Richard P. Gabriel has something to say about this. http://dreamsongs.com/Essays.html http://dreamsongs.com/Essays.html Having said that, I'm not sure how effe

Richard P. Gabriel has something to say about this. http://dreamsongs.com/Essays.html http://dreamsongs.com/Essays.html Having said that, I'm not sure how effective it can be. I've read some of Gabriel's essays, and I'm a bit into Patterns of Software, but I don't think anything there would mean much to me if I didn't write code. Something else you might consider is to not even mention "computers". Dijkstra says use "computing", but screw that, too. For the last few years[1] or so, I've tried to sort of start by mentioning computer science, and then spending a bit of time qualifying the term and trying to dislodge the images that comes into my conversation partners' heads. I don't think I've ever been successful.[2] It's hard getting people to think "computer science" means something besides either technophilia or sysadmining. 1. To be fair, a "few years" ago, it's fair to say I wasn't even in my position to appreciate that I am now. 2. I might've gotten close one time, by pointing to Luis von Ahn's talk on human computation, but I can't be sure, and you don't always have the benefit of an hour to spare. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8246463980976635143 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8246463980976635143