The Research Lab The US Government Shutdown in 1984

00:22:55
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-cSeTz3dMg

Ringkasan

TLDRThe video explores the monumental contributions of Bell Labs in the evolution of technology during the 20th century. Founded as part of AT&T, Bell Labs was instrumental in numerous groundbreaking advancements, including the pioneering of the transistor, which steered the electronic age, and the development of radar technology, which played a crucial role in WWII. Under the visionary leadership of figures like Mervin Kelly, the lab fostered a unique environment where long-term innovation was paramount, allowing researchers the freedom to explore diverse scientific inquiries. This environment led to other significant innovations such as information theory by Claude Shannon, and the development of Unix and the C programming language, all of which have made a lasting impact on modern technology. Despite its eventual split following the antitrust breakup of AT&T in 1984, Bell Labs’ legacy continues to influence contemporary research and tech industries.

Takeaways

  • πŸ’‘ Bell Labs was a powerhouse of innovation during the 20th century.
  • πŸ“ž Founded under AT&T, it revolutionized telecommunications.
  • πŸ”¬ The transistor was one of its most notable inventions.
  • πŸ“‘ Radar technology from Bell Labs was crucial during WWII.
  • πŸ” It fostered an environment conducive to long-term explorations.
  • 🧠 Claude Shannon's work laid the foundation for modern digital communication.
  • πŸ‘¨β€πŸ”¬ Key figures include William Shockley and John Bardeen.
  • πŸ›°οΈ Contributed to both terrestrial and extraterrestrial communication advancements.
  • πŸ“š 'The Idea Factory' book provides more insights on Bell Labs innovations.
  • πŸ’Ό The breakup of AT&T marked the end of an era for Bell Labs.

Garis waktu

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    The video begins by contemplating the technological innovations of the 20th century, highlighting organizations like NASA and the Manhattan Project. However, it proposes that Bell Labs was the most innovative, supporting AT&T's colossal growth until its breakup in 1984. The creator reflects on Bell Labs' influence on innovation, noting the necessity of revisiting past stories of innovation to understand the present. Bell Labs, at its peak in the late 1960s, employed thousands, including many PhDs, and tackled significant challenges akin to the Manhattan Project.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    The foundation of Bell Labs is traced back to AT&T's establishment by Alexander Graham Bell and the ambitious vision of Theodore Vail for a universal telecommunication system under one policy and system. The need for innovation led to the creation of Bell Labs in 1925, which prioritized long-term technological research. Located near Western Electric, Bell Labs integrated theoretical research with practical application, fostering a collaborative environment for breakthrough technologies.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:15:00

    Significant figures of Bell Labs such as William Shockley and John Bardeen are introduced, who contributed major advancements like the vacuum tube and semiconductors, pivotal for long-distance communication. World War II posed challenges but also accelerated innovations like radar, which were crucial for the Allies' success. Post-war, Bell Labs expanded vastly, with strategic planning by Mervin Kelly, cementing itself as a leader in research and technological innovation.

  • 00:15:00 - 00:22:55

    Bell Labs' contributions continued post-war with the invention of the transistor, marking the start of modern electronics. Innovations spread to solar cells, lasers, and communication satellites, which revolutionized global communication. The lab also inadvertently discovered cosmic microwave background radiation, supporting Big Bang theory. However, the monopoly that enabled this innovation was dismantled in 1984. Despite its dissolution, Bell Labs' legacy remains influential in multiple tech industries today.

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Peta Pikiran

Video Tanya Jawab

  • What is the main focus of the video?

    The video focuses on the historical impact of Bell Labs on technological innovation in the 20th century and its contributions to AT&T's success.

  • Who was the inventor of the telephone?

    Alexander Graham Bell was the inventor of the telephone.

  • What is a significant technological achievement Bell Labs contributed to?

    Bell Labs contributed to the development of the transistor, radar technology during WWII, and many advancements in telecommunications and computing.

  • What happened to AT&T in 1984?

    In 1984, the U.S. government mandated the breakup of AT&T due to antitrust concerns, leading to the creation of several independent companies known as 'baby bells'.

  • Who are some notable figures mentioned that worked at Bell Labs?

    Notable figures include William Shockley, John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, Claude Shannon, and many others who contributed significantly to Bell Labs' innovations.

  • What impact did Bell Labs have on the tech industry?

    Bell Labs' innovations, such as the transistor, radically transformed the tech industry, laying groundwork for modern electronics and communication technologies.

  • How did Bell Labs foster innovation?

    Bell Labs encouraged long-term thinking and provided researchers with remarkable freedom to pursue projects that could contribute to telecommunications advancements.

  • What book is heavily referenced in the video?

    The video references 'The Idea Factory' by John Gertner, which explores the history and innovations of Bell Labs.

  • How did radar technology influence WWII?

    Radar technology, developed at Bell Labs, allowed advanced threat detection and played a significant role in the Allied victory during WWII.

  • What is information theory and who is its father?

    Information theory is a mathematical framework for quantifying information, and Claude Shannon, who worked at Bell Labs, is known as its father.

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Gulir Otomatis:
  • 00:00:00
    when you think about the technology of
  • 00:00:01
    today and the innovation in the 20th
  • 00:00:03
    century that got us here you might think
  • 00:00:05
    of NASA maybe the Manhattan Project or
  • 00:00:07
    about Silicon Valley developing
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    microchips but which of these legendary
  • 00:00:10
    organizations did the most Innovation
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    the answer is Bell
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    Labs the responsibility of bell
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    Laboratories is to provide the science
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    and technology to turn AT&T's Vision
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    into
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    [Music]
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    reality they likely produced more
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    discoveries and inventions than any
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    other organization in the 20th century
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    and enabled AT&T to become a company so
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    large that the US government had to
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    break them up in 1984 this is the story
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    of that Innovation and it's the story of
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    bell
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    [Music]
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    labs in the past few months of filming
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    S3 I felt like something was missing the
  • 00:00:58
    reason I make this show is to study the
  • 00:01:00
    Art and Science of innovation and not
  • 00:01:03
    only that but to try and convince you
  • 00:01:04
    that if you want you can have a part in
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    it but it feels wrong to only focus on
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    the companies of today and totally
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    ignore big and in many cases underrated
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    stories of innovation in the
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    past this is our first ever historic S3
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    meaning that the story will tell isn't
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    about a company that's trying to build
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    the future today but is instead about a
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    team of people who innovated in the past
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    to bring us to where we are in the
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    present so why why Bell Labs at the peak
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    of its reputation in the late 1960s Bell
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    Labs employed about 15,000 people
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    including some 1,200 phds its ranks
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    included the world's most brilliant and
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    Ecentric men and women in a time before
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    Google the lab sufficed as the country's
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    intellectual Utopia as it happens the
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    past offers the example of one seemingly
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    Wicked problem that was overcome by an
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    Innovative effort that Rivals the Apollo
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    program and the Manhattan Project in
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    size scope expense and duration before
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    reading this book I didn't really know
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    much about Bell ABS I had heard about
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    the Manhattan Project I'd seen the
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    Christopher Nolan movie and I've seen
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    all the movies and media about the
  • 00:02:07
    Apollo program but the idea Factory by
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    John gerner kind of uncovered this like
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    World of innovation that I had never
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    heard of despite being someone who tells
  • 00:02:15
    a lot of stories about people who do
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    Innovation it's easily one of my
  • 00:02:18
    favorite things I've read in 2024 so if
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    you finish this video and you like what
  • 00:02:22
    you hear here you should definitely Buy
  • 00:02:23
    and read this book okay now let's get on
  • 00:02:26
    to the story of bell labs
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    the story of bell lab starts almost 100
  • 00:02:32
    years ago in a 400,000 ft building in
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    New Jersey but to set the stage for that
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    40 years prior AT&T was founded by
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    Alexander grah Bell the inventor of the
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    telephone by this point AT&T had taken
  • 00:02:44
    off and was basically the leader in most
  • 00:02:46
    phone calls going on in the United
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    States but competition was beginning to
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    build up other people were building
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    phone networks and trying to come the
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    throne and the kingdom that Alexander
  • 00:02:54
    had built but in 1907 Theodore Vil took
  • 00:02:57
    over leadership at AT&T and he had a
  • 00:02:59
    vision about the future of what their
  • 00:03:00
    business could look like that he and his
  • 00:03:02
    Infamous PR arm coined as one policy one
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    system Universal service Universal
  • 00:03:08
    service was this sweeping Vision
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    something ridiculous that nobody had
  • 00:03:12
    dared to dream before a total and
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    complete telecommunication system that
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    could connect everyone everywhere under
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    one system and one policy today that
  • 00:03:21
    sounds sort of obvious but back then it
  • 00:03:22
    was crazy the veil strategy in short
  • 00:03:25
    would measure the company's progress in
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    decades instead of years to pull off
  • 00:03:30
    this crazy dream and ambition they' need
  • 00:03:32
    to build it and not only that they need
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    to discover the material science
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    engineering and physics to do that
  • 00:03:38
    they'd need to invent it existing
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    technology simply couldn't support the
  • 00:03:42
    kind of long-distance reliable
  • 00:03:43
    communication they envisioned at that
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    time you could basically make a call to
  • 00:03:47
    halfway across the country there was no
  • 00:03:48
    way to make a phone call from New York
  • 00:03:50
    to California but in 1915 during the
  • 00:03:53
    international Exposition in San
  • 00:03:54
    Francisco AT&T showcased a
  • 00:03:56
    groundbreaking achievement the first
  • 00:03:58
    transcontinental telephone call
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    Alexander granbell hopped back on the
  • 00:04:01
    phone in New York and spoke to his
  • 00:04:03
    former assistant Thomas Watson in San
  • 00:04:05
    Francisco this feat required an immense
  • 00:04:07
    amount of Labor this Continental link
  • 00:04:09
    was strung from the East to the West
  • 00:04:10
    Coast with over 130,000 wood poles this
  • 00:04:14
    wasn't just a demonstration of
  • 00:04:15
    technological prowess it was a symbolic
  • 00:04:18
    moment that proved their Vision was
  • 00:04:19
    attainable it was an idea that
  • 00:04:21
    technology could unlock new business
  • 00:04:23
    potential and that led to the creation
  • 00:04:25
    of bell Labs Veil brought in Frank jitt
  • 00:04:28
    a brilliant engineer who became the
  • 00:04:30
    first president of B abs and while J
  • 00:04:32
    laid the groundwork it was really mvin
  • 00:04:34
    Kelly who ran the show in later years he
  • 00:04:36
    fostered an environment where creativity
  • 00:04:38
    and collaboration thrived so the
  • 00:04:40
    founding team got set up in 1925 with a
  • 00:04:42
    starter budget of $12 million a year or
  • 00:04:45
    $220 million in today's Cash this is an
  • 00:04:48
    insane amount of money and something
  • 00:04:49
    that could have only been possible from
  • 00:04:50
    the Monopoly that was AT&T Bell Labs was
  • 00:04:54
    structured to prioritize long-term
  • 00:04:56
    thinking this was a big thing that
  • 00:04:57
    Theodore Veil pushed but this wasn't for
  • 00:04:59
    Al is Theodore Veil believed that
  • 00:05:01
    technology over the long run could
  • 00:05:03
    provide immense business value to AT&T
  • 00:05:05
    researchers were given remarkable
  • 00:05:07
    freedom to pursue almost any line of
  • 00:05:08
    inquiry as long as they could justify
  • 00:05:11
    that it might one day contribute to
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    building the system this wasn't a place
  • 00:05:14
    bogged down by immediate profit margins
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    or quarterly reports it was a crucible
  • 00:05:18
    for Innovation where the only limit was
  • 00:05:21
    imagination and research and right down
  • 00:05:23
    the street was Western Electric AT&T's
  • 00:05:25
    manufacturing Powerhouse Bell Labs would
  • 00:05:28
    come up with an idea and Western would
  • 00:05:30
    build it this seamless integration
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    between theoretical research and
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    practical application was a GameChanger
  • 00:05:36
    now let's meet The Young
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    [Music]
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    Turks the Brilliant Minds who became the
  • 00:05:40
    Beating Heart of bell Labs first up we
  • 00:05:43
    have William shley a theoretical
  • 00:05:45
    physicist with an uncanny ability to see
  • 00:05:47
    where technology was headed later in
  • 00:05:49
    life Shockley had some not so scientific
  • 00:05:50
    views yeah that's pretty bad will stick
  • 00:05:53
    to just talking about his physics work
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    then there's John Bine the quiet genius
  • 00:05:58
    despite his reserved demor his
  • 00:06:00
    contributions were Monumental and fun
  • 00:06:02
    fact he's the only person to have won
  • 00:06:03
    the Nobel Prize in physics twice for
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    entirely different breakthroughs then
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    there's Walter Bain the experimental
  • 00:06:09
    extraordinaire he had a knack for
  • 00:06:10
    translating complex theories into
  • 00:06:12
    tangible experiments colleagues joke
  • 00:06:14
    that he could build anything with a
  • 00:06:15
    piece of wire and some chewing gum and
  • 00:06:17
    we can't forget Claude Shannon the
  • 00:06:19
    mathematician and electrical engineer
  • 00:06:21
    who laid the foundations of information
  • 00:06:23
    theory in a single video we can't
  • 00:06:25
    mention everyone who is a critical part
  • 00:06:26
    of B Labs magic and again go read the
  • 00:06:29
    book there talked about a ton in here
  • 00:06:32
    the vibe at Bell Labs was electric they
  • 00:06:34
    published their own journal shared
  • 00:06:36
    insights and had sparking discussions
  • 00:06:38
    where they talked about deep topics that
  • 00:06:39
    weren't even a thing like solid state
  • 00:06:41
    physics let's talk about one of their
  • 00:06:43
    first big Innovations the vacuum
  • 00:06:46
    tube in 1912 a crucial advancement in
  • 00:06:49
    vacuum tube technology happened almost
  • 00:06:51
    by accident around 1912 Harold Arnold
  • 00:06:54
    was trying to improve the audio an
  • 00:06:56
    analog amplifier brought to Bell labs in
  • 00:06:58
    1912 through Tri and error Arnold
  • 00:07:01
    discovered that in high vacuum and with
  • 00:07:02
    r materials you could greatly improve
  • 00:07:04
    the audion efficiency they were called
  • 00:07:07
    vacuum tubes this serendipitous
  • 00:07:09
    Discovery allowed for better
  • 00:07:10
    amplification of signals Paving the way
  • 00:07:12
    for long-distance telephone calls and
  • 00:07:14
    radio broadcasts Telly called The Tubes
  • 00:07:17
    Miracle devices that would usher in a
  • 00:07:19
    great age of electronic communications
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    but he knew better than anyone how
  • 00:07:22
    difficult they were to make a few
  • 00:07:24
    decades later after AT&T had begun to
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    prolifer vacuum tubes all across the US
  • 00:07:29
    William shley was having some
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    interesting ideas relating to
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    semiconductors Shockley had concluded by
  • 00:07:35
    then that a certain class of materials
  • 00:07:36
    known as semiconductors so named because
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    they are neither good conductors of
  • 00:07:40
    electricity nor good insulators of
  • 00:07:42
    electricity but somewhere in between
  • 00:07:44
    might be an ideal solid replacement for
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    tubes the possibilities of using
  • 00:07:49
    semiconductors was enormous but then the
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    war
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    [Music]
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    came World War II shifted the global
  • 00:07:59
    landscape and Bell Labs was no exception
  • 00:08:02
    but that didn't stop them from
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    innovating Bell Labs LED over a thousand
  • 00:08:05
    projects for the US military during
  • 00:08:07
    World War II they applied their
  • 00:08:09
    expertise to develop radar encryption
  • 00:08:11
    devices and other Technologies critical
  • 00:08:13
    to National Security when we think about
  • 00:08:15
    the technological Feats that contributed
  • 00:08:17
    to the Allied victory in World War II
  • 00:08:19
    the atomic bomb often takes Center Stage
  • 00:08:21
    but in reality it was radar that truly
  • 00:08:23
    turned the tide of the war it's often
  • 00:08:25
    said that the atomic bomb ended the war
  • 00:08:27
    but that radar won it to put this into
  • 00:08:29
    perspective the United States spent
  • 00:08:30
    about $3 billion on radar development
  • 00:08:33
    during the war compared to a measly 2
  • 00:08:35
    billion on the Manhattan Project so how
  • 00:08:36
    does radar work and why was it such a
  • 00:08:38
    big deal radar which stands for radio
  • 00:08:40
    detection and ranging is a system that
  • 00:08:42
    uses electromagnetic waves to identify
  • 00:08:44
    the distance speed and direction of
  • 00:08:46
    objects it sends out radio waves that
  • 00:08:48
    bounce off of objects and return to the
  • 00:08:50
    source allowing the system to calculate
  • 00:08:52
    an object's position and movement it
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    meant that for the first time in Warfare
  • 00:08:55
    armies Could See Beyond the Horizon
  • 00:08:57
    detect incoming threats in any weather
  • 00:08:59
    and coordinate their defenses with
  • 00:09:01
    unprecedented accuracy Bell Labs was
  • 00:09:03
    instrumental in the radar Revolution
  • 00:09:05
    during what was often called the
  • 00:09:06
    physicists War the war effort led to
  • 00:09:09
    explosive growth at Babs at the
  • 00:09:11
    beginning of the war they were 4,600 by
  • 00:09:13
    the end they had 9,000 employees as the
  • 00:09:16
    war Drew to a close Bell ABS didn't slow
  • 00:09:18
    down in fact mvin Kelly had a post-war
  • 00:09:21
    reorganization plan ready to go the
  • 00:09:23
    moment peace was declared post-war Bell
  • 00:09:26
    Labs went on what can only be described
  • 00:09:28
    as a spending spree Kelly Buckley and JW
  • 00:09:31
    were of the mind that Bell Labs would
  • 00:09:32
    soon become the largest and most
  • 00:09:34
    advanced research organization in the
  • 00:09:37
    world for the past 5 years in between
  • 00:09:39
    all of his wartime work Kelly had
  • 00:09:40
    devoted large blocks of time to
  • 00:09:42
    orchestrating the construction of an
  • 00:09:44
    immense complex of buildings in the
  • 00:09:45
    wooded Hills of New Jersey with a price
  • 00:09:47
    tag of $4 million the new building was
  • 00:09:49
    not conceived as an ordinary laboratory
  • 00:09:52
    all the buildings have been connected so
  • 00:09:53
    as to avoid fixed geographical
  • 00:09:55
    delineation between departments and to
  • 00:09:57
    encourage free interchange and close
  • 00:09:59
    cont among them the physicists and
  • 00:10:01
    chemists and mathematicians were not
  • 00:10:03
    meant to avoid one another and the
  • 00:10:04
    research people were not meant to evade
  • 00:10:06
    the development people by intention
  • 00:10:08
    everyone would be in one another's way
  • 00:10:10
    members of the technical staff would
  • 00:10:11
    often have both Laboratories and small
  • 00:10:13
    offices but they might be in different
  • 00:10:14
    corridors making it necessary to walk
  • 00:10:16
    between the two and all but assuring a
  • 00:10:18
    chance encounter with a colleague along
  • 00:10:19
    the way this period marked the beginning
  • 00:10:22
    of an unprecedented era of innovation at
  • 00:10:27
    Bells in 19 1947 Bell lab scientists
  • 00:10:30
    John Bine Walter Bain and William
  • 00:10:32
    Shockley developed the first working
  • 00:10:35
    transistor a small device made from
  • 00:10:36
    semiconductor materials like Silicon and
  • 00:10:39
    geranium this tiny component could
  • 00:10:41
    amplify and switch electronic signals
  • 00:10:43
    effectively replacing the bulky and
  • 00:10:44
    unreliable vacuum tubes of the time the
  • 00:10:46
    transistor was more than just a
  • 00:10:48
    technical achievement it was a
  • 00:10:49
    Cornerstone of the electronic age it led
  • 00:10:51
    directly to the development of virtually
  • 00:10:53
    all modern Electronics from computers
  • 00:10:55
    and smartphones to medical equipment and
  • 00:10:56
    satellites but there's more to the story
  • 00:10:58
    John didn't stop with the transistor he
  • 00:11:01
    went on to co-develop BCS Theory or
  • 00:11:03
    super conductivity which explained how
  • 00:11:05
    certain materials can conduct
  • 00:11:07
    electricity without resistance at
  • 00:11:09
    extremely low temperatures one of the
  • 00:11:11
    biggest Innovations came in 1954 when
  • 00:11:13
    bellab scientists darl shapen Calvin
  • 00:11:15
    Fuller and Gerald Pearson developed the
  • 00:11:17
    first practical silicon solar cell this
  • 00:11:19
    device could convert sunlight directly
  • 00:11:21
    into electricity with an efficiency of
  • 00:11:23
    6% which was a significant leap at the
  • 00:11:25
    time this invention marked the birth of
  • 00:11:27
    photovoltaics Paving the way for solar
  • 00:11:29
    panels that power homes satellites and
  • 00:11:31
    spacecraft today Bell Labs was also at
  • 00:11:33
    the Forefront of Laser Technology in
  • 00:11:35
    1958 Arthur Shalo and Charles towns
  • 00:11:38
    published a seminal paper outlining the
  • 00:11:39
    principles of the laser which stands for
  • 00:11:41
    light amplification by stimulated
  • 00:11:43
    emission of radiation during this time
  • 00:11:45
    Bell laabs wasn't only looking at the
  • 00:11:46
    ground they set their sights on the
  • 00:11:48
    stars in 1960 they launched echo1 a
  • 00:11:51
    passive communication satellite meaning
  • 00:11:53
    that you would just shoot RF signals up
  • 00:11:54
    at it and they would bounce it back to
  • 00:11:55
    you it was a bold experiment that proved
  • 00:11:57
    satellite communication was feasible
  • 00:11:59
    building on the success in 1962 Bells
  • 00:12:02
    introduced tellar one the world's first
  • 00:12:05
    active communication satellite unlike
  • 00:12:06
    echko telar could amplify signals before
  • 00:12:09
    retransmitting them back to Earth this
  • 00:12:10
    allowed for the first live transatlantic
  • 00:12:12
    television
  • 00:12:14
    broadcast sometimes the most profound
  • 00:12:17
    discoveries happen by accident in 1964
  • 00:12:20
    bab's astronomers were working on a
  • 00:12:22
    project involving satellites using a
  • 00:12:23
    giant horn antenna they kept
  • 00:12:25
    encountering a persistent background
  • 00:12:27
    noise that they couldn't eliminate no
  • 00:12:28
    matter what they tried even after
  • 00:12:30
    evicting some pigeons nesting in the
  • 00:12:31
    antenna they had stumbled upon the
  • 00:12:34
    cosmic microwave background radiation of
  • 00:12:36
    the universe this is the Afterglow of
  • 00:12:38
    The Big Bang Theory and is sort of the
  • 00:12:40
    Bedrock of a lot of cosmology research
  • 00:12:42
    done today the Innovation didn't stop
  • 00:12:44
    there in 1969 William Bole and George E
  • 00:12:47
    Smith invented the charge coupled device
  • 00:12:49
    or the CCD this technology allowed for
  • 00:12:51
    the electronic capturing of light images
  • 00:12:53
    effectively replacing traditional
  • 00:12:55
    photographic film ccds became the heart
  • 00:12:57
    of digital cameras Medical Imaging
  • 00:12:59
    devices in telescopes by the late 1960s
  • 00:13:02
    Bell Labs had reached its Zenith the
  • 00:13:04
    institution boasted over 15,000
  • 00:13:06
    employees including 12200 phds it was a
  • 00:13:09
    Melting Pot of intellect and creativity
  • 00:13:11
    unparalleled in scope and impact imagine
  • 00:13:13
    walking through the halls of bells
  • 00:13:14
    during this era to get from one side to
  • 00:13:16
    the other it was intentionally designed
  • 00:13:18
    again so you cross paths with other
  • 00:13:19
    people you might pass a physicist
  • 00:13:21
    pondering the mysteries of the universe
  • 00:13:23
    or an engineer designing cuttingedge
  • 00:13:24
    communication systems or a mathematician
  • 00:13:27
    laying the groundwork for computer
  • 00:13:28
    Theory and riding a unicycle all Under
  • 00:13:31
    One Roof The Innovation from Bell Labs
  • 00:13:33
    didn't just stay within the confines of
  • 00:13:35
    the company they rippled outward
  • 00:13:37
    influencing Industries and sparking new
  • 00:13:39
    fields of study entirely the transistor
  • 00:13:41
    led to the development of microchips in
  • 00:13:43
    the entire semiconductor industry as we
  • 00:13:45
    know it
  • 00:13:46
    today possibly one of the most
  • 00:13:48
    significant contributions and one of the
  • 00:13:50
    most remarkable individuals to emerge
  • 00:13:51
    from Bell Labs was Claud Shannon known
  • 00:13:53
    today as the father of information
  • 00:13:55
    Theory Shannon's work laid the
  • 00:13:57
    foundational principles that underpin
  • 00:13:59
    our digital age but don't take it from
  • 00:14:01
    me here's a clip from a secret project
  • 00:14:03
    I'm working on from the co-founder of
  • 00:14:04
    neuralink who's now working on his own
  • 00:14:06
    company science on the impact of Claud
  • 00:14:08
    Shannon and information Theory so
  • 00:14:10
    information Theory really got it start
  • 00:14:11
    in the 1940s uh Cloud Shannon was
  • 00:14:13
    working at Bell Labs he was working for
  • 00:14:16
    a telecom and they wanted to know they
  • 00:14:18
    were going from analog phone lines so
  • 00:14:19
    how do we scale this and so the problem
  • 00:14:21
    that he was looking at is if you receive
  • 00:14:23
    a signal in one place how do you
  • 00:14:25
    transmit that over a wire to recover the
  • 00:14:28
    signal somewhere else and how do you do
  • 00:14:30
    this in a way that is not just as your
  • 00:14:32
    wire gets longer it gets noisier and it
  • 00:14:35
    gets harder to hear the the idea of
  • 00:14:36
    digital coding is this is not about
  • 00:14:39
    Electronics or CPUs it's about taking
  • 00:14:42
    these analog continuous noisy Real World
  • 00:14:46
    Systems and building encoding schemes
  • 00:14:49
    that allow you to perfectly encode
  • 00:14:50
    information that is always recoverable
  • 00:14:52
    and so Cloud Channon was thinking about
  • 00:14:54
    this at B Labs he ended up writing a
  • 00:14:56
    paper called a mathematical theory of
  • 00:14:57
    communication he was looking at like if
  • 00:14:59
    you look at the statistics of English
  • 00:15:01
    you've got letters and you can randomly
  • 00:15:03
    sample one of the 26 letters of the
  • 00:15:05
    alphabet this looks like gibberish but
  • 00:15:07
    if you look at sampling letters based on
  • 00:15:09
    one prior letter so e is more often
  • 00:15:12
    after a or after b or whatever then you
  • 00:15:14
    get something with a little more
  • 00:15:15
    structure or if you look at sampling
  • 00:15:17
    based on two letters and these are
  • 00:15:18
    called NRS for one or two or three grams
  • 00:15:21
    you can calculate the statistics of how
  • 00:15:23
    often do these letters follow each other
  • 00:15:26
    and maybe now you split by words you
  • 00:15:28
    know instead of samping out letters
  • 00:15:29
    you're sampling out words from the
  • 00:15:30
    dictionary and you're looking at what
  • 00:15:32
    words tend to appear after other words
  • 00:15:34
    and so as you go out to longer structure
  • 00:15:36
    you get this emergent structure which
  • 00:15:37
    encodes something about like the
  • 00:15:39
    statistics of the language so what is
  • 00:15:41
    like how do you represent all of this
  • 00:15:43
    like what what are we dealing with here
  • 00:15:44
    the thing that thing that's fundamental
  • 00:15:46
    underneath and he came to this idea of
  • 00:15:48
    of the bit and like what is a bit the
  • 00:15:50
    the definition he offered was a
  • 00:15:52
    difference that makes a difference this
  • 00:15:54
    is an idea which is so General as to be
  • 00:15:56
    kind of tough to reason about when
  • 00:15:57
    you're new to it and I think that's one
  • 00:15:59
    of the reasons that it's had such D
  • 00:16:00
    power because it is such a such a
  • 00:16:01
    profoundly general idea that it kind of
  • 00:16:04
    has lives in all these different areas
  • 00:16:06
    and this all came down from how do we
  • 00:16:08
    build fault tolerant encoding schemes
  • 00:16:10
    that allow us to span across the country
  • 00:16:13
    with telephone
  • 00:16:15
    [Music]
  • 00:16:20
    wires information theory was discovered
  • 00:16:22
    and predicted to be Monumental long
  • 00:16:24
    before its full potential was realized
  • 00:16:26
    this simple idea that any sort of
  • 00:16:28
    information
  • 00:16:29
    small big or massively complex could be
  • 00:16:32
    encoded as a single binary value of a z
  • 00:16:35
    or one was groundbreaking he showed how
  • 00:16:37
    information can be Quantified
  • 00:16:39
    transmitted efficiently and encoded to
  • 00:16:41
    reduce errors even over noisy
  • 00:16:43
    communication channels something
  • 00:16:45
    previously thought
  • 00:16:55
    impossible as a result of information
  • 00:16:58
    Theory Labs develop Unix an operating
  • 00:17:00
    system initially designed for internal
  • 00:17:02
    use to replace the analog process of
  • 00:17:05
    telecommunication
  • 00:17:06
    switching it was created by Ken Thompson
  • 00:17:08
    and Dennis Richie who were looking for a
  • 00:17:10
    platform to run the game space travel
  • 00:17:12
    believe it or not from Unix came the C
  • 00:17:14
    programming language developed by Dennis
  • 00:17:16
    1972 C was designed to be a highle
  • 00:17:19
    language with low-level capabilities
  • 00:17:21
    allowing programmers to write efficient
  • 00:17:22
    code with direct access to the hardware
  • 00:17:24
    building on C vorn St STP at Bell Labs
  • 00:17:27
    later developed C++ C and C++ became the
  • 00:17:30
    backbone of modern software development
  • 00:17:32
    Unix itself became Linux and Mac OS is
  • 00:17:34
    built on Unix
  • 00:17:38
    3 all of this Innovation didn't happen
  • 00:17:41
    in a vacuum it was underpinned by the
  • 00:17:43
    unique environment at Bell Labs a place
  • 00:17:45
    fueled by the financial backing of a
  • 00:17:47
    monopoly that same Monopoly would be its
  • 00:17:53
    downfall 18t the parent company Abel
  • 00:17:55
    Labs held a monopoly over the entire
  • 00:17:58
    telephone services in the United States
  • 00:17:59
    for much of the 20th century there was
  • 00:18:01
    growing concern that AT&T's Monopoly
  • 00:18:03
    stifled competition and innovation in
  • 00:18:05
    the Telecommunications industry over the
  • 00:18:07
    years the government intervened many
  • 00:18:09
    times leading to various legal battles
  • 00:18:11
    and restructurings the most significant
  • 00:18:13
    change came in 1984 when the US
  • 00:18:15
    Department of Justice mandated the
  • 00:18:16
    breakup of AT&T in an antitrust
  • 00:18:18
    settlement this led to the divesture of
  • 00:18:20
    AT&T's local telephone operations which
  • 00:18:22
    are split into seven independent
  • 00:18:24
    Regional Bell operating companies often
  • 00:18:27
    referred to as the baby bells this
  • 00:18:29
    breakup marked the end of an era for
  • 00:18:30
    Bell Labs the lab itself was split as
  • 00:18:33
    well with parts of it remaining with
  • 00:18:34
    AT&T and others becoming part of newly
  • 00:18:37
    formed companies the Monopoly that had
  • 00:18:39
    funded and fostered such a prolific
  • 00:18:40
    period of innovation was no more there's
  • 00:18:43
    a certain irony here the innovations
  • 00:18:45
    that Babs produced especially in
  • 00:18:47
    electronics and Computing helped create
  • 00:18:48
    the new Industries and competitors that
  • 00:18:50
    ultimately pressured AT&T's Monopoly
  • 00:18:52
    status by inventing technologies that
  • 00:18:54
    would become ubiquitous They Se the
  • 00:18:56
    seeds for a more competitive and
  • 00:18:57
    diversified t Communications landscape
  • 00:19:00
    in many ways the Monopoly enabled more
  • 00:19:01
    Innovation from a single lab than the
  • 00:19:03
    world had ever seen
  • 00:19:05
    prior I got so excited about the
  • 00:19:07
    research for this video that I tweeted a
  • 00:19:09
    bunch of pictures of Babs just sort of
  • 00:19:10
    ustruck with their Innovation and a lot
  • 00:19:13
    of people in the replies had one
  • 00:19:14
    question who are the Bell Labs of today
  • 00:19:18
    well oddly enough on the same day that I
  • 00:19:19
    tweeted that Deep Mind from Google
  • 00:19:21
    released a significant update to Alpha
  • 00:19:23
    fold releasing Alpha fold 3 a
  • 00:19:25
    groundbreaking AI system that predicts
  • 00:19:27
    protein folding which is is an immensely
  • 00:19:29
    complicated thing to do I think some
  • 00:19:32
    potential candidates for very profitable
  • 00:19:34
    cash engines that can fund research
  • 00:19:36
    organizations might be stripe funding
  • 00:19:39
    Arc institute there's of course SpaceX
  • 00:19:42
    as a total organization which is
  • 00:19:43
    developing starlink as its own cash
  • 00:19:44
    engine to fund its research and
  • 00:19:47
    exploration of Mars I think these are
  • 00:19:49
    some contemporary examples of
  • 00:19:50
    organizations uh investing heavily
  • 00:19:53
    long-term high-risk reward projects but
  • 00:19:55
    are they the Bell abs of today this
  • 00:19:57
    brings me to the dichotomy between
  • 00:19:58
    startups and research labs in our
  • 00:20:00
    current landscape on the one hand you
  • 00:20:02
    need money and Commercial Instinct often
  • 00:20:04
    drives Innovation but the kind of
  • 00:20:05
    groundbreaking work that happened at
  • 00:20:07
    Bell Labs exists well outside of the
  • 00:20:09
    typical Venture Capital window of
  • 00:20:10
    Interest Bell Labs was all about the
  • 00:20:13
    long game and you could have had that
  • 00:20:14
    without a massive cash engine in a
  • 00:20:16
    monopoly I think a good note to land on
  • 00:20:19
    is is just how important the individual
  • 00:20:22
    is in Innovation Bell abbs at its height
  • 00:20:24
    was 15,000 people with 12200 phds but
  • 00:20:27
    there were a key few people that had
  • 00:20:29
    some of the biggest breakthroughs and
  • 00:20:31
    discoveries there are examples of this
  • 00:20:32
    outside at Bell Labs too think of Bill
  • 00:20:34
    nson who is instrumental in getting the
  • 00:20:36
    US manufacturing base ripping during
  • 00:20:38
    World War II or J Robert Oppenheimer and
  • 00:20:41
    general Leslie Groves in the Manhattan
  • 00:20:43
    Project and of course mvin Kelly and The
  • 00:20:45
    Young Turks at Bell Labs Kelly fostered
  • 00:20:48
    an environment where long-term thinking
  • 00:20:49
    wasn't just encouraged but was ingrained
  • 00:20:51
    in the very fabric of the lab his
  • 00:20:53
    leadership style was pivotal in making
  • 00:20:55
    Bell Labs the PowerHouse of innovation
  • 00:20:57
    it was I think that's the thing that I'm
  • 00:20:59
    most obsessed about with in studying
  • 00:21:01
    success cases like babbs or the
  • 00:21:03
    companies that are innovating and
  • 00:21:04
    pushing the ones today is the impact
  • 00:21:06
    that single people can have in our grand
  • 00:21:09
    story of innovation the reason that I
  • 00:21:11
    film S3 is to try to get an inside Peak
  • 00:21:15
    to what super ambitious and Innovative
  • 00:21:17
    teams are up to today before they go on
  • 00:21:19
    and do the next big thing we have some
  • 00:21:21
    pretty exciting episodes coming up here
  • 00:21:23
    in S3 where I think some of the
  • 00:21:25
    Innovation going on feels like some of
  • 00:21:27
    the early days of bell apps
  • 00:21:33
    thank you for watching this new style of
  • 00:21:35
    of S3 um let's know what you think uh
  • 00:21:37
    it's kind of this new hosted historical
  • 00:21:39
    format um I really enjoy exploring these
  • 00:21:42
    deep Dives uh into the stories and
  • 00:21:44
    Behind These technological revolutions
  • 00:21:46
    and I hope you do too um if you've got
  • 00:21:48
    any cool lore or stories about Bell Labs
  • 00:21:50
    that we didn't cover or any thoughts
  • 00:21:52
    that you want to share after watching
  • 00:21:53
    this we'd love to hear them in the
  • 00:21:54
    comments I'm sure that some people have
  • 00:21:56
    like friends or family that worked there
  • 00:21:58
    be cool to hear your your take um and
  • 00:22:01
    before I go I want to close off with a
  • 00:22:02
    passage near the very end of the book
  • 00:22:04
    The Idea Factory by John cner that this
  • 00:22:06
    video is heavily based on do not watch
  • 00:22:08
    this part if you don't want to hear the
  • 00:22:09
    very ending of this
  • 00:22:11
    book Pierce hoped privately that the
  • 00:22:13
    work he and his colleagues did would
  • 00:22:15
    someday be broadly recognized what
  • 00:22:17
    momentos will our heirs have of our
  • 00:22:19
    romantic present to tell them that men
  • 00:22:21
    created the things which they take for
  • 00:22:23
    granted he feared that any memories of
  • 00:22:25
    the makers would perish too I'm afraid
  • 00:22:27
    that there will be little tangible left
  • 00:22:29
    in a later age to remind our heirs that
  • 00:22:31
    we were men rather than cogs in a
  • 00:22:35
    [Music]
  • 00:22:36
    machine thanks for watching uh hope you
  • 00:22:39
    enjoyed this and until next week keep on
  • 00:22:41
    building the future
  • 00:22:43
    [Music]
Tags
  • Bell Labs
  • Innovation
  • AT&T
  • Transistor
  • Radar
  • Information Theory
  • Claude Shannon
  • 20th Century Technology
  • Unix
  • C Programming