Sage: An atomic bomb kicked off the biggest computing project in history | Hacker News Reader

Sage: An atomic bomb kicked off the biggest computing project in history

ibm.com

30 pointsrawgabbit6 comments

I live a few miles away from an old SAGE blockhouse [1]. It's still imposing today - basically looks like a giant block of cement. It's interesting to see pictures of the inside of one of these things when it was in use.

[1] https://fortwiki.com/Richards-Gebaur_SAGE_Direction_Center_D...

there are several buildings like this in Manhattan. https://www.cromwell-intl.com/travel/usa/new-york-internet/p...

yeah, it looks less basic than a concrete block, but it is just a big box. this small skyscraper could offer a nice view, but it has no windows.

they used to be filled with telephone switching equipment for all the phone lines, but electronic switching has shrunk those space needs a lot. I think they've turned them into hosting providers for financial companies but I'm not positive.

The Computer History Museum in Mountain View has good exhibit on this. The sheer scale of the project was incredible. And rendered obsolete in a few years by the advent of ICBMs.

Pretty cool seeing that the consoles had a place for your cigarette.

Would we be able to execute on a project like today, ignoring political party factors?

I mean to ask: do we have enough mature entities in our industry and academia to pull of a project of this scope in 2025?

In the 1950s, defense spending was about 40% of federal spending. Today, it's about 13%. A huge amount of military equipment was built during the Eisenhower administration:

- The Distant Early Warning line of radar stations, in northern Canada, along with the Mid-Canada Line and the Pine Tree Line further south. Plus Texas Towers off the coasts, picket ships, and radar search aircraft.

- Mass production of bombers and fighters, with generations coming one after another rapidly. Fighters went from the F-86 to the F-106 in a few years. Bombers went from the B-36 (six props, four jets) to the B-47 (a fighter design scaled up to bomber size) to the B-52. Despite being an interim design, over 2,000 B-47 aircraft were built.

- Mass production of ICBMs. Thousands of them. Thousands of silos to put them in.

- Nuclear-powered submarines. Nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. ICBMs for nuclear powered submarines.

- USAF bases everywhere, from the Aleutian Islands to the Middle East.

- Nike air defense missile sites around all major US cities.

- Fallout shelters.

- Enough conventional weapons to re-fight WWII kept in service.

SAGE was a tiny part of all that. It was just command and control for US and Canada air defense. Not offense; that was separate, under the USAF Strategic Air Command.

Yes, but not under the current procurement processes used by DOD.

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