And Ye Shall Know the Truth, and the Truth Shall Make You Free
- John 8:32 (and the lobby of CIA Headquarters, Langley Virginia)
A few other versions of the talk are here and here
Secret History Backstory Click Here
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Master set of slides
Updated master version can be downloaded here
(If you're interested in the history of the tech scene in New York, Fred Wilson gives a cogent summary here)
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Sources I used for The Secret History of Silicon Valley. Thanks to the authors of this wonderful material. Special note; read everything Alfred Price has written for WWII and Electronic Warfare. Steuart Leslie, Charles Lecuyer and Rebecca S. Lowen for Stanford and the Cold War.
Terman/Shockley/Fairchild/Intel/National/Chips
Silicon Valley History
Venture Capital
ERA/UNIVAC
ERA/Remington Rand/Sperry Oral Histories
Minnesota Computing History Resources
Books/Papers on Minnesota Computing
NSA History
NSA Computing History
Videos
Air Force
Engineering/ELINT in the CIA/NSA
ELINT Aircraft Losses
Analyst Demos
WWII Radar History/Photos/Radar Order of Battle
A-12 Oxcart
Movie Clips
Hi highly recommend Don's book which describes all of the great work done at SRI (Stanford Research Institute) over the years.
When Don spoke at our 1st ever customer event in 2005 (http://tinyurl.com/m7dwjp), he informed us and our clients at Qualcomm that in fact the technology behind their business (satellite tracking) was created at SRI. This was 1 of many great innovation stories he told that day.
Best,
Scott
Scott --
Here's something to ask anyone with an iPhone: "Why was the digital assistant for Apple's products named 'Siri'?" The answer, of course, is that "SRI" is too hard to pronounce. Yes, Apple acquired the Siri technology from SRI ...
And here is the link to the book mentioned in my previous post
http://www.sri.com/about/history/nielson_book.html
Sorry of the oversight.
Scott
Scott,
I've read Don Nielson's book and while the stories are great the book is a a rewrite of history.
SRI was and is a leading service provider to the military and our intelligence agencies. When classified research was banned from the Stanford in 1969 SRI got a new wave of classified Cold War contracts. The products and research were a great service to our country. However, leaving that part of the SRI story out is at best disingenuous but in reality a bold faced lie.
The board that approved this whitewash lacked integrity. I hope some day they have a board with a backbone who decides to tell the real story of SRI. It has yet to be written.
Shame on them.
steve
Newby here.. this is very interesting, could this be the reason why Stanford was so clever about managing the Cohen-Boyer patents? or is there another secret story behind the rise of the biotech industry?
Puzzled...
Alicia,
great question. maybe my next talk...?
steve
I would like to suggest two books:
1. The Closed World: Computers and the Politics of Discourse in Cold War America, by Paul Edwards
2. The Silicon Valley Edge: A Habitat for Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Chong-Moon Lee (Editor)
Marcelo Savio
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I'm long Easter Eggs! Very nice...
Steve, i hope this finds you well, i have a document that maybe of interest to you. I will happily forward, thats if you like absolute mind blowing finds
Its by Nassim Taleb. Interested?
Hi Steve,
I just wanted to say thank you for the information and insight that you provide. I am a military veteran aspiring to be an entrepreneur. Would love to have a chat with you sometime for some advice.
Jeff
Steve,
Your presentation was fascinating. Thanks for making it available.
I discovered it after watching a random Wharton entrepreneurship lecture in which you participated.
As a veteran, this topic really resonated with me; I was aircrew on the MV-22 Osprey, and I'm looking forward to exploring those sources.
Best regards,
Micah
"Government is constantly creating things that corporations then sell, from the microchip to the internet. The government developed microchips for ICBMs because they required a lightweight computing system. Now microchips drive the economy." -- George Friedman interview with John Mauldin
Steve --
I suggest you include Chuck House's fine book on H-P in your lists above -- helps us understand the technology and business climate that became Silicon Valley, long before the name was coined. It's thick, but a great 'read'. Title: "The HP Phenomenon: Innovation and Business Transformation", Charles H. House and Raymond L. Price. It covers Chuck's years there, from the '50's through Mark Hurd's years (around 2008). It's from Stanford Business Books (SU Press).
Wow as someone that has gone to great lengths to understsnd SV from the roots, as my first two firms were tied to the tech space for better or worse. lol but unbelievable talk learned a lot especially the info pertaining to the war years and how that tied into the real genesis and via cause and effect, momentum economics humans have a way of making things better and worse all at the same time...:) big fan of yours Steve my first sales Job at 16 was generating sales leads for EP during the summers high school. i remember thinking one day I wanna have a company large enough where some kid 10 states away in learning how to sell and the fundamentals of business from a company that serves a purpose far greater than just myself...
A fan...John
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