You have to try to put yourself in a world where most computers were room-sized,a and there wasn't even anything smaller than what used to be called a "mini-computer" -- more-or-less a very large tower -- and no individual had one of their own. This was also 3 years before 2001's HAL 9000, so even before the idea of even talking to a computer was anywhere near the public consciousness. In that context, it's not too surprising that people had trouble understanding what they were talking to. OTOH, it's not actually entirely clear that JW's interpretation of what was going on in these folks' mind is correct. I mean, we rubber duck all the time...sometimes to a literal rubber duck (although usually in that case just to be funny)...so telling this inanimate thing your deepest secrets might be just a way to get them off your chest. We don't know, but my point is that it's hard to try to think about what someone in 1960 might have thought when asking to talk to a computer that was asking them seemingly intimate questions.