Dec 14, 2023
Pre Silicon Valley - Claude Shannon & Bell Labs w/ Jimmy Soni
AZ TRT S04 EP49 (212) 12-10-2023
Revisit the Show w/ Clips From:
PayPal Mafia - The Founders Story & Their Battle w/ EBAY w/ Jimmy Soni
- BRT S03 EP36 (135) 8-7-2022
Full Show: HERE
What We Learned This Week
- PayPal Mafia – alumni created or involved many other co’s – Tesla, SpaceX, Palantir, Yelp, Yammer, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube & more
- PayPal had may contributors & a real long shot to happen during the DOTCOM Crash of 2000
- Claude Shannon – creator of Information Theory, predecessor to the modern computer age, & algorithms
- Bell Labs was a classic Tech Incubator like Fairfield Semiconductor, Xerox Parc, Menlo Park – Edison / GE, Manhattan Project, Tuxedo Park
- PayPal sold to EBAY in 2002 for $1.5 Billion, prior to this, the two companies were rivals as EBAY wanted a different payment system
Full Show: HERE
Guest: Jimmy Soni, Author
https://twitter.com/jimmyasoni
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimmysoni/
My books are passion projects. My topics come because I look for a book to buy on the subject and can’t find one. I know it’s supposed to be fancier than that, or that there must be some grand theory of my work, but there isn’t one. That said, my readers seem to enjoy what I’ve written, so maybe it’s fine?
I am inspired by my literary heroes, including Robert Caro, Laura Hillenbrand, Candice Millard, Daniel James Brown, and Barbara Tuchman, among many others. They are all rigorous researchers—but reading their books doesn’t feel like doing homework. That’s what I’m going for, and hopefully I hit the mark a few times.
For me, books are all-consuming projects, leaving little other time for the things that should populate this section like hobbies, interests, and even the ability to remain in basic touch with people. I enjoy obsessing over a subject for years, and my goal is to find as much information as possible and then make the material readable for a general audience.
When not writing or reading, I spend time with my daughter in Brooklyn, NY. If you’d like to connect, please drop me a line at hello [@] jimmysoni.com.
The Founders: The Story of PayPal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley
A definitive, deeply reported look at the origin of PayPal and its founding team, including Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Reid Hoffman, Max Levchin, and others whose stories have never before been told.
They defined the modern world.
This
experience defined them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PayPal_Mafia
Paypal Mafia
Elon Musk – Tesla, Space X, Boring Co.
Peter Thiel – 1st FB Investor, AirBnB Investor, Founders Fund, Palantir
Reid Hoffman – LinkedIn (sold to Microsoft)
Max Levchin – Affirm, Investor in Yelp
David O. Sacks – Geni.com & Yammer
Chad Hurley – YouTube
Russel Simmons – Yelp
https://www.pressreader.com/india/the-hindu-business-line/20220620/281758452959411
https://twitter.com/jimmyasoni/status/1488992532268732419
A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age
In this elegantly written, exhaustively researched biography, Soni and Goodman reveal Claude Shannon’s full story for the first time. With unique access to Shannon’s family and friends, A Mind at Play brings this singular innovator and always playful genius to life.
https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-claude-shannons-information-theory-invented-the-future-20201222/
QUANTIZED COLUMNS
How Claude Shannon Invented the Future
Today’s information age is only possible thanks to the groundbreaking work of a lone genius.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9hfWiQKhcs&t=2s
A Mind at Play | Jimmy Soni & Rob Goodman | Talks at Google
Life in Code and Digits: When Shannon met ... - ScienceOpen
Shannon is credited with the invention of signal-flow graphs, in 1942. He discovered the topological gain formula while investigating the functional operation of an analog computer. For two months early in 1943, Shannon came into contact with the leading British mathematician Alan Turing.
Ed Thorp, Claude Shannon and the World's First ... - Winton
https://www.winton.com › technology › 2018/07 › ed-t...
Jul 13, 2018 — Thorp, 85, is a former American mathematics professor and hedge fund manager, who became a New York Times bestselling author in 1962 with his ...
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/magazine/15Battier-t.html
The No-Stats All-Star
Notes:
Claude Shannon Bio – A Mind at Play (2017)
Claude Shannon – mathematician & MIT professor created Father of Information Theory –
How do you make info transferrable, & secure in wartime?
Friend of Alan Turing (British Mathematician), both worked on coding in WW2,
German code breaking scientists became celebrities in WW2 and raised funding
The science behind compressing info, digitizing info and MP3 files, transfer data
Mathematics Theory of Communication, Shannon’s paper and theory considered the Magna Carta of information age. Great paper theoretically and practically. Shannon created algorithm called sigsally.
Imitation Game – WW2 bio movie about Alan Turing
Shannon’s work used for Gun torrents on Navy ships, target projectiles
Bell Labs – math group that Shannon was a part of
Famous Groups of Genius - Menlo Park – Edison/GE, Manhattan Project – Built the A Bomb
Fairfield Semiconductor – predecessor to Intel and other Silicon Valley tech co’s
Bell Labs had money and started as R&D Dept. in Bell Telephone
Bell Telephone ran all land lines in America, had a Fed guaranteed monopoly on the phone system
Bell invented touch tone dialing, transistor, satellite tech, cell tech, communication networks
We are all affected by Bell tech and inventions, modern age owes a solid to Bell
Had big group of talent and could afford all of it, leading scientists of the time.
During WW2 many major U.S. corporations – Bell, Ford were recruited by the US Government.
War effort created urgency – math used to shoot down the enemy.
The Founders – story of PayPal (2022)
Dot Com burst created urgency to Pay Pal, bleeding money, had to survive.
Dotcom crash – companies started 1 day, & BK out of business next day.
Rise like a rocket and crash in 2 years
Next Gen of Genius Teams - Xerox Parc, Microsoft, Apple
Music Producer – Brian Eno coined the term “scenious”
Scene meets genius - Clusters of talent
American Revolution – Hamilton, Jefferson, Washington, Adams, Franklin all together for 1 cause
Inklings, Fugitive Poets, 1960’s British Music scene, Bill Walsh 49ers Coaching staff of the 1980s
Paypal is the story of many – Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Max Levchin, Reed Hoffman
Alumni of Fairchild Semi led to Intel, Atari and Xerox Parc led to Apple.
Post WW2 Bell Labs pressure decreased compared to PayPal.
Bell Labs allowed free wheeling, could work on a project for 10 years.
PayPal Mafia - The Founders Story & Their Battle w/ EBAY w/ Jimmy Soni
- BRT S03 EP36 (135) 8-7-2022
Full Show: HERE
More on Bell Labs:
'The Idea Factory': How Bell Labs invented the future – Article HERE
Bell Labs: The research center behind the transistor, and so much more – Article HERE
Best of Biotech from AZ Bio & Life Sciences to Jellatech: HERE
Biotech Shows: HERE
AZ Tech Council Shows:
https://brt-show.libsyn.com/size/5/?search=az+tech+council
*Includes Best of AZ Tech Council show from 2/12/2023
‘Best Of’ Topic: https://brt-show.libsyn.com/category/Best+of+BRT
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