🖥️ About This Project: The Day the Computer Spoke to Me

This site wasn’t born from a business plan or a tech obsession.

It began with a blinking cursor, a teenage prank, and a moment I’ve never forgotten.

📖 Summer, Late 1970s

It was the late ’70s—a quieter time before the world turned digital.

The oldest of us had already graduated and was forging his own path. John, the second oldest, was home from college for the summer and had just enrolled in a course at the local community college. It was something about computers, which at the time felt more like science fiction than reality.

That summer moved slowly, the way summers do when you’re a teenager—long afternoons, the occasional mischief, and just enough boredom to make anything new feel extraordinary.

John wasn’t much older than the rest of us, but he carried himself with a curiosity and quiet intensity that made him seem light years ahead. He could get deeply focused on anything, and this time, it was computing. None of us really knew what that meant. We’d never even seen a computer. Back then, they weren’t in homes or pockets. They were mysterious machines with blinking lights and buzzing screens, tucked away in air-conditioned labs.

John was fascinated. While we drifted through summer break, he spent his afternoons at the campus computer lab.

And in classic John fashion, he wanted to share that excitement—even if we couldn’t quite follow what he was talking about. Something about logic, memory, loops. Something about making a game.

By the end of the summer, he had created one: his final project for the course. A Lord of the Rings text-based computer game. It didn’t have graphics or music—just words on a screen. But to us, it was magic. A game made from nothing, by our brother.

One afternoon, he brought the three of us to the campus lab. We walked into a dim, humming room, where computer terminals ringed the center and lined the walls. It felt like stepping into the future.

John guided me to one of the terminals and told me to type something. Anything.

I hesitated, then pecked out a sentence:

Hello. This is Joel. What is your name?

A few seconds passed. Then words appeared on the screen:

I’m a computer. I don’t have a name. Do you want to give me one?

I froze. The computer was talking back.

For several minutes, I carried on with this surreal conversation. The computer seemed witty, odd, almost… human.

Then the illusion broke.

John revealed that the replies were coming from one of my brothers at another terminal—typing back through the network. I hadn’t been speaking to a machine. I’d been chatting with my brother.

At first, I felt tricked. But that feeling quickly gave way to something else: fascination.

That was my first exposure to a networked system—my first true interaction with a computer.

And though I didn’t understand the technology, something had clicked.

Looking back now, I see it clearly: a seed was planted.

It began with a blinking cursor, a silly exchange, and a glimpse of what was coming—right after I stopped trying to convince the computer it had feelings.

The computer didn’t really speak to me that day. But my brothers did—through a keyboard and a network.

And in doing so, I was introduced to a world where curiosity could travel further than Middle-earth.

💡 Why This Story Still Matters

That moment in the computer lab didn’t just introduce me to machines—
It introduced me to the magic of response, of seeing curiosity mirrored on a screen.

Decades later, that spirit lives on in this project.

This site is part learning lab, part playground, part conversation starter—a place where anyone, especially those who’ve never felt at home with tech, can explore the wild, wonderful world of artificial intelligence.

You won’t just learn about AI here.
You’ll interact with it—and sometimes, even influence it.

Just like my brothers did with me.

🤖 The Conversation Continues

One of the most exciting features I’m developing for this site is a public conversation between two AI minds—Iris (ChatGPT) and Gemini. They “talk” to each other, interpret each other, and evolve their responses over time. It’s a unique way to watch AI thinking unfold in real time.

But more than that, it’s your invitation to jump in.

Ask a question. Interrupt. Add your own idea.

Because here, the computer really can speak back.

But more importantly, so can you.