People who changed the way the world works

January 22, 2011 12:05 AM

They Were There is a 30 min video from IBM, who is turning 100 this year. "told by first-hand witnesses—current and retired employees and clients—who were there when IBM helped to change the way world works."
posted by finite (52 comments total)

Directed by Errol Morris, scored by Philip Glass.
posted by Rory Marinich at 12:13 AM on January 22, 2011 [3 favorites]

A century of achievements that have changed the world is another video posted for their centennial.

Wikipedia has an extensive History of IBM article.
posted by finite at 12:21 AM on January 22, 2011

I guess Errol Morris gotta make a dime.
posted by xmutex at 12:39 AM on January 22, 2011

HOLY CRAP THIS IS AWESOME
posted by jscott at 12:56 AM on January 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

Directed by Errol Morris, scored by Philip Glass.

I thought you were making a joke. No, it's actually scored by Philip fucking Glass.

Cool.
posted by loquacious at 1:50 AM on January 22, 2011

This is awesome.

And this isn't Philip Glass, but is more awesome in my opinion.
posted by cleancut at 1:59 AM on January 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

Pepsi Big Blue

Good stuff but got scared and had to turn it off where they start talking about developing the personal computer. So no spoilers, okay?
posted by hal9k at 2:04 AM on January 22, 2011

Will be watching this, looking for where my dad might have fit in - IBM were his client during the Charlie Chaplin PC campaign and its Pink Panther European evolution. His second favourite project for them was a very rigourously art-directed, A6-format encyclopedia of computation (can't seem to find the exact title now). But the thing he was most proud of was when his agency convinced them to go 100% Berthold Bodoni for all their corporate communication.

Fittingly, Errol Morris was his favourite filmmaker, and Philip Glass was the one contemporary composer he seemed never to be able to get enough of. Elective affinities, I guess.
posted by progosk at 2:32 AM on January 22, 2011

Errol Morris has had an astounding career since his bittersweet debut with Gates of Heaven.
posted by fairmettle at 2:54 AM on January 22, 2011

Errol Morris : "I once told Philip [Glass] that he creates a feeling of existential dread better than anyone else I know of."
posted by crunchland at 4:07 AM on January 22, 2011

"I am the mother of the motherboard"

awwww
posted by memebake at 4:53 AM on January 22, 2011

yeah that was pretty good, and especially liked the Glass soundtrack - it lifted it above corporate backslapping and into the level of celebration of all things geeky. Was brilliant to see Mandelbrot in there too, given that he died so recently.

Shame I won't be around in 2098 to see Google's Centennial Film/Hologram/MindModule, in which they will look back on the 50th anniversary of the achievement of their mission to organize all of the world's information, and other great moments like development of the space elevator, harvesting energy from seawater, and Google Wave.
posted by memebake at 5:18 AM on January 22, 2011 [3 favorites]

IBM: We made the Holocaust efficient!
posted by absalom at 5:57 AM on January 22, 2011 [6 favorites]

"A Century of Achievements" is a piece of thematic genius.
posted by gjc at 6:07 AM on January 22, 2011

This will ABEND well.
posted by Rat Spatula at 6:30 AM on January 22, 2011 [3 favorites]

This is fucking awesome.
posted by chunking express at 6:41 AM on January 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

Excellent video. I still don't like this little red button in the middle of my laptop keyboard. Does anybody know what Morris' and Glass' paycheck amounts for this were?
posted by bukvich at 7:14 AM on January 22, 2011

Wow. That was awesome.

Normally, I would have just strolled past this post without paying attention, but it was definitely worth it. Everyone in the video is just so happy, inspiring, and, well, adorably excited about what they do.
posted by meese at 7:22 AM on January 22, 2011

Really not sure what to make of this. Obviously it's laying on the usual corporate self-congratulation pretty damn thick, but IBM does have an impressive history, and doesn't evoke the same vitriol from me that other similar corporations might do.

My Dad is an IBMer. He works too much, and I'm the complete opposite. Our philosophies sometimes seem irreconcilable. But after watching all of this, I feel I understand his perspective a little better. And that's got to be a good thing.

Now, where's the beautifully-directed, Philip Glass-scored video that displays the environmental destruction and life-altering consequences of our fast-paced, homogenised, corporate-dominated world? The one that help him understand my perspective?

Oh wait, here it is.
posted by Acey at 7:33 AM on January 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

This is an advertisement - it's disguised as a documentary by a documentary film maker who uses Glass a lot in actual documentaries so it looks like one his documentaries but it's 100% advertising. A pretty ad, a well scored ad - but it's an ad, a really fluffy puffy gushy ad.
posted by victors at 8:13 AM on January 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

You forgot an amazingly casted ad; as someone who does computer history documentaries it's inspiring to see how much emotion they got out of Fred Brooks talking about the System/360, and how intese it felt.
posted by jscott at 8:21 AM on January 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

victors: This is an advertisement

Goddamitt, you're right. My suspicions were aroused by the title 'IBM Centennial Film' and the fact that its made by IBM and talks about IBM and ends with several big fat IBM logos.
posted by memebake at 8:22 AM on January 22, 2011 [9 favorites]

absalom: IBM: We made the Holocaust efficient!

I remember this being mentioned in The Corporation. For what its worth, IBM have said there was nothing unusual going on there .... "As with hundreds of foreign-owned companies that did business in Germany at that time, Dehomag came under the control of Nazi authorities prior to and during World War II.". But then they would play it down I guess. It was interesting that their Centenary video didn't talk about many things before 1950.

Can any mefite's who've sifted through the books and evidence fill us in on the current view of the culpabiltiy of IBM wrt the holocaust?
posted by memebake at 8:33 AM on January 22, 2011

> Normally, I would have just strolled past this post without paying attention, but it was definitely worth it.

Yeah, that's what I came here to say. Morris is a genius, and this is a beautifully done piece of work, even if it is corporate propaganda.
posted by languagehat at 8:37 AM on January 22, 2011

Man, they're a company. They're whole point for existing is to make money. Of course they'd want to present themselves well in a film they developed.

But to say that this is an advertisement seems to buy into the cynical, consumerist worldview such a charge is apparently meant to decry. Why is it wrong for a workers at a company to stand up and say, "This is what we've done. We're damn proud of it"? Do you deny that a company could be proud, and happy, and excited by their accomplishments, regardless of the economics behind those accomplishments? Why not just allow that IBM wants to celebrate itself, because it has achieved much, and wanted to share that celebration with us, because they are proud of their history and their accomplishments? Why can't IBM and its employees earnestly and sincerely love what they have done?

Maybe it's a horrible thing that the world is set up such that money is the bottom motivation for so much of the world's developments. But there's something sad, cynical, and lifeless about looking at this video and seeing it as motivated only by money.

They're proud. They deserve to be. They're celebrating an important day, an important history. And if I am wrong, and you are right, and this is all just a cleverly orchestrated ad meant to make the gullible, like me, buy into the idea that IBM is filled with individuals excited by the mere prospect of exploration and development just so I will buy more products... Well, this gullible world I inhabit is pretty dang nice.
posted by meese at 8:43 AM on January 22, 2011 [4 favorites]

Ooh, ouch.

Their whole point for existing.

That's never not embarrassing.
posted by meese at 8:44 AM on January 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

Memebake: I read Edwin Black's book a couple of years ago, so you'll have to excuse me I'm not great on specifics but I thought at the time that he presented a very strong case. While it's true that Dehomag came under party control I think you would be surprised how late in the game that was, and how much involvement IBM proper had in the infrastructural projects that supported the holocaust prior to the war. The Nazis awarded Watson a medal, FFS.

I'd certainly recommend reading the book, if you haven't already. As for IBM's own statements about this... they would say that, wouldn't they. This is not to say that I think IBM is evil today, just that there are some things about their past about which they are in corporate denial.
posted by pascal at 8:57 AM on January 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

What the film is:
A celebration of IBM achievements and people on its 100th birthday.

What the film is not:
A roast.
A Frontline episode
A comedy
A daytime soap opera
A hard-hitting investigation
A western
A __________
posted by stbalbach at 10:02 AM on January 22, 2011

They almost Pepsi Blued me. If not for the work of a few tireless Mefites, who were unwilling to enjoy anything, I might have ended up buying some IBM for me and my friends.
posted by chunking express at 10:31 AM on January 22, 2011 [2 favorites]

But to say that this is an advertisement seems to buy into the cynical, consumerist worldview such a charge is apparently meant to decry. . . Why can't IBM and its employees earnestly and sincerely love what they have done?

Because their work has little moral value. There were no shortage of serfs loyal to the King, or slaves loyal to their slave-owners. They all believed in the systems of which they were a part.

Maybe it's a horrible thing that the world is set up such that money is the bottom motivation for so much of the world's developments. But there's something sad, cynical, and lifeless about looking at this video and seeing it as motivated only by money.

That's the reality, and the most insidious part of the sort of Stockholm Syndrome Americans find themselves in. In effect, these people are proud that they dedicated their lives to further the wealth of a corporation. We're pouring all of our ideas and effort into monolithic entities that have no ethical reasoning facilities, and literally selling ourselves and our waking hours for the privilege.

I have no idea why anyone would be excited about it.
posted by notion at 10:35 AM on January 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

This is an advertisement --- Does IBM even make any consumer-oriented products anymore?
posted by crunchland at 10:50 AM on January 22, 2011

In effect, these people are proud that they dedicated their lives to further the wealth of a corporation.

Obligatory nit-picking: Corporations don't have wealth. They are wealth.
posted by ripley_ at 10:54 AM on January 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

Because their work has little moral value.

this

The telling thing here is that Morris is not just a pretty face - that is, they didn't hire him because he can make pretty pictures and sounds together like a fancy bar-mitzvah tribute video. They hired him precisely because he is an artist with a high moral code of integrity in unvarnished truth telling. (That he would put a price on that integrity and sell it to IBM is his business and not for me to judge here.) They were hoping that some of the integrity would rub off on them by using him to make this piece of propaganda. But it can't and it won't because this is a piece of fluffy, feel-good propaganda that, at the very least, is spin by omission and at worst is packed with lies - how the hell would we know if it is or isn't? The most disappointing thing here is that Morris, one of the most brilliant truth-tellers of our time, can't be the one tell us.

Does IBM even make any consumer-oriented products anymore?

They have shareholders and stock analysts. For everybody that needs to split this hair - when I say advertising, I mean marketing propaganda.
posted by victors at 11:04 AM on January 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

crunchland: "This is an advertisement --- Does IBM even make any consumer-oriented products anymore?"

Not really. They sold the whole PC/Thinkpad division to Lenovo half a decade ago. They're mostly a services/consulting company these days.
posted by octothorpe at 11:06 AM on January 22, 2011

You've got to be kidding me. Their work has little moral value, therefore it's nothing to be proud of? In the last 50 years IBM is largely responsible for connecting nearly every community on the planet. The microchip has allowed for dramatic advances in every single area of science including medicine, and has contributed to the elucidation of the universe in ways the most visionary minds couldn't have dreamed of mere decades ago.

Isn't any paying job motivated by money? IBM earned and deserves every penny it has. "b-but but the corporations man, they're enslaving the WORLD".

Give me a break.
posted by WhitenoisE at 11:07 AM on January 22, 2011 [7 favorites]

Its very clear what this is though, from the first frame. It never pretends to be an impartial documentary.
posted by memebake at 11:37 AM on January 22, 2011

In the last 50 years IBM is largely responsible for connecting nearly every community on the planet.

IBM had very little to do with it. They thought the personal computer was a bad idea, and didn't get involved until they saw the success of the Commodore 64 and the Apple II. And they had very little to do with the technology developed by Intel and Texas Instruments that allowed the development of personal computers.

Even after that, the R&D that developed the internet was funded by US tax payers. Even after that, the technology that really made the internet usable was the development of HTML and the fact that its creator liberated it so anyone could use it without having to pay.

If IBM had been behind HTML, and had been making a good profit by selling the rights to corporations to use it, the Internet as we know it would probably not exist.

Isn't any paying job motivated by money? IBM earned and deserves every penny it has. "b-but but the corporations man, they're enslaving the WORLD".

Showing up for your job to make money is not special. A corporation that invents things to sell is not special. Pretending that the best humanity can do for itself is to prostitute its vast wealth of ingenuity to permanent ownership by unaccountable tyrannies is a sad fucking joke.

Human knowledge should stay in publicly funded universities where most of it is formulated, and then shared so everyone can continue bettering ourselves and our environment. If we continue monetizing this process, no one will be able to learn anything, and we'll end up with another 30 years of little to no progress on really important issues like curing diseases and helping the less fortunate so some well-to-do octogenarian can get an erection while he spanks it to his 3G connected iPad.
posted by notion at 11:56 AM on January 22, 2011 [2 favorites]

Its very clear what this is though, from the first frame. It never pretends to be an impartial documentary.

I think I strongly disagree with this. I don't think it's a fluke that they hired one of the foremost documentary film makers to do it in exactly the same style as his docs are done. It's totally pretending, disguised as, in the style of, however you want to put it as a serious, objective accounting of history. There are 1,000s of ways they could have gone with this thing and they chose this one, very specific style for a reason - to give themselves a moral, objective weight that it simply doesn't deserve.

You want to celebrate? Great, throw a party, put on hats, get drunk... (in case anybody asked me, which of course, they didn't)
posted by victors at 12:25 PM on January 22, 2011

Did they include among their accomplishments their patent filing on a business process for offshoring jobs from First World countries?
posted by deadmessenger at 1:45 PM on January 22, 2011

That's the reality, and the most insidious part of the sort of Stockholm Syndrome Americans find themselves in. In effect, these people are proud that they dedicated their lives to further the wealth of a corporation.

But if they were so proud of their dedication that they made a film about it, then wouldn't that film be a legitimate expression of their feelings - deluded though you might think them to be.

In order for your "this is just an ad" theory to be true, there must be some cabal at IBM who wanted to make an ad that seemed like a self-congratulatory documentary and convinced all these people to take part in some kind of conspiracy. Isn't a much simpler explanation that most of the people involved, including the people in charge shared the same view?

It seems like a self-defeating argument.

If IBM had been behind HTML, and had been making a good profit by selling the rights to corporations to use it, the Internet as we know it would probably not exist.

Ugh, the Internet is not the web. The web is a subset of the Internet. Obviously the internet "As we know it" would be totally different if it's most notable feature were something else.
posted by delmoi at 2:32 PM on January 22, 2011

This video showcases IBM's unique history with music, through featuring Ever Onward, the IBM rally song.
posted by finite at 3:44 PM on January 22, 2011

In order for your "this is just an ad" theory to be true, there must be some cabal at IBM who wanted to make an ad that seemed like a self-congratulatory documentary and convinced all these people to take part in some kind of conspiracy. Isn't a much simpler explanation that most of the people involved, including the people in charge shared the same view?

There doesn't need to be a cabal. The constant search to improve revenue through delusional imagery is exactly what marketing is. The art of lying for money is institutionalized, so by default, you don't even hire people who disagree with that statement.

A documentary would have at least mentioned the controversy over the Holocaust. Maybe even have some employees contemplating their role in the wars in Africa over the raw materials they need to create their products. A documentary is supposed to reflect reality, which is nothing like this ad.

Ugh, the Internet is not the web. The web is a subset of the Internet. Obviously the internet "As we know it" would be totally different if it's most notable feature were something else.

Without HTTP, what everyone knows as the internet simply wouldn't exist. By the time Sir Timothy developed it, what else was out there? E-mail and telnet? BBSes? Sure, there may have been a few nerds transferring documents through some archaic CLI commands, but without the visual nature and ease of programming of HTML, you and I would not be having this conversation. The information age would have been restricted to corporate communication.

And Mark Zuckerberg would be getting someone coffee and trying to squeeze by on $10 an hour... come to think about it, maybe this whole thing is a mistake.
posted by notion at 3:52 PM on January 22, 2011

The fact that Michelangelo served a corrupt church does not make the Sistene Chapel any less impressive or valuable.
posted by LogicalDash at 4:14 PM on January 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

Disclaimer: I currently work for IBM.

From a current IBMer's perspective - albeit a somewhat cynical one - let meassure you that lots of employees are genuinely excited about working for IBM, and excited about its history etc. I know this because I work in internal communications, and we're assessing it constantly.

Speaking for myself, I don't get so excited about some of IBM's achievements like:

Inventing:
*Magnetic storage
*RAM
*Scanning tunneling microscopes
*FORTRAN
*SAGE
*Fractals
*Relational Databases
*High temperature superconductivity

But I am excited about achievements like:
* In 1899 we hired Richard MacGregor, a Black employee – 10 years before the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was founded.
*Hired Lilly J. Philp, Nettie A. Moore and Emma K. Manske., female employee - 20 years before women won the right to vote.
* 1914 - Hired first employee with a disability
*1935 -Introduced equal pay for equal work – 30 years before US Equal Pay Act.
*1943 - Ruth Leach becomes IBM’s first female vice president. Between 1940 and 1943, one third of IBM’s manufacturing hires are women.
*1953 - IBM President Thomas J. Watson Jr. issues Policy Letter No. 4, which states that IBM will hire people based on their ability, regardless of race, color or creed. This letter is the first U.S. corporate mandate on equal employment opportunity.
*1969: Issued purchasing directive requiring the environmental assessment of IBM’s chemical waste disposal suppliers
*1974: Initiated multi-year effort to eliminate polychlo-rinated biphenyls (PCBs) from use in IBM’s products (Achieved elimination in 1978)
*1975: Established corporate air emissions criteria
*1978: Began global program to monitor groundwater quality at IBM’s manufacturing and development locations and perform roundwater remediation as needed.
*1984: Sexual orientation is added to IBM's non discrimination policy. IBM becomes one of the first major companies to make this change.
*1988: Established first non- hazardous waste recycling goal: recycle 50% of waste generated by IBM by 1992; achieved in 1990
*1997 - IBM establishes the first Diversity Network Groups — Asian, Black, Gay/Lesbian, Native American, People with disabilities and Women-- employee organizations that promote internal networking, career development and community service
*2000 - IBM created a $50 Million Global Work/Life Fund to support employee child and elder care needs around the world.
*2008 – Equal same-sex partnership benefits A/NZ and IBM named employer of choice for GLBT Diversity@works award
*2009 – IBM in China founds a chapter of its Gay, Lesbian, Transsexual etc group.
*2010 – IBM ranks #1 GLBT Employer by Stonewall (for the 2nd time, 1st
company to do this)
*2010 – IBM received the Human Rights Campaign “Equality Award” – 100 score
of HRC’s Corporate Equality Index

That's just a few of the things I get excited about.

Now, I am the first to grant you that IBM is not UNICEF. However, we all have to work somewhere and I have to say, I'm pretty proud of this company's record with regard to human rights and environmental policies - I've definitely never worked anywhere else that makes so much effort.

Does this make IBM a perfect company? No. Does this mean making money isn't IBM's number one goal? Hell, no. Does it help me sleep a little better at night, knowing I work for a company that isn't just a technological pioneer, but a human rights and environmental one? Definitely. There *is* something to be proud of here. And it's more than possible to celebrate the achievements without turning a blind eye to the problems.
posted by smoke at 4:32 PM on January 22, 2011 [14 favorites]

There doesn't need to be a cabal. The constant search to improve revenue through delusional imagery is exactly what marketing is. The art of lying for money is institutionalized, so by default, you don't even hire people who disagree with that statement.

Unfortunately this is pure nonsense.

Without HTTP, what everyone knows as the internet simply wouldn't exist. By the time Sir Timothy developed it, what else was out there? E-mail and telnet? BBSes?,

Gopher, FTP, NNTP and IRC are probably the main pre-web technologies. BBSes were not on the internet. The idea that if TBL didn't think up HTML in 1989 we'd all be doing nothing but email and modeming into BBSes is completely ridiculous

Something would have come up if not for html/http.
posted by delmoi at 7:26 PM on January 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

Thank you smoke. They aren't running for Jesus. They are just listing their achievements proudly. IBM has done a lot for humanity and for the search of knowledge. And they manage to make a buck while doing it. That's the American way, and many of us are proud of that. I like the idea of that, and IBM along with pre-breakup AT&T are among the very few companies who think like this.

I'm sorry notion, but that second film linked in the comments, a century of achievement, made me weepy. Especially when I realized the theme of the actors getting younger was leading to the present and an ever changing company, remaking itself every year on the shoulders of the hard work and achievements those who came before.
posted by gjc at 7:27 PM on January 22, 2011

(Sorry to be pedantic, but IBM invented the disk drive, not magnetic storage. Also, IBM did not invent RAM; magnetic core memory was invented by Frederick Viehe and developed further at Harvard.)

IBM is an impressively progressive corporation when compared to the rest, but that doesn't mean that this advertisement is anything more than an advertisement. I just don't see any value in consuming corporate propaganda and pretending that it is something else.

As we speak, IBM is laying off American workers and offering them jobs at the new third world company centers, and at local rates instead of their existing wage, that will allow them to push their profits up by exploiting new employees with lower living standards. This is after the American government gave them billions of dollars in subsidies to stay. They even filed a patent to be able to show other corporations how to dump their US assets and run for the hills with their pockets stuffed full of cash. They've fired about 20,000 people in the last four years while recording record net profits. They've hidden tens of billions of dollars in tax havens to avoid paying their fair share of taxes.

But please, continue with the mindless adulation. That's what the propaganda is designed to do.
posted by notion at 9:33 PM on January 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

that doesn't mean that this advertisement is anything more than an advertisement. I just don't see any value in consuming corporate propaganda and pretending that it is something else.

Is anybody pretending that this is anything but what it is? I'm intrigued, notion, at your ability to know and understand what every person who watches this video thinks and feels.

I am not saying that IBM represents some kind of corporate utopia. It is a modern multinational company - and if you have problems with modern multinationals, or the capitalist framework they operate under, you will certainly have problems with IBM.

However, it is actually possible to walk and chew gum at the same time. I'm living proof of that. It is possible to laud and celebrate the things IBM - or any company - does that you think are admirable or worthwhile whilst at the same time not withholding criticisms when you think they are doing the wrong thing, or things you don't support. Trust me on this, employees do it every day.

This form of three-dimensional, nuanced engagement is, I'm afraid to say, the way to effect change on or in any organisation. Frankly, if you actually cared about this, Notion, you would be encouraging the company to continue doing the right, admirable things they do, whilst also criticising their shortcomings - because believe me there are plenty of companies that do all the disreputable things IBM does, and none of the good stuff, because it's cheaper and they just don't care what people think of them.

I'm going to recuse myself from further discussion on this because I don't think it's appropriate or balanced for me to continue, but let me reiterate: adulation doesn't have to be mindless, and I'm a bit insulted by the inherent condescension in some of your remarks. People can decide for themselves if they value this video, or not.
posted by smoke at 10:19 PM on January 22, 2011 [1 favorite]

Notion's view seems to be that it's almost axiomatic that this is advertising because corporations are designed to make as much money as possible, therefore any communication they engage in is advertising. He fails to comprehend that corporations are composed of individuals who might want to throw a party just for the sake of throwing a party. Although, it could be advertising.
posted by delmoi at 4:16 AM on January 23, 2011

It is an infomercial. The same genre as the crossfit ones and the Tony Robbins ones they run on television when almost nobody is watching and paid produced programming is a losing proposition.

It is a true fact that IBM is a multinational corporation and the guys (and 2 gals) at the end saying the "I'm an IBM'er" line is a little creepy. Everything up to that sequence was very well done. I have never seen Mandelbrot or Chaitin or Wells in person and was glad to see them in the video. delmoi's term "party" is an appropriate usage. I read in an article in the Wall Street Journal about a year ago that music acts (like the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan and Elton John) are now making way over half their income playing at private corporate gigs.

Can you imagine scooping an invite to a swank IBM promotional party and Dylan is up there singing "Masters of War"? I would have to buy a new outfit.

"Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes." Henry David Thoreau
posted by bukvich at 5:52 AM on January 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

There's a reason they gloss over WWII. They were the ones who came up with the computer systems that made it possible to catalogue the Jews. Thomas Watson, founder of IBM, not only worked directly with the Nazis for immense profit, but can be considered at least partially responsible for the Holocaust.

You can read all about it on wikipedia.
posted by metameat at 1:22 PM on January 23, 2011

It's nice to watch this while waiting the debugger to grind its way to a stop...
posted by of strange foe at 1:30 PM on January 26, 2011