Why Bell Labs Worked.

June 6, 2025 at 7:00 PM

Bell Labs was a famed research lab run by AT&T (aka “Ma Bell” before it was broken up). You can draw a straight line from Bell Labs to Xerox PARC where essential computing technologies like the graphical user interface, the mouse, Ethernet, and more were invented.

Aeroform, writing for 1517 Fund:

The reason why we don’t have Bell Labs is because we’re unwilling to do what it takes to create Bell Labs — giving smart people radical freedom and autonomy.
The freedom to waste time. The freedom to waste resources. And the autonomy to decide how.

Why Bell Labs Worked.

Or, how MBA culture killed Bell Labs

1517.substack.com

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