Ultimamente varios blogs se han hecho eco de la iniciativa de Derrick Bostrom de escanear y subir a Flickr algunas fotos de un libro retrofuturista de Arnold B. Barach: «1975: And The Changes To Come» (1962). Me ha llamado la atención una máquina llamada «AutoTutor», que pretende ser un prototipo de elearning previsto para 1975 -aunque posiblemente hasta la aparición del AVE no se ha desarrollado en toda su capacidad innovadora:

Push-Button Learning. Teaching machines break complicated subject matter into bit-by-bit segments, permitting each student to progress at his own pace. This machine first presents a unit of information. Then come questions based on what the student has learned, together with alternate answers. If the student presses the right buttons for the answers, he is «rewarded» with a new unit of study which appears on the machine. If he flubs the answers, a paragraph of text appears on the screen setting him right, and then he tries again. On the right is a classroom demonstration of the machine — a scene that will be commonplace in future years in most schools.