“Machines with interchangeable parts can now be constructed with great economy of effort. In spite of much complexity, they perform reliably.”

— Vannevar Bush , book As We May Think

As We May Think (1945)
Context: Machines with interchangeable parts can now be constructed with great economy of effort. In spite of much complexity, they perform reliably. Witness the humble typewriter, or the movie camera, or the automobile.

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Vannevar Bush 57

American electrical engineer and science administrator 1890–1974

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“The world has arrived at an age of cheap complex devices of great reliability; and something is bound to come of it.”

Vannevar Bush book As We May Think

As We May Think (1945)
Context: A spider web of metal, sealed in a thin glass container, a wire heated to brilliant glow, in short, the thermionic tube of radio sets, is made by the hundred million, tossed about in packages, plugged into sockets — and it works! Its gossamer parts, the precise location and alignment involved in its construction, would have occupied a master craftsman of the guild for months; now it is built for thirty cents. The world has arrived at an age of cheap complex devices of great reliability; and something is bound to come of it.

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Wassily Leontief (1906–1999) Russian economist

Leontief (1983) " National perspective: The definition of problem and opportunity http://books.google.nl/books?id=hS0rAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA3", in: National Academies, The Long-term Impact of Technology on Employment and Unemployment: A National Academy of Engineering Symposium, June 30, 1983. p. 3.