Comments on: Do we owe it all to the hippies?

CNET News.com's Charles Cooper says there's a case to be made for the argument that the '60s counterculture shaped the PC revolution.

Hippies responsible for home computing? Gimme a break

the only thing the hippies are good at is congratulating themselves for every positive development in the world since 1960. A 1954 issue of Popular Mechanics contains a picture of a "scientist" from the Rand Corporation standing in front of the concept of what a "home computer" (and yes, those are the exact words in the caption) would look like in 2004. (I would attach the picture if I could) The picture is pretty hilarious but it alone proves that "scientists" were figuring out how to put computers in homes while the future hippies were still taking pablum. To imply that the hippie ethic is responsible for the invention of the PC is completely absurd.

You're Kidding Right?

I mean, are you joking or did you fall for that hoax picture of the RAND "Home Computer" of the future?

[ChazzMatt]

That picture is a well known hoax

That personal computer picture is a well-known hoax. That was a Pentagon submarine mockup (thus the steering wheel). Do a Google search for: Popular Mechanics PC hoax

Hippies responsible for home computing? Gimme a break

the only thing the hippies are good at is congratulating themselves for every positive development in the world since 1960. A 1954 issue of Popular Mechanics contains a picture of a "scientist" from the Rand Corporation standing in front of the concept of what a "home computer" (and yes, those are the exact words in the caption) would look like in 2004. (I would attach the picture if I could) The picture is pretty hilarious but it alone proves that "scientists" were figuring out how to put computers in homes while the future hippies were still taking pablum. To imply that the hippie ethic is responsible for the invention of the PC is completely absurd.

You're Kidding Right?

I mean, are you joking or did you fall for that hoax picture of the RAND "Home Computer" of the future?

[ChazzMatt]

That picture is a well known hoax

That personal computer picture is a well-known hoax. That was a Pentagon submarine mockup (thus the steering wheel). Do a Google search for: Popular Mechanics PC hoax

[alx359]

don't know about computers but...

"make love not war" is a hippie invention they deserve full credit for. ;-)

[alx359]

don't know about computers but...

"make love not war" is a hippie invention they deserve full credit for. ;-)

Markoff's Story is About Right

That's about right. The only part that is off is that the hippie counterculture quickly became the dominant youth culture, so this was not an east-coast vs west-coast event. Flower power went national then global spread by the media news outlets as the dominant reaction of the youth of the period against the war, the excesses of consumerism, and that patriarchal white-man's burden style of government that has of late, come back into fashion. In the early 90s, when the web took off, it took off all over the world as those who had dreams of free and unfettered innovation and expression recognized instantly that this was the technology they had heard about becoming possible in the days of their youth.

The revisionism of history in the period is coming from the far right, and I suspect as in the case of the mayor in Washington state who has been outed after years of being anti-gay, many of the staunch revisionists had bongs and a stash before their heads began to bald. During the decade of greed, the Reagan era, these are the people who shod their leisure suits that replaced their tie-dyes and put on Izods. Now they want to claim the Internet, but all that is happening is that innovation is moving to other parts of the world along with their jobs.

The right keeps trying to catch mercury with their bare hands. It won't work and their brief contacts with the essence of creative thought is toxic to their agenda of traditionalism and backward glances toward the setting sun of their days of power.

Markoff's Story is About Right

That's about right. The only part that is off is that the hippie counterculture quickly became the dominant youth culture, so this was not an east-coast vs west-coast event. Flower power went national then global spread by the media news outlets as the dominant reaction of the youth of the period against the war, the excesses of consumerism, and that patriarchal white-man's burden style of government that has of late, come back into fashion. In the early 90s, when the web took off, it took off all over the world as those who had dreams of free and unfettered innovation and expression recognized instantly that this was the technology they had heard about becoming possible in the days of their youth.

The revisionism of history in the period is coming from the far right, and I suspect as in the case of the mayor in Washington state who has been outed after years of being anti-gay, many of the staunch revisionists had bongs and a stash before their heads began to bald. During the decade of greed, the Reagan era, these are the people who shod their leisure suits that replaced their tie-dyes and put on Izods. Now they want to claim the Internet, but all that is happening is that innovation is moving to other parts of the world along with their jobs.

The right keeps trying to catch mercury with their bare hands. It won't work and their brief contacts with the essence of creative thought is toxic to their agenda of traditionalism and backward glances toward the setting sun of their days of power.

Hippies, yup, sure .... WHAT?

There is no doubt that the counter-revolution played a large role in the values we hold dear, and to the ones that built the internet.

But these values were springing up everywhere, not just on college campuses, where long hairs were collecting.

Remember, in the end, the SQUARES built the internet, not hippies. And unlike the hippies they weren't in it for the BABES.

Most of us geek SQUARES just learned a few tricks from the hippies. But we weren't hippies and we were comfortable in a military uniform.

And when we wrote software it wasn't for "petyourdogonline.com".

[pgh]

Do the "straight people" ever refrain from re-writing history?

In 1971, I first began writing code as a high-school student. In the mid-1970s, I was a post-hippie-era electronics tech with a love of hi-fi who go sucked back into computers after reading about the mavericks who were "mis-applying" the process control hardware coming out of Intel, designing the first PCs. And while it's true that the "establishment" built the basic building blocks of PCs and the internet (microprocessors and the ARPANET), it was the wild-eyed free-thinkers who designed and built the first working, practical PCs. And it was they who dreamed of using them from everything from art to architecture. From our point of view, computing was about a hell of a lot more than keeping accounts straight. It was about doing the really cool things for ourselves. The PC revolution was already in full bloom by the time IBM got into the game in late 1981. At that time you could buy an Apple II with a music synthesizer, a graphics tablet, CAD software, etc.

The late 1970s were an incredible time. A hippie sub-genre (technophilic dreamers) saw opportunity to build the stuff that the computing powers of the time considered pure science fiction. Look where the old guard are now. Most are gone. Even IBM has embraced a purely hippie idea (open source) as a central component of it's business model.

[oldmaven]

In it for the BABES?

With a few exceptions (like the young lady who scandalized a Midwestern computer fair with a t-shirt that read "I have dual floppies," computers were a guy thing. To most of the computer geeks' girlfriends, computers weren't an attraction: they were competition. Had I paid less attention to the babes back then, I'd probably be an under-employed programmer by now, instead of an under-employed writer.

Hippies, yup, sure .... WHAT?

There is no doubt that the counter-revolution played a large role in the values we hold dear, and to the ones that built the internet.

But these values were springing up everywhere, not just on college campuses, where long hairs were collecting.

Remember, in the end, the SQUARES built the internet, not hippies. And unlike the hippies they weren't in it for the BABES.

Most of us geek SQUARES just learned a few tricks from the hippies. But we weren't hippies and we were comfortable in a military uniform.

And when we wrote software it wasn't for "petyourdogonline.com".

[pgh]

Do the "straight people" ever refrain from re-writing history?

In 1971, I first began writing code as a high-school student. In the mid-1970s, I was a post-hippie-era electronics tech with a love of hi-fi who go sucked back into computers after reading about the mavericks who were "mis-applying" the process control hardware coming out of Intel, designing the first PCs. And while it's true that the "establishment" built the basic building blocks of PCs and the internet (microprocessors and the ARPANET), it was the wild-eyed free-thinkers who designed and built the first working, practical PCs. And it was they who dreamed of using them from everything from art to architecture. From our point of view, computing was about a hell of a lot more than keeping accounts straight. It was about doing the really cool things for ourselves. The PC revolution was already in full bloom by the time IBM got into the game in late 1981. At that time you could buy an Apple II with a music synthesizer, a graphics tablet, CAD software, etc.

The late 1970s were an incredible time. A hippie sub-genre (technophilic dreamers) saw opportunity to build the stuff that the computing powers of the time considered pure science fiction. Look where the old guard are now. Most are gone. Even IBM has embraced a purely hippie idea (open source) as a central component of it's business model.

[oldmaven]

In it for the BABES?

With a few exceptions (like the young lady who scandalized a Midwestern computer fair with a t-shirt that read "I have dual floppies," computers were a guy thing. To most of the computer geeks' girlfriends, computers weren't an attraction: they were competition. Had I paid less attention to the babes back then, I'd probably be an under-employed programmer by now, instead of an under-employed writer.

[shanedr-1964330144520240703050]

Get real!

If anything the sex, drugs, etc. of the sixties, seventies, etc. could only have slowed down the advent of personal computing. That era and the hippies were renowned for its anti-establishment outlook. A good salesman can sell the gullible anything, including the ridiculous idea that an anti-establishment outlook could have any positive effect upon something such as personal computing.

[shanedr-1964330144520240703050]

Get real!

If anything the sex, drugs, etc. of the sixties, seventies, etc. could only have slowed down the advent of personal computing. That era and the hippies were renowned for its anti-establishment outlook. A good salesman can sell the gullible anything, including the ridiculous idea that an anti-establishment outlook could have any positive effect upon something such as personal computing.

[CharlesJo.com]

Critial mass

Brilliant minds exist everywhere. However, culture, critical mass, and quick access to other brilliant minds is something different. As many actors migrate to Hollywood to seek fame, tech entrepreneurs still migrate to Silicon Valley so interesting tech companies like Google and eBay get started here. It's possible that the west coast had the critical mass in the 60s that gave way to thinking up something out of the ordinary as a PC on every desk.

CharlesJo.com
Silicon Valley & Beyond

[CharlesJo.com]

Critial mass

Brilliant minds exist everywhere. However, culture, critical mass, and quick access to other brilliant minds is something different. As many actors migrate to Hollywood to seek fame, tech entrepreneurs still migrate to Silicon Valley so interesting tech companies like Google and eBay get started here. It's possible that the west coast had the critical mass in the 60s that gave way to thinking up something out of the ordinary as a PC on every desk.

CharlesJo.com
Silicon Valley & Beyond

Linux is Next

Linux is the logical next software chapters of this story, while www.mp3tunes.com and others like it are the next audio chapters.

Linux is Next

Linux is the logical next software chapters of this story, while www.mp3tunes.com and others like it are the next audio chapters.

[timpatco]

Woz was

Woz was (is still)

[timpatco]

Woz was

Woz was (is still)

Do we owe it all to the hippies.......NO

The question was - Do we owe it all to the hippies? THe answer is NO.

If "it" was to create popular access to computers, I'd say that that access is a byproduct of all the steps taking in computer development - including those that predate the hippie.

And guess what - the whole Left coast/Right coast argument is pointless - there have been innovators OUTSIDE the US - Charles Babbage, F.C. “Freddie” Williams, Clive Sinclair & Tim Berners-Lee all did their bit too, ya know.

Mea Culpa

It was late, I was lazy, copy&paste seemed to do a good job, my bad - that should read

F.C. “Freddie” Williams

Once I remove the extraneous stuff.

Well - yes & no

http://www.microsoft.com/billgates/bio.asp - see the group picture a few paragraphs down. I know this picture can be found elsewhere, bigger - but I thought I'd link to this particular website - seems like a form of self-admission, by the subject.

Which of these people do we blame/credit - the hippie-looking half or do we blame/credit the computer geek half ?

Do we owe it all to the hippies.......NO

The question was - Do we owe it all to the hippies? THe answer is NO.

If "it" was to create popular access to computers, I'd say that that access is a byproduct of all the steps taking in computer development - including those that predate the hippie.

And guess what - the whole Left coast/Right coast argument is pointless - there have been innovators OUTSIDE the US - Charles Babbage, F.C. “Freddie” Williams, Clive Sinclair & Tim Berners-Lee all did their bit too, ya know.

Mea Culpa

It was late, I was lazy, copy&paste seemed to do a good job, my bad - that should read

F.C. “Freddie” Williams

Once I remove the extraneous stuff.

Well - yes & no

http://www.microsoft.com/billgates/bio.asp - see the group picture a few paragraphs down. I know this picture can be found elsewhere, bigger - but I thought I'd link to this particular website - seems like a form of self-admission, by the subject.

Which of these people do we blame/credit - the hippie-looking half or do we blame/credit the computer geek half ?

[Macsaresafer]

What we do owe the hippies

It's certain that the hippies of the sixties have had a profound
influence on our society, including computers. Their influence
hasen't been to help things though.

This is the "me first" generation of baby boomers we're talking
about after all. They're selfish to the point of running massive
deficits to improve their lifestyles at the expense of their
children. Every big fad of the last 35 years has been to cater to
their whims. In the eighties, it was their generation in charge as
it was decided to "standardize" on the Wintel PC platform,
setting the stage for easy development and transmission of
"computer" viruses by creating a homogenous system where one
weakness can be exploited everywhere.

Today, as this generation prepares for retirement it is
abandoning our educational system, virtually guaranteeing a
bleak outlook for more than just technology in this country.

It would be easier to argue that the Boomers have slowed the
growth of technology more than they've helped it. Unfortunately,
since they've got the political power, they'll write the history
books to flatter themselves.

[Macsaresafer]

What we do owe the hippies

It's certain that the hippies of the sixties have had a profound
influence on our society, including computers. Their influence
hasen't been to help things though.

This is the "me first" generation of baby boomers we're talking
about after all. They're selfish to the point of running massive
deficits to improve their lifestyles at the expense of their
children. Every big fad of the last 35 years has been to cater to
their whims. In the eighties, it was their generation in charge as
it was decided to "standardize" on the Wintel PC platform,
setting the stage for easy development and transmission of
"computer" viruses by creating a homogenous system where one
weakness can be exploited everywhere.

Today, as this generation prepares for retirement it is
abandoning our educational system, virtually guaranteeing a
bleak outlook for more than just technology in this country.

It would be easier to argue that the Boomers have slowed the
growth of technology more than they've helped it. Unfortunately,
since they've got the political power, they'll write the history
books to flatter themselves.