1979 Nerd Computer Genius Speaks Geek-Talk To Ignorant Adults

The time was 1979 and I was making a television documentary for PBS primetime called the information society. It was completely new at that time. We were still in the industrial age. The idea of the information age had not occurred to most people even though computers were being used in every town and every city, in the banks, in the grocery stores, in the insurance companies, and not yet for most people in the homes of America and countries around the world. But some folks could see it coming.

I walked into a computer store (there weren't many at that time) in Cedar Rapids Iowa to film the scene about what was going on in the store. I came upon this 9-year-old boy and his dad looking for new computer for the boy to use. He knew a lot. He was very comfortable with simple programming.

In the years that passed the release that I had from him and his dad allowing me to use this footage burned in a fire and I did not any longer have his name. After several years, one of my subscribers found him and I connected with him. His dad remembered me filming him but had never seen the film so the entire family was thrilled to have this bit of family history – now legacy.

Thank you for all the suggestions from subscribers as to who he might be. He Is Jay Erhlich.
If you search his name on my computer channel you will find the interview that I conducted with him only recently when now in his late 40s, he reflects back on that day when I found him and what has happened since.