I am baffled as to how Moron Mike can tie a 1974 lawsuit to Jimmy Carter. Then again, zealots of any political stripe aren't to be bothered with facts or reality.

Otherwise, thanks for the replay of this story. It was another great look at how far we've fallen from a country that makes quality stuff to one that just worries about pushing crap to please the shareholders.

It sure would be nice to stop looking at the short term gains and worry more about REAL results.

Great piece on Bell Labs, glad I caught it this time around.

The key word that I kept hearing from everyone is "was". It's a shame that we let this jewel slip away.

Business today wants creativity on demand and on schedule, but it just doesn't work that way. Everyone talks a good game, including Silicon Valley, but few follow through. Thy have no patience, no vision, no faith, and no interest.

Bell Labs helped build America. CEO's act as though they can easily recreate something similar if needed, but they are quiet wromg. Some of the things lost cannot be recreated. And it goes hand-in-hand with a manufacturing/technical base. The US can't exist solely on building and refinancing houses.

Great piece! You did a wonderful job at capturing the spirit of the research laboratory during its multi-decade heyday! The collegiality, the ability to just "go ahead and do something," the encouragement of interdisciplinary work, the freedom to explore in new frontier areas, and the idea that anything really new was interesting and possibly important, made the Lab truly unique and distinctive, accepted as without peer all over the world. It was an environment that many other labs tried to emulate, without much success. And now it's gone! A victim of an ethos that only the next quarterly profit report matters, when the time to turn basic research findings into profits is usually 5-10 years or more. The research lab, that you reported on, was only ~10-15% of the entire Bell Labs; the remaining 85% was a development lab that actually designed products (including the most complex software systems) for the telecommunications system(s).
Richard L. Cohen (Service record date March 5, 1962)

I want to thank you for airing this. Can you do a Youtube, Viral, WOMM media blitz to get this word out there to everyone? We need to make it common language for people in America to understand and appreciate the Creative Process applied to Technology Innovation and REAL BUSINESS!

We have to bust open these Cabals and Secret Societies and show young people that not only is is fun and important, but accessible and NECESSARY for them to do this kind of thing all the time. In order to SAVE their lives and this Planet. Sarah Caldicott wrote "Innovate Like Edison" (her great Uncle) to do the same thing. Popularize what it means to innovate and create whole new ways of life through our smarts!

We need this everywhere and Thank You. But, don't stop there with one weekly broadcast, or some series for old people radio listeners.

Call "Blue State Digital" the cool citizen action Internet agency that developed Obama's Web strategy and Community site that raised $200M campaign dollars. This story is too important to go back into the archives, and you need a strategy and an "off-trail" program.

Bell Lab's demise brought to you by none other than Jimmie Carter and big brother.