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Comment by dnamlin | Hacker News Reader

The square footage of this building is double that of Meta's MPK 20/21 complex, and comparable to the entire Googleplex.

It wasn't even headquarters for Bell Labs.

A reminder....all glory is fleeting!

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"And on the pedestal, these words appear: My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!"

The glory of discovery will echo through the ages. Radio astronomy was invented in the Holmdel Bell Labs.

I remember reading a story of a scientist that had discovered a new element. He sprinkled it on his father's grave saying that it's half life of O(thousands) years would last longer than any other memorial be could build. Can't remember the guys name sadly.

SV seems to have a little more depth to it. Were there many other high tech companies in the Holmdel region back in the 80s, or was this a little island of the future in a land of farms and Springsteen?

> SV seems to have a little more depth to it.

there would have been no need for silicon if it hadn't been for the things invented at bell labs.

By depth I meant depth of the job market and community. As in, there is more than just one big employer, which is why I was asking if there were any other big tech companies in/near Holmdel than Bell

oh. well i think if you had a job at bell labs, depth of job market wasn't a concern.

as i understand it was in a class of its own.

Bell Labs is our industry's Roman Empire.

DeepMind, OpenAI, and FAIR have done some cool stuff, but nobody's come close to matching the invention of the transistor.

Also -- in terms of "empires" -- before Bell Telephone, you might be able to point to Edison's Menlo Park lab.

Maybe fleeting but the building is maintained and put to use. Maybe we can see some software companies come back to Holmdel? :)

all glory to the hypnotoad

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