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Page 4A OPINION East Oregonian Thursday, May 14, 2015 Founded October 16, 1875 KATHRYN B. BROWN Publisher JENNINE PERKINSON Advertising Director DANIEL WATTENBURGER Managing Editor TIM TRAINOR Opinion Page Editor OUR VIEW OTHER VIEWS Justina Mintz/AMC via AP This image shows, from left, John Slattery as Roger Sterling, Jon Hamm as Don Draper, Vincent Kartheiser as Pete Campbell, Christina Hendricks as Joan Harris and Kevin Rahm as Ted Chaough, in a scene from the final season of “Mad Men.” Saying so long to television friends I t’s hard to say goodbye to old But he became a pro at pals. the interview and was always And it’s no easier if those incisive and sometimes pals happen to be television remarkably candid and sweet. characters, both real and His conversation with the ¿FWLRQDO terminally-ill musician Warren In a little more than a week, Zevon is among the most two imagined worlds that have heartrending and thoughtful Tim come to mean a lot to me will be PRPHQWVLQWHOHYLVLRQ³(QMR\ Trainor HYHU\VDQGZLFK´ZDV=HYRQ¶V off the airwaves for good. Comment 7KH¿UVWLV³0DG0HQ´ farewell. the episodic drama of 1960s Letterman will be missed. But America. And just three days the inventiveness, crotchetiness later — when I’ll still be reeling from and smarts he brought to late night will the loss of Don and Peggy and Joan — live on, not least of which in Stephen the 33-year reign of late night comedian Colbert, who will take over Dave’s desk David Letterman will come to a close. DWWKH³/DWH6KRZ´ There is little in common between the $QGWKHQWKHUHLV³0DG0HQ´ZKLFK two shows, save the relative concurrence will be missed too. RIWKHLU¿QDOHV Though it has not been around Letterman has been on television nearly as long as Letterman, over seven longer than I’ve been alive, so I can’t seasons it has painted a remarkable claim to be a master of his oeuvre. tableau of one of the most fascinating %XWVRPHRIP\¿UVWPHPRULHVRI times in American history. Brilliant comedy and pop culture came from the writing, exquisite fashion and set design, gap-toothed Hoosier and his absurdities, excellent casting and characters, all ³IRXQGKXPRU´DQGFRQYHUVDWLRQVZLWKD of which is set against the dramatic nearby deli owner. EDFNGURSRI-).5).0/.9LHWQDP My parents were early-to-bed folks, and The Beatles. and on the rare occasion that they were I tend to think of the show as not just up late and the television was on, it was a study of the Sixties, but a study of the tuned to Jay Leno. But he seemed to American man and the American dream me to be a talking joke book, and never (and the American dream man, whew sharp enough to return a one-liner. that Don Draper!) It also carries a heavy My night-owl grandma was partial dose of cynicism toward consumer to Letterman. She liked the way he culture and the rise of corporate power. DGOLEEHGDQG³DOZD\VKDVDQDQVZHUIRU Don, the protagonist, is a man out of HYHU\WKLQJDQGHYHU\ERG\´ time, a classic 1950s persona adrift on When we kids had a night at the seas of cultural change. grandma’s, we would stay up late and And while most of the characters are watch Dave. We’d even play along H[WUHPHO\ÀDZHGWKH\KDYHEHFRPHSDUW at home, like Dave asked us to, when of the family. People you’d love to stay VHJPHQWVOLNH³:LOOLW)ORDW"´FDPHRQ up and watch Letterman with. 'R\RXUHPHPEHUWKDWRQH"$VWDJHKDQG It will be hard to say goodbye to would drop an item into a tank, after 5RJHUDQGKLVSROLWLFDOO\LQFRUUHFW Dave and Paul had placed their wagers charm, hard to say goodbye to self- RQZKHWKHURUQRWLWZRXOGÀRDW7KDW¶V absorbed and self-doubting Betty, to it — that’s the joke. We’d laugh as he slimeball Pete and ladder-climbing, stretched it as long as he could, the glass-ceiling breaking Peggy. It will running gag of course being that it be very hard for me, personally, to say wasn’t very funny. goodbye to Joan and her, um, dresses. We loved when he said something The show has been a major cultural off-color, which was almost always phenomenon, helping support retro directed at his bosses: NBC, CBS, GE, trends and helping other generations there was always a new acronym to understand the Baby Boomer make fun of. And we loved it when experience. he’d follow the off-color barb with his Television has certainly done some IDYRULWHMLQJOH³8KRKZH¶UHJRQQDJHW damage to American culture, but it has VXHG´ also beamed some of our best art into Letterman matured, eventually, and living rooms across the country. David then he over-matured. He got a little /HWWHUPDQDQG³0DG0HQ´DUHJUHDW grouchy, and a little lazy, and no longer examples of that, and it will take more had the desire to record a remote from a WKDQDIHZ2OG)VKLRQHGVWRIRUJHWWKHLU Taco Bell drive-thru. impact. AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File In this 1993 file photo, talk-show host David Letterman announces his new contract with CBS television. Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board of Publisher Kathryn Brown, Managing Editor Daniel Wattenburger, and Opinion Page Editor Tim Trainor. Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not necessarily that of the East Oregonian. Moore’s Law turns 50 S $1)5$1&,6&2²2Q 300,000 miles per hour. You would April 19, 1965, just over 50 get 2 million miles per gallon of gas, years ago, Gordon Moore, then and all that for the mere cost of 4 WKHKHDGRIUHVHDUFKIRU)DLUFKLOG cents! Now, you’d still be stuck on the Semiconductor and later one of the (Highway) 101 getting here tonight, co-founders of Intel, was asked by but, boy, in every opening you’d be Electronics Magazine to submit an JRLQJPLOHVDQKRXU´ article predicting what was going What is most striking in Moore’s to happen to integrated circuits, the Thomas 1965 article is how many predictions heart of computing, in the next 10 Friedman he got right about what these steadily years. Studying the trend he’d seen improving microchips would enable. Comment in the previous few years, Moore 7KHDUWLFOHHQWLWOHG³&UDPPLQJ predicted that every year we’d double More Components Onto Integrated WKHQXPEHURIWUDQVLVWRUVWKDWFRXOGEH¿WRQ &LUFXLWV´DUJXHGWKDW³,QWHJUDWHGFLUFXLWV a single chip of silicon so you’d get twice will lead to such wonders as home computers as much computing power for only slightly — or at least terminals connected to a more money. When that came true, in 1975, central computer — automatic controls for KHPRGL¿HGKLVSUHGLFWLRQ automobiles, and personal to a doubling roughly every portable communications WZR\HDUV³0RRUH¶V/DZ´ equipment. The electronic has essentially held up ever wristwatch needs only since — and, despite the a display to be feasible skeptics, keeps chugging today. ... In telephone along, making it probably communications, integrated the most remarkable FLUFXLWVLQGLJLWDO¿OWHUV example ever of sustained will separate channels on exponential growth of a multiplex equipment. (They) will also switch telephone technology. circuits and perform data )RUWKHWKDQQLYHUVDU\ SURFHVVLQJ´ of Moore’s Law, I Moore pretty much interviewed Moore, now 86, anticipated the personal at the Exploratorium in San computer, the cellphone, )UDQFLVFRDWDFHOHEUDWLRQ self-driving cars, the iPad, in his honor co-hosted by Big Data and the Apple Watch. How did he WKH*RUGRQDQG%HWW\0RRUH)RXQGDWLRQDQG GRWKDW"7KHRQO\WKLQJKHPLVVHG,MRNLQJO\ Intel. I asked him what he’d learned most WROGKLPZDV³PLFURZDYHSRSFRUQ´ from Moore’s Law having lasted this long. ³:HOO´VDLG0RRUH³,KDGEHHQORRNLQJ ³,JXHVVRQHWKLQJ,¶YHOHDUQHGLVRQFH at integrated circuits — (they) were really you’ve made a successful prediction, avoid new at that time, only a few years old — and PDNLQJDQRWKHURQH´0RRUHVDLG³,¶YH avoided opportunities to predict the next 10 or they were very expensive. There was a lot of argument as to why they would never \HDUV´ be cheap, and I was beginning to see, from But was he surprised by how long it has my position as head of a laboratory, that the EHHQSURYHGEDVLFDOO\FRUUHFW" technology was going to go in the direction ³2K,¶PDPD]HG´KHVDLG³7KHRULJLQDO where we would get more and more stuff prediction was to look at 10 years, which I on a chip and it would make electronics less thought was a stretch. This was going from expensive. ... I had no idea it was going to about 60 elements on an integrated circuit to turn out to be a relatively precise prediction, 60,000 — a thousandfold extrapolation over but I knew the general trend was in that 10 years. I thought that was pretty wild. The direction and had to give some kind of a fact that something similar is going on for 50 reason why it was important to lower the cost years is truly amazing. You know, there were RIHOHFWURQLFV´ all kinds of barriers we could always see that &DQLWFRQWLQXH"(YHU\\HDUVRPHRQH (were) going to prevent taking the next step, predicts the demise of Moore’s Law, and and somehow or other, as we got closer, the they’re wrong. With enough good engineers HQJLQHHUVKDG¿JXUHGRXWZD\VDURXQGWKHVH ZRUNLQJRQLWKHKRSHG³ZHZRQ¶WKLWDGHDG But someday it has to stop. No exponential end. ... It’s (a) unique technology. I can’t see OLNHWKLVJRHVRQIRUHYHU´ anything really comparable that has gone on But what an exponential it’s been. In introducing the evening, Intel’s CEO, Brian for this long a period of time with exponential .U]DQLFKVXPPDUL]HGZKHUH0RRUH¶V/DZKDV JURZWK´ WDNHQXV,I\RXWRRN,QWHO¶V¿UVWJHQHUDWLRQ But let’s remember that it was enabled microchip from 1971, the 4004, and the by a group of remarkable scientists and latest chip Intel has on the market today, the engineers, in an America that did not just brag ¿IWKJHQHUDWLRQ&RUHLSURFHVVRUKHVDLG\RX about being exceptional, but invested in the can see the power of Moore’s Law at work: LQIUDVWUXFWXUHDQGEDVLFVFLHQWL¿FUHVHDUFK Intel’s latest chip offers 3,500 times more and set the audacious goals, to make it so. If performance, is 90,000 times more energy we want to create more Moore’s Law-like HI¿FLHQWDQGDERXWWLPHVORZHUFRVW technologies, we need to invest in the building 7RSXWWKDWDQRWKHUZD\.U]DQLFKVDLG blocks that produced that America. Intel engineers did a rough calculation of what Ŷ ZRXOGKDSSHQKDGD9RONVZDJHQ%HHWOH Thomas L. Friedman won the 2002 Pulitzer improved at the same rate as microchips did Prize for commentary, his third Pulitzer for XQGHU0RRUH¶V/DZ³+HUHDUHWKHQXPEHUV The New York Times. He became the paper’s (Today) you would be able to go with that car foreign-affairs Op-Ed columnist in 1995. Moore’s Law has been the most remarkable example ever of sustained exponential growth of technology. LETTERS POLICY The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public issues and public policies for publication in the newspaper and on our website. The newspaper reserves the right to withhold letters that address concerns about individual services and products or letters that infringe on the rights of private citizens. Submitted letters must be signed by the author and include the city of residence and a daytime phone number. The phone number will not be published. Unsigned letters will not be published. Send letters to Managing Editor Daniel Wattenburger, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801 or email editor@eastoregonian.com.
