@samhenrigold

I know, right!?

Also "the first true digital additive synthesizer"!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_Labs_Digital_Synthesizer

#synth

@samhenrigold not to mention the invention of Information Theory and the discovery of cosmic background radiation!

@samhenrigold I think it's fair to say that telephone infrastructure was a more cutting edge field of technology at the time Bell Labs invented the transistor and laser than it is today.

And I believe t-mobile doesn't actually build things like cellular radio chips. So imagine they're also vertically integrated with one of the companies that does that.

@samhenrigold imagine if a bookstore provided hosting for half of the tech industry

@samhenrigold FYI the owners of Bell Labs also own (to the point of being on the board of) General Dynamics, one of the top military contractors in the country - which has five divisions, one of which makes electronics and electronic warfare devices for the military (some of the others make tanks and ships.)

Crazy doesn't begin to cover it. They are the world's largest arms supplier.

@samhenrigold bell labs was a communications research firm that invented time-division multiplexing because the increase in the number of voice calls grew beyond the planet's *entire* copper supply

needs must. hence all the rest makes perfect sense.

@samhenrigold
Don't forget transistors.

@samhenrigold At this point in time I honestly can’t imagine any corporation inventing anything it doesn’t intend use for profit at a detriment to society.

@samhenrigold man walks in fucking moon, brought to you by the company that makes your mom’s bra

@samhenrigold I've been told, though I can't find any written evidence, that Arno Penzias said, "Bell Labs was the way God would have made a research laboratory—if he had the money."

@samhenrigold And is now owned by ex-pulp mill / ex-rubber boots maker Nokia.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia

@samhenrigold Wait until you find out about the photocopier company that invented the modern computer GUI amongst other things (at Xerox Parc)...

@samhenrigold I think more companies should fund open ended research with no short to medium term profit goal off it. Especially when they publicly publish it all. Bell labs was basically like a university research department with near unlimited funding

@samhenrigold It is amazing. I think Bell Labs was owned by AT&T which _is_ now in a very similar role to T-Mobile! (forgive me if I'm wrong - I'm a European and don't live in the US)