Those exploratory "side quests" in industry are how we got the transistor, the liquid crystal display, Shannon's information theory, the laser and practical photovoltaic cells, among many other foundational technologies upon which we rely today.

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publlus_enigma 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

Blue LEDs too, which have transformed lighting and displays.

	▲	Der_Einzige 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		Blue LEDs have been a massive net negative for humanity. Blue light hazard is very real (why blue lasers kill eyesight instantly and green and red often don’t in accidental exposure). All display technology past CRTs has been a mistake. The vectrex in the 1980s had better refresh rates, color fidelity, beautiful phosphor glow, etc - and we abandoned it for a horrible pixel based future we are now in. We should return to vectors and lasers.

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catlifeonmars 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Laser printers were a side project that almost got the inventor fired.

	▲	bitwize 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		And then they made back 200x the operating expenses of the lab (Xerox PARC) they came from over its entire lifetime.

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WalterBright 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Jet engines, too.