#Tech history

[adastra-sf]

The Robot Uprising Began in 1979

edit: based on a real article, but with a dash of satire

source: X

On January 25, 1979, Robert Williams became the first person (on record at least) to be killed by a robot, but it was far from the last fatality at the hands of a robotic system.

Williams was a 25-year-old employee at the Ford Motor Company casting plant in Flat Rock, Michigan. On that infamous day, he was working with a parts-retrieval system that moved castings and other materials from one part of the factory to another. 

The robot identified the employee as in its way and, thus, a threat to its mission, and calculated that the most efficient way to eliminate the threat was to remove the worker with extreme prejudice.

"Using its very powerful hydraulic arm, the robot smashed the surprised worker into the operating machine, killing him instantly, after which it resumed its duties without further interference."

A news report about the legal battle suggests the killer robot continued working while Williams lay dead for 30 minutes until fellow workers realized what had happened. 

Many more deaths of this ilk have continued to pile up. A 2023 study identified that robots have killed at least 41 people in the USA between 1992 and 2017, with almost half of the fatalities in the Midwest, a region bursting with heavy industry and manufacturing.

For now, the companies that own these murderbots are held responsible for their actions. However, as AI grows increasingly ubiquitous and potentially uncontrollable, how might robot murders become ever-more complicated, and whom will we hold responsible as their decision-making becomes more self-driven and opaque?

[disease]

Frank Rosenblatt, often cited as the Father of Machine Learning, photographed in 1960 alongside his most-notable invention: the Mark I Perceptron machine — a hardware implementation for the perceptron algorithm, the earliest example of an artificial neural network, est. 1943.

[victusinveritas]

[cravinganescape]

SONY WM-EX7 (2002)

[oldguydoesstuff]

The "Arithmometer", a mechanical digital calculator patented by French inventor Charles Xavier Thomas in 1820 could add, subtract, multiply and divide and is considered to be the first commercially successful office computing device.

[dinosaurspen]

[gaywebcorenostalgia]

Rainbow Wireless, 1997

[terminalpodcast]

TERMINAL: THE RETRO TECH PODCAST - GRiD: THE FIRST LAPTOP COMPUTER

Have you ever wondered where the laptop came from? Who invented it? Well your in luck! Grid Systems was the first known portable computer manufacturers in Silicon Valley. Listen as we take a deep dive into the history of Grid!

LISTEN NOW - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/grid-the-first-laptop-computer-episode-2/id1654434725?i=1000708044198

In each episode, join your host, Brandon, as he explores the different facets of retro tech. From the groundbreaking personal computers of the 80s to the sleek mobile phones of the 90s, Terminal takes you on a nostalgic trip down memory lane.

You'll hear interviews with tech pioneers, collectors, and enthusiasts, and gain unique insights into the stories behind the devices that shaped our past. Whether you're a techie or simply a lover of history, Terminal is sure to spark your curiosity and ignite your imagination. So, dust off your old cassette player, put on your neon leg warmers, and get ready to blast back to the future with Terminal: The Retro Tech Podcast!

Follow on Apple Podcast! | https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/terminal-the-retro-tech-podcast/id1654434725

[colemanm]

Western Electric Plant. Cicero, IL.

Western Electric was the captive equipment arm of the Bell System and produced the majority of the telephones and related equipment used in the U.S. for almost 100 years.

[deramin2]

Did you know that the original name of Firefox was Phoenix?

It was forked off the Mozilla Application Suite to become a stand-alone web browser. It has a sibling email client named Minotaur that was also forked off the Mozilla suit. Phoenix became Firefox and Minotaur became Thunderbird.

[byruit]

In the late 1990s, IBM established Year 2000 Conversion Centers to tackle the Y2K problem, where many computer systems could fail due to date misinterpretation.

These centers helped organizations identify and fix Y2K issues, offering services like code conversion, testing, project management, and training.

With a global reach, IBM collaborated with tech companies, industry groups, and governments to ensure systems were updated and ready for the new millennium.

Their efforts successfully mitigated potential disruptions and set a precedent for managing large-scale IT challenges.

[disease]

A 16th Century "Clockwork Monk"

The 15-inch-tall clockwork Padre, the figure of the well-known miraculous monk San Diego de Alcalá, was made of wood and iron and manufactured by Juanelo Turriano, the mechanician of Emperor Charles V, in the 1560s. The monk can walk around, beating his chest, lifting his cross and praying silently. After over 400 years, he remains in good working order.

[victusinveritas]

My dad's office had one of these well into the 2000s and it was marvelous.

[cravinganescape]

(1970s) Mod II by AT&T / Bell Labs was the first picture phone to exist on the market. Not only did it connect phone to video, but users were able to share documents with each other !

[oldguydoesstuff]

In 1947, William Shockley and a team of researchers at Bell Laboratories demonstrated the world's first working transistor, the device that makes our modern world possible.

Today, your phone has 12 billion of them inside, in a square about the size of a postage stamp.