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If a person from 1700 asked you your job, would they understand your answer, and if not, how would you explain it to them? (lemm.ee)

submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Yeah, something like "We have machines with thousands of switches that can do complicated things depending on how you set the switches. My job is flipping those switches so the machine performs the desired task as best as possible"...?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

"what is this 'switch' of which thou speakest?"

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago

A lever that influenced the workings of the machine, sir.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

I was trying to figure out a way to describe the interface to 1700's people, given that all the machines they have require very up-close manipulation of the mechanisms to alter. My best guess is as a table covered in triggers like on a crossbow, but that reset themselves. You can tell what they're doing with a sort of scroll that comes out with stamps on it. That's still more like a 1970's dumb terminal than a laptop, but I don't want to try and describe screens or cursors before I can make sure they understand the concept that not all machines have to be mechanical, which I don't think would be clear to them automatically.

I'm guessing at that point it sounds weird and alienating to them, and they might actually think their job as a peasant seems less depressing, especially if I bring up punctuality requirements compared to the 1700's, where meetings would wait days for someone. White-collar work is better once you can understand what's happening abstractly, or at least is for me, but no hard deadlines for anything does indeed sound great. They also may have gotten winters off, depending on latitude.