Everytime I read articles like that, I envy the engineers that worked in development of such tools. First microprocessors in jet fighters, electromechanical celestial navigation...

And here I am fighting gitlab pipelines.

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culi 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

It's a shame the only way to work on problems like these (and make a decent living) is to make tools of war.

The end game of much of silicon valley seems to be government (read: military) contracts. Probably because its the main branch of government that's thoroughly funded

	▲	takipsizad an hour ago \| parent [-]
		its also a branch of government that always need research so government contracts are plentiful

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kens 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> First microprocessors in jet fighters

Don't get me started on that...

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eh_why_not 2 hours ago | parent [-]

But let's say I got you started. What would you want to say about them?

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kens 2 hours ago | parent [-]

The short answer is that it shows what one can get people to believe through relentless self-promotion. For a longer answer on the first microprocessors: https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-surprising-story-of-the-first-...

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eh_why_not 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Would you consider writing a computer history book?

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kens 40 minutes ago | parent [-]

Maybe at some point. The main problem is that writing a book would require me to focus on one topic, which doesn't seem likely.

	▲	eh_why_not 18 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Easy, just write multiple books simultaneously /s. Cheers.

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SlightlyLeftPad 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I’m with you. The complexity yet simplicity of these mechanical devices is fascinating.

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echelon 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Nothing is stopping us.

One life to experience the universe. Save up for a sabbatical. Find new engineering pastures.

It's always rose colored looking back. Not everybody got to work on this. Some people were storming the beaches...

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therobots927 3 hours ago | parent [-]

And some people, specifically Vietnamese and Cambodian civilians, were on the receiving end of your fun little brain teaser.

And other people, like Henry Kissinger, drew random dots on a map to tell it where to drop the bombs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Menu

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kingleopold 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

another real fact: "Between 1964 and 1973, the United States conducted a covert "Secret War" in Laos, dropping over two million tons of ordnance during 580,000+ bombing missions, "

	▲	therobots927 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I’m about to read King Leopold’s Ghost. Great choice in username. I must say it’s a little disappointing that things like “secret bombing campaigns” getting declassified don’t lead to much public response.

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echelon 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> And some people, specifically Vietnamese and Cambodian civilians, were on the receiving end of your fun little brain teaser.

To make it ABUNDANTLY CLEAR, I was referring to celestial navigation.

I guess we have to blame people who weren't alive at the time for wars we didn't participate in?

My wife is Vietnamese, btw.

	▲	therobots927 16 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		I’m sorry. I’m in a bad mood and that was unecessary. That being said, given the current hyper militarized climate in Silicon Valley, I find this detachment of the science / engineering from its use cases to be more than a little distasteful.

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colechristensen 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Eh, it's easy to get caught by the romanticism of working on things like this, but I assure you besides like 4 people in charge of the big picture, everybody else is dealing with things which are exactly as mundane as things these days. Like putting it through 1000 heat cycles of -40 to 200 degrees and then vibrating it at 2gs for 200 hours and then measuring the tolerances of each part... or being in charge of three lines in a standards document for 2 years negotiating the details with the DoD.

	▲	kens 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I couldn't find the specification for the Angle Computer, but I've found specifications for other devices and you're exactly right: pages and pages of vibration requirements, fungus resistance, testing procedures, and then maybe if I'm lucky one page with useful information like the pinout. This is very annoying if I'm paying by the page. :-)