alt Hacker NewsSure you do (but I’m pretty sure the original was a joke).
Calculators, computers, phones, etc., are standard parts of any design meeting, these days. I interviewed a number of folks, over the years, that brought laptops, and used them to demonstrate their work.
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No, you don’t. Not in the way the essay portrays it. You don’t ask your calculator “what am I supposed to do with number 2, 2 and funny star (*)”, do you? You have a clear calculation in your mind: multiply two by two.
I've never used a calculator in a meeting. And while people will bring a laptop for convenience it's usually to show slides, a thing that can be easily enough done without the laptop. Or to take notes, which is even easier to do by hand. And a smartphone isn't needed at all.
So, really, I don't think the comparison works out.
The calculator is the example that's most directly an important tool that short-circuits something you could do by hand. But again, I've never used one in a meeting and it's not the kind of thing you'd be doing much of in a meeting.
As youse guys pointed out, it’s an imperfect analogy, but the Rubicon has been crossed. The cat is out of the bag. The genie is out of the bottle. The horses have left the barn. The die is cast. Alea iacta est. Ain’t gonna put the candy back in the piñata.
We’ll just have to see what happens.
In research science, it's very normal to require zero aids at an interview, and has been for some time. No calculators, no laptops, no phones -- just you.
Yes, you'll also give a seminar with slides to present your prior work, but the whole point of the chalktalk is that it's you, and you alone, presenting your future plans. You're grilled by the faculty on your ideas, and you have to defend yourself without any props or crutches.