What was going on when I was born?

The most striking thing is the double-barreled incongruity of it all. Learned professors from places such as Harvard and Stanford spoke of ''regressions,'' ''simulation models'' and ''third-order polynomial lags'' while the folks from industry fumed that nobody seemed to understand that, in the real world, the roof is collapsing. ''They're all so theoretical,'' complained James Harring of Motorola Inc. The United States is losing 3,500 jobs a day to foreign competition, he asserted, and ''you haven't seen anything yet.'' These sentiments were expressed at a symposium held amid the spectacular natural beauty of Grand Teton National Park, with about $50,000 of the cost of the session being picked up by a Government whose budget deficit is probably the biggest cause of the problem being discussed.

By blaming its own employees and equipment for the toxic gas leak at its Institute, W.Va., plant, the Union Carbide Corporation has fallen deeper into a corporate quagmire of litigation, overburdened management and public cynicism about its concern for safety. Seven months after the devastating accident at its plant in Bhopal, India, - the worst industrial accident in history - the company's problems appear to be growing worse. Carbide, which disclosed the results of an internal investigation in Institute last Friday, said that for 10 days before the Aug. 11 leak, 32 employees had been in a position to know that gas might escape from a chemical tank. Safety alarms were out of service, a broken gauge had not been fixed and basic safety procedures were ignored, the company said.

Five weeks after South Africa proclaimed a state of emergency, those most affected by it and some of those detained under its provisions say they see patterns that suggest a many-pronged attack by the authorities. Some former detainees say the methods designed to secure official aims are harsh. Others say solitary confinement is common, while a civil rights group says it fears the police are torturing their captives. Such assertions are impossible to substantiate because the police do not acknowledge using cruel methods of interrogation, and often those who say they were tortured also say they were alone with their interrogators at the time. Some of the more than 1,000 detainees released since the emergency was proclaimed have refused to talk to reporters, even when guaranteed anonymity.

To understand why economists are becoming more pessimistic about the economy, it helps to know that Charles H. Sanford is giving out free curtains. Mr. Sanford builds homes around the country, but recently some have not been selling well. So he decided Friday to lower home prices in a development in north Dallas by about $2,000 and to throw in free curtains with each purchase. The Dallas market may be worse than most, largely because of the Texas oil business slowdown, but Mr. Sanford is not alone. Almost everywhere across the country, builders are finding that new homes are not selling well, so they are slowing construction of both houses and apartments. The housing market is stagnant, and a boom that seemed to be materializing early this year as mortgage rates dropped has dissipated.

The afternoon was a struggle for the Yankees, but it probably should not have been. Not after Dan Pasqua, the rookie from Yonkers, drove in four runs, and certainly not after Don Mattingly crushed a two-run homer in the seventh inning. But a 7-0 lead dissipated into an 8-5 victory over the Seattle Mariners today, giving the Yanks a dull sweep of the three-game series. It also moved them one critical game closer to the Toronto Blue Jays, who lost at Chicago and now lead the American League East by three games with six weeks remaining.

While most of official Washington has left town for the summer, tax specialists on Capitol Hill and at the Treasury Department have been laying the groundwork to speed legislative action on President Reagan's tax overhaul proposal when Congress returns from its recess. The behind-the-scenes activity is aimed at insuring that the issue of tax revision is quickly thrust to the forefront of the Congressional and Administration agenda after Labor Day. Although the prospects for House and Senate passage of sweeping tax overhaul legislation late this year or early next year are uncertain, the preparations that have taken place in the last two weeks - and that have been scheduled to take place in the next several weeks - are aimed at facilitating swift movement of the legislation through the House this fall while the President tries to build up public and Congressional support. In the last two weeks, staff members of the House Ways and Means Committee, where tax bills originate, have drafted into statutory language substantial portions of the President's plan to prevent the lengthy drafting process from slowing movement of a bill through Congress. Members of the committee are set to begin work on the bill on Sept. 17.

Exotic deep-sea life forms, creatures once thought to thrive only in scalding, sulfur-rich water far below the last feeble penetration of sunlight, are now being found in a rapidly growing number of habitats on the ocean floor, biologists report. More and more new animal species related to those that do not depend on sunlight and other life that it affects are being catalogued in deep ocean trenches bordering on continents and island arcs, as well as near the oceanic hot springs where those that do not depend on sunlight were first discovered a decade ago. The animals, including giant tube worms, clams, mussels and other bizarre life forms, live in isolated colonies spread over a wide and varying geographical range more than double the area once thought, posing baffling evolutionary questions. Recent scientific reports suggest that these may be the life forms most likely to survive a nuclear war, and perhaps what life might be like on other planets. Indeed, exploring one of these ocean-bottom communities can be like a visit to another planet, so alien are its inhabitants from those with which land dwellers are familiar. A dive to the floor of the Sea of Cortez by the deep-sea craft Alvin revealed the stark and eerie world more than a mile below the deepest reaches of sunlight.

Like many long-distance trains this summer, Amtrak's southbound Crescent has few empty seats when it stops each day in this steamy east Mississippi town. On most days, the Crescent, which curls across the Deep South on its daily route between New York City and New Orleans, and seven other long-distance trains have been running at or near capacity with vacationers and their families. In fact, throughout the Amtrak system, ridership and revenues have risen at the same time Congress has been studying possible cutbacks of as much as 15 percent in the rail passenger system's annual operating subsidy. ''We got more people wanting to ride the train this summer than we sometimes got the seats,'' said Lamonte Cook, the ticket agent, who says he handles as many as 100 passengers a day out of the tiny station in Meridian, one of four towns in Mississippi that still have daily passenger service.

In their only scheduled televised debate before the Sept. 10 primary election, the six candidates for the Democratic mayoral nomination clashed last night - over schools, transit and housing, but most of all, over how Mayor Koch has put his imprint on the city. One after the other, the other candidates, from the most familiar to the most obscure, accused Mr. Koch of dividing the city, favoring the rich and even aiding and abetting the international drug trade. ''Ed, you must be wearing rose-colored glasses,'' City Council President Carol Bellamy said as she turned to face Mr. Koch. ''You can't tell us that the schools are doing better when half of the kids drop out.'' Assemblyman Herman D. Farrell Jr. complained that Mr. Koch ''spoke to anger in people's hearts'' and warned that, by favoring jails over schools, the Mayor could turn New York into ''another Johannesburg.''

Pitching through a fine mist, Dwight Gooden was not in control. The ball was too slick and it slipped away, over the batters' heads, past the catcher's mitt, and once even into the outfield. There was Dwight Gooden, on his biggest day, standing in the rain, shaking his head. In the oldest baseball vernacular, the pitcher had no rhythm. So everyone came together. The ground crew threw extra dirt on the mound to make it hard, the ball boys rubbed mud into the baseballs to take away the shine and, not incidentally, the Met hitters pounded out 16 hits to make a rainy afternoon at Shea Stadium historic.

''We're all just fortunate to be part of Dwight's little world.'' - Gary Carter, Mets' catcher, after Gooden became youngest pitcher ever to win 20 games in a season. [C1:3.]

President Reagan is considering punitive actions against ''unfair'' trade practices, but has decided not to curb the volume of foreign shoes coming into the United States, Administration officials said today. The two-pronged approach would represent an apparent answer by Mr. Reagan to strong protectionist feelings in Congress and his long-held opposition to such trade restrictions, the officials said. The most likely target of Mr. Reagan's crackdown would be the flood of counterfeit products coming into the United States from Taiwan under infringements of American copyright laws, the officials said, including such things as blue jeans. Broad Powers Available The officials said that Mr. Reagan was considering imposing Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act, which gives the President broad powers to deal with unfair trade practices. By using such an approach, the President could take advantage of existing laws, which would reinforce the Administration's contention that more stringent measures are not required.