Machine Thinking

Fabrication d’une lampe triode
by F2FO

I love vacuum tubes. I since my mid 20s I’ve collected and used many different tube amplifiers from a vintage McIntosh MC240, a Dynaco ST-70 to newer Golden Tube Audio and Audio Electronic Supply amps. Even my CD player has a tube preamp built into it and I also have a nixie clock and even a hand blown custom light bulb.

To see all the steps in their manufacture and how easily one person preforms all the highly skilled operations is amazing.

Alan Kay presenting in 1987 Ivan Sutherland’s Sketchpad - one of the most influential software programs in the history of user interface design. Entire video here

“I once asked Ivan Sutherland how could you have possibly done the first interactive graphics program, the first non-procedural programming language and first object oriented software system all in one year. He said, ‘Well, I didn’t know it was hard’”