4 ms·

> American corporations are what created "Silicon Valley" in the first place. According to https://steveblank.com/2009/04/27/the-secret-history-of-silicon-vall

> American corporations are what created "Silicon Valley" in the first place. According to https://steveblank.com/2009/04/27/the-secret-history-of-silicon-valley-part-vi-the-secret-life-of-fred-terman-and-stanford/ https://steveblank.com/2009/04/27/the-secret-history-of-sili... and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTC_RxWN_xo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTC_RxWN_xo the creation of Silicon Valley had more to do with academic expertise in radio research and Department of Defense funding circa World War II. Corporations were the "second wave".

leptons 1y ago
>"The popularization of the name is often credited to Don Hoefler, the first journalist to use the term in a news story.[1] His article "Silicon Valley U.S.A." was published in the January 11, 1971" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Valley https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Valley "Silicon Valley" describes the period between the late 1960s and mid/late 1990s (and still to this day to some extent). It has nothing to do with what went on there around World War II. Yes, semiconductor corporations created "Silicon Valley". Before that time it may have been a sort of "Vacuum Tube Valley", but that does not have the same ring to it. And around WW2 there was tech going on everywhere, not just around Mountain View.
- timschmidt 1y ago
  Tell me you didn't read or watch the linked references without saying so.
  - leptons 1y ago
    I skimmed it pretty quickly, but it doesn't change the fact that nobody called it "Silicon Valley" until 1971. The article you sent me was about WW2, and military, so far as I could tell. Reading it wouldn't change anything about my statements.
    - timschmidt 1y ago
      It literally tracks the histories of the individuals who founded all the corporations people think of as belonging to "Silicon Valley". Things tend to exist for a while before they get a widely recognizable name, friend.
      - FreakLegion 1y ago
        Silicon Valley as people think of it today (tech, talent, and capital) is generally considered to have come together in the early 1970s. That doesn't mean the ingredients weren't there before -- tech had been around for decades already, and the laws allowing free movement of talent go back to the late 1800s -- but by most accounts the early 1970s are when it all clicked. Note that there's no fact of the matter to be right or wrong about here, though. If I had to pick a point in time as the beginning, I'd probably put it at the founding of either Kleiner Perkins or Intel (a couple years after or before the Silicon Valley moniker was coined, respectively). Before then funding mostly came from other companies. With Intel you have successful founders funding their own new company, and with Kleiner Perkins you have successful founders funding other founders. To me it isn't Silicon Valley until this dynamic emerges.
        timschmidt 1y ago
        Thanks for letting me know you didn't read the article, and adding nothing to what is already said within it. If you go back and read it now, you may learn some things about how history differs from what is "generally considered" as you put it. Have fun!
        FreakLegion 1y ago
        I've seen Steve's talk. Like all historical accounts it's just a story. It pulls some details into the foreground and pushes the rest back. Other stories arrange the details differently, for example marking Silicon Valley's beginning quite a bit earlier, with the founding of HP, a decade before the Department of Defense existed. Steve's version isn't some transcendental truth, and people aren't wrong to disagree with it or with you.
delfinom 1y ago
This. There are a few areas in the US that have a long history of being incubators of engineering firms beyond Silicon Valley, all because of WW2 which had tons of money being spent to produce certain types of equipment in each area. And of course, this is before the mega defense contractors that exist now. The military absolutely fucking hates those megacorps and does still try and actively fund new small business entrants to military contracting. The problem is mega corps buy them up as the US is owned by them.
thephyber 1y ago
“Silicon Valley” is more than just some of the post-war defense research and high tech weapons contracts. It includes the financing/fundraising, the talent pool, nearby university research, and the advantages of “fail fast” startup culture (including California’s jurisprudence). It didn’t become recognizable in its current form until after NASA’s Moon Shot project threw tons of funding at research and manufacturing of computer miniaturization.

leptons 1y ago

>"The popularization of the name is often credited to Don Hoefler, the first journalist to use the term in a news story.[1] His article "Silicon Valley U.S.A." was published in the January 11, 1971" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Valley https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Valley "Silicon Valley" describes the period between the late 1960s and mid/late 1990s (and still to this day to some extent). It has nothing to do with what went on there around World War II. Yes, semiconductor corporations created "Silicon Valley". Before that time it may have been a sort of "Vacuum Tube Valley", but that does not have the same ring to it. And around WW2 there was tech going on everywhere, not just around Mountain View.

timschmidt 1y ago
Tell me you didn't read or watch the linked references without saying so.
- leptons 1y ago
  I skimmed it pretty quickly, but it doesn't change the fact that nobody called it "Silicon Valley" until 1971. The article you sent me was about WW2, and military, so far as I could tell. Reading it wouldn't change anything about my statements.
  - timschmidt 1y ago
    It literally tracks the histories of the individuals who founded all the corporations people think of as belonging to "Silicon Valley". Things tend to exist for a while before they get a widely recognizable name, friend.
    - FreakLegion 1y ago
      Silicon Valley as people think of it today (tech, talent, and capital) is generally considered to have come together in the early 1970s. That doesn't mean the ingredients weren't there before -- tech had been around for decades already, and the laws allowing free movement of talent go back to the late 1800s -- but by most accounts the early 1970s are when it all clicked. Note that there's no fact of the matter to be right or wrong about here, though. If I had to pick a point in time as the beginning, I'd probably put it at the founding of either Kleiner Perkins or Intel (a couple years after or before the Silicon Valley moniker was coined, respectively). Before then funding mostly came from other companies. With Intel you have successful founders funding their own new company, and with Kleiner Perkins you have successful founders funding other founders. To me it isn't Silicon Valley until this dynamic emerges.
      - timschmidt 1y ago
        Thanks for letting me know you didn't read the article, and adding nothing to what is already said within it. If you go back and read it now, you may learn some things about how history differs from what is "generally considered" as you put it. Have fun!
        FreakLegion 1y ago
        I've seen Steve's talk. Like all historical accounts it's just a story. It pulls some details into the foreground and pushes the rest back. Other stories arrange the details differently, for example marking Silicon Valley's beginning quite a bit earlier, with the founding of HP, a decade before the Department of Defense existed. Steve's version isn't some transcendental truth, and people aren't wrong to disagree with it or with you.

delfinom 1y ago

This. There are a few areas in the US that have a long history of being incubators of engineering firms beyond Silicon Valley, all because of WW2 which had tons of money being spent to produce certain types of equipment in each area. And of course, this is before the mega defense contractors that exist now. The military absolutely fucking hates those megacorps and does still try and actively fund new small business entrants to military contracting. The problem is mega corps buy them up as the US is owned by them.

thephyber 1y ago

“Silicon Valley” is more than just some of the post-war defense research and high tech weapons contracts. It includes the financing/fundraising, the talent pool, nearby university research, and the advantages of “fail fast” startup culture (including California’s jurisprudence). It didn’t become recognizable in its current form until after NASA’s Moon Shot project threw tons of funding at research and manufacturing of computer miniaturization.