Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares to leave N.J. home

nj.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 155 posts

Re: Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares to leave N.J. home

#101

Post by fuzztester »

dleink wrote: post #51
tomcam wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not a nostalgic person, but for some reason I wish irrationally that that Murray Hill building could be preserved as is. I read so much about of it in the history of computing, and just like (from the pictures) the building interior itself so much I just feel like I missed out on some thing not to have been there myself. I was lucky enough to work at Microsoft in building 2, one of 8 matching buildings from the m…

Any recommendations for books on the history of computing from that period?

hackers: heroes of the computer revolution

by Steven Levy.

I think he also wrote some of the other well known books, maybe including fire in the valley. need to check.

He is a journalist, so the book is sure to be embellished to sound good, but a cool read nonetheless, IMO.

Re: Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares to leave N.J. home

#102

Post by fuzztester »

NegativeLatency wrote: post #54
dleink wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any recommendations for books on the history of computing from that period?

Not Microsoft but an enjoyable account from that time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Soul_of_a_New_Machine

that was a good one, although they had a really intense time.

"pinball"

Re: Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares to leave N.J. home

#103

Post by tomcam »

fuzztester wrote: post #101
dleink wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any recommendations for books on the history of computing from that period?

hackers: heroes of the computer revolution by Steven Levy. I think he also wrote some of the other well known books, maybe including fire in the valley. need to check. He is a journalist, so the book is sure to be embellished to sound good, but a cool read nonetheless, IMO.

Dead to rights. Much of the dialogue sounds like Steven Levy.

Re: Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares to leave N.J. home

#104

Post by dclowd9901 »

> “Let me tell you, I never felt I was going to work, never,” said Romero, who retired as a corporate accountant in 2009 from the famed Bell Labs headquarters in Murray Hill.

Every. Single. Amazing endeavor that’s ever happened has people who describe contributing to that endeavor this way. Every one.

It brings to mind the kind of world that could exist without profit motives, where people do things simply because they’ve never been done before. Like maybe the world that Star Trek illustrates.

I think the greatest regret in my life isn’t that I won’t see Alpha Centauri with my own eyes, but that we can’t fucking figure out how to make our world like this.

Re: Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares to leave N.J. home

#105

Post by Nimitz14 »

HarHarVeryFunny wrote: post #47
whimsicalism wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any prestige research lab - MS, Google, OAI, etc.

I'm not sure how many, if any, are doing blue sky research (vs product-directed "research") any more the way that Bell Labs, IBM Watson and Xerox Parc used to do. Look at what's going on with ML/AI - DeepMind now merged with Google Brain seemingly with a product focus, FAIR now moved into a product group alongside Meta's GenAI group, Microsoft essentially outsourcing AI to OpenAI, OpenAI may as well call itself GPTCo…

This is not an accurate portayal of these labs. They're all still doing blue sky research.

Re: Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares to leave N.J. home

#106

Post by vsrinivas »

ioblomov wrote: post #68
tomcam wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not a nostalgic person, but for some reason I wish irrationally that that Murray Hill building could be preserved as is. I read so much about of it in the history of computing, and just like (from the pictures) the building interior itself so much I just feel like I missed out on some thing not to have been there myself. I was lucky enough to work at Microsoft in building 2, one of 8 matching buildings from the m…

The whole complex (immortalized as Lumon HQ in Severance ) is landmarked so presumably it can’t be messed with too much. Even apart from the historical significance, it’s a masterpiece of mid-century design. Its architect, Eero Saarinen, also did the St. Louis Arch and, my personal favorite, the TWA terminal at JFK, which reopened as a hotel in 2019. If you’re ever stuck on a layover there, do check it out! https://e…

FYI, Lumon HQ / the Eeron Saarinen masterpiece is Holmdel Bell Labs; this article is about the Murray Hill building.

Re: Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares to leave N.J. home

#107

Post by vdnkh »

ioblomov wrote: post #68
tomcam wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not a nostalgic person, but for some reason I wish irrationally that that Murray Hill building could be preserved as is. I read so much about of it in the history of computing, and just like (from the pictures) the building interior itself so much I just feel like I missed out on some thing not to have been there myself. I was lucky enough to work at Microsoft in building 2, one of 8 matching buildings from the m…

The whole complex (immortalized as Lumon HQ in Severance ) is landmarked so presumably it can’t be messed with too much. Even apart from the historical significance, it’s a masterpiece of mid-century design. Its architect, Eero Saarinen, also did the St. Louis Arch and, my personal favorite, the TWA terminal at JFK, which reopened as a hotel in 2019. If you’re ever stuck on a layover there, do check it out! https://e…

Bell Labs in Holmdel (ala Severance HQ) is now "Bell Works", a combination of offices, restaurants, stores, and community space, including the public library. It's free to get in and you don't need to spend money to use the amenities. Walking around is pretty pleasant, the architecture is stunning and they did a good job of keeping the soul of the space. It's a bit of a rarity in suburban NJ.

Re: Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares to leave N.J. home

#108

Post by ycombinatrix »

jebarker wrote: post #57
user_7832 wrote: post #2

I have a question for anyone in an R&D/Bell Labs-esque place - are there any good recommendations for similar places to work, particularly outside the US? "Old" Google apparently was, but going by what ex-googlers have been saying it hasn't been the case for a long while now.

Disney Imagineering? I have no direct experience but I'm continually impressed by the technical innovations they make public and the effects they manage to achieve in their products.

all they can do is mechanical engineering. anything they ship involving software is usually an abject failure.

Re: Remembering Bell Labs as legendary idea factory prepares to leave N.J. home

#109

Post by NegativeLatency »

dleink wrote: post #51
tomcam wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not a nostalgic person, but for some reason I wish irrationally that that Murray Hill building could be preserved as is. I read so much about of it in the history of computing, and just like (from the pictures) the building interior itself so much I just feel like I missed out on some thing not to have been there myself. I was lucky enough to work at Microsoft in building 2, one of 8 matching buildings from the m…

Any recommendations for books on the history of computing from that period?

Byte magazine is also a really interesting read: https://archive.org/details/BYTE-MAGAZINE-COMPLETE
Post reply on HN