▶

The Military Origins of Silicon Valley

Google TechTalks · Talk · 57 min · 2007 · YouTube title: The Secret History of Silicon Valley
Why it's here

HN recommends it as an eye-opening, once-secret history of where Silicon Valley came from, and cites it whenever the military roots of tech come up.

What it covers

Steve Blank tells how World War II, Stanford's Frederick Terman and military and intelligence agencies shaped the rise of Silicon Valley. The talk centers on the Cold War electronic warfare and signals intelligence work that seeded the region's tech industry.