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Dave Farber has died
- compsciphd 8mo agolast email from IP was on Feb 1. Though I really haven't looked at it in years. it used to be much more discussion oriented.
- rvz 8mo agoRIP. A true computer science legend and Bell Labs alumni.
- tosh 8mo agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_J._Farber https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_J._Farber
- throw0101c 8mo ago> After moving to the University of Delaware, Farber helped conceive and organize the National Science Foundation’s Computer Science Network (CSNet), which made then-experimental networking technology available to academic computer scientists and was instrumental in spreading the technology globally, to both industry and academia. Farber also helped plan and develop NSFNET and National Research & Education Network (NREN), efforts that led to the development of the current commercial Internet. Along with Bob Kahn, he conceived the pioneering Gigabit Testbed activity of the NSF. * https://www.internethalloffame.org/inductee/dave-farber/ https://www.internethalloffame.org/inductee/dave-farber/
- cf100clunk 8mo ago''In 2018, at the age of 83, Dave moved to Japan to become Distinguished Professor at Keio University and Co-Director of the Keio Cyber Civilization Research Center (CCRC). He loved teaching, and taught his final class on January 22, 2026. At CCRC, one of his most enjoyable activities was co-hosting the IP-Asia online gathering, which has met every Monday for more than five years and has addressed many aspects of the impact of technology on civilization.'' https://lists.nanog.org/archives/list/nanog@lists.nanog.org/thread/TSNPJVFH4DKLINIKSMRIIVNHDG5XKJCM/ https://lists.nanog.org/archives/list/nanog@lists.nanog.org/...
- throw_m239339 8mo agoRIP.
- kristopolous 8mo agoI was trying to get a hold of him for years. People who knew him kept saying they'd get me in touch, never did. His name pops up a lot during the 60s and 70s as an author on numerous articles about networks, often regarding many competing, now defunct alternative networks to the Internet. Examples of scans I personally made: https://siliconfolklore.com/internet-history/farber-datamation-0472-01.png https://siliconfolklore.com/internet-history/farber-datamati... and https://siliconfolklore.com/internet-history/farber-datamation-0472-02.png https://siliconfolklore.com/internet-history/farber-datamati... He's one of those people where you go through archival industry journals and are like "oh look there he is again" For instance, SNOBOL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNOBOL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNOBOL
- quadhome 8mo agoIP-Asia met every week via Zoom. Several other people whose names appear in the same literature frequented it too. Pop in tonight for the final session?
- kristopolous 8mo agoI had no idea. I can't find out where this is. Can you send me a link
- rinze 8mo agoHis mailing list was public. No harm in sending the link to the meeting for last week, I guess. You can find the Zoom meeting coordinates there; they were reused every time. https://ip.topicbox.com/groups/ip/T2c0d41d801eaa76c-Mbdfe98390a83ac7effcdd521/ccrc-ip-asia-feb-2-takeaways-from-consumer-electronics-show-2026 https://ip.topicbox.com/groups/ip/T2c0d41d801eaa76c-Mbdfe983...
- kristopolous 8mo agoThanks. Really wish I had known about this. I wanted his commentary on an article I mentioned him in from 2022 I would have paid serious money to have gotten that This is the article btw https://siliconfolklore.com/internet-history https://siliconfolklore.com/internet-history Here's the one other large project I've got at that domain https://siliconfolklore.com/scale/ https://siliconfolklore.com/scale/ It for a history talk in 2024. I worked months on that
- nunobrito 8mo agoMet him without knowing who this person was when proposing a decentralized anti-virus platform, he cared and helped a lot. Besides teaching, Dave never stopped learning. Quite a good role model for everyone here.
- andyjohnson0 8mo agoAnother legend of our field has left the stage. RIP. I never knew him, but I've been lurking on his IP list since the nineties. It was always informative, even as the web made tech news pervasive. Black bar, I reckon.
- ricktdotorg 8mo agoDave's Interesting People email list was a TRUE highlight of the early Internet.
- ambarp2 8mo agoIt was amazing
- Insanity 8mo agoRIP. Original email mentions “too young age of 91”, but IMO that’s a beautiful age to reach, especially for a life seemingly well lived!
- deejaaymac 8mo agoRIP Dave
- gpvos 8mo agoI think a black bar is in order.
- sejje 8mo agoAmen.
- NooneAtAll3 8mo agois there a list somewhere of people that did cause a black bar?
- cyanbane 8mo agoGood to see a lot of these archived: https://seclists.org/interesting-people/ https://seclists.org/interesting-people/ What a life lived.
- jordanscales 8mo agoWas fortunate enough to attend a few guest lectures from him at Stevens when I got my minor degree in science and technology studies. He was so sharp that I was blown away that he was (at the time) 80 years old. I wonder what his life in Tokyo was like! Did he ever write about it?
- andyjohnson0 8mo agoI recall a few posts when he moved out there. Based on a quick look at my archived IP emails: https://seclists.org/interesting-people/2018/Jun/35 https://seclists.org/interesting-people/2018/Jun/35 https://seclists.org/interesting-people/2018/Jul/2 https://seclists.org/interesting-people/2018/Jul/2 https://seclists.org/interesting-people/2018/Jul/84 https://seclists.org/interesting-people/2018/Jul/84
- reader9274 8mo ago"at the too-young age of 91" Ok I chuckled
- unsupp0rted 8mo agoSomeday soon this won't be humor. I pray for that day.
- ryan_n 8mo ago“Someday soon” Based on what exactly makes you think this?
- wizzwizz4 8mo agoHumans have been around for thousands of years. Look at what we've accomplished in the last hundred. We have artificial heart pumps now. In the next two hundred years, if cancer research doesn't slow down too much and if we find some quick fixes for neurodegeneration, I think it's entirely plausible that 90 will become the new 60. I doubt I'll be around for it, and we might never hit the "life extension outpaces people reaching their life expectancy" medical immortality Holy Grail; but in the abstract, there is hope. Judging by https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46923612 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46923612 and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46901862 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46901862, I expect unsupp0rted's logic is closer to "we'll build superintelligent AI servants some time next week, and that will usher in a new golden age"; but that doesn't make the claim invalid.
- unsupp0rted 8mo agoSometime in the next 5 minutes, in evolutionary timescale terms. We built the first calculating machines yesterday, and a few hours later they took us to the moon. Now we’ve got vastly more powerful ones in our pockets and they have the sum total of all human knowledge and infinite patience for our questions. Give it a few more minutes. We’ll know soon enough if the sand we’re imbuing with life is our salvation or our doom or something else entirely.
- anjel 8mo agoFarberisms https://www2.cs.arizona.edu/icon/oddsends/farber.htm https://www2.cs.arizona.edu/icon/oddsends/farber.htm
- zamadatix 8mo agoThanks for this, it gave me many good chuckles. I feel like I see these kinds of lists less often lately. Does anyone know of some more recent good ones?
- anjel 8mo agohistory's only full time, professional published epigrammatist, Ashleigh Brilliant https://www.ashleighbrilliant.com/ https://www.ashleighbrilliant.com/
- fsckboy 8mo agothese are basically like the things Yogi Berra was famous for saying, like "Nobody goes there any more, it's always too crowded." and apropos this moment: You should always go to other people's funerals, otherwise, they won't come to yours. -- Yogi Berra
- virtualwhys 8mo agoNot sure why but I especially enjoyed, "I've got to get my ass together", it's almost like a koan.
- vikkymelani 8mo ago[flagged]
- 31337Logic 8mo agoRIP :-(
- Animats 8mo agoAnother one of the greats gone.
- paulj5 8mo agoYoutube interview Dave Farber https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSxh_8H7TBQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSxh_8H7TBQ
- bitwize 8mo agoStevens graduate. Go Ducks!
- xbar 8mo agoThanks for all the science, Dave. RIP.
- sennawcf1 8mo agoMet this gentleman on a plane and we had an amazing conversation of Health care exchanges and information. I did not know him other than that and posts on LinkedIN. I learned so much in such a short time.
- hn_acker 8mo agoFrom [1]: > Dave was the longest-serving EFF Board member, having joined in the early 1990s, before the creation of the World Wide Web or the widespread adoption of the internet. [1] https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/02/rip-dave-farber-eff-board-member-and-friend https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/02/rip-dave-farber-eff-bo...
- siroccoeclipse 8mo agoHis funeral will be streamed via Zoom, you can register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_OOeny8m3R7uvxA0Q9NLlog https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_OOeny8m3R7uvxA0Q...