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How did places like Bell Labs know how to ask the right questions?
Alternative Title: Why all applied research organizations should hire a Bell-style systems engineer
Apr 20, 2023 • 
Eric Gilliam
275

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How did places like Bell Labs know how to ask the right questions?
8
When do ideas get easier to find?
And why progress studies may be much older than you think
May 20, 2022 • 
Eric Gilliam
64

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When do ideas get easier to find?
4
Managing Lockheed’s Skunk Works
And Many Stories About the Maleffects of Bureaucracy on R&D
Mar 7, 2024 • 
Eric Gilliam
46

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FreakTakes
Managing Lockheed’s Skunk Works
2
A Progress Studies History of Early MIT — Part 1: Training the engineers who built the country
The MIT Series
Jul 28, 2022 • 
Eric Gilliam
30

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A Progress Studies History of Early MIT — Part 1: Training the engineers who built the country
2
An Alternative Approach to Deep Tech VC
Marrying early YC's goals with systems from the mid-20th C. deep tech pipeline
Jul 13, 2023 • 
Eric Gilliam
46

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FreakTakes
An Alternative Approach to Deep Tech VC
8
“The Third University of Cambridge”: BBN and the Development of the ARPAnet
We’ve all heard that “DARPA invented the Internet.” But few have heard of BBN, the contractor that did the most work to bring the ARPAnet into…
Dec 14, 2023 • 
Eric Gilliam
25

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“The Third University of Cambridge”: BBN and the Development of the ARPAnet
8
A Scrappy Complement to FROs: Building More BBNs
ARPA's early decades of success have made the ARPA model iconic.
Oct 15, 2024 • 
Eric Gilliam
41

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A Scrappy Complement to FROs: Building More BBNs
What should new-age research organizations be optimizing for?
The Engineering Innovation Newsletter. Every piece in this newsletter shares a common goal: to propose concrete ways forward for those looking to help…
Jan 31, 2022 • 
Eric Gilliam
15

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FreakTakes
What should new-age research organizations be optimizing for?
3
A Report on Scientific Branch-Creation: How the Rockefeller Foundation helped bootstrap the field of molecular biology
This piece is noticeably longer (twice the length) than the others on this Substack.
Jan 12, 2023 • 
Eric Gilliam
31

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A Report on Scientific Branch-Creation: How the Rockefeller Foundation helped bootstrap the field of molecular biology
2
A New Chapter At FreakTakes
An applied research shop becomes a bit more applied
Jan 10 • 
Eric Gilliam
49

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A New Chapter At FreakTakes
A Note on the Changing Faces of (D)ARPA
Three variables that mark key regime changes in ARPA history
Dec 31, 2024 • 
Eric Gilliam
17

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A Note on the Changing Faces of (D)ARPA
1
John von Neumann: A Strange Kind of Bird
What his career can teach us about the nature of scientific creativity.
Mar 31, 2022 • 
Eric Gilliam
38

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John von Neumann: A Strange Kind of Bird
7
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