GoKawiilFor Richard, a crazy idea was an opportunity to either prove it wrong or prove it right.
by Danny Hillis
Feb 8, 02017
One of the most popular pieces of writing on our site is Long Now co-founder Danny Hillis’ remembrance of building an experimental computer with theoretical physicist Richard Feynman. It’s easy to see why: Hillis’ reminisces about Feynman’s final years as they worked together on the Connection Machine are at once illuminating and poignant, and paint a picture of a man who was beloved as much for his eccentricity as his genius.
Photo by Faustin Bray
Richard Feynman and The Connection Machine
by W. Daniel Hillis for Physics Today
Reprinted with permission from Phys. Today 42(2), 78 (01989). Copyright 01989, American Institute of Physics.
One day when I was having lunch with Richard Feynman, I mentioned to him that I was planning to start a company to build a parallel computer with a million processors. His reaction was unequivocal, "That is positively the dopiest idea I ever heard." For Richard a crazy idea was an opportunity to either prove it wrong or prove it right. Either way, he was interested. By the end of lunch he had agreed to spend the summer working at the company.
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