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You really find it funny that someone on HN is defending the company whose resources and internal innovation culture lead to advances that are foundational to a

You really find it funny that someone on HN is defending the company whose resources and internal innovation culture lead to advances that are foundational to all the technology we work on today? So maybe they charged too much for their phone service, big deal. I’d argue that their contributions to science and engineering outweigh that.

AlexandrB 6y ago
Somehow, it's much rarer to see someone on HN defending the government, whose resources and internal innovation culture lead to advances that are foundational to all the technology that we work on today. So maybe they charged too much taxes, bid deal. I’d argue that their contributions to science and engineering outweigh that.
throwaway2048 6y ago
name some foundational advances Google has made. Throwing 100x more resources at AI ideas from the 70s isn't an foundational advance.
- throwaways885 6y ago
  MapReduce, GFS and Bigtable are the foundations of big data today.
  - konjin 6y ago
    None of those things are new or interesting. Maps were used in the 70s and you can find a chapter about them being parrapalized in Kthuths original Art of Computer Programming.
    - tylerhou 6y ago
      The original TOACP makes no mention of map parallelization. https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Art_of_Computer_Programming/x9AsAwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=map https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Art_of_Computer_Pro... Nor the second one: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Art_of_Computer_Programming_Volume_2/Zu-HAwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=map https://www.google.com/books/edition/Art_of_Computer_Program... Nor the third one: https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Art_of_Computer_Programming/e3wLBAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=map https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Art_of_Computer_Pro... I also searched for "parallel" and couldn't find any relevant passages to map parallelization.
      - deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
  - throwaway2048 6y ago
    Those are good engineering efforts, but its like building a bridge vs understanding the theory of gravity. They are definitely not foundational in anywhere near the sense that bell labs was.
    - read_if_gay_ 6y ago
      Maybe Bell Labs was only foundational due to timing?
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

AlexandrB 6y ago

Somehow, it's much rarer to see someone on HN defending the government, whose resources and internal innovation culture lead to advances that are foundational to all the technology that we work on today. So maybe they charged too much taxes, bid deal. I’d argue that their contributions to science and engineering outweigh that.

throwaway2048 6y ago

name some foundational advances Google has made. Throwing 100x more resources at AI ideas from the 70s isn't an foundational advance.

throwaways885 6y ago
MapReduce, GFS and Bigtable are the foundations of big data today.
- konjin 6y ago
  None of those things are new or interesting. Maps were used in the 70s and you can find a chapter about them being parrapalized in Kthuths original Art of Computer Programming.
  - tylerhou 6y ago
    The original TOACP makes no mention of map parallelization. https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Art_of_Computer_Programming/x9AsAwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=map https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Art_of_Computer_Pro... Nor the second one: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Art_of_Computer_Programming_Volume_2/Zu-HAwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=map https://www.google.com/books/edition/Art_of_Computer_Program... Nor the third one: https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Art_of_Computer_Programming/e3wLBAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=map https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Art_of_Computer_Pro... I also searched for "parallel" and couldn't find any relevant passages to map parallelization.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
- throwaway2048 6y ago
  Those are good engineering efforts, but its like building a bridge vs understanding the theory of gravity. They are definitely not foundational in anywhere near the sense that bell labs was.
  - read_if_gay_ 6y ago
    Maybe Bell Labs was only foundational due to timing?
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]