Bill is the author of Berkeley UNIX, cofounder of Sun Microsystems, author of “Why the Future Doesn’t Need Us” (Wired 2000), ex-cleantech VC at Kleiner Perkins, investor in and unpaid advisor to Nodra.AI.
Talk Details
50 Years of Advancements: Computing and Technology 1975-2025 (and beyond)
I came to UC Berkeley CS in 1975 as a graduate student expecting to do computer theory— Berkeley CS didn’t have a proper departmental computer, and I was tired of coding, having written a lot of numerical code for early supercomputers.
But it’s hard to make predictions, especially about the future. Berkeley soon had a Vax superminicomputer, I installed a port of UNIX and was upgrading the operating system, and the Internet and Microprocessor boom beckoned.
This talk is a brief overview of the last 50 years, of how software, hardware, and algorithms for numerical and symbolic computing have evolved, about the changes in programming and programming languages, and some thoughts on managing technology and addressing climate change, and especially, looking forward, about the future of scientific and AI computing.
3,330 views Nov 25, 2025
Bill is the author of Berkeley UNIX, cofounder of Sun Microsystems, author of “Why the Future Doesn’t Need Us” (Wired 2000), ex-cleantech VC at Kleiner Perkins, investor in and unpaid advisor to Nodra.AI.
Talk Details 50 Years of Advancements: Computing and Technology 1975-2025 (and beyond)
I came to UC Berkeley CS in 1975 as a graduate student expecting to do computer theory— Berkeley CS didn’t have a proper departmental computer, and I was tired of coding, having written a lot of numerical code for early supercomputers.
But it’s hard to make predictions, especially about the future. Berkeley soon had a Vax superminicomputer, I installed a port of UNIX and was upgrading the operating system, and the Internet and Microprocessor boom beckoned.
This talk is a brief overview of the last 50 years, of how software, hardware, and algorithms for numerical and symbolic computing have evolved, about the changes in programming and programming languages, and some thoughts on managing technology and addressing climate change, and especially, looking forward, about the future of scientific and AI computing.