OneZero
Published in

OneZero

Cory Doctorow

Oct 24, 2021

5 min read

The Traitorous Eight and the Battle of Germanium Valley

How California’s ban on non-competes saved the tech industry from eugenics.

A circuit board with the silhouette of a hooded Klansman, his robes covered in circuit traces.
Image; Adam Jones, Ph.D./CC BY-SA (modified)

In 1956, the Nobel prize in physics went to William Shockley, John Bardeen and Walter Brattain for their work on silicon transistors. Shockley, a Bell Labs alum, had already gone to work commercializing this invention, moving from New Jersey to…

--

--

--

More from OneZero

The undercurrents of the future. A publication from Medium about technology and people.

Read more from OneZero

Recommended from Medium

Teresa

FuboTV has a cheaper live TV alternative to Hulu (if you can find it)

Twikit

Our standing desk is proof that the push economy isn’t forever

Lezme - Financial Metaverse

LEZME AMA 1: LEZME X TOWN VENTURES

USA Automotive Insurance

SNAN 150W Car Power Inverter DC 12V to AC 110V With Dual USB Ports for Laptop, Tablets and More

Treathyl Fox aka cmoneyspinner

in

Express Yourself!

News and Trends in Technology: Tech-Based Careers 2020

Bennat Berger

5 Startling Ways Humans are Completely Phone-Dependent

Matt Stroud

in

OneZero

Banjo Quietly Rebranded Itself Following Report on Former CEO’s KKK Past

Mixer Grinder

Upto 60% off Sunmeet BUTR21 1000-Watt Mixer Juicer Grinder with 4 Jars (1 Juicer Jar, 1 Wet Jar, 1…

AboutHelpTermsPrivacy

Get the Medium app

A button that says 'Download on the App Store', and if clicked it will lead you to the iOS App store
A button that says 'Get it on, Google Play', and if clicked it will lead you to the Google Play store
Cory Doctorow

Cory Doctorow

Writer, blogger, activist. Blog: https://pluralistic.net; Mailing list: https://pluralistic.net/plura-list; Twitter: https://twitter.com/doctorow

More from Medium

Cory Doctorow

The people’s disruption

A giant in a suit leans on a basketball net, holding a giant ball (which has been replaced by the menacing, glowing red eye of HAL9000); two normal sized people stand in one corner, glaring up at him. Hugh D’Andrade/EFF (modified) https://www.eff.org/about/staff/hugh-dandrade Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg CC BY 3.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/
Cory Doctorow

How English libel law enables Russian kleptocrats

An English five pound note; the Queen’s mouth has been erased and covered over with an outsized zip. The zipper pull is colored in the white/blue/red stripes of the Russian flag.
Cory Doctorow

Rail monopolies destroyed the American supply chain

A vintage editorial cartoon depicting a giant squid labeled ‘Railroad Monopoly’ with various things being strangled in its tentacles: a ship, a coach, a farmer and his horses, a miner, a telegraph delivery boy, a winemaker, lumberjacks, a produce farmer, etc. The octopus’s eyes are the bearded faces of two forgotten railbarons.
Cory Doctorow

Tech platforms’ playbook inevitably produces dumpster-fires

A flaming dumpster emblazoned with a shampoo label reading ‘lather, rinse, repeat,’ superimposed over the menacing red eye of HAL9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Image: Open Food Facts (modified) https://world.openfoodfacts.org/cgi/product_image.pl?code=0080878189229&id=ingredients_en CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en Hugh D’Andrade/EFF (modified) https://www.eff.org/about/staff/hugh-dandrade Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL90

Help

Status

Writers

Blog

Careers

Privacy

Terms

About

Knowable