Nurse Capping Ceremony and Candelighting Ceremony at Presbyterian Hospital School of Nursing 1951

The nurse should begin by collecting sand from the beach and discover a method for purifying it into silicon and growing crystals out of it. Slice the crystal and etch transistors into it. It will be helpful to already have an efficient scheme for designing logic gates for different kinds of Boolean operation. Be careful with the hazardous chemicals!

Design a magnetic or optical memory and input and output devices for your “computer” and hook them all up to a power supply. This can easily be made from a large windmill and sufficient quantities of copper wire.

Then begin an organised movement of the urban working class which will eventually hit upon the popular idea of a health service employing large numbers of doctors and nurses. Don’t forget to develop suitable training institutions for them to study in. Then go and study in one yourself, but don’t speak to any of the staff or students. Some time later you will have become a nurse.

While you are studying, you will want to quickly think up a way for your computer to run more than one program at a time (if you can get a copy of Unix from another planet that will be a big help).

Enjoy your secret individual work experience in the hospital. In the evenings you will be writing the software that enables you to produce a record of what you have done. Don’t worry if your portfolio looks a bit slapdash…nobody is going to read it. But you will have the satisfaction of knowing that it is all your own work…