[cctalk] Re: on the origin of home computers

Thank you, Bill! When Steve posted the video about the history of computers, I thought something like “cool to see another video” But when he mentioned a middle schooler helping, that changed the entire perspective for me. I am close to 50. I have seen and been part of vintage and classic computing. I still enjoy them and my kids, who are now 19 and 17, have heard me talking a lot about computing. Yet, they had no curiosity on any of those. “It is a dad’s thing”, they would say. Same thing happened with my siblings at a younger age. I am a Gen X. My two siblings are one a Gen X and another a Gen Y. My kids are a Gen Z. No one in my family had any interests. Then I get frustrated when I hear my nieces, nephews or even my kids saying “ChatGpt is so cool” or “TikTok does magic with the videos” or “Instagram has these cool filters.” Yet, they have no clue about everything or anything in tech that led to those creations. I try to bring back the topics of bits, bytes, ram, cpu, inventions in tech. They respond with nothing but a blank-I-am-bored face. None of these younger generation are even curious about the Ataris, the Vectrex, the old machines, or even the legacy books that is on our shelves. Then I see the message from Steve about his middle schooler. That is amazing. That is awesome! I rarely type on this newsgroup or any newsgroup. Steve’s post (and subsequent update) about his middle schooler being curious and is helping with the video has made my day! I hope it did for all other fellow old-timers! Regards, Tarek Hoteit