Props to them for shouting out Danny Dunn and the Homework Machine. Danny Dunn was the kid star of a series of youth-oriented novels from the 1950s that were e

Props to them for shouting out Danny Dunn and the Homework Machine. Danny Dunn was the kid star of a series of youth-oriented novels from the 1950s that were early exemplars of the "kid and scientist adventure" genre that's persisted in media to this day in the form of Jonny Quest, WarGames (original concept), Back to the Future, and Rick and Morty. His eccentric neighbor Professor Bullfinch would invent sci-fi gizmos or involve himself in scientific malarkey that Danny would get sucked into and cause all sorts of trouble. In this case, the gizmo was Miniac, a powerful but miniaturized (fits in a room), clanking 1950s computer. It had a microphone that you could ask questions into and it would type out cogent answers (much like GOT today!). Danny Dunn, placed in care of Miniac while the professor is out if town, instantly realizes the homework automation potential of the machine, but the mean kid breaks it causing it to output wrong answers and he and his friend Irene must actually know their stuff in order to see that the answers are wrong and fix it. Finally their teacher basically tricks them into using it as a research tool and actually expanding their minds. I'll leave the implications for today's GPT-equipped kids as an exercise. It's a great book and a great series. I wish more kids were exposed to its like today.