# True story - trying to cheat at the game of life **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 1, 2014, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-trying-to-cheat-at-the-game-of-life/677620 "2014-01-01T07:07:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-trying-to-cheat-at-the-game-of-life/677620/81 "2014-01-09T02:30:31Z")
> [@JohnClay](#): > > I guess there could be a lot of other things that Lucent was doing in 1996… […](http://www.trainsimhobby.com/public/Data/RobitailleFan/201127233535_TripleFacepalm.jpg) WHY are you so hopelessly focused on 1996? Did something dreadful happen to you that year? ---
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-trying-to-cheat-at-the-game-of-life/677620/82 "2014-01-09T02:50:31Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > […](http://www.trainsimhobby.com/public/Data/RobitailleFan/201127233535_TripleFacepalm.jpg) > > WHY are you so hopelessly focused on 1996? Did something dreadful happen to you that year? The names of Lucent and Inferno (and Dis, Styx, etc) all originated at about that time. This suggests there _may_ be a connection. Just like there _ **may** _ be a connection between BSD’s mascot and Lucent/Inferno/etc (Bell Labs). You didn’t even seem surprised that I had already mentioned Bell Labs in this thread even though you seemed sure I wasn’t aware of it. Anyway last night my mother and my wife thought that I was getting unwell. Some kind of support worker or nurse will be visiting me today or tomorrow. I am on 2 anti-psychotics and 1 mood-stablizer… on Monday and Tuesday I ceased one of the anti-psychotics because a psychiatrist said it might help my high prolactin levels. Last night I went back on that anti-psychotic again. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-trying-to-cheat-at-the-game-of-life/677620/83 "2014-01-09T03:28:36Z")
> [@JohnClay](#): > > What you quoted by me: > Fuzzy Dunlop said the Inferno OS was a minor product (at the time / 1996?). To prove it he should provide evidence of other products that are more ambitious… they should have at least one Wikipedia page if they’re notable enough Amazon currently offers over 2000 published actual books on the C programing language. There are over 4000 books available on UNIX on Amazon. These are actual books a publisher decided were worth publishing, not an article on Wikipedia that anybody can write. How many books can you find about Inferno? I found 3. The laser was developed by Lucent and is used in so many applications I wouldn’t even begin to know where to start counting. But since you like Wikipedia so much here’s a partial list: [List of laser applications - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_laser_applications) The transistor is another Lucent innovation. We now produce billions of transistors _every week_. It’s an essential active component of virtually every modern electronic device. It’s often considered one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century and according to Wikipedia “about 60 million transistors were built in 2002 … for every man, woman, and child on Earth.” 60 million transistors _per person_ in a single year (admittedly not 1996, your favorite year. Can you tell us again why some shitty operating system nobody ever used is so much more important than all these humanity changing innovations just because you wrote a bunch of wikipedia articles about it? ---
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-trying-to-cheat-at-the-game-of-life/677620/84 "2014-01-09T03:45:13Z")
> [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](#): > > Amazon currently offers over 2000 published actual books on the C programing language. Where does it say that Lucent , which formed in 1996, was behind C? > [@](#): > > There are over 4000 books available on UNIX on Amazon. Same question, regarding UNIX. > [@](#): > > These are actual books a publisher decided were worth publishing, not an article on Wikipedia that anybody can write. How many books can you find about Inferno? I found 3. Lucent is clearly linked to Inferno (unlike your last 2 examples). Having 3 books about it is quite significant for a “minor” product. > [@](#): > > The laser was developed by Lucent > **[Laser](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser#Laser)** > > A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word laser originated as an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. The first laser was built in 1960 by Theodore Maiman at Hughes Research Laboratories, based on theoretical work by Charles H. Townes and Arthur Leonard Schawlow and the optical amplifier patented by Gordon Gould. > A laser differs from other sources of l... It was developed by **Bell Labs** in 1957. > [@](#): > > The transistor is another Lucent innovation. > **[Transistor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transistor)** > > A transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify or switch electrical signals and power. It is one of the basic building blocks of modern electronics. It is composed of semiconductor material, usually with at least three terminals for connection to an electronic circuit. A voltage or current applied to one pair of the transistor's terminals controls the current through another pair of terminals. Because the controlled (output) power can be higher than the controlling (input) power, a tra This says: “Lucent Technologies Inc.'s Bell Labs, the research lab that invented the transistor in 1947,” Though Lucent didn’t exist until 1996. > [@](#): > > Can you tell us again why some shitty operating system nobody ever used There is a strong connection between Lucent and Inferno - e.g. they are both mentioned within the same ad. For those other technologies the link isn’t so great. It is about Bell Labs, which Lucent became synonymous with for about 10 years until it merged with Alcatel. > [@](#): > > is so much more important than all these humanity changing innovations just because you wrote a bunch of wikipedia articles about it? Wow you think I wrote all of those wikipedia articles about it? I’ve only written a couple of sentences. The Inferno OS page began in 2004 yet I only saw the 1997 ad in about 2007. > **[Inferno (operating system)](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Inferno_%28operating_system%29&oldid=3152620)** > > Inferno is a distributed operating system started at Bell Labs and now developed and maintained by Vita Nuova Holdings as free software under the MIT License. Inferno was based on the experience gained with Plan 9 from Bell Labs, and the further research of Bell Labs into operating systems, languages, on-the-fly compilers, graphics, security, networking and portability. The name of the operating system, many of its associated programs, and that of the current company, were inspired by Dante Infer... ---
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-trying-to-cheat-at-the-game-of-life/677620/85 "2014-01-09T03:54:07Z")
Fuzzy Dunlop: BTW if Lucent is such a big important company, how come it’s Wikipedia page only began in 2001 (the company began in 1996) [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lucent&oldid=263723](http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lucent&oldid=263723) while Inferno, “some shitty operating system nobody ever used”, has several pages with quite a bit more content… ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-trying-to-cheat-at-the-game-of-life/677620/86 "2014-01-09T03:58:24Z")
> [@JohnClay](#): > > Where does it say that Lucent , which formed in 1996, was behind C? It wasn’t formed in 1996. It was spun out of AT&T in 1996 and given a new name. Bell Labs was part of the new demerged company and is still a subsidary of Alcatel-Lucent today. That’s what I’ve been trying to explain. Lucent made so many major products and massive technological innovations since it has existed that this horrible operating system you’re so obsessed with is nothing more than a blip. I didn’t even mention half of their truly groundbreaking innovations. And that’s just the major stuff. Tens of thousands of patents. Easily thousands and thousands of products over the decades all as important or more important than the stupid Inferno OS. I would bet you that the actual human beings that worked on the product care less about it than you, because they went on to make other more important products that had actual success in the market. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-trying-to-cheat-at-the-game-of-life/677620/87 "2014-01-09T03:59:26Z")
> [@JohnClay](#): > > Fuzzy Dunlop: > BTW if Lucent is such a big important company, how come it’s Wikipedia page only began in 2001 (the company began in 1996) > [Lucent Technologies - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lucent&oldid=263723) > > while Inferno, “some shitty operating system nobody ever used”, has several pages with quite a bit more content… Because they only called it Lucent for 10 years. ---
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-trying-to-cheat-at-the-game-of-life/677620/88 "2014-01-09T04:10:25Z")
> [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](#): > > Because they only called it Lucent for 10 years. That didn’t explain why it took nearly 5 years for “Lucent” to have its own page on Wikipedia. “Bell Labs was part of the new demerged company” You seem to be saying that “Bell Labs” is synonymous with “Lucent”… > **[BSD Daemon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BSD_Daemon)** > > The BSD Daemon, nicknamed Beastie, is the generic mascot of BSD operating systems. The BSD Daemon is named after software daemons, a class of long-running computer programs in Unix-like operating systems—which, through a play on words, takes the cartoon shape of a demon. The BSD Daemon's nickname Beastie is a slurred phonetic (in American English) pronunciation of BSD. Beastie customarily carries a trident to symbolize a software daemon's forking of processes. The FreeBSD web site has noted Evi N... > [@](#): > > …Foglio’s drawing showed four happy little red daemon characters carrying tridents and climbing about on (or falling off of) water pipes in front of a caricature of a PDP-11 and was used for the first national UNIX meeting in the US (which was held in Urbana, Illinois). Bell Labs bought dozens of T-shirts featuring this drawing… I guess the connection between Bell Labs and Lucent only exists when it is convenient to you. ---
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-trying-to-cheat-at-the-game-of-life/677620/89 "2014-01-09T04:23:28Z")
> [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](#): > > … **Easily thousands and thousands** of products over the decades **all as important or more important** than the stupid Inferno OS… Is there any other product that at around 1996 could run on the following: > [@](#): > > Host Operating Systems > > - Windows NT/2000/XP > - Irix > - Linux > - MacOS X > - FreeBSD > - Solaris > - Plan 9 > > Supported Architectures > > - ARM (ARM32, Thumb) > - Intel x86 (386 & higher) > - PowerPC > - SPARC As well as that it could: > **[Inferno (operating system)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inferno_(operating_system))** > > Inferno is a distributed operating system started at Bell Labs and now developed and maintained by Vita Nuova Holdings as free software under the MIT License. Inferno was based on the experience gained with Plan 9 from Bell Labs, and the further research of Bell Labs into operating systems, languages, on-the-fly compilers, graphics, security, networking and portability. The name of the operating system, many of its associated programs, and that of the current company, were inspired by Dante Infer... > [@](#): > > communicate over **“any network”** including the Internet, telecommunications and LANs AND “video games [PlayStation] could talk to computers” and “[typical] cell phones [in 1996] could access email and there was voice mail via TV” It doesn’t matter whether anyone actually used it… I think it is clear that it was very ambitious. Can you think of any alternatives to it, especially in 1996 when it originated? ---
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-trying-to-cheat-at-the-game-of-life/677620/90 "2014-01-09T04:37:53Z")
BTW you mentioned C and UNIX - but the programming language (Limbo) and the OS are just aspects of Inferno… Inferno is much more than just one programming language or one OS. ---
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-trying-to-cheat-at-the-game-of-life/677620/91 "2014-01-09T04:46:34Z")
Fuzzy Dunlop: [http://doc.cat-v.org/inferno/historical\_documents/website/infernosum](http://doc.cat-v.org/inferno/historical_documents/website/infernosum) “There are many connection technologies: ordinary telephone modems, ISDN, ATM, the Internet, analog broadcast or cable TV, cable modems, digital video on demand, and other interactive TV systems.” I’m not sure but it might mean that it supports those kinds of connections as well… earlier it did say **communicate over “any network”** “it runs useful applications stand-alone on machines with as little as 1 MB of memory” BTW can you explain why Inferno is **“stupid”, “horrible”, and “shitty”**? BTW the ad says it is the “ **First** operating system that lets all kinds of devices chat or share info with each other over any network” ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-trying-to-cheat-at-the-game-of-life/677620/92 "2014-01-09T04:58:34Z")
> [@JohnClay](#): > > Fuzzy Dunlop: > BTW if Lucent is such a big important company, how come it’s Wikipedia page only began in 2001 (the company began in 1996) […](https://i.chzbgr.com/maxW500/4531850752/hFC0CDBC3/) ---
**Author:** ![DataX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DataX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataX)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-trying-to-cheat-at-the-game-of-life/677620/93 "2014-01-09T05:57:14Z")
> [@JohnClay](#): > > Fuzzy Dunlop: > BTW if Lucent is such a big important company, how come it’s Wikipedia page only began in 2001 (the company began in 1996) > [Lucent Technologies - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lucent&oldid=263723) > > while Inferno, “some shitty operating system nobody ever used”, has several pages with quite a bit more content… Can you think of another logical answer to your question - other than it not being important enough? I’ll give you a hint… > **[Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia)** > > Wikipedia\[c\] is a free-content online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and the wiki software MediaWiki. Wikipedia is the largest and most-read reference work in history, and is consistently ranked among the ten most visited websites; as of December 2024\[update\], it was ranked fifth by Semrush, and seventh by Similarweb. Founded by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger on January 15, 2001, Wikipedia has been hoste Initial... Maybe look at the history part ---
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-trying-to-cheat-at-the-game-of-life/677620/94 "2014-01-09T09:10:27Z")
DataX: Thanks - BTW I wasn’t that surprised that there were flaws in my thinking. Though I am surprised that Fuzzy Dunlop says that Inferno is “stupid”, “horrible”, and “shitty”… ---
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-trying-to-cheat-at-the-game-of-life/677620/95 "2014-01-09T09:12:57Z")
Today I heard my wife say the few times that “my husband is back”. She thought I was unwell yesterday. I think that was the most unwell I’ve been since I first met her a few years ago. ---
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-trying-to-cheat-at-the-game-of-life/677620/96 "2014-01-09T12:38:54Z")
> [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](#): > > …They developed or were a major developer of the transistor, lasers, the C programming language, C++, UNIX. Though transistors and C are popular, is the Lucent team for developing them larger the team that Inferno had? > [@](#): > > …Easily thousands and thousands of products over the decades all as important or more important than the stupid Inferno OS… Ok you mentioned 5 basic products. What did you mean by “thousands and thousands”? ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2014, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-trying-to-cheat-at-the-game-of-life/677620/97 "2014-01-09T13:38:22Z")
> [@JohnClay](#): > > You seem to be saying that “Bell Labs” is synonymous with “Lucent”… Correct. > [@JohnClay](#): > > I guess the connection between Bell Labs and Lucent only exists when it is convenient to you. I don’t find that inconvenient. > [@JohnClay](#): > > Though transistors and C are popular, is the Lucent team for developing them larger the team that Inferno had? I would speculate that tens of thousands of employees at Lucent worked on transistor products and less than 50 worked on anything Inferno related. Possibly less than 20. > [@JohnClay](#): > > Ok you mentioned 5 basic products. What did you mean by “thousands and thousands”? I mentioned five historic innovations that massively changed the shape of computing, networking, electronics, and even the world. Why don’t you look at some of the thousands of diverse products Alcatel-Lucent offers today? [http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/](http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/) Some are perhaps less major than an OS, but most are easily as big and important, require as much manpower, etc. as Inferno did. Your beloved Wikipedia article says the Alcatel-Lucent merger was a merger of equals, so I’m sure you’ll agree we can assume that Lucent produced at least half this many different products before the merger. They had tens of thousands of employees after all - they must’ve been creating something, right? > [@JohnClay](#): > > DataX: > Thanks - BTW I wasn’t that surprised that there were flaws in my thinking. Though I am surprised that Fuzzy Dunlop says that Inferno is “stupid”, “horrible”, and “shitty”… We know that it was horribly unsuccessful for a fact, since nobody in the world cares about it except you. It’s not that your opinion doesn’t matter - no one person’s opinion matters. It was never adopted by anyone. We aren’t posting on this message board to a server running Inferno from our Inferno running phones. When a product completely fails in the marketplace and only 1 person thinks it was important, it’s a horribly shitty failure. It was stupid because the Satanic branding was an awful idea. ---
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2014, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-trying-to-cheat-at-the-game-of-life/677620/98 "2014-01-10T02:22:35Z")
> [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](#): > > …It was stupid because the **Satanic branding** was an awful idea. [emphasis added] It may be a meaningless coincidence but I think it was interesting that I found a ten year old (compared to when I found it) IEEE magazine soon after I entered a mental hospital which happened to have “Satanic branding” on the back cover. The only reason I was interested in it was how it allowed everything (PlayStations, 1997 cell phones, TV’s) to communicate and I think I was interested in the Lucent logo too. I stole that magazine and scanned the front and back covers. Then I lost the magazine. I asked my sister to get a copy from her university library. I’m not sure why - maybe I wanted to look at the other pages in the magazine but I didn’t end up getting a copy from my sister. Yet again here is a low-resolution scan of the ad: > **[File:Lucent 1997 Ad.jpg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lucent_1997_Ad.jpg)** > > Lucent\_1997\_Ad.jpg (260 × 382 pixels, file size: 14 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) > An ad describing aspects of Lucent's Inferno product that seem to have no other source. > The text: Introducing (drumroll) Inferno networking software... a new Bell Labs innovation. First operating system that lets all kinds of devices chat or share info with each other over any network (Internet, telecommunications, LANS, et al). Now the video game can talk to the computer; cell phone can access e-mail; voice mail via ... ---
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2014, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-trying-to-cheat-at-the-game-of-life/677620/99 "2014-01-10T02:43:46Z")
BTW I’ve only stolen one other thing from a mental hospital… multiple copies of this poster: [http://venus.provocateuse.com/images/photos/elle\_macpherson\_01.jpg](http://venus.provocateuse.com/images/photos/elle_macpherson_01.jpg) For some reason their art room had about 4 issues of the magazine that contained it. ---
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2014, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-trying-to-cheat-at-the-game-of-life/677620/100 "2014-01-10T03:16:56Z")
I had a phonecall from some kind of psychiatric worker… she said “thanks for sharing” or something like that when I talked about the things about Lucent on Wikipedia. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-trying-to-cheat-at-the-game-of-life/677620.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-trying-to-cheat-at-the-game-of-life/677620.md?page=6)