I Presume You Mean Computers And So Forth?

September 23, 2015 5:33 PM

"I found this collection of outtakes in my archive. I shot these interviews on the streets of New York in the late 70s when I was doing a documentary on the coming of the information age." - Man on the street interviews with New Yorkers in 1979 about science, technology, corporate influence, computers, and paperwork. (SLYT 5:45)
posted by The Whelk (17 comments total)

That second guy is a member of the Information Society? Then he's the one who's supposed to be asking, "I Wanna Know What You're Thinking."
posted by not_on_display at 5:43 PM on September 23, 2015 [3 favorites]

STOP ALL THE DOWN LOADIN
posted by vrakatar at 6:14 PM on September 23, 2015 [1 favorite]

People really do seem to respect the camera, in this clip. Everyone begins by repeating what was asked, with great seriousness, as if they are answering in a courtroom.
posted by thelonius at 6:21 PM on September 23, 2015 [3 favorites]

Watching "Information Society Guy" I hear a little voice in the back of my head saying "and that young man grew up to be...*Paul Giamatti*. And now you know...The Rest Of The Story."
I can see why these were outtakes, although the woman who volunteers "information *society*" on her own has some pretty good quotes. The "word association" approach seems a little weak to me, anyway.
But if nothing else, this shows that yesteryear's outtakes can be today's fascinating cultural documents, so...hang on to your files, people.
posted by uosuaq at 6:23 PM on September 23, 2015 [2 favorites]

"Computer?" "Tape. Computer tape."
"Bureaucracy?" "Red tape."

I particularly enjoyed the Bell truck in the background at 2:48; there's something very fitting about that.
posted by Westringia F. at 7:13 PM on September 23, 2015 [2 favorites]

wow, those were way more fun than i expected

the third set, the pair... they're really something. one of them is an unblinking zombie. the working guy in the background just staring right at the camera. the guy who looks like all of my italian-american great-uncles just half on the screen to the right....
posted by entropone at 7:44 PM on September 23, 2015 [1 favorite]

The stuff in the background is also wonderful. The person who pauses to eat a chocolate and check out the interviewee at 3:30-ish. The megaphone announcements in the background (from where? saying what?) in that interview and the one immediately following. The semi-shirtless man at 4:10.

The videographer points out,

Notice that most people had never been filmed before. With the coming of cell phone video, very few can say that today.

which is kinda amazing in its own right.
posted by Westringia F. at 8:53 PM on September 23, 2015 [4 favorites]

"Government?...a little too big.”

I'd like to travel back in time to punch that guy and then send a telegram to Jimmy Carter - "SEND NO LESS THAN 15 HELICOPTERS"
posted by bonobothegreat at 8:58 PM on September 23, 2015 [6 favorites]

>Also, it's full stop, not period

Oh god, don't confuse them again.
posted by pompomtom at 10:37 PM on September 23, 2015

I am entirely unsurprised to see I already favorited the first post in that thread.
posted by brennen at 11:39 PM on September 23, 2015

You know the biggest difference between those people and today? They all believe that there is a future worth living in.
posted by ob1quixote at 12:23 AM on September 24, 2015 [4 favorites]

This rules so much. The respect for / deference to the camera and obvious discomfort at being filmed is great
posted by liliillliil at 1:41 AM on September 24, 2015

I get why this amazes me -these people are New Yorkers, who live at the epicenter of cultural tectonics. Today, you could travel to the remotest societies on earth and not find anyone acting so defferential to a smartphone/camera.
posted by bonobothegreat at 3:52 AM on September 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

More from that same filmmaker:

• 1979 Computer Store Manager Predicts Future: "A computer has never obsoleted a job that didn't need to be obsoleted." (The background sounds here are charming as well.)
• Help Me Find This Computer Boy Genius - 1979. Dad talks while his 12yo son is completely engrossed, programming with such hyperfocus as to be oblivious to the camera. The kid is in flow like nothing else. Shot in the same Cedar Rapids "CompuShop" as the previous clip (you can see them in the background there).

(I can't help but notice the difference in the attitude between the father in the last clip and the father from the Common Core thread down the hall. Both have kids who learned something in school that they themselves found literally incomprehensible, but that father reacted with intimidation while this father is supportive.)
posted by Westringia F. at 6:02 AM on September 24, 2015 [1 favorite]

That dad really likes his kid. I badly need them to be found and re-interviewed. Can someone reddit?
posted by Iteki at 9:00 AM on September 24, 2015

Seems that it was reddited back in August. No luck.

https://www.reddit.com/r/cedarrapids/comments/3gs4f8/12_year_old_computer_genius_in_1979/
posted by bonobothegreat at 4:13 PM on September 24, 2015

I remember hanging around at the UCSC computer lab in the mid 80's. I was at the point of digesting word processors and after a long session, I stood up to leave and noticed this guy sitting behind me spooling out c-code at what must've been 100WPM. Really, just typing as fast as he could, backet, c-code, bracket, on to the next function. I eventually learned to program c (even rather elegantly, if I do say so myself) but I was never at that level of being able to produce code as fast as I could type.
posted by telstar at 10:54 PM on September 24, 2015