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The Google employees who created transformers

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Re: The Google employees who created transformers

#71

Post by svnt »

IncreasePosts wrote: post #63
saadatq wrote: post #20

Of note: “ Six of the eight authors were born outside the United States; the other two are children of two green-card-carrying Germans who were temporarily in California and a first-generation American whose family had fled persecution, respectively.”

Why would that be of note, especially in America? I think it would be an interesting observation in China or Japan, or some other country which is generally less welcoming to immigrants than the US

First generation immigrants are still a tiny minority of the population. The fact that the entire team consists effectively of first generation immigrants says something, probably both about higher education and American culture.

Re: The Google employees who created transformers

#72

Post by bugglebeetle »

saadatq wrote: post #20

Of note: “ Six of the eight authors were born outside the United States; the other two are children of two green-card-carrying Germans who were temporarily in California and a first-generation American whose family had fled persecution, respectively.”

Yes, this is one of the actually admirable qualities of the US and California in particular. CA has one of the world’s largest economies because it attracts and embraces people from just about every part of the world.

Re: The Google employees who created transformers

#73

Post by hotstickyballs »

ralph84 wrote: post #68

And none of them still work for Google. It’s truly baffling that Google’s CEO still has a job after how badly he fumbled on AI.

Just like Xerox and Bell. Innovation isn’t necessarily their most important job, at least when innovations are being made.

Re: The Google employees who created transformers

#74

Post by quantum_state »

IncreasePosts wrote: post #63
saadatq wrote: post #20

Of note: “ Six of the eight authors were born outside the United States; the other two are children of two green-card-carrying Germans who were temporarily in California and a first-generation American whose family had fled persecution, respectively.”

Why would that be of note, especially in America? I think it would be an interesting observation in China or Japan, or some other country which is generally less welcoming to immigrants than the US

The US is still the place to be, despite its problems…

Re: The Google employees who created transformers

#75

Post by bugglebeetle »

svnt wrote: post #71
IncreasePosts wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would that be of note, especially in America? I think it would be an interesting observation in China or Japan, or some other country which is generally less welcoming to immigrants than the US

First generation immigrants are still a tiny minority of the population. The fact that the entire team consists effectively of first generation immigrants says something, probably both about higher education and American culture.

> First generation immigrants are still a tiny minority of the population

Not in California. Last I remember, something like a quarter of the state’s population is foreign born.

Re: The Google employees who created transformers

#76

Post by cmrdporcupine »

lelag wrote: post #66
jl6 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Digital photography works not just because of the camera but because of the surrounding digital ecosystem. What would people do with digital photos in 1975?

It does not matter. In the 80s, they owned the whole photography market, now they only exist as a shell of it's former self. By not pursuing this tech, they basically committed corporate suicide over the long run and they knew it. They knew very well, especially going into the 90's and early 2000 than their time making bank selling film was counted. But as long as the money was there, the chemical branch of the compa…

Kodak did plenty of great things with digital cameras in the early 2000s. Their CCD sensors from then are still famous and coveted in some older cameras. Go look at the price of a Leica M8 (from 2006) on eBay.

The problem Kodak had is what the person you're replying to is alluding to. They got outcompeted because they were a photography company, not a digital hardware manufacturer. Companies like Sony or Canon did better because they were in the business of consumer electronics / hardware already. Building an amazing digital sensor and some good optics is great, but if you can't write the firmware or make the PCB yourself, you're going to have a hard time competing.

It's not chemical-wing vs digital-wing. It's that Kodak wasn't (and rightly wasn't) a computing hardware manufacturer, which makes it pretty damned hard to compete in making computing devices.

(Granted companies like Nikon or Leica etc did better, but it's all pyrrhic now, because the whole category of consumer digital cameras is disappearing as people are content to take pictures on their phones.)

Re: The Google employees who created transformers

#77

Post by nemo44x »

ralph84 wrote: post #68

And none of them still work for Google. It’s truly baffling that Google’s CEO still has a job after how badly he fumbled on AI.

He was too distracted with all the other things going on under his watch. He spent too much time trying to convince rank and file that it's OK to do business with customers they don't like, trying to ensure arbitrary hiring goals were made, and appeasing the internal activists that led protests and pressured to exit people that didn't fall in line.

This is why the CEO of Coinbase sent the memo a few years back stating that these types of people (not mission focused, self absorbed, and distracting) should leave the company. The CEO of Google should be fired.

Re: The Google employees who created transformers

#78

Post by jl6 »

lelag wrote: post #66
jl6 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Digital photography works not just because of the camera but because of the surrounding digital ecosystem. What would people do with digital photos in 1975?

It does not matter. In the 80s, they owned the whole photography market, now they only exist as a shell of it's former self. By not pursuing this tech, they basically committed corporate suicide over the long run and they knew it. They knew very well, especially going into the 90's and early 2000 than their time making bank selling film was counted. But as long as the money was there, the chemical branch of the compa…

1995 would have been a sensible time for them to pivot to digital. 1975 would not.

Re: The Google employees who created transformers

#79

Post by davidgay »

lelag wrote: post #66
jl6 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Digital photography works not just because of the camera but because of the surrounding digital ecosystem. What would people do with digital photos in 1975?

It does not matter. In the 80s, they owned the whole photography market, now they only exist as a shell of it's former self. By not pursuing this tech, they basically committed corporate suicide over the long run and they knew it. They knew very well, especially going into the 90's and early 2000 than their time making bank selling film was counted. But as long as the money was there, the chemical branch of the compa…

> In the 80s, they [Kodak] owned the whole photography market,

No, they shared it with Fujifilm (1/3rd each in 1990 according to https://pdgciv.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/tfinnerty2.pdf). And essentially via film, film processing but no significant camera market share, which is likely far more relevant to the transition to digital.

Re: The Google employees who created transformers

#80

Post by hrmyeah »

nemo44x wrote: post #77
ralph84 wrote: post #68

And none of them still work for Google. It’s truly baffling that Google’s CEO still has a job after how badly he fumbled on AI.

He was too distracted with all the other things going on under his watch. He spent too much time trying to convince rank and file that it's OK to do business with customers they don't like, trying to ensure arbitrary hiring goals were made, and appeasing the internal activists that led protests and pressured to exit people that didn't fall in line. This is why the CEO of Coinbase sent the memo a few years back statin…

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