a closed network. It would probably take a very long time for it to get to where it is today with corporations trying to keep control over it and likely connections would be mostly peer to peer for consumer devices for the purpose of file transfers. Eventually I think things like the Home Server or NAS would develop so people could store stuff on a single network resource in their home, most people would use it as a media server I'd imagine with some document storage as the likely use case. People would probably start to abuse this (cough pirates cough) and connect their homes to each other buying enterprise gear. These people would likely be the people who are the PC enthusiasts today. Companies would probably fight this on patent grounds or try to release their own products. At this point an internet would probably start to emerge, but would look quite different. The internet would likely be heavily regulated and corporate controlled and would look like an entirely different place. There would be no push to keep the internet an open platform since it never was in the first place. Mostly it would be like the early internet in terms of billing, and probably would eventually expand to how it is now similar to how MMOs changed how ISPs worked. However I don't see it having many websites since its corporate controlled nature, the web likely wouldn't exist in this timeline and therefore social media. Likely chat rooms, file sharing, and some peer to peer gaming would exists, but it probably would remain stagnated at that level.
I came to similar conclusions, some form of global internet(s) would eventually exist, but the web could easily have been much less/differently developed.
Dude you think too small, try to imagine the bigger picture here. Use your brain to really imagine what the world would look like without the internet.
I think videogames would still be strong, the 90s were a golden age and they didn't need internets to fully function, so, I agree that there might be mobile phones with card slots and controllers. Nintendo and Sony would dominate the industry. Imagine the first Super Mario mobile game in this timeline, the console wars would have taken to a major scale.
That would’ve amazing to see now that I REALLY think about it the console wars would definitely have been a lot more interesting but also a bit more intense honestly
Without the internet, I might not have discovered my love for filmmaking, and I would've probably continued on my original path of becoming a meteorologist instead of a filmmaker.
DJ Kosloski '93 baby too, but we had internet since at least '99. We were poor but my dad HAD to have internet as it went with his up and coming online gaming (unreal tournament, quake, maybe doom). I didnt really play on the computer untill i was 10ish so i think about what i did before i discovered toontown or runescape, then eventually my permanent dependence with wow. Read more, play consoles more, make more traditional art... not a bad change really. Would have saved me money and i would have drawn more.
I was born in '92. My house didn't have any form of internet until 2000 and didn't have the full meal deal regarding the internet (aka a computer) until Christmas 2004.
Just imagine the last year and a half, locked away in our homes, without the internet. While my first thought was I wouldn't have a job, things overall would be way, way worse. Higher unemployment, higher deaths (more people forced to leave home to work), and even higher suicide.
Naah It would be like science fiction to them. An idea that sounds possible, but doesn’t exists. And there would also be conspiracy theorists in that world who claims that the government-ruling class has it, but doesn’t share it.
Listen to this, Microsoft is the OS for ATMs, thousands of companies use the OS. Think of every program that uses Windows to operate and suddenly the OS's company falls down. The U.S Government simply cannot let Microsoft as a company go bankrupt. It's considered a symbol of America to some.
That's a huge, valid point though! If it wasn't for internet and 24/7 television most people would get the rest their bodies and minds need as opposed to the 4-5 restless hours most of us get nowadays. TV used to actually turn off at certain hours of the night and all there would be was static.
No online shopping so retailers like JC Penny, K Mart, Sears and such would still thrive. Oh, don't forget the malls. Malls will still be an important part of retail.
mx5hong have fun standing in those long lines and a person who thinks they're above the job, you get it today but you lose the whole day cause each store is similar you visit, you setup the product at 8:30 at night after you relax from all that chaos 😂😂😂
SEARS Should be the AMAZON now. Walmart could focus on pushing AMAZON off the internet. Walmart has big selection and low prices.... SEARS used to sell Whole HOUSES in kit form, delivered right to you!
Yeah, I just bought something at JC Penney today and man I felt like nobody was there. Then again it was weekday afternoon.
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I do disagree about the malls though to a certain extent. A big reason people don't go to malls is because of parents. Parents nowadays don't want their kids to go anywhere without them/another person they trust. Unlike when I grew up in the 90's. And parents feel they have better things to do then walk the mall with their "brats". Basically, it's the Stranger Danger culture we live in LOL. Kids can't do anything without parents nowadays, until they reach maybe 15. Unless it's with a person they really trust. This is in America, anyway...
I would’ve still been the same lol, my mom’s contraceptive would’ve failed and my sisters would still tease me about it saying that I was a mistake lol.
9:37 Interestingly, phones like this actually exist in our timeline. Nokia made a gaming phone called the N-Gage with physical game cartridges. These were games like Sonic N, Crash Nitro Kart, and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. The design was pretty bad. As you can guess, the N-Gage flopped.
Maybe for a future video, instead of what if a revolutionary technology didn't exist, you'd do a timeline where a revolutionary fictional technology did exist? For example: What if teleportation was invented in the 90s? What if time travel existed? Etc etc.
Most of my closest friends are people who I have never actually met in real life. I may have more friends in real life, but all I do with them is make random jokes, never actually discuss anything interesting. It is the opposite with the people I meet online. So, if there was no internet I would probably not have any meaningful relationships with people, and, as a result, I would probably be very lonely, and frustrated with my life. Of course, I would not know what I was missing, but that wouldn't change the fact that I would have no one to discuss what I am interested in with.
Although internet is only for depressed,lonely,bored,nerdy,geeky etc , without it, space jam nyan cat viral video newgrounds Markiplier jacksepticeye etc would cease to exist
Unless it was completely forbidden by the government to do so, I am sure that some person would come up with the idea of connecting devices, especially in offices to quickly share information. At some point, especially with rapidly growing processing power, a form of internet would be created.
I can imagine elements of cyberpunk still existing, perhaps people would stash SD cards around with information on them for others to pick up, would Bluetooth maybe still be an option within short range? Phones and texting weren't Internet dependent so I suspect (without evidence obviously) that rebellion, communication and memeage would develop through whatever was available. It's not like there were no revolutions and no intrigue prior to the Internet.
Yes, Bluetooth and p2p cables would still have come about, but if you've ever use them, you'll doubtlessly remember how horrid they are the first time. Where would you look up how to get them to work, the library? Too much trouble
CGI would still be a thing dude, only crappier because it would become an even more rare skill to master without international aid and tutoring. basically cgi would be worse in that timeline
I often pondered the same thing where what if the internet did not exist or did not take off for whatever reason. I was born in 1966, it was a world where Ozzie and Harriett were still on TV and I came into the world exactly two months before Star Trek came on TV. TV was still mostly black and white but color was coming up fast. That said, here goes my take. I remember the first personal computers in the 1970's and there were aq few people who started to run BBS'es (Bulletin Board Systems) where you had to dial them up. At that time, say 1978, you used 110 or 300 baud. BBS'es were stand alone usually and basically only hardcore computer enthusiasts used them. The downside is unless you had a phone package where you can all all places in your area code, you had to watch what BBS'es you can call where you will not run up your phone bill. Of course, I've heard of people "phreaking" (in the 1970's and 1980's) where they somehow manipulate the phone system to avoid charges but that was illegal. Stand alone BBS'es generally served their local areas. We had discussion boards but those mainly focused on technical topics although there were some general debate, political and non-political and specialty forums like shortwave listening, amateur radio (I'm a ham radio operator myself) and so forth. This changed around 1983 when a computer engineer named Tom Jennings came up with Fidonet, basically a system where dial-up BBS'es can network although not in real time. I remember getting online in 1986 to Fidonet. Basically Fidonet's system operated in a node type network where the local BBS you would call into, you'd post in forums you like, my favorites were politics, history, shortwave and amateur radio, cats, cars a few sundry other things. You'd post there and at certain times of the days, the local BBS'es would call into a central hub and relay the messages back and forth and the hub woulds then call the area node which would then go to a bigger central node for the area, could be State or group of them and then upward to a national node where every night at "National Mail Hours, it would go across the country and even the world." Usually hubs would be local, in the Pittsburgh area, we were number 129 IIRC where all the Pittsburgh BBS'es would be part of that hub, Sometimes you had exceptions, we had a BBS from Exeter in the UK on the Pittsburgh hub for example so my messages would not have to wait for the National Mail Hour. For the most part, even Fidonet was mainly for computer geeks but you had geeks from other disciplines too like amateur radio for example. The technology, well, usually the BBS'es ran on IBM-PC/XT DOS compatibles, most likely using the 8086/8088 microprocessors, the typical hard drive at the time held like 10 or 20 megabytes and had 640K of RAM. To ease the length of time, you might have a mail program where you can download your Fidonet mail and messages from the forums you're interested in and download them to your PC where you can read them and reply to them and upload them net time you get online as well as get more messages. The standard modems were 300/1200/2400 baud and 9600 was coming on the scene when the internet came around, for Fidonet, the typical model was 1200/2400 baud. Also, there were no pictures, just text. In the late 1980's and early 1990's, Fidonet was making gateways to the internet and usenet, I found a message from my in 1994 discussing floaters in the eyes for example with a few others. Cody and Tristian, I think you're quite spot on where we could be today. If I may add, I think Fidonet would still be around though for the more hardcore techies, maybe we'd be stuck at the maximum of 28K/56K that the phone lines can handle and I'd still be downloaded my messages and mail on a DOS system. For data sharing like say in a medical situation, it would be a direct link from computer to computer via modem, let's say someone gets a cancer scan in Pittsburgh and the doctor wants to send it to M.D. Anderson in Texas, they would have to link modem to modem over the phone and send files that way. Myself, where would I be. Well, again, I'd most likely be on Fidonet downloading and reading/replying offline, I work in a call center for a cable company so the only thing I can think up on that is maybe it would be more secure with the cable companies maintaining a bigger share. Also, if one wants to research, they'd do it the old fashioned way, go to the encyclopedia if they have it (book, CD/DVD or cartridge form) or go to the library. This is a good one to ponder, I know there would be an alternate history Fidonet group we'd be hanging out on and possible one of us will be wondering, "what if the world was on one network, how would this alternate 2017 look like." B-) Gaming, well I do remember when Doom came out, you can go over the network of an office or do two computers, peer to peer via modem.
Thanks for the info, I'd never heard of Fidonet! I was thinking through a lot of this video "what about BBSes?" I'm too young (born in 1991) to've gotten into them at the time, but I do have an interest in that sort early-era computer networking. To me, it seems inevitable that someone would, sooner or later, have engineered a way to interconnect computers on a larger scale, whether based on point-to-point modem links or some expansion of ethernet (which my 2 minutes of research suggests could have still been developed even if ARPANET was never released to public domain). The resulting "alternate internet" would likely be very different in its technical underpinnings (possibly being more fractured/balkanized as a result), and could easily small niche for longer, but I suspect it's uses would eventually converge towards our own timeline. IMO the usefulness of the modern internet makes it a near-inevitable invention once someone manages to imagine something like it, but I _may_ be a bit biased...
"It's creation intertwined with the our identities" Not something you think about on a daily basis, but indeed Internet was crucial for shaping mine and personalities of at least dozens of millions around the globe. Thanks for info that allows to put things into perspective, and think about what exactly is shaping our lives every day.
Catalog retailers would likely be the equivalent of online shopping in the alternate timeline. Instead of looking for stuff on amazon, people would browse the sears catalog
I learned english through video games and movies way before I had the internet to learn from. I can't imagine having the internet would have let me learn any faster.
SuperNoWa So true. I'm fairly young and I started learning English at 13 without any guidance other than english videos with subtitles. I thank the internet for opening so many doors in my life.
>no ISIS >no refugee crisis in Europe >no cancerous social media websites like Twitter and Snapchat Sound pretty good to me... >NO MEMES Truly a fate worse than death
0:36 I'm in my 20's and I'm a "boomer" i really Believe the internet is great for buying, selling and music, maybe directions.. Nothing else... almost anything else is just horror to humans mental health .... Its horrifying and sad. So many people are insane because of it.
not really the internet is great for gaming too, and the best part is you don't have to buy anything to play all sorts of amazing games. Adobe flash may be gone but we now have maxima flashpoint.
actually itnerent changed my personality greatly it made me from guy who jut liked videogames and that's it to a guy whoa actually lijkes science and reads books an other history it mad em more knowledgeable and made me seek actual knowledge and learning
GloomGaiGar Yeah but it would probably go the way of Blockbuster since Netflix would never to be able to compete with the DVD juggernaut that was uhh… BLOCKBUSTER without the Internet in this alternate timeline Blockbuster probably would have done to Netflix what Netflix did to Blockbuster in our timeline, funny to think about isn't it.
Watching this video was like what I imagine taking a speedball would be like. Tristan's segments are like the speed up from cocaine then Cody shows up to mellow everything out with heroin.
Memeical Nah actually I'd be fine without porn. I did an experiment on myself by limiting my internet use and I got by the whole week without watching porn.
We had some of the best video games ever made long before the Internet got here. Don't trust everything you hear on Alternatehistoryhub. Arcades were even making a comeback in the mid 90s just before computers took over a lot of the market due to also having internet access.
I wouldn't count too much on the whole "entertainment is only controlled by a few media companies on cable" - at least not entirely. During the 80's and 90's, public access channels were still pretty huge, so I'd imagine in this alternate timeline, perhaps Cody would be allowed an allotted time slot on his local PAN for the TV show "Alternate History Hub" and talk about an alternate history where, somehow, computers formed worldwide communication networks. Pretty trippy I think.
With the price of equipment inevitably becoming more affordable over time, I could definitely see this happening, unless big broadcasting lobbied Congress to pass legislation to stifle small content producers
I'm a older millennial in my early 30s. Actually got a chance to experience the best of both worlds. I enjoyed the old days before internet became mainstream. the 90s and early 2000s, I feel that young adults/teenagers were more social and did more outdoor activities. I experienced my high school days without a smartphone and still had a pretty good social life. I understand times has changed and the average person probably can't go an hour without being on their precious smartphone. If the internet was to completely stop tomorrow, I think different Generations will react differently.
Everything has sped up. It's like social evolution in warp drive. Everyone is the same now. Seriously, total social homogenization. Yeah, sure, all of your friends have different colored hair. They all think and act the same like no prior time in history. It's probably a good thing. But this really is the blandest generation because of the homoginizing effect of the internet.
Verbal 334 you seem to be a very mature young man. It's unfortunate that you feel Under Pressure that you have to be on your phone to feel socially accepted. I completely understand how you feel about being around people when they all have their heads in their phones. if you don't have your head in your phone, then you're the weird one LOL.
Gee Wags you are right. It is ridiculous how some young adults in this new generation literally can not live without their smartphones or the thought of no internet. Back in our days, we didn't have it and we did just fine. Kids were actually kids and played in playgrounds like they supposed to. We didn't have fancy tablets that these babies and toddlers have nowadays SMH
Leo ForReal you're so right. We are in a bland generation. Back then, kids were more like individuals and did their own things. Now a days if you don't stick to a trend then you're not cool. Social media world has sadly taking over a lot of young adults lives. I'm glad at my age, I could appreciate the the convenience of smartphones and internet. At the same time, I'm mature enough not to let it consume me.
Rinee-Okumura Hambleton yes that is true. A lot of companies in this generation rely on the convenience of the internet. I do understand that the internet is also a great tool for communication. it does consume a lot of our lives in different ways.
Man, this is fascinating yet terrifying to think about as, as they said, many lives (including my own) have been shaped by the access and use of the Internet. In a world where that access was never possible is one hard to imagine.
Jan Sanono Memes would exist but in different forms - stupid example: A games article made a "meme" about evolving a pokemon into yoshi which fooled a lot of people and became a "meme" which a lot of people heard pf but became a joke in the end!
The internet so profoundly changed my life I actually can't really imagine me without it. My politics, my involvement in society, my ability to become a content creator, what I think of in the world, my own prejudices and stereotypes, my friends would all be different. I wouldn't know even a third as much as I do or appreciate intellectualism at all. I also wouldn't have had my kid which again completely reshaped my life and that whole experience is intertwined with the internet. Honestly I'd probably be dead. So much of what I needed to learn I learned myself through the internet. I didn't grow up with good role models, guidance, or learning about emotions and stuff. I could see me being a pretty awful dude.
Individually and in short terms yes, but in the Long terms and with the mass (especially with covid hit) the internet would turn very toxic. And you don't use your imagination here, humans will find something for themselves. You will still have jobs and friends and kids, but just different ones than you have.
The world would be vastly different. The society as a whole would be much more conservative, government/corporations would get away with more, the people would be less connected, voices would be easily silenced, all these start ups by creative young people wouldn't exist, there wouldn't be any database of knowledge to counter the established academia, the socially awkward or people struggling would be more on their own instead of having forums to help, so many different things would be different but most of all the world would just be more boring. We have such an insane amount of stimuli due to the internet and everything that comes with it that without the internet we would be more boring as people. Although there have been studies that show all this stimuli is rotting our brains. Who knows but it's safe to say the internet is the greatest asset and tool to a free, open democratic society for the people. The internet must be protected now and always- it isn't the governments, it isn't the states, it isn't the banks, it isn't the corporations, it belongs to the people.
But without the internet, our stimuli wouldn't be at the level it's currently at now. The internet played a role with increasing human stimulation, so it'd probably be the same as it was 30 years ago, meaning we'd probably not be as bored as you think. Although, I can agree with just about everything else.
The Daemon Sultan instead of throwing insults why don't you give me a rebuttal of what you disagree with? People like you are what make comment sections cancerous- no substance just insults and trolls.
Nick Rynearson He wouldn't exist because he would need his mothers X chromosome. If his father met an entirely new person then their child would be completely different not only due to the environment that they would grow up in being different but they also would be entirely different people.
The amount of times I have said "I wish we'd had the internet while I was growing up." The sheer volume of information that can be found there dwarfs any library... and it's a lot easier to find. If you wanted advice back then you had to rely on those close to you - and a lot of the time they were clueless, or people you didn't want to ask. Is that better than now? I don't think so.
If the internet didn't exist I wouldn't even be alive. My parents met from an online dating service and their marriage is still good. They met from USA all the way from Colombia so basically the Internet is why I am alive (Please note im 15 and about to become 16)
JoraForever M-m-morty! There's no internet here! People still use those shitty *burrrrrpppp* flip phones and you can't watch porn! Oh, man, oh, jeez? There's really no porn? Yeah, Morty, that's right. No more porn. Aw man, I don't like this already
Hey everyone! Special thanks to Tristan from Step Back History, his channel link is in the description. The question I had for you guys was.
"How different would you be in a world without the internet?" How'd it influence your personality and views. Let me know.
i highly doubt there would have been any major technical advancements without the internet though
copyight
AlternateHistoryHub more alternate hystory
How about if the uk never formed and England and Scotland remain separate?
btw i would suggest doing a video on "what if Julius Caesar never existed? or killed?"
If the internet didn't exist, I would still be laughing my ass off at America's Funniest Home Videos.
YogurtStudio Inc. woooo! Babies and fat people falling down: the show
Arcadian Legacy and they win money
YogurtStudio Inc. because that is the funniest show ever *i am being sarcastic*
YogurtStudio Inc. i still do
Holy shit yeah, my taste in well... everything would be garbage... but so would everyone elses.... haha I still win, we are all equally garbage.
My eighth grade history teacher told me about when he first heard of the internet. He bet another teacher $50 it would be a passing fad lol
wonder if that teacher paid up on that bet.
@@Daidan0 probably. He's a pretty honest guy. This was also around 1995, so $50 wasn't worth much more than it is now
Well he was half right
Coz except professionals and tech students internet wasn't used by general public until late 2000s
@@Wi-Fi-El it was more
Wish it was
without mainstream gaming or the Internet... I'd be a contributing functional member of society
Nah you'd still have your normal gaming consoles ;).
Plus tv. *HEHE*
XD
I'd probably have achievements in life lol
Oh trust me. We had offline games in the early 90s, and we were perfectly good at being nonfunctional.
It would have been hilarious if you just recorded a blank screen for 5 mins.
*repeatedly chuckles to this thought*
Imagine an alternate universe were this happened
What if Alternatehistoryhub uploaded a five minute video of a black screen, on youtube?
That'd be a good video
Lol
@@ohhxcake5434 you never know there might just be one
I wouldn't even exist - my parents met on an internet chat room hundreds of miles away, got chatting and everything went from there. If the internet didn't exist, the chance that I would even exist potentially is abysmally small
You never know. Back in 1968 my mom went to a bar with a friend and my dad had arrived on a train from Michigan a few days before that. He'd missed his bus and wandered into the same bar as my mom. Here I am 49 years later. The chance that any of us are ever born is pretty damn small.
You would exist, but technically two different versions of you would exist, if you think about it. If both your parents find other companions, then one of the chromosomes that comprise you today would be paired with another. So, if you look at it this wy, it would mean there would be two halves of you existing in that alternate timeline.
I am glad you exist ! :-)
It was already abysmally small
in that scenario it is impossible
@@cyanidensadness: Yes, two parts of her would exist, but her *life* would not.
I would've actually finished that book I was writing
Evop Fx 😂
Ha......................
ward
@Evop Fx human developing internet with knowledge all
And maybe I would read it 🤔
In a parallel universe, a guy like me is watching a VHS video about an alternate timeline where there is a global network of communications
Na, a DVD
People like me wouldn't even know a video lile that could exist
Dude I learned English by myself just browsing the internet
@Joseph Wilson Never miss an opportunity to talk shit about America!
Me too, lol. Now learning Russian in the same way as English...
Coaster Weirdo We’re just talking about the rest of america, like the majority of the people living in the 48 mainland states, that aren’t the brightest people in the world.
Nicolas Salamanca Same I learned English through the internet the education system sucks here and most public schools students can barely speak English
@@Neo-qj2zb were are you from?
If the Internet never existed, you would likely owe Blockbuster Video a late fee.
Thx1138sober I think I still owe some late fees.
More like Redbox would still kill it.
I still own them a late fee, still have a VHS from a store in Oregon lol
Sparkymist We still have a store in Oregon!
Samantha Tabor oh no, which town?
If the internet didn't exist I'd probably be a Harvard Graduate, instead I'm a shitposter.
On the upside we haven't added to the student debt
Dont worry. You would have found something else to waste your life on.
You could have also not taken french in an alternate universe.
Verbal 334 Failed my French class ended up taking spanish
I'd probably be employed. I'm a gaymer.
I'd be dead. I was so horribly depressed I was planning on.... checking out on my 25th birthday... I then met my current wife, and she changed me. Funny enough, she was also in a depressive state. The internet allowed us to meet and save each other. 7 years later and we're still happy together :)
Exactly. The internet is a good thing if you have an IQ over 75
@@sosopwsi829Jjw9 i love your profile picture
@Zwnj the people under 50 are alt hsotory youtube channels
I think that that’s really beautiful
@@itstooearlyforthisst4633 it is. and im honestly happy the two of them truly care for eachother. however.....you still cant deny just how overwhemlingly negative cruel and terrible many people on the internet are. anonymity brings out the worst in people. there have been times when some folks say some really REALLY fucked up shit that they would NEVER say in real life, because they think they can get away with it. and when that kind of stuff gets attention and "exposed" only, it only spreads more.
i bet you 9 times out of ten the internet does way more harm then good, and while saviorMK2's story is an exeption, the majority is not as positive.
I've spent most of high school on TH-cam and Wikipedia.
Without that, I probably would never have went to university.
Now I work at CERN.
My live would be radically different without the net.
So, is it true that you guys are trying to open the gates of hell and destroy the world?
I mean there’s a library, not as easy as internet tho.
@@moonwolf8470yah but a library will get ya more accurate information so it’s worth doing the extra work
Awesome! Hope you don't get any of that conspiracy nonsense. Or at least not too often. My aunt genuinely believes you're sacrificing people and trying to open gates to fictional realms of eternal torture.
Damn you must be a small minority on the upside
What if the Internet Never Existed?
*video ends abruptly*
Second Thought coincidentally uploaded a video about this topic two days ago ("What If the Internet Stopped Working?") and everyone was like "this could be a great topic for AlternateHistoryHub". You two should collab one day!
Channels like these tend to occasionally share the same topic a lot. I think they are already in contact with each other behind the scenes and compete against one another.
I Don’t think it’s coincidental at all
im pretty sure he's said something about them in other vids iirc
The thing is, those are dramatically different scenarios. Having the internet and then losing it causes WAY more upheaval.
I have been really depressed recently but seeing the “it’s 4 am and I’m not animating that” genuinely made me laugh so hard that I will be going to bed happy tonight. I love this channel!!
Big W
Hope you're doing better today. The bad days are gone and the good days are coming. I struggled too and I know you can fight depression. You got this!
How’s it going 2 years later?
@@dawsondudark lol
@@donichiro lol that wasn’t supposed to be funny but I’m glad you’re amused. Hopefully not at the expense of this guy
Born in 1980, I saw the internet come to power. Life was not bad before the internet, just slower.
Emanuel Nicholson It would be closer to Back to the Future 2 with a lot of cable channels & monster media stores.. The malls would be bigger & better.. Everyone would be more attentive to each other.. Less distracted.. It would be almost like the 80's on steroids!! In ways I think it'd be better.. Other ways not as good.. BTW we actually had internet in 70's & 80's but it just became more inclusive to further ideas as we went along..
@@Mintcar923 in the 1980s so much tech. Cheap and state of the art, computers allowed you to,game, shop online, chat sites, and even dating.
Brian Kelly They had good computers in the 80’s and also computer dating.. I recall a lot of hype about CompuServe.. Although it was obviously more expensive
I was born in 1972. I remember a life without internet very well.
To the person whose parents met through online dating...there was phone dating services. Served the same purpose but you actually had to talk to the person hundreds of miles away. If you had a good long distance plan...as I’m sure would’ve been much cheaper over the years even without internet cheapening the value of Sprint and AT&T...you could talk to anyone you wanted if you were in the market for blind dating.
The person who said they found a cure to their debilitating disease via the Internet, there was microfiche, which was accessible to any of the world’s data but on a manual device and from medical journals or newspapers from across the world.
Like Emanuel Nicholson said...we could still do a lot of the things we do now but it would much much slower and you’d have to be way more ambitious and creative with where to look.
If you didn’t know the internet existed...like no one outside of the military or computer science knew anything about before 1990’s, you wouldn’t even realize you were missing out on anything.
Computers were good for a VAST amount of things besides computing. My mom had two computers for video editing in the mid 80’s. You could listen to music stored on a jump drive or a CD. You could play a wide assortment of video games. You could type papers for school. Certainly you know someone who has a computer and was late on their WiFi and phone bill at least once. They watched movies on DVD. Edited and downloaded and stored all kinds of media.
We still had technology before the internet and I’m certain it would’ve greatly advanced by now. Or at least been much faster than in the 90’s.
Slower would be nice
Not all of us would exist. Some of our parents hooked up online.
._. oh my god
Mine did.
Jhan919 how old are you?
Not my parents. But people under like 15 it is possible
Jhan919 no, like 5 years old
11:45
I highly doubt videogames are not as popular. Single player and split screen coop will still be a huge thing. Competitive gaming existed in the 80's. However it's more like people competing in single player for high scores.
Along with inviting friends over to play video games.
Competing in single island isolated from the world is not fucking competitive.
Memeical It is, just not in a huge scale.
Before the Internet I always wandered about how to make two people play in two different tvs because I hated a split screen. When Nintendo 64 came with 4 players sharing one screen, that looked so wrong for me.
Probably companies would try to invest on connecting video games even if that meant to put all of them in the same room with lots of cables.
OneManArmy But couldn't you connect individual consoles to one another like the gameboy link cable thing (forgot the name)
if i hadn't found netflix, anime, and eventually pokemon, i would have been an author instead of a weeb.
Edit: Pokémon wasn’t my gateway because video games weren’t really a thing in my house growing up, and I was born after poke mania.
"eventually" Pokemon????? That should have been your gateway LOL
@@bombomos no not really, not everybody got pokemon as their first anime
@@neunleben1358 considering it was on public tv in America before Naruto and dbz it should have been.
if only
Arrow Barnard nice
I would be way much more productive and less of a procrastinator
Video games would still exist, good ones too... other than metal gear solid 2, that wouldn't exist.
The internet is the Wild West of making money. You can figure something out
wrong!!! TV does the same to ppl XD
DENILSON THOMAS. I would be way more of procrastinator and produce a lot less writing wise.
Everyone would. Streaming would exist for chemists and journalists not let's plays and some anime girl showing her tits.
Wow, I didn't think it possible - an alternate history where the N-Gage could have been a success
10:00 In an Internet-free world, I'm pretty sure CDs would still be quite popular. People still buy CDs in our timeline, so they unquestionably would still be popular in a world without the Internet.
We could have MP3 players without the internet, right?
@@justthatgirl-ct4jo Absolutely; no inter-device communication or Internet is really needed to work MP3 players.
@@lindenlynx Im in a hurry so sorry if i get the country wrong, but there have been stores where you could go in, listen and then download the music directly from the shop. Mainly in Japan i think.
heck I still like records.
heck I still like records.
Ironically, the internet has been corporatized in OTL to the point that entertainment nowadays actually IS only controlled by a few big companies
Without internet, those company that corporatize internet would either never found or bankrupt
Netflix could exist, since it started as a video rental thing, without overtime fees, but it would have to be a physical store obviously.
Terrible Animator blockbuster
Did you even read "without overtime fees"?
They would probably advertise a phone number on TV or newspapers for you to call and order VHS and DVDs.
Netflix can exist but without the internet they have no way of competing with blockbuster
No, they would probably compete with Blockbuster since Netflix wouldn't have overtime fees, since that's why the founder founded it in the first place.
In a world without the internet, my life would be radically different. For starters, I would not have had to take a course in elementary school where I created my own webpage (to date myself here, this happened at around the turn of the millennium). I probably would not have had as much interest in computers outside of word processing and video gaming (since video games would have still been made for it and sold as physical media rather than via Steam). I still would play video games on actual consoles. As a teenager, I made friends easier online and it was one of the main ways I was able to connect with others since I was always seen as "off", "creepy", or just downright "weird" due to my social awkwardness stemming from Autism and more (which I don't wish to go over due to the fact that it's a depressing topic). So I would just be even more isolated and with fewer friends. I would still have been likely to take a film class for fun, but there'd be less reason to since youtube wouldn't exist (this would be about 2004-ish). I would have graduated High School with less of an idea of what I wanted to do with my life and with less of a chance to find what few things I'd be good at or even interested in.
My adult life would be when my life would have taken a different turn. I wouldn't have really left home like I did and I'd have less direction or even friends when my dad kicked the bucket when I was 20. I'd be likely to still have all of the same irl friends I have in this timeline, but I'd still have no direction or skills. I wouldn't have been exposed to computers as much and then wouldn't have discovered my affinity for technology. Furthermore, my major of Information Technology would simply be non-existent, only existing as the separate branches of computer programming and repair. The whole area of computer networking and security would simply not exist. I would not have had to go through multiple quarters/years of the intricacies of routing, switches, TCP/IP, the multiple layers of computer communication, and the how's and why's of designing, implementing, and troubleshooting intranets. Much of my field of study would simply not exist, as would the sectors I'm working towards getting into (database management and/or intrusion response).
And I simply would not be watching this video and leaving an essay of an answer.
Damn. That's long.
If the internet didn't exist my life would be horribly depressing
It is yet too, but atleast you have Internet
True
Sameee
CLcaptain gaming Ii disagree it'd be different not depressing
You know, for people like us, our lives might be better w/o Internet. Think about it: without the Internet to distract us, we'd go outside more, or at socialize with other people more (Internet or not, multiplayer is still a thing.) This gives us more time to work on things that matter.
Regarding video games, I think they'd still be mainstream, but they'd be different in significant ways. PC gaming may be very different without the MMO craze, but consoles would not change much, at least not initially. The PS2 and GameCube were designed as offline consoles, with only the Dreamcast and Xbox being able to connect to the internet out of the box (and the Dreamcast, which did only natively supported dial-up, flopped anyway). Even then, online gaming on consoles took a while to get mainstream, and wouldn't become relevant until the release of Halo 2. In this alternate timeline, the Gen 6 consoles still get made, but nothing is connected. Xbox Live never exists, and local multiplayer remains the norm for shooters, including the aforementioned Halo 2, which would still be very popular as it followed the also very popular original Halo. That generation probably would still look 99% the same and still be massively popular.
The following generation is where things start to look even more different, but still very familiar. It was the first where every system had built-in broadband connectivity, but it still took a while for online to become the norm. While Microsoft never revealed the split between Xbox Live Silver and Gold, there is some evidence that even by the end of the generation the majority of 360 owners did no have Gold accounts, and thus were not playing online titles, and the 360 was the most connected system that generation (Sony was lagging behind Xbox initially, and the Wii's online was bare-bones basic). All of the best-selling 360 and PS3 games could, in part or in whole, be played offline. However, without the popularity of its online multiplayer, Call of Duty would probably be not be anywhere near as popular as it is in our timeline, and likely have ended up with more middling sales as a series of semi-realistic single-player military shooters (with maybe a local split-screen). Halo may remain popular, but with the multiplayer part having grown more popular in our timeline, in this alternate timeline Halo 3 and subsequent games in the series might not have sold as well purely on the basis of the single-player and local MP. But most other popular games that generation were games that were either single-player only or had only a token multiplayer mode. So, while CoD and a handful of other series known mainly for their multiplayer would likely have not been as popular, console gaming as a whole would likely not be considerably different even as recently as 2012 in this alternate timeline. The Wii in particular would still have been a massive success, and it was a system that was not known for having a strong online presence.
Perhaps the biggest difference we'd see last generation in a world without the internet would be the absence of digital distribution. No Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, or Wii Shop Channel means no downloadable content and no digital games. There would be no XBL Arcade, no Virtual Console, and almost certainly no indie games. So many smaller titles released over the past 10-15 years have only been possible because of digital distribution making things easier for smaller companies. Games like Braid, Fez, Limbo, and Super Meat Boy might never exist. Mega Man would never have experienced a revival without Mega Man 9. The "retro revival" as a whole might have never happened without indie titles and other small games that would have struggled to find space on store shelves. As for DLC, this meant fighting games would still be subjected to multiple re-releases every time there was a roster expansion; in the 16-bit era there were several versions of Street Fighter II & III, and two versions of Mortal Kombat 3, which if you wanted to always have the latest version it got damn expensive since you had to re-buy the whole game all over again. Many games with multiplayer modes would likely be limited to the maps/tracks the system came with. However, it's possible that expansion discs could have taken the place of DLC, since hard drives could still have become relevant as a replacement for memory cards, and any content from an expansion pack could be loaded onto the hard drive and accessed by the primary game (Halo 2 notably had its DLC maps released on a disc).
The lack of internet and thus digital distribution would also mean the lack of the ability to issue patches for games. That means that any titles that had critical bugs or glitches would be stuck that way forever, as they were for every game released in the pre-internet days of gaming. This could be viewed as a double-edged sword. It is argued that the ability to change a game post-launch has resulted in a "release-and-patch culture" in the industry, where games are intentionally rushed out to market even if they aren't quite ready for prime-time, and then fixed after the fact, making early adopters de facto beta testers of sorts. On the other hand, even if a developer tries to make sure the game is running as good as possible before launch, sometimes unexpected things get through the cracks, and the inability to fix an unforeseen critical bug could hurt the game's sales and reception and thus the reputation and bottom line of the developer and publisher.
Moving to the current generation, things will start to look even more different. Without the internet, MS's PR debacles leading up to the launch of the Xbox One would not have happened, as the entire concept of always-online would not exist. Gaming would still be 100% physical, and there could be no countermeasures against used games. As the concept of always-online wouldn't exist, it has ramifications for game development as well. PC gaming had already been bereft of MMOs for many years, with EverQuest, World of Warcraft, and so on having never existed, and their modern counterpart, the "live service" title, would not exist, either. That means Destiny, The Division, Anthem, and Sea of Thieves would not exist. It also means that online-only competitive multiplayer games would not exist, meaning no Overwatch and no "battle royale" games. The kids of today would not only have never had Minecraft or Five Nights at Freddy's to get their attention (and no TH-cam meant no Let's Players and other internet personalities to shape their opinions), that means Fortnite would never have existed. Single-player games would absolutely remain dominant as gaming would not be the massively social experience it has become this decade. The social element of gaming would be relegated to local play, things like split-screen and "couch co-op" continuing to define multiplayer as it did during the 90s.
The fate of the competitive scene is ambiguous. Without the internet to popularize it, it may have never become as big as it is today, but it would still exist as it has had a long history. Fighting games would probably be the dominant genre since it has only required a single screen, and the Evo tournament has been around since 1996. However, first-person shooters would probably have never entered the competitive scene if they were relegated to split-screen. If the LAN still existed in this internet-less world, then it may have given some shooters the potential to be a major competitive genre.
In conclusion, video gaming's massive mainstream success had already been cemented before online gaming became the norm. In a world without the internet, this almost certainly would not change. However, without the existence of online connectivity the face of gaming today would be noticeably different. Some genres would have taken entirely different trajectories, and many titles and even entire genres (e.g., the MMO) would have never existed. The overall market share of the Big Three in the console space would probably be different. Science fiction involving the internet would also not exist, meaning any games that had such a thing as a story element would not exist. The internet shaped our culture significantly, and as a result our different culture would result in at least some developers producing different games. Games journalism may still also be limited to magazines, though perhaps a TV channel dedicated to games would still arise and be popular, showing gameplay videos and having the latest gaming news and otherwise doing things a magazine couldn't do. But as a whole, video games would still be a popular mainstream form of entertainment.
Well written. Thank you for this. The only thing I have to say is games with a science fiction setting that involves an advanced level of communication would still exist and would be similar to the internet.
I say this because phones still exist and scifi stuff (like Star Trek) has shown stuff only possible through the internet, like video calls, which is based on the idea that somehow, like using phones to communicate long distance, even the internet is an inevitability (even if the concept is fictional).
@@AwesomeHairo well first mobile phones were already sold in 1973.
I feel that point-and-clicks, text-based games (such as Zelda) and adventure games would also be more popular, but video games as a whole would likely be seen as childish, temporary.
You should make this into a video
I would argue that physical isolation would less prevalent without the internet. I grew up without it and friends spent a lot more time face to face. I see my friends less every year as they all spend more time online.
I live in middle of nowhere and I don't have friends there and only internet friends. So for me it would be isolation
And this began even in the mid-90's. I know because I lost many friends due to my isolation. All due to the internet. DAMN YOU AOL!!
really tho? Is it really due to internet tho? I spend way more time with friends after internet cause they're always friends that you like but aren't close enough to call, the internet is a great way to ask them out. And I don't really see people (the ones not addicted to gaming at least) choosing sending time online instead of hanging out. Those who spend so much time in door gaming would still do so but with consoles anyways.
kaka Ho yeah I’d say the internet has a big influence on communicating face-to-face and talking on the phone. Before the internet I went to a person’s house or called their house. Now, the people I enjoy and remain friends with communicate via text message on FB Communicator. I’ve been lucky enough to be in a band that plays instruments and loads/unloads equipment for local shows...we spend the majority of our time communicating on Messenger. It’s so much easier than having to confront or visit anyone. But I could EASILY live a life without it. Most people born after 1995 could not. Idk what my daughter says or how much “lecturing” I’ve given her over the years about a world without internet or technology for that matter...she’d be lost without the internet. And she’s 21!
But I do appreciate your perspective! ❤️
well said
I'd be dead without the Internet. It allowed me to locate successful medical treatment for an extremely debilitating condition that I never would have found otherwise. So yeah.
Lol I'll eat you
Did you buy essential oils?
@@briankelly9347 um ok
No you still would have found the medicine for without the internet you would of just consulted a doctor
No. “Crowd sourcing” diseases is a real thing. People share information easily and openly about rare diseases that otherwise wouldn’t have been connected , allowing doctors to do their job
Blockbuster and chill
lol
in this alternate history nokia would probably still dominate cellphone race
People would still buy porno mags.
Which is good because you are mobile reading the porn magazines in convinience stores in Japan. Or in America using public library and masterbating in bathroom.
Oh the horror! I'm Grammie Norma, I'm old and I got grey hair! But I remember when- the internet- were everywhere! And no one had to pay for- porn- so I say, let it grow! (Lol, outdated meme).
That would be that sadist lost
Or porn cards xdd
People would still watch SpiceTV lol
If internet never existed I would be reading a book or playing outside with friends. It is weird when you think about it, no internet, hard to imagine.
No, you would probably be playing offline video games.
Gaming Saba Saba You can still do that, you aren't force to stay on the internet
I would probably do more cowboying or shooting but I would probably hunt more to!!
In the early 90s, before the Internet went public, there was a dial-up gaming system called ImagiNation. Members could play many different kinds of games, incluidng card games, casino games, kids games, and an adventure game. It also included email and chat. And before that, there were local systems called Citynets. I lived in Boston at time time so I used Boston Citinet. I don't remember it having games, but it did have email, forums, and chat, which was the main reason I used it. So there may not have been an Internet, but there were smaller networks that would have provided many of the same services, and there's no reason to think they wouldn't have eventually expanded.
Incidentally, at one point near the end of this video, you said something like "we all would still be here" or something to that effect (I'm too lazy to go back and find it now). The problem is that there are many young people around now who would not have existed if their parents hadn't met online.
Puh! That's ridiculous! Everybody knows those relationships never work out!
Also considering now with COVID-19 that alternate world would be real dangerous and hope you still have a good stash of videos and video games here along with actual devices to run them on or still hope it works.
But there would be fewer conspiracy theories going around and a lot of people would be alive today who aren't.
@@sleekoduck That also is a possibility.
@@kellychuang8373 with nothing to do online, there would be more interaction between people and opposition to restrictions.
TV still exists.
@@ckq Oh yeah that's something to think about too.
Without the Internet, there would be no storming of the Capitol or the Bundestag.
I actually remember a time without the internet, I didn't have access to it until my late teens. Life would be simpler, social circles would be more immediate, people would be more private, there'd be less influence from international trends.
And social circles would be more ideologically diverse.
matochi506 and many incidents that happened in secluded areas wouldn't be known about 4 months because of person couldn't stream back the information to an international source
matochi506 and advancement would slow down
Same here. I was kid during the 90's. Most people I know didn't have internet and it wasn't a bad time at all. I had dial up for a bit but I didn't do much on it anyway. There was way more socialization back then as well and people more open to criticism then they are now. Video games were another source of fun and socialization. Them saying video games would a be niche during an alternate timeline with no internet is laughable. They were always popular. Their argument seems to come from a generational point of view of online gaming now. The industry was very profitable when there was no internet, even after the video game crash of the 80's.
Tell that to the young girls who ended up with eating disorders because the only source of new information was teen magazines. Where you paid for them to advertise clothes, as well as products for your stretch marks and cellulite. They also had died and exercise plans and advice on how to choose the best clothes and swimsuits for your body shape to hide your flaws. I mean if you feel good about yourself then you aren't going to buy all these clothes and products to make you look and feel better... Temporarily
This brings me back to like 2008 when I was in elementary school and this one kid walked into 4th grade with a smart phone and no one really knew what it was.
Evan McGhee
What smart phone?
The iphone launched in 2010
+Kyrakia Thats the ipad
Kyrakia Smartphone were a thing before 2010
Jack Garcia
Thanks, got them mixed up
Kyrakia iphone released in 2007, even before that, there's PDAs and communicators and blackberries.
Follow up episode idea:
Working on this same premise, I believe the internet is a bit of an inevitability. Eventually in order to sell new products companies would try and find ways of connecting devices together to try to gain an edge over their competitors by reducing dependency on physical media. But rather than a global open internet, it likely would be internal company intranets similar to what we see today but for the giant companies. In other words a closed network.
It would probably take a very long time for it to get to where it is today with corporations trying to keep control over it and likely connections would be mostly peer to peer for consumer devices for the purpose of file transfers. Eventually I think things like the Home Server or NAS would develop so people could store stuff on a single network resource in their home, most people would use it as a media server I'd imagine with some document storage as the likely use case. People would probably start to abuse this (cough pirates cough) and connect their homes to each other buying enterprise gear. These people would likely be the people who are the PC enthusiasts today. Companies would probably fight this on patent grounds or try to release their own products.
At this point an internet would probably start to emerge, but would look quite different. The internet would likely be heavily regulated and corporate controlled and would look like an entirely different place. There would be no push to keep the internet an open platform since it never was in the first place. Mostly it would be like the early internet in terms of billing, and probably would eventually expand to how it is now similar to how MMOs changed how ISPs worked. However I don't see it having many websites since its corporate controlled nature, the web likely wouldn't exist in this timeline and therefore social media. Likely chat rooms, file sharing, and some peer to peer gaming would exists, but it probably would remain stagnated at that level.
I came to similar conclusions, some form of global internet(s) would eventually exist, but the web could easily have been much less/differently developed.
Same
Everyone: “Without the Internet, people would be isolated”
Two-way Radio, telephones: Am I a joke to you?
It would be like 1996 forever for me just fine still driving around my 74 Cutlass doing donuts and burnouts at the pool hall
LordEvan5 yes friends. Even men hit the wall some time. Hit their peak etc.
Hey, nothing wrong with that!!
I could live with more of Paul McGann as the Doctor.
The Cessna 172 retractable is also called the Cutlass.
So true. Every year feels different thanks to the internet unlike times without it. *cough* *memes*
*2015: Papp, Water bottles, etc.*
*2016: shooting stars, harambe(?), We are number one.*
*2017: we are number one, Bee movie, etc.*
True...It used to be that trends lasted entire decades.
Lost Swiftpaw ahah... every year I swear
MEMES ARE DISGUSTING
@@LostSwiftpaw did he say portable instead of p word
No Twitter,no TH-cam and no Alternatehistoryhub.
A horrible world.
wtf tiwtter sucks boooo boring
Dude you think too small, try to imagine the bigger picture here. Use your brain to really imagine what the world would look like without the internet.
I think videogames would still be strong, the 90s were a golden age and they didn't need internets to fully function, so, I agree that there might be mobile phones with card slots and controllers. Nintendo and Sony would dominate the industry. Imagine the first Super Mario mobile game in this timeline, the console wars would have taken to a major scale.
That would’ve amazing to see now that I REALLY think about it the console wars would definitely have been a lot more interesting but also a bit more intense honestly
they would have gone full experimental mode, awesome alternative future there.@@thundersaAscam
Without the internet, I might not have discovered my love for filmmaking, and I would've probably continued on my original path of becoming a meteorologist instead of a filmmaker.
Same for me! Except I would've become an archeologist ...
Yeah...
I'm 24 years old. I was born in 1993. I remember not having the Internet in the palm of your hands...that was 11 years ago in 2006...I was 13...
DJ Kosloski '93 baby too, but we had internet since at least '99. We were poor but my dad HAD to have internet as it went with his up and coming online gaming (unreal tournament, quake, maybe doom). I didnt really play on the computer untill i was 10ish so i think about what i did before i discovered toontown or runescape, then eventually my permanent dependence with wow. Read more, play consoles more, make more traditional art... not a bad change really. Would have saved me money and i would have drawn more.
Born in 86. Shit was hard man. Fucking dialup was brutal but hey it was dope just to learn about it back in the day.
I was 13 before the internet ever got introduced. I was born in 1983, and internet was a long distance call at 14.4kbps.
I was born in '92. My house didn't have any form of internet until 2000 and didn't have the full meal deal regarding the internet (aka a computer) until Christmas 2004.
finchborat same here
Now do "What would happen if Australia Won The Great Emu War?"
et 37 The scenario has to be REMOTELY possible. That one isn't.
Yes please
Do you watch Sam O'Nella?
The Australian government would have to recruit more than just three soldiers for it.
et 37 waste of video production time plz no
Just imagine the last year and a half, locked away in our homes, without the internet. While my first thought was I wouldn't have a job, things overall would be way, way worse. Higher unemployment, higher deaths (more people forced to leave home to work), and even higher suicide.
Mainly higher suicide, particularly with those that are happier online than in real life.
I don't think you would be locked down if there was no internet
That would be Quarantine in 1960s when smallpox rule
It would've led to a revolution. Bread and circuses etc
@@finchboratthat's not real happiness, it escapism is what it is.
At least buzzfeed wouldnt exist.
FVGamer5 And SJWs.
They could have become a celebrity gossip tabloid, though there forte is less celebrity & more Disney Princess.
It would, but probably as a news article...
Lmao
The devil always finds a way
If we didn't have the internet, the average human attention span would be longer than that of a goldfish.
I had a much longer comment than this lined up, but I lost my concentration, so I...Hey, a squirrel!
Fear the Meerkat! Good one!
Yaakov Lapidus huh I didn't read what you just said
Dank Maymays42069 Oh... The internet ruined the world. Lol
Yaakov Lapidus That's a common myth.
Meanwhile in an alternate universe:
“What if the internet existed?”
But how would they know what the internet is
And if they did it will lead to people creating the internet
And then it does exist because it becomes thought of
Like your profile picture
Naah It would be like science fiction to them. An idea that sounds possible, but doesn’t exists. And there would also be conspiracy theorists in that world who claims that the government-ruling class has it, but doesn’t share it.
If the Internet never existed, this world would have still been more welcoming and respectful of their fellow human beings.
Guys like this so he can see. I think this would be interesting
*"What if Microsoft as a company went* *bankrupt? Or crashed."*
TeodrosDaKing when would they go bankrupt ?
Just use linux ffs
Listen to this, Microsoft is the OS for ATMs, thousands of companies use the OS. Think of every program that uses Windows to operate and suddenly the OS's company falls down. The U.S Government simply cannot let Microsoft as a company go bankrupt. It's considered a symbol of America to some.
I wouldn't be up at 12am on a school night watching this vid lol
That's a huge, valid point though! If it wasn't for internet and 24/7 television most people would get the rest their bodies and minds need as opposed to the 4-5 restless hours most of us get nowadays. TV used to actually turn off at certain hours of the night and all there would be was static.
Dillon Terry It's sad how right you are...
No online shopping so retailers like JC Penny, K Mart, Sears and such would still thrive. Oh, don't forget the malls. Malls will still be an important part of retail.
mx5hong have fun standing in those long lines and a person who thinks they're above the job, you get it today but you lose the whole day cause each store is similar you visit, you setup the product at 8:30 at night after you relax from all that chaos 😂😂😂
I love shopping at stores. FUCK ONLINE SHOPPING!
SEARS Should be the AMAZON now. Walmart could focus on pushing AMAZON off the internet. Walmart has big selection and low prices.... SEARS used to sell Whole HOUSES in kit form, delivered right to you!
Yeah, I just bought something at JC Penney today and man I felt like nobody was there. Then again it was weekday afternoon.
I do disagree about the malls though to a certain extent. A big reason people don't go to malls is because of parents. Parents nowadays don't want their kids to go anywhere without them/another person they trust. Unlike when I grew up in the 90's. And parents feel they have better things to do then walk the mall with their "brats". Basically, it's the Stranger Danger culture we live in LOL. Kids can't do anything without parents nowadays, until they reach maybe 15. Unless it's with a person they really trust. This is in America, anyway...
It would look just like the 1970s. We didn't have cellphones, personal computers or the internet. We had a great society.
it would still be a lot different because technology would progress but the internet would not exist
A great one where everything used to be cheap and reliable people, a golden age.
I wouldn't have even been born, my parents met online in the 90s.
KickStart Oof
I would’ve still been the same lol, my mom’s contraceptive would’ve failed and my sisters would still tease me about it saying that I was a mistake lol.
*(sneaky noises)*
Suleiman The Magnificent Nani?
*[steals state secrets in russian]*
Romulan, sneaky cloacking noises.
Gin Chan (sneaky Russian noises) more like SOYUZ NERUSHIMY RESPUBLIK SLOVOBDOYNE
SOYUZ GREAT
SOVIETSKII GREAT
SOVIETSKII SOYUZ BETTER
oh no we collapsed
Blockbuster will be alive
Cat Man Fun fact blockbuster still exist but only one It is located at Bend Oregon
9:37 Interestingly, phones like this actually exist in our timeline. Nokia made a gaming phone called the N-Gage with physical game cartridges. These were games like Sonic N, Crash Nitro Kart, and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. The design was pretty bad. As you can guess, the N-Gage flopped.
If the internet didn't exist I'd still be innocent
Lucy is a Dino
Same m8
Explain.
Maybe for a future video, instead of what if a revolutionary technology didn't exist, you'd do a timeline where a revolutionary fictional technology did exist? For example: What if teleportation was invented in the 90s? What if time travel existed? Etc etc.
That's ASB though.
Time Travel should be his final episode.
The TARDIS will exist then.
The world will end then.
Well for starters, i would have a great social life.
Mr.Snackmix preach
I'd probably be even more socially awkward
Mr.Snackmix not even then
Most of my closest friends are people who I have never actually met in real life. I may have more friends in real life, but all I do with them is make random jokes, never actually discuss anything interesting. It is the opposite with the people I meet online. So, if there was no internet I would probably not have any meaningful relationships with people, and, as a result, I would probably be very lonely, and frustrated with my life. Of course, I would not know what I was missing, but that wouldn't change the fact that I would have no one to discuss what I am interested in with.
I think everyone would be a bit more wholesome
And more sane.
Although internet is only for depressed,lonely,bored,nerdy,geeky etc , without it, space jam nyan cat viral video newgrounds Markiplier jacksepticeye etc would cease to exist
No no, without the internetI would be WAY more repressed, lonely, self critical and narcissistic
@@NA-AN Two-way radios and telephones: Are we jokes to you?
I think it would look like the Cafe 80s in Back to the Future 2
But there are no hoverboards in 2015 (not in BttF2 but irl that looked like segways without handlebars)
Yes.
The "Memphis Milano" 1980s aesthetic:
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/48/Memphis-Milano_Movement.jpg/1200px-Memphis-Milano_Movement.jpg
Unless it was completely forbidden by the government to do so, I am sure that some person would come up with the idea of connecting devices, especially in offices to quickly share information. At some point, especially with rapidly growing processing power, a form of internet would be created.
It surely would, but would be built up more slowly
I can imagine elements of cyberpunk still existing, perhaps people would stash SD cards around with information on them for others to pick up, would Bluetooth maybe still be an option within short range?
Phones and texting weren't Internet dependent so I suspect (without evidence obviously) that rebellion, communication and memeage would develop through whatever was available. It's not like there were no revolutions and no intrigue prior to the Internet.
With out Goverment foundings, it would be pretty expensiv
There would be a lot of cables. And pirate radios and TV stations would probably be a big thing.
Yes, Bluetooth and p2p cables would still have come about, but if you've ever use them, you'll doubtlessly remember how horrid they are the first time. Where would you look up how to get them to work, the library? Too much trouble
No crappy ig models.
CGI would still be a thing dude, only crappier because it would become an even more rare skill to master without international aid and tutoring. basically cgi would be worse in that timeline
I think he meant Instagram, not CGI.
He said *IG models,* marcel, not *GI models* - *I* nsta *g* ram. Also, Logan and Jake Paul would probably be flipping burgers somewhere.
I really believed that it stood for Imperial Guard..... you know, from warhammer 40k
I'm still pissed Kriegsmen cost so much
If the internet didn't exist, I'd be less phone addicted, smarter, and actually have social skills
Video idea: what if the Roman republic never became the Roman empire
88BlueBear88 sounds good.
88BlueBear88 The Roman empire would have fallen before due to civil wars and corruption.
Or, what if the Roman Empire never fell?
Rome wouldn't be remembered as much as it is now. Probably would be though of as Greece's little retarded brother in that alternate world.
88BlueBear88
it would be the Roman Republic ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
I often pondered the same thing where what if the internet did not exist or did not take off for whatever reason. I was born in 1966, it was a world where Ozzie and Harriett were still on TV and I came into the world exactly two months before Star Trek came on TV. TV was still mostly black and white but color was coming up fast. That said, here goes my take.
I remember the first personal computers in the 1970's and there were aq few people who started to run BBS'es (Bulletin Board Systems) where you had to dial them up. At that time, say 1978, you used 110 or 300 baud. BBS'es were stand alone usually and basically only hardcore computer enthusiasts used them. The downside is unless you had a phone package where you can all all places in your area code, you had to watch what BBS'es you can call where you will not run up your phone bill. Of course, I've heard of people "phreaking" (in the 1970's and 1980's) where they somehow manipulate the phone system to avoid charges but that was illegal. Stand alone BBS'es generally served their local areas. We had discussion boards but those mainly focused on technical topics although there were some general debate, political and non-political and specialty forums like shortwave listening, amateur radio (I'm a ham radio operator myself) and so forth.
This changed around 1983 when a computer engineer named Tom Jennings came up with Fidonet, basically a system where dial-up BBS'es can network although not in real time. I remember getting online in 1986 to Fidonet. Basically Fidonet's system operated in a node type network where the local BBS you would call into, you'd post in forums you like, my favorites were politics, history, shortwave and amateur radio, cats, cars a few sundry other things. You'd post there and at certain times of the days, the local BBS'es would call into a central hub and relay the messages back and forth and the hub woulds then call the area node which would then go to a bigger central node for the area, could be State or group of them and then upward to a national node where every night at "National Mail Hours, it would go across the country and even the world." Usually hubs would be local, in the Pittsburgh area, we were number 129 IIRC where all the Pittsburgh BBS'es would be part of that hub, Sometimes you had exceptions, we had a BBS from Exeter in the UK on the Pittsburgh hub for example so my messages would not have to wait for the National Mail Hour. For the most part, even Fidonet was mainly for computer geeks but you had geeks from other disciplines too like amateur radio for example.
The technology, well, usually the BBS'es ran on IBM-PC/XT DOS compatibles, most likely using the 8086/8088 microprocessors, the typical hard drive at the time held like 10 or 20 megabytes and had 640K of RAM. To ease the length of time, you might have a mail program where you can download your Fidonet mail and messages from the forums you're interested in and download them to your PC where you can read them and reply to them and upload them net time you get online as well as get more messages. The standard modems were 300/1200/2400 baud and 9600 was coming on the scene when the internet came around, for Fidonet, the typical model was 1200/2400 baud. Also, there were no pictures, just text.
In the late 1980's and early 1990's, Fidonet was making gateways to the internet and usenet, I found a message from my in 1994 discussing floaters in the eyes for example with a few others.
Cody and Tristian, I think you're quite spot on where we could be today. If I may add, I think Fidonet would still be around though for the more hardcore techies, maybe we'd be stuck at the maximum of 28K/56K that the phone lines can handle and I'd still be downloaded my messages and mail on a DOS system. For data sharing like say in a medical situation, it would be a direct link from computer to computer via modem, let's say someone gets a cancer scan in Pittsburgh and the doctor wants to send it to M.D. Anderson in Texas, they would have to link modem to modem over the phone and send files that way.
Myself, where would I be. Well, again, I'd most likely be on Fidonet downloading and reading/replying offline, I work in a call center for a cable company so the only thing I can think up on that is maybe it would be more secure with the cable companies maintaining a bigger share. Also, if one wants to research, they'd do it the old fashioned way, go to the encyclopedia if they have it (book, CD/DVD or cartridge form) or go to the library.
This is a good one to ponder, I know there would be an alternate history Fidonet group we'd be hanging out on and possible one of us will be wondering, "what if the world was on one network, how would this alternate 2017 look like." B-) Gaming, well I do remember when Doom came out, you can go over the network of an office or do two computers, peer to peer via modem.
Thanks for the info, I'd never heard of Fidonet!
I was thinking through a lot of this video "what about BBSes?" I'm too young (born in 1991) to've gotten into them at the time, but I do have an interest in that sort early-era computer networking.
To me, it seems inevitable that someone would, sooner or later, have engineered a way to interconnect computers on a larger scale, whether based on point-to-point modem links or some expansion of ethernet (which my 2 minutes of research suggests could have still been developed even if ARPANET was never released to public domain). The resulting "alternate internet" would likely be very different in its technical underpinnings (possibly being more fractured/balkanized as a result), and could easily small niche for longer, but I suspect it's uses would eventually converge towards our own timeline.
IMO the usefulness of the modern internet makes it a near-inevitable invention once someone manages to imagine something like it, but I _may_ be a bit biased...
"It's creation intertwined with the our identities"
Not something you think about on a daily basis, but indeed Internet was crucial for shaping mine and personalities of at least dozens of millions around the globe. Thanks for info that allows to put things into perspective, and think about what exactly is shaping our lives every day.
When I was a teenager in the 90s, I wanted a portable DVD player so badly.
Catalog retailers would likely be the equivalent of online shopping in the alternate timeline. Instead of looking for stuff on amazon, people would browse the sears catalog
Also, language would be harder to learn. I learned English almost exclusively by watching TH-cam-videos, that wouldn't happen at all.
Just a thought…
Yea, I also learned english from the Internet
I learned english through video games and movies way before I had the internet to learn from. I can't imagine having the internet would have let me learn any faster.
SuperNoWa So true. I'm fairly young and I started learning English at 13 without any guidance other than english videos with subtitles. I thank the internet for opening so many doors in my life.
Wow never thought of that! I got to check out Spanish videos now to learn Spanish! :D
I'm learning Cyrillic online just for fun. Never to speak it, just to read it.
Without the internet, this wouldn't be as fun. It'd be more laborious.
>no ISIS
>no refugee crisis in Europe
>no cancerous social media websites like Twitter and Snapchat
Sound pretty good to me...
>NO MEMES
Truly a fate worse than death
memes started in the 1970's so you would be fine.
Yeah, but memes are not memes without memes.
>no reddit arrows
thank fuck
Kim.
>it's a greentext not reddit arrows
>using reddit arrows
pleb
0:36 I'm in my 20's and I'm a "boomer" i really Believe the internet is great for buying, selling and music, maybe directions.. Nothing else... almost anything else is just horror to humans mental health .... Its horrifying and sad. So many people are insane because of it.
ok boomer
Some of us use it for education
not really the internet is great for gaming too, and the best part is you don't have to buy anything to play all sorts of amazing games. Adobe flash may be gone but we now have maxima flashpoint.
actually itnerent changed my personality greatly it made me from guy who jut liked videogames and that's it to a guy whoa actually lijkes science and reads books an other history it mad em more knowledgeable and made me seek actual knowledge and learning
the great generationer
I want to see a world where every news story doesn't show people's reactions from Twitter. I miss those days. I want them back
Dude gaming would still be huge in this reality you would still have coop mode
There's still LAN though so our online game would be limited to Doom 5, CounterStrike 4.0 or Starcraft.
didn't netflix start out as a mail order version of blockbuster?
Yep, ordering FLIX over the interNET.
...I'm not sure why I'm here, actually.
GloomGaiGar Yeah but it would probably go the way of Blockbuster since Netflix would never to be able to compete with the DVD juggernaut that was uhh… BLOCKBUSTER
without the Internet in this alternate timeline Blockbuster probably would have done to Netflix what Netflix did to Blockbuster in our timeline, funny to think about isn't it.
I think a service like Redbox would still come out and take out Blockbuster.
Watching this video was like what I imagine taking a speedball would be like. Tristan's segments are like the speed up from cocaine then Cody shows up to mellow everything out with heroin.
Then half the people here wouldn't be saying "this video would never have been made"
I don't think I'd really mind this internetless world. The only problem for me would be that video games wouldn't be that big.
Memeical Nah actually I'd be fine without porn. I did an experiment on myself by limiting my internet use and I got by the whole week without watching porn.
week isnt a lot LOL.
We had some of the best video games ever made long before the Internet got here. Don't trust everything you hear on Alternatehistoryhub. Arcades were even making a comeback in the mid 90s just before computers took over a lot of the market due to also having internet access.
I would assume that LAN parties would still be possible as the internet infrastructure is bypassed completely that way.
Someone would probably invent the Interweb.
DatGuyWhoSpeedRuns Yeah, but it'd still take a good while to rise in popularity.
Then there would be spooky spiders
I wouldn't count too much on the whole "entertainment is only controlled by a few media companies on cable" - at least not entirely. During the 80's and 90's, public access channels were still pretty huge, so I'd imagine in this alternate timeline, perhaps Cody would be allowed an allotted time slot on his local PAN for the TV show "Alternate History Hub" and talk about an alternate history where, somehow, computers formed worldwide communication networks.
Pretty trippy I think.
With the price of equipment inevitably becoming more affordable over time, I could definitely see this happening, unless big broadcasting lobbied Congress to pass legislation to stifle small content producers
I'm a older millennial in my early 30s. Actually got a chance to experience the best of both worlds. I enjoyed the old days before internet became mainstream. the 90s and early 2000s, I feel that young adults/teenagers were more social and did more outdoor activities. I experienced my high school days without a smartphone and still had a pretty good social life. I understand times has changed and the average person probably can't go an hour without being on their precious smartphone. If the internet was to completely stop tomorrow, I think different Generations will react differently.
Everything has sped up. It's like social evolution in warp drive. Everyone is the same now. Seriously, total social homogenization. Yeah, sure, all of your friends have different colored hair. They all think and act the same like no prior time in history. It's probably a good thing. But this really is the blandest generation because of the homoginizing effect of the internet.
Verbal 334 you seem to be a very mature young man. It's unfortunate that you feel Under Pressure that you have to be on your phone to feel socially accepted. I completely understand how you feel about being around people when they all have their heads in their phones. if you don't have your head in your phone, then you're the weird one LOL.
Gee Wags you are right. It is ridiculous how some young adults in this new generation literally can not live without their smartphones or the thought of no internet. Back in our days, we didn't have it and we did just fine. Kids were actually kids and played in playgrounds like they supposed to. We didn't have fancy tablets that these babies and toddlers have nowadays SMH
Leo ForReal you're so right. We are in a bland generation. Back then, kids were more like individuals and did their own things. Now a days if you don't stick to a trend then you're not cool. Social media world has sadly taking over a lot of young adults lives. I'm glad at my age, I could appreciate the the convenience of smartphones and internet. At the same time, I'm mature enough not to let it consume me.
Rinee-Okumura Hambleton yes that is true. A lot of companies in this generation rely on the convenience of the internet. I do understand that the internet is also a great tool for communication. it does consume a lot of our lives in different ways.
What if Cody didn't wear his signature hat? What would our world today look like?
The world would be in ruin
This is the most tragic scenario you have ever covered on your entire channel! This will give me nightmares, how will I sleep at night?
Man, this is fascinating yet terrifying to think about as, as they said, many lives (including my own) have been shaped by the access and use of the Internet. In a world where that access was never possible is one hard to imagine.
“Can you draw some nuclear devastation over α map of the U.S.?”
*_-ηiςε-_*
If there's no internet, then there will be no memes, that will end me. *_ZA WARUDO_*
Beniciothegamer Super Smash bros and more! There would be memes.
They would just be harder to come by.
And in magazines.
IS THAT A FREAKING JOJO'S REFERENCE!?
DID SOMEONE SAY
*ZA WARUDO*
TIME HAS STOPPED
but there would be less try-hard wanna-be's
How would we live without the dank memes?!?!
Jan Sanono
Memes would exist but in different forms - stupid example: A games article made a "meme" about evolving a pokemon into yoshi which fooled a lot of people and became a "meme" which a lot of people heard pf but became a joke in the end!
Jan Sanono
It would be a better world without memetics.
life would be better without dead and dank memes
Jan Sanono I was looking for a comment about memes, glad I found u
Jan Sanono 👏A👏m👏e👏n
The internet so profoundly changed my life I actually can't really imagine me without it. My politics, my involvement in society, my ability to become a content creator, what I think of in the world, my own prejudices and stereotypes, my friends would all be different. I wouldn't know even a third as much as I do or appreciate intellectualism at all. I also wouldn't have had my kid which again completely reshaped my life and that whole experience is intertwined with the internet.
Honestly I'd probably be dead. So much of what I needed to learn I learned myself through the internet. I didn't grow up with good role models, guidance, or learning about emotions and stuff. I could see me being a pretty awful dude.
So If You Without Internet you are a Pedofile ?
Same here without the Internet
Individually and in short terms yes, but in the Long terms and with the mass (especially with covid hit) the internet would turn very toxic.
And you don't use your imagination here, humans will find something for themselves. You will still have jobs and friends and kids, but just different ones than you have.
The world would be vastly different. The society as a whole would be much more conservative, government/corporations would get away with more, the people would be less connected, voices would be easily silenced, all these start ups by creative young people wouldn't exist, there wouldn't be any database of knowledge to counter the established academia, the socially awkward or people struggling would be more on their own instead of having forums to help, so many different things would be different but most of all the world would just be more boring. We have such an insane amount of stimuli due to the internet and everything that comes with it that without the internet we would be more boring as people. Although there have been studies that show all this stimuli is rotting our brains. Who knows but it's safe to say the internet is the greatest asset and tool to a free, open democratic society for the people. The internet must be protected now and always- it isn't the governments, it isn't the states, it isn't the banks, it isn't the corporations, it belongs to the people.
UndeadTexas
Boring, to use yes, but to people back then, no, life would've been normal, and probably better.
But without the internet, our stimuli wouldn't be at the level it's currently at now. The internet played a role with increasing human stimulation, so it'd probably be the same as it was 30 years ago, meaning we'd probably not be as bored as you think. Although, I can agree with just about everything else.
UndeadTexas you CLEARLY didn't know anything about history
Socially awkward people wouldn't be on their own.There would probably be a lot of books and stuff.
The Daemon Sultan instead of throwing insults why don't you give me a rebuttal of what you disagree with? People like you are what make comment sections cancerous- no substance just insults and trolls.
Then there would be no jake paulers and everyone would live in a utopia.
No porn tho
My parents met online soooooo.... In this alternate world I wouldn't exist
Well you might still exist but with a different mother.
Nick Rynearson He wouldn't exist because he would need his mothers X chromosome. If his father met an entirely new person then their child would be completely different not only due to the environment that they would grow up in being different but they also would be entirely different people.
in this alternate world you become David TheNotPerson
David ThePerson you must be real young
So what you are saying is David ThePerson would be David NeverBorn. That's Looper-like trippy.
The amount of times I have said "I wish we'd had the internet while I was growing up." The sheer volume of information that can be found there dwarfs any library... and it's a lot easier to find. If you wanted advice back then you had to rely on those close to you - and a lot of the time they were clueless, or people you didn't want to ask. Is that better than now? I don't think so.
This video reminds me of Vsauce
Is that... JAMES???
J A M E S
LARAUJO Budget Vsauce lol
This reminds me of vinesauce
Where are your fingers?
If the internet didn't exist I wouldn't even be alive. My parents met from an online dating service and their marriage is still good. They met from USA all the way from Colombia so basically the Internet is why I am alive
(Please note im 15 and about to become 16)
TheManOfIron Then you're too young to be on TH-cam if that happened
Abner Chilson let the kid live, at least he's watching informative videos
Too bad, right?
So you would probably be the jizz on a random tissue
Abner Chilson Nope 13 is the minimum age
Now i want to watch a rick and morty episode where they got into a dimension where there was no internet
What about the reality in which Hitler cured cancer?! The answer is don't think about it!
but would rick and morty exist in a world without internet?
As long as Adult Swim gets enough funding. Yes, they would. But their rise to popularity would have been much slower.
ok than I don't mind an internetless world.
JoraForever M-m-morty! There's no internet here! People still use those shitty *burrrrrpppp* flip phones and you can't watch porn!
Oh, man, oh, jeez? There's really no porn?
Yeah, Morty, that's right. No more porn.
Aw man, I don't like this already
If the internet didn’t exist I would probably be a lot more mellow and chill