TURING LECTURE: CONNECTIVITY is a thing, is THE thing

Speaker: Robert Metcalfe

Date: Wednesday, November 08, 2023

Time: 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM Note: all times are in the Eastern Time Zone

Public: Yes

Location: 32-123

Event Type:

Room Description: Kirsch Auditorium

Host: Daniela Rus, MIT SCC & CSAIL

Contact: Lauralyn M. Smith, events@csail.mit.edu

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Reminders to: seminars@csail.mit.edu

Reminder Subject: TALK: Turing Lecture: CONNECTIVITY is a thing, is THE thing speaker, Bob Metcalfe

Abstract:
Hear stories from Arpanet, Alohanet, Ethernet, and Internet, many of which are true. After 50+ years since the first Internet packets were switched, the most important new fact about the human condition is that we are now suddenly connected. The suddenness has caused pathologies -- hacking, porno, advertising, censorship, polarization, fake news -- but then extreme poverty has suddenly declined for the first time, thanks to the World Wide Web? Connectivity has evolved with various transitions and reversals, of which we can expect many more. And some of our AIs, still short of AGI, are approaching 100 trillion connection parameters.

Bio:
Bob Metcalfe '68 was an Internet pioneer starting at MIT in 1970. He continued switching Internet packets at Harvard, Xerox Parc, Stanford, and 3Com Corporation, which he founded in 1979. He invented Ethernet at Xerox Parc in 1973. He took 3Com public in 1984. He's been defending Metcalfe's Law (V~N^2) since the 1980s. This year Bob
received the million-dollar ACM Turing Award for the invention, standardization, and commercialization of Ethernet.

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See other events that are part of the Dertouzos Distinguished Lecture Series.

Created by Lauralyn M. Smith at Monday, October 16, 2023 at 2:02 PM.