And inventing it in an industrial lab...
This morning I found myself chatting with an old friend and client. I did some physics related work for his firm as they were heavy with computer science people, but lacked background in the physical sciences and suddenly found themselves in need. He noted some of the things he learned from our interaction was outside of the primary work - namely he came to recognize the importance of mobile devices and good user experiences as gating factors for a revolution. Sadly he retired - he was complaining about all of the fun he had missed.
Twenty years ago we had been at the same place - the Bell Laboratories. He had been there longer than me - I joined shortly before AT&T was broken up into AT&T and the regional Bell Operating Companies and a few other pieces - but both of us had a good window into the most productive and exciting periods of the place. AT&T had been a regulated monopoly - a mishmash of the good and the bad. One of the good pieces was a real honest to goodness R&D lab could be supported. The Bell Telephone Laboratories was probably the best industrial lab of the 20th century and fundamental research as well as the invention of the scientific and technological underpinning of electronic communications happened there.
These days real industrial soup to nuts R&D is very rare. While there is a lot of development, there is very little pure research - even applied research is not terribly common. It exists, but massive laboratories where the atmosphere is charged with the possibilities of chance collaborations and the serendipity that result are gone - relegated to Universities and government laboratories where departmental barriers tend to be high.
BTL was where I learned the importance of connecting the dots and learning things outside of my normal areas of math and physics. That continued even as the place began to crumble and I found myself bridging into areas I didn't know existed. The trick was being curious and walk around listening to people who were excited by something, learn about it, find a common language and jump in with both feet. You also had to be open to inviting those who were interested in your projects to your corner of the sandbox.
What we have now is still very interesting, but this is a different time and companies have to be more opportunistic. Some of them, like Apple, have been brilliant about recognizing technology by itself isn't enough and have profited enormously. A few other companies have been doing this at a smaller scale and we are on the edge of several disruptions. I see new structures that allow serious dot connection and play beginning to emerge.
This morning's a wave of nostalgia caused me to remember some of the old AT&T ads another friend sent a few months ago. AT&T had a strong public outreach for STEM education as well as general public relations pieces. Some of this appeared in ads that ran in places young males (sadly not many women were encouraged although we had a few superstars) might find time - these ran in Boy's Life Magazine in the early 1960s a year after Echo, but before Telstar...
with that, Chip Martin - College Reporter:
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