Another possibility, however, is simply a widespread belief that gestures aren't necessary or helpful for learning.
(Perhaps that's one reason fasting is a widespread political and religious gesture — it provides time to mobilize public sentiment — while the renunciation of drink is so rare that there is no English word for it).
The touch technology also takes advantage of the widespread habit of finger gestures on phones and computer tablets.
Meanwhile, Liverpool's manager, Kenny Dalglish, and players wore T-shirts in support of Suárez, a gesture that drew widespread criticism, given international soccer's stated policy of zero tolerance for racism.
In many ways, he resembles Italy's Beppe Grillo, another unfunny and angry comedian, who has used his own "va fan cullo" (up yours!) gesture to channel widespread anger at Italy's politicians.
It seemed futuristic and impossible back then (way back in 2002), but with the advancement and widespread adoption of touchscreen technology, gesture recognition-based software development of interfaces like the one imagined in the film is not far behind.
This week, by contrast, the Sadrist movement reacted quite mildly to the increasingly widespread arrests and also made a conciliatory gesture to Mr Maliki's government: several leading Sadrist politicians declared they would end a two-month boycott of parliament.
He lent them money, and this gesture grew into the now widespread practice of micro-lending, his world-famous Grameen Bank, and ultimately, to his being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work.
Whereas initial responses about MSK troubles yielded the exclamation botlhoko, botlhoko! combined with animated non-verbal gestures and facial expressions indicating widespread body pains, in-depth interviews revealed the complexities of pain expression among respondents.
He mastered the art of the small gesture that cost little but won widespread approval.
