One thing you may want to pass on during this conversation is the way computers can make some big problems small (count the number of times "the" is followed by "tree" or "car" in a very large text.) and where small problems can become large (what does that sentence actually mean, does it have different meanings?). You may find that non techie people assume that computers can solve any problem. It is just not true, there is something to be said for the rounding errors that happen in human brains.