The Reincarnation Of Bell Labs

Pretty fascinating long read on the Reincarnation of Bell Labs - specifically, the headquarters in Holmdel, NJ that housed some of the greatest scientific discoveries of the past 100 years (i.e. background radiation). The article title is a bit misleading in that its not about Alcatel-Lucent deciding to re-establish the discovery center as a place of modern insight but, rather, the slow process of turning it into an "urban development" with retail stores and plenty of residential spaces.

On the whole, its kind of a sad story. Bell Labs is still a fascinating and wonderful thing to me but these kinds of new developments are happening all over the country. Maybe it's not a technological center for creation that's the center of the story but it's becoming a familiar tale. What lesson is there to glean from this? I'm not really even sure... but it's worth pondering for a few moments to say the least.

via Bryan.