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For something of its size and influence very few people have heard of SRI, but it comes up frequently in 'noided online discussions about the overlap between Si

For something of its size and influence very few people have heard of SRI, but it comes up frequently in 'noided online discussions about the overlap between Silicon Valley and military/intelligence. A lot of the things that PARC was credited with creating in the first place were really dreamed up at SRI, so it makes a certain sense for them to be merging: https://squamuglia.wordpress.com/2017/04/16/67/#more-67 https://squamuglia.wordpress.com/2017/04/16/67/#more-67 https://squamuglia.wordpress.com/2017/04/22/yes-kids-cookie-monster-is-a-psyop/ https://squamuglia.wordpress.com/2017/04/22/yes-kids-cookie-...

rchiang 3y ago
I think it's important to note that much (all?) of PARCs research has been oriented around the "office of the future". In the broadest sense of that vision, they had a huge hand in originating a lot of computing technologies. And while SRI has had their impact in the computing industry, they also have other research labs that have very little to do with computing such as biomedical, education, and policy.
- fatneckbeard 3y ago
  sri was never gonna allow a bunch of hippies and bearded longhairs tour their facility in the spirit of academic comradeship. (IE no microsoft, no apple being allowed to walk around and talk to people in the 80s to get the ideas for Macintosh and Windows) Ironically, Apple and Microsoft would never allow some stranger company to walk into their offices and see everything they were developing either. lol
  - AlbertCory 3y ago
    Xerox had two meetings with Apple, in December 1979. Neither they nor Microsoft was ever able to "walk into their offices and see everything they were developing ."
    - smilespray 3y ago
      Come on. Xerox gave away the crown jewels in those meetings.
      - retrocryptid 3y ago
        Xerox was paid for the crown jewels and according to Larry Tesler, it didn't take any arm-twisting to get him to move to Apple as Xerox was dragging their feet commercializing PARC's innovations.
      - AlbertCory 3y ago
        https://www.albertcory.io/lets-do-have-hindsight https://www.albertcory.io/lets-do-have-hindsight "It's a good story. Unfortunately, it's also wrong in almost every way a story can be wrong." Full details at https://web.stanford.edu/dept/SUL/sites/mac/parc.html https://web.stanford.edu/dept/SUL/sites/mac/parc.html and there are many other references on the Web about that visit.
        fatneckbeard 3y ago
        yeah well my original point still stands. "PARC was not at all secretive about its work. Its researchers published widely, and there was a regular flow of traffic between PARC and Stanford's computer science community. " as opposed to a military intelligence company where all that would get you fired if not in prison.
        AlbertCory 3y ago
        I don't know what you're quoting. I was there, though.
        eternalban 3y ago
        I can't recall the female scientist's name, but I am certain have read an 'oral history' where this specific person, present when Apple people show up, angrily calls up Xerox HQ in east coast to protest and was told, over the phone, to "show them everything".
  - retrocryptid 3y ago
    By the time apple was founded, many (most) of the people doing research that would be of interest to Jobs had already moved over to PARC. Larry Tesler springs immediately to mind, but Thierry Bardini's book on Engelbart has a more complete list. After the ARC fell apart in 1970, PARC was launching and was a natural place for them to land.
lovecg 3y ago
Most people have heard of Siri though that was named after SRI!
- packetslave 3y ago
  No it wasn't. https://www.gottabemobile.com/why-siri-is-called-siri/ https://www.gottabemobile.com/why-siri-is-called-siri/
  - lovecg 3y ago
    Huh not sure where I read this long time ago, but yeah it appears to only have a vague connection to SRI at best. Here’s the president of SRI saying it was a pure coincidence: https://hbr.org/2015/09/the-president-of-sri-ventures-on-bringing-siri-to-life https://hbr.org/2015/09/the-president-of-sri-ventures-on-bri... Here’s the cofounder saying that at least some of the appeal of the name was that some people liked the resemblance to SRI: https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2012/12/21/how-did-siri-get-its-name/amp/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2012/12/21/how-did-siri-g...
technothrasher 3y ago
When I hear SRI, I always think of the parapsychology research they did for 20 or so years from ~1970-1990 and their huge clash with the newly founded skeptical organization CSICOP (now CSI) in the late 70's.
- bhk 3y ago
  Yeah, I wonder how much money they milked out of the DoD on remote viewing and stuff like that.
  - rbanffy 3y ago
    Ultimate respect to anyone who manages to be paid by the DoD to get high on LSD.
  - VagueMag 3y ago
    My favorite explanation for the remote viewing stuff is that it was cover for advanced spy satellite imagery and transmission. Explaining away new capabilities you want to keep unknown to the world as "magic." https://twitter.com/mmabeuf/status/1371213766734573569?t=lrW1aSV7hhZ8OHLA-7tSWg&s=19 https://twitter.com/mmabeuf/status/1371213766734573569?t=lrW... The other theory I've encountered is that it was cover for ongoing mind control research after MKULTRA had to be wound down.
    - bhk 3y ago
      Interesting...
canadianfella 3y ago
[dead]
DoingIsLearning 3y ago
Much of the Research leading up to the DaVinci Surgical Robot as is known today was in fact under SRI's umbrella, originally with the purpose of having battle field hospitals with remote surgery teleoperation. Another great example of the overlap between Silicon Valley and military/intelligence. It's disconcerting how great tech for the masses is often spun out of a warfare motivation.

rchiang 3y ago

I think it's important to note that much (all?) of PARCs research has been oriented around the "office of the future". In the broadest sense of that vision, they had a huge hand in originating a lot of computing technologies. And while SRI has had their impact in the computing industry, they also have other research labs that have very little to do with computing such as biomedical, education, and policy.

fatneckbeard 3y ago
sri was never gonna allow a bunch of hippies and bearded longhairs tour their facility in the spirit of academic comradeship. (IE no microsoft, no apple being allowed to walk around and talk to people in the 80s to get the ideas for Macintosh and Windows) Ironically, Apple and Microsoft would never allow some stranger company to walk into their offices and see everything they were developing either. lol
- AlbertCory 3y ago
  Xerox had two meetings with Apple, in December 1979. Neither they nor Microsoft was ever able to "walk into their offices and see everything they were developing ."
  - smilespray 3y ago
    Come on. Xerox gave away the crown jewels in those meetings.
    - retrocryptid 3y ago
      Xerox was paid for the crown jewels and according to Larry Tesler, it didn't take any arm-twisting to get him to move to Apple as Xerox was dragging their feet commercializing PARC's innovations.
    - AlbertCory 3y ago
      https://www.albertcory.io/lets-do-have-hindsight https://www.albertcory.io/lets-do-have-hindsight "It's a good story. Unfortunately, it's also wrong in almost every way a story can be wrong." Full details at https://web.stanford.edu/dept/SUL/sites/mac/parc.html https://web.stanford.edu/dept/SUL/sites/mac/parc.html and there are many other references on the Web about that visit.
      - fatneckbeard 3y ago
        yeah well my original point still stands. "PARC was not at all secretive about its work. Its researchers published widely, and there was a regular flow of traffic between PARC and Stanford's computer science community. " as opposed to a military intelligence company where all that would get you fired if not in prison.
        AlbertCory 3y ago
        I don't know what you're quoting. I was there, though.
        eternalban 3y ago
        I can't recall the female scientist's name, but I am certain have read an 'oral history' where this specific person, present when Apple people show up, angrily calls up Xerox HQ in east coast to protest and was told, over the phone, to "show them everything".
- retrocryptid 3y ago
  By the time apple was founded, many (most) of the people doing research that would be of interest to Jobs had already moved over to PARC. Larry Tesler springs immediately to mind, but Thierry Bardini's book on Engelbart has a more complete list. After the ARC fell apart in 1970, PARC was launching and was a natural place for them to land.

lovecg 3y ago

Most people have heard of Siri though that was named after SRI!

packetslave 3y ago
No it wasn't. https://www.gottabemobile.com/why-siri-is-called-siri/ https://www.gottabemobile.com/why-siri-is-called-siri/
- lovecg 3y ago
  Huh not sure where I read this long time ago, but yeah it appears to only have a vague connection to SRI at best. Here’s the president of SRI saying it was a pure coincidence: https://hbr.org/2015/09/the-president-of-sri-ventures-on-bringing-siri-to-life https://hbr.org/2015/09/the-president-of-sri-ventures-on-bri... Here’s the cofounder saying that at least some of the appeal of the name was that some people liked the resemblance to SRI: https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2012/12/21/how-did-siri-get-its-name/amp/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2012/12/21/how-did-siri-g...

technothrasher 3y ago

When I hear SRI, I always think of the parapsychology research they did for 20 or so years from ~1970-1990 and their huge clash with the newly founded skeptical organization CSICOP (now CSI) in the late 70's.

bhk 3y ago
Yeah, I wonder how much money they milked out of the DoD on remote viewing and stuff like that.
- rbanffy 3y ago
  Ultimate respect to anyone who manages to be paid by the DoD to get high on LSD.
- VagueMag 3y ago
  My favorite explanation for the remote viewing stuff is that it was cover for advanced spy satellite imagery and transmission. Explaining away new capabilities you want to keep unknown to the world as "magic." https://twitter.com/mmabeuf/status/1371213766734573569?t=lrW1aSV7hhZ8OHLA-7tSWg&s=19 https://twitter.com/mmabeuf/status/1371213766734573569?t=lrW... The other theory I've encountered is that it was cover for ongoing mind control research after MKULTRA had to be wound down.
  - bhk 3y ago
    Interesting...

canadianfella 3y ago

[dead]

DoingIsLearning 3y ago

Much of the Research leading up to the DaVinci Surgical Robot as is known today was in fact under SRI's umbrella, originally with the purpose of having battle field hospitals with remote surgery teleoperation. Another great example of the overlap between Silicon Valley and military/intelligence. It's disconcerting how great tech for the masses is often spun out of a warfare motivation.