from Hacker News

Traitorous eight

by mcenedella on 11/18/23, 4:19 AM with 18 comments

  • by meepmorp on 11/18/23, 4:32 AM

    > Although Shockley was never diagnosed by psychiatrists, historians characterized Shockley's state of mind in 1956–1957 as paranoia or autism. All phone calls were recorded, and the staff was not allowed to share their results with each other, which was not feasible since they all worked in a small building. Shockley, not trusting his employees, was sending their reports to Bell Labs for double-checking. At some point, he sent the entire lab for a lie detector test, though everyone refused.

    People don't quit jobs, they quit managers.

  • by jauntywundrkind on 11/18/23, 5:00 AM

    These and the Gang of Nine are high in my pantheon of entities that have shaped the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_Industry_Standard_Arc...

  • by kristjansson on 11/18/23, 6:10 AM

    Apropos of nothing, of course.

  • by neilv on 11/18/23, 6:01 AM

    Was this post inspired by the OpenAI news?

  • by searedmackerel on 11/18/23, 12:13 PM

    I recommend the book Chip War (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60321447-chip-war) if anyone’s curious to learn more about this topic and the history of semiconductor development.

    I feel like the history of computers and the internet tend to get most of the spotlight in Silicon Valley history, but this revolution was huge and quite interesting too.

  • by satvikpendem on 11/18/23, 7:10 AM

    Who else shaped the world so thoroughly as these eight? I am thinking of those who made the first beer in Mesopotamia, China, the Indus Valley, and Mesoamerica. A side note, what really grinds my gears is historians not focusing on the events of non-Western nations even if they know, at least vaguely, of advances in such areas of the world. The Earth is not merely made up of only Western sensibilities.

  • by rasz on 11/18/23, 8:57 AM

    All hands on scientists/engineers, not VC funding/idea/sales people.

  • by mortenjorck on 11/18/23, 6:09 AM