The NYT obituary:
Patrick Suppes, Pioneer in Computerized Learning, Dies at 92By JOHN MARKOFF
December 2, 2014
Almost a decade before the invention of the personal computer, Patrick Suppes, a Stanford philosopher, sketched a vision of the democratic future of computerized education.
“In a few more years,” he predicted in 1966, “millions of schoolchildren will have access to what Philip of Macedon’s son Alexander enjoyed as a royal prerogative: the personal services of a tutor as well informed and as responsive as Aristotle.”
Dr. Suppes, who died on Nov. 17 at 92, was not just prescient, however; he was also instrumental in bringing about the future he foresaw — one in which students would have instant access to vast stores of knowledge through their computerized “tutors.”
I am more pessimistic than the writer. Suppes was correct that even 1960s technology could individualize education, but 50 years later I don't see much evidence that it has happened.
