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"There's a tendency to think that maybe if we can just throw enough hardware at the AI problem, then evolution can take care of the rest. Certainly that's how God went about making us."
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![]() Each student had a "desk", a small computer that was used for performing exercises as well as communicating with other students. The desks were also used for Free Play, a game environment that doubled as a psychological evaluation tool.
The desk computers came in different sizes; student lockers at Battle School came with a compartment for a small desk.
The precise shape and configuration of the desks is not made entirely clear, but it seems likely that they had a tablet configuration and a touchscreen display that students could manipulate with their fingers similar to an iPad but with a physical keyboard attached. In an October, 2010 interview, Steve Jobs expressed the opinion that a 7" tablet computer is too small, remarking that "This size is useless unless you include sandpaper so users can sand their fingers down to a quarter of their size."
For some historical perspective, Texas Instruments came out with its "Speak & Spell" toy in 1978 that had a small text screen combined with a physical keyboard.
![]() (TI "Speak & Spell" toy circa 1978)
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