The Atlantic

10 Things You Probably Did Not Know About Eraser Technology

Fact #1: Before rubber came along, people undid their mistakes using wadded-up bread.
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It's true, as Arthur C. Clarke said, that the most advanced technologies are indistinguishable from magic. It's not true, however, that the world's most magical technologies are all related to computers. What could be more magic, after all, than the eraser—the little wad of rubber that undoes your mistakes and changes, mark by tiny little pencil mark, human history?

Erasers as we and smoothable wax tablets to ensure erasability. Those gave way, eventually, to White-Out and Photoshop's "magic eraser" tool and, of course, the ultimate undoer of deeds: the delete key. —

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