abstract:
The talk is mostly from the point of view of Stanford and startups coming out of there (the lecturer is a Stanford professor), and he goes over a lot of stuff that sounds peripheral at first (but is actually relevant as background) before actually talking about Silly Valley itself, so it drags a bit; still, you might find it worth the time (a little short of an hour ) to watch it. Oddly enough, he doesn't mention ULTRA, though this isn't so surprising when you consider it (few of the British researchers from Bletchley Park ever worked in S.V., I gather, and those who did were still under secrecy about their wartime work; in any case he discusses more about radar and ELINT interception without really mentioning cryptanalysis).
There is a Google Tech Talks series lecture on "The Secret History of Silicon Valley" which might be of interest to some of the history geeks here. It covers the early stages of SV's development, and especially the importance of military and intelligence projects during WWII and the Cold War. It's one of those things everyone in the industry is kinda-sorta aware of, but few have much real information on. The talk is mostly from the point of view of Stanford and startups coming out of there (the lecturer is a Stanford professor), and he goes over a lot of stuff that sounds peripheral at first (but is actually relevant as background) before actually talking about Silly Valley itself, so it drags a bit; still, you might find it worth the time (a little short of an hour ) to watch it. Oddly enough, he doesn't mention ULTRA, though this isn't so surprising when you consider it (few of the British researchers from Bletchley Park ever worked in S.V., I gather, and those who did were still under secrecy about their wartime work; in any case he discusses more about radar and ELINT interception without really mentioning cryptanalysis). |
