4 ms·

The dream of bringing back Bell Labs

6 points by mxschumacher 4y ago

tpmx 4y ago
Google tried to do that, but nothing much came out of it. (Or did I miss anything important?)
- mxschumacher 4y ago
  Deep mind could be considered a corporate research lab, don't you think? Microsoft also has a big lab I think
- rmason 4y ago
  How much of what Google was doing would be considered basic research? They built products as opposed to the building blocks of products. It's more of an evolutionary leap to go from transistors to integrated circuits but a huge leap from tubes to transistors. I'm old enough to remember a time when we moved society a lot faster. He makes a pretty good case that those dollars spent in corporate labs were more efficient than university research and I'd have never imagined that to be the case.
mxschumacher 4y ago
the "how much of the value created by transistors was captured by the inventors of this technology" question reminds me of the discussion around the difference between value creation and capturing of value. It's one of the important points illustrated in Peter Thiel's "Zero to One" book. That a company generates large profits or that an individual takes home a gigantic salary does not necessarily mean that they have created a lot of value, but certainly that they have been able to capture/extract value. To me its the difference between Wikipedia and a hedge fund, or elementary school teachers and VC investors. Many people and organizations create lots of value, but are often not financially rewarded for it. As a society we should therefore be careful about placing those who are rich on a pedestal
tuatoru 4y ago
> So here’s a wacky idea: What about a national electrical utility? Many utilities are already government-sanctioned monopolies at the city level, so the principle of natural monopolies in the energy space is well-established. And the intermittency of wind and solar means it might make sense to run new long-distance power lines between cities. So why not turn this task over to a national-level government-sanctioned utility monopoly, that would own the long-distance transmission lines and would also be allowed to invest in local generation capacity? Because that wouldn't solve anything. The problems with running long-distance power lines are all to do with negotiating with the property owners along the power line's route, and different states having different processes and criteria. What is needed, if you want to install long distance power transmission quickly, is summary powers of installation that shorten the approvals process (omitting environmental impact assessments, for instance) and that forbid lawsuits or objections or other obstructions of any kind to installation. Property owners get told, "we're installing a power line through your property. Here is independently assessed fair compensation."

6 points by mxschumacher 4y ago

tpmx 4y ago

Google tried to do that, but nothing much came out of it. (Or did I miss anything important?)

mxschumacher 4y ago
Deep mind could be considered a corporate research lab, don't you think? Microsoft also has a big lab I think
rmason 4y ago
How much of what Google was doing would be considered basic research? They built products as opposed to the building blocks of products. It's more of an evolutionary leap to go from transistors to integrated circuits but a huge leap from tubes to transistors. I'm old enough to remember a time when we moved society a lot faster. He makes a pretty good case that those dollars spent in corporate labs were more efficient than university research and I'd have never imagined that to be the case.

mxschumacher 4y ago

the "how much of the value created by transistors was captured by the inventors of this technology" question reminds me of the discussion around the difference between value creation and capturing of value. It's one of the important points illustrated in Peter Thiel's "Zero to One" book. That a company generates large profits or that an individual takes home a gigantic salary does not necessarily mean that they have created a lot of value, but certainly that they have been able to capture/extract value. To me its the difference between Wikipedia and a hedge fund, or elementary school teachers and VC investors. Many people and organizations create lots of value, but are often not financially rewarded for it. As a society we should therefore be careful about placing those who are rich on a pedestal

tuatoru 4y ago

> So here’s a wacky idea: What about a national electrical utility? Many utilities are already government-sanctioned monopolies at the city level, so the principle of natural monopolies in the energy space is well-established. And the intermittency of wind and solar means it might make sense to run new long-distance power lines between cities. So why not turn this task over to a national-level government-sanctioned utility monopoly, that would own the long-distance transmission lines and would also be allowed to invest in local generation capacity? Because that wouldn't solve anything. The problems with running long-distance power lines are all to do with negotiating with the property owners along the power line's route, and different states having different processes and criteria. What is needed, if you want to install long distance power transmission quickly, is summary powers of installation that shorten the approvals process (omitting environmental impact assessments, for instance) and that forbid lawsuits or objections or other obstructions of any kind to installation. Property owners get told, "we're installing a power line through your property. Here is independently assessed fair compensation."