Re: walmarts and bill shockleys lab

Michael Lorrey (mike@lorrey.com)
Thu, 17 Dec 1998 12:16:26 -0500

Spike Jones wrote:

> Michael Lorrey wrote:
>
> > Spike Jones wrote:
> >
> > > i was about an hour northwest of boston on business. there
> > > was no place to buy anything! no walmarts, no fry's
> > > electronics, nothing. just all these dippy little mom and...
> >
> > Michael Lorrey wrote: An hour northwest? That would be either
>
> > west of Lowell, towards Groton,
>
> it was just north of methuen i think is the name of the place. i was doing
> business with a company called physical sciences inc. i had a few hours
> of daylight to kill before the meetings so i drove around looking for
> something to do. there were lots of nice houses, nice rural neighborhoods,
> everything was very nice. and i nearly lost my mind. because it didnt
> seem to be... forward looking. i dont get out nearly enough i guess.
> around here, everything is so tomorrow oriented. its easy to be forward
> looking since we dont really have a past... {8^D

I think, what is the use of getting to the future if you forget your past? Just because everything isn't a cubist wasteland of mirrored glass buildings doesn't mean its not forward thinking, its just that people don't want an architectural style that many find repulsive polluting their landscape. I plan on living in a log cabin till 100 years from now. I'll still have plenty of great technology around.

>
>
> this is not always good. when visitors come, i like to use the old gag
> "some of these buildings are over *twenty years old*... with an awed
> tone. {8^D but the down side is that a development company decided to
> tear down the lab where william shockley invented the integrated
> circuit. i figure if i get frozen, then melted a couple hundred years
> in the future, i will be looking up at a circle of faces all asking me..

I know, when I lived in Seattle, people thought that a building that was 100 years old was an old building! I'm like, geez, the first house I lived in as a child was 175 years old, and still had a row garage for the buggy, wagon, and sleigh. Ask any european what is considered an old building. However, I doubt very much that many silicon valley buildings are going to be considered architectural treasures over time, even if any of them are still standing.

Mike Lorrey