
Bob Taylor Has Died - my_first_acct
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/14/technology/robert-taylor-innovator-who-shaped-modern-computing-dies-at-85.html
======
alankay1
Bob fully embraced the deeply romantic "ARPA Dream" of personal computing and
pervasive networking. His true genius was in being able to "lead by getting
others to lead and cooperate" via total commitment, enormous confidence in his
highly selected researchers expressed in all directions, impish humor, and
tenacious protection of the research.

He was certainly the greatest "research manager" in his field, and because of
this had the largest influence in a time of the greatest funding for computing
research. It is impossible to overpraise his impact and to describe just how
he used his considerable personality to catalyze actions.

The key idea was to have a great vision yet not try to drive it from the
funders on down, but instead "fund people not projects" by getting the best
scientists in the world to "find the problems to solve" that they thought
would help realize the vision.

An important part of how this funding was carried out was not just to find the
best scientists, but to create them. Many of the most important researchers at
Xerox PARC were young researchers in ARPA funded projects. Bob was one of the
creators of this process and carried it out at ARPA, Xerox PARC, and DEC.

He was one of those unique people who was a central factor in a deep
revolution of ideas.

~~~
heymijo
"An important part of how this funding was carried out was not just to find
the best scientists, but to create them."

Is anyone doing this today?

Bell Labs had this practice in the early 20th century, ARPA, Xerox PARC, and
DEC it seems in the latter thanks to Bob.

"Create/develop the best" isn't a mentality or practice that I see in the tech
world today. Unfortunately it's an idea and practice that also seems lost in
my own field of education.

~~~
notduncansmith
This is, in part, what Y Combinator hopes to accomplish through various arms.

~~~
cmiles74
I could be wrong, but my understanding is that Y Combinator works to help fund
founders who have interesting startup ideas. This strikes me as materially
different from funding pure research or, in some cases, gently guided
research.

~~~
alankay1
There's a branch of Y Combinator -- YC Research -- that has set up a number of
non-profit R&D organizations

------
chaostheory
"My bias was always to build decentralization into the net. That way it would
be hard for one group to gain control. I didn’t trust large central
organizations. It was just in my nature to distrust them." \-- Bob Taylor

~~~
mirimir
It is just so utterly amazing that we've inherited an Internet built by people
like this. Utterly amazing.

~~~
mortenjorck
Yep. In almost any other alternate universe, we ended up with an oligarchy of
private digital information services, each acting as gatekeepers to its own
exclusive internet. It's hard to fathom the innovation that would have been
prevented by the much higher barriers to entry in such a world, and just how
much intellectually richer we are from Taylor's radical vision winning out.

------
gavinpc
Sad news.

My favorite Bob Taylor story is about the "class 1" versus "class 2"
disagreement. Not sure which is which, but in the preferred case, the two
parties are able to state each other's position to the other's satisfaction.
One of his tricks as a manager was to help the parties get to that state.

This is either from Rheingold's _Tools for Thought_ or Doug Smith's book.

 _update_ : kind of but not exactly like this great scene from Horace & Pete
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iRM1iN-3a4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iRM1iN-3a4)

~~~
GuiA
_In the 1970s at Xerox PARC, regularly scheduled arguments were routine. The
company that gave birth to the personal computer staged formal discussions
designed to train their people on how to fight properly over ideas and not
egos. PARC held weekly meetings they called "Dealer" (from a popular book of
the time titled Beat the Dealer). Before each meeting, one person, known as
"the dealer," was selected as the speaker. The speaker would present his idea
and then try to defend it against a room of engineers and scientists
determined to prove him wrong. Such debates helped improve products under
development and sometimes resulted in wholly new ideas for future pursuit. The
facilitators of the Dealer meetings were careful to make sure that only
intellectual criticism of the merit of an idea received attention and
consideration. Those in the audience or at the podium were never allowed to
personally criticize their colleagues or bring their colleagues' character or
personality into play. Bob Taylor, a former manager at PARC, said of their
meetings, "If someone tried to push their personality rather than their
argument, they'd find that it wouldn't work." Inside these debates, Taylor
taught his people the difference between what he called Class 1 disagreements,
in which neither party understood the other party's true position, and Class 2
disagreements, in which each side could articulate the other's stance. Class 1
disagreements were always discouraged, but Class 2 disagreements were allowed,
as they often resulted in a higher quality of ideas. Taylor's model removed
the personal friction from debates and taught individuals to use conflict as a
means to find common, often higher, ground._

The Myths of Creativity, David Burkus

~~~
19eightyfour
We ought to do this on HN. Every week select someone to present and idea and
we can all learn together how to fight over ideas and not egos. I think it
would be really healthy and productive for the community.

~~~
TeMPOraL
In a way, we have something like this almost daily on HN. Regulars often end
up back-and-forthing with other HNers about a topic they disagree on :).

------
lancefisher
If you're not too familiar with the story, Where Wizards Stay Up Late is a
good history of the beginning of the internet. [https://www.amazon.com/Where-
Wizards-Stay-Up-Late/dp/0684832...](https://www.amazon.com/Where-Wizards-Stay-
Up-Late/dp/0684832674)

~~~
kar1181
Taylor had an immense impact both direct and indirect on the nature of
computing as we know it today, it's a little sad he's not better known.

Dealers of Lightning does a great job detailing his role in it all -
[https://www.amazon.com/Dealers-Lightning-Xerox-PARC-
Computer...](https://www.amazon.com/Dealers-Lightning-Xerox-PARC-
Computer/dp/0887309895/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1492224250&sr=8-1) that along
with soul of a new machine really capture the spirit of that 60s/70s
generation of computing.

~~~
rafaelferreira
Yet another book showcasing Bob Taylor's impact on personal computing and
networking is The Dream Machine [https://www.amazon.com/Dream-Machine-
Licklider-Revolution-Co...](https://www.amazon.com/Dream-Machine-Licklider-
Revolution-Computing/dp/014200135X) .

This one tells the story from the precursors to time-sharing to PARC, using
the figure of J.C.R. Licklider as a pivot, and was recommended by Alan Kay as
better than Dealers of Lightning. I personally enjoyed both.

~~~
pmcjones
The Dream Machine was Taylor's own favorite of this genre.

~~~
alankay1
And of most of the participants at ARPA-IPTO and PARC. "Dealers of Lightning"
was too much of the "hero's journey" trope, and also very confusing in
sequence (even to those of us who were there). Both books missed how and why
researchers cooperated and coordinated across projects, but "Dream Machine" is
much more clear and generally more accurate.

------
kleiba
_“I went to see Charlie Herzfeld, who was the head of ARPA, and laid the idea
on him,” Mr. Taylor recalled in an interview with The Times. “He liked the
idea immediately, and he took a million dollars out of the ballistic missile
defense budget and put it into my budget right then and there.” He added, “The
first funding came that month.”_

This must bring tears to the eyes of every researcher today.

~~~
DonHopkins
Wow, that's enough to kill two ISIS militants.

[https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/14/moab-
attack-...](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/14/moab-attack-isis-
baffling-choice-cold-blooded-terms-cost-afghanistan)

------
edward
I've just added a photo from flickr to the Bob Taylor Wikipedia article.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Taylor_(computer_scient...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Taylor_\(computer_scientist\))

(One of my hobbies is contact flickr photographers and asking them if they're
interested in having their pictures used on Wikipedia.)

~~~
seeekr
Somewhat OT, but from the second paragraph in that page you linked...

> Taylor was known for his high-level vision and invention of the "any" key:
> "The Internet is not about technology; it's about communication and choice,
> if you want to press any key. The Internet connects people who have shared
> interests, ideas and needs, regardless of geography."

What? Am I understanding correctly that this is a joke about "the any key"?
:-)

------
nickpsecurity
Damn, people were just praising his work on the other thread:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14108797](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14108797)

Then I see the black line and same name. Sad. Least he got to execute his
vision, innovate, help change the world, and live a long life before he died.
Best any of us can hope for.

------
ayanb
A very succinct professional summary here:

[http://www.computerhistory.org/fellowawards/hall/robert-w-
ta...](http://www.computerhistory.org/fellowawards/hall/robert-w-taylor/)

>> In 1970, Taylor founded the Computer Science Laboratory (CSL) of the Xerox
Palo Alto Research Center (Xerox PARC). Through the 1970s, CSL researchers
became known worldwide for a number of important innovations necessary to the
creation of the Internet. CSL invented and built Ethernet, the laser printer,
and the PUP (PARC Universal Packet) protocol. PUP was introduced seven years
in advance of the implementation of the Internet protocol, TCP/IP. Within
Xerox, all of these technologies enabled the construction of the first
internet.

------
neves
From a nice Alan Kay's post:

There were key figures. For example, Parc would not have succeeded without Bob
Taylor, Butler Lampson, Chuck Thacker, and a few others.

The link: [https://www.quora.com/What-made-Xerox-PARC-special-Who-
else-...](https://www.quora.com/What-made-Xerox-PARC-special-Who-else-today-
is-like-them/answer/Alan-Kay-11?share=1)

~~~
dpflan
Indeed, that Quora post was submitted to HN yesterday - a coincidence of the
universe.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14108797](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14108797)

------
19eightyfour
Respect to the black "top band" the HN site is wearing now. Have a pleasant
journey, Mr Taylor.

------
trapperkeeper79
RIP. For you youngins ... you may want to read up on him. He is an example of
a boss we'd be fortunate to get at some point in our life.

------
jmarinez
Doug, Marvin, Seymour and now Bob. All my heroes are passing away. Mainly Alan
is left holding the torch.

We lost a giant.

For all the bs in the valley about changing the world, here's a man that truly
did it.

And to the ACM - you should be ashamed of yourself. How do you give Tim
Berners-Lee an award and not the team st Xerox Parc. For the web? Are you
kidding me? It's going to take another 25 years to correct what he's done. I
guess teams don't play in as well as allure of the single creator individual.

To Alan and those that are left from the group at Xerox Parc - thank you. For
the team at HARC - let this be a reminder that time is short and there's ton
to do.

An incredible amount of positive energy was rereleased in a new form back into
the universe. May your legacy shape others.

~~~
jonjacky
ACM Turing awards for Xerox PARC alumni: Chuck Thacker 2009, Alan Kay 2003,
Butler Lampson 1992.

~~~
jmarinez
Correct. But that's the point. The award was given to them as individuals, not
to the entire team, which to my count is at least 25. Why can't a team earn
it? And if you were to ask those recipients, I can almost guarantee that they
will say that their work is a reflection of the group dynamics at PARC; the
same dynamics that Bob Taylor cultivated.

~~~
alankay1
This is a key point to be made -- especially about the kind of research that
ARPA/PARC did. We built all of ideas in quantity both in order to use them
ourselves, and as the only good way to validate them.

This involves teams, and -- for example -- the award in baseball is a "world
series ring" for everyone involved in the effort. The standard awards --
including the Draper, which does award to more than one person, are really
more like "most valuable player" awards -- which quite misses the point in
large scale edge of the art computing research.

------
iokevins
A wide-ranging summary at The Computer History Museum's 05/13/2010 video,
"Robert Taylor: Network Visionary":
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0MsrrTo8jY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0MsrrTo8jY)

I echo luckydude's comment--sad to see him go. R.I.P.

------
drudru11
There is an interesting interview of him transcribed by the Computer History
museum. It changed my perceptions of who the players were in the original
internet and TCP/IP designs... greatly.

I highly recommend the read. He deserves a tremendous amount of credit for the
results of his participation in all the technologies we use today.

------
ryanjl
I saw him interviewed in a documentary on Fandor called, 'The Net.' The
interview took place in his home about 15 years ago. There were a number of
topics, but I particularly remember how he spoke of how fear is borne out of
ignorance. Well worth checking it.

------
bradneuberg
I really wish we still had ARPA rather than DARPA. I'm blown away by the
ambition of the projects DARPA does but it's hard for me to rationalize
directly working on things that might end up in killing systems. Is there
anything akin to ARPA today? Why did ARPA end up becoming DARPA (with the D
meaning defense?).

Alan Kay seems to be here commenting; any insights from you Alan on the
conversion of ARPA to DARPA and good non-defense alternatives to what DARPA
does now?

~~~
alankay1
PARC happened because of the added "D" which made it impossible for the agency
to find open ended "problem finding" research. I don't know of funding since
then -- or today -- that is on a reasonable scale and of the same quality and
outlook.

------
Lotus123
Was listening to Walter Issacson's book The Innovators today afternoon about
the birth of xerox Parc. A What a coincidence. RIP

------
bebop
Does he have any writings of his own? I went looking but Robert Taylor is a
hard name to get good results for.

~~~
ontouchstart
The Computer as a Communication Device

J.C.R. Licklider and Robert W. Taylor

[http://memex.org/licklider.pdf](http://memex.org/licklider.pdf)

------
dmazin
damn. I was just reading about him this morning (in Where the Wizards Stay Up
Late).

------
modarts
:(

------
luckydude
This may downvoted (it's sort of off topic), and that's OK, but as I get older
the speed at which people I know or admire go and die just gets faster and
faster. Sort of sucks.

That said, if I could say one thing to young people about people dieing, it's
this: find the people who matter to you and get a video camera and go get them
to talk. Apply some wine if that helps, whatever. Get them loose and get them
to talk. Ask them how they got to be where they are, ask them what they would
like to pass on, let them talk. Old people are just you only ahead of you.

What I would give to have had the balls to go do that with Dennis Ritchie. I
didn't know him that well, we talked about Unix stuff quite a few times but I
doubt he would remember me. But I'm sure, 100% sure, that he would have let me
go get him to talk on camera.

~~~
jonjacky
This is called "oral history" \- there is collection of transcripts from
Ritchie and other Unix pioneers [1] and another large collection at the
Computer History Museum [2]

1\.
[https://www.princeton.edu/~hos/Mahoney/unixhistory.htm](https://www.princeton.edu/~hos/Mahoney/unixhistory.htm)

2\.
[http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/oralhistories/](http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/oralhistories/)

------
whitehat2k9
Is this why there's a black bar at the top of HN now?

~~~
tzs
They should make the black bar a clickable link to the relevant HN submission,
or make it so that it has alt text that names the person who has dies, or
both.

------
chris_wot
Until they are rate limited, which is almost immediately.

~~~
dang
We detached this subthread from
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14119700](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14119700)
and marked it off-topic.

~~~
chris_wot
You are a dreadful person.

------
haimez
Every week, some poor soul will sacrifice the entirety of their karma to the
horde of unwashed masses. Perhaps these masses will know JavaScript
particularly well. Maybe Java. It doesn't matter, we will have no peace.

~~~
dang
We detached this comment from
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14119358](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14119358)
and marked it off-topic.

------
ngcc_hk
Somebody must behind all these. Whilst without jobs none would happen (his
personal computer and windows interface well known, but next was involved in
www as well).

But somehow other than unix, there are many missing links. This is one Key
one.

Thanks Robert. Unless if matrix come, thanks.

