Some of Silicon Valley’s most talented people are also some of the least humble. So often, arrogance seems to go with brilliance.
But not in the case of a man who coined one of technology’s most basic rules. When Gordon Moore, co-founder and former chairman and chief executive at chip maker Intel, steps down (Mercury News) from the company’s board next month, he’ll take with him countless good wishes stemming from boundless admiration.
Moore’s Law is a staple of our times, an incredible backbone of technology’s progress. That the engineers here in the valley and around the world have relentlessly kept doubling processing power every 18 to 24 months is an amazing feat, especially considering how long they’ve been doing it.
More astonishing is what we’ve done with microprocessors, the computers-on-chips Intel launched back in 1972. Moore’s Law means more than increasing power. It also means chips keep getting smaller and cheaper.
In 1997, on the 25th anniversary of that historical pivot point, Moore recalled how he’d gone from room to room in his house, trying to imagine all the uses for chips, which increasingly are embedded in so much of what we touch. “Think of a noun and put the adjective `intelligent’ in front of it,” he said then. If it makes sense, it’s an application for a chip.
It makes sense everywhere you look — at home, at work, at play. We all use dozens of computers each day.
There’s something fitting about this latest Intel transition: Moore’s replacement on the board is Reed Hundt, former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Hundt is a lawyer and, in a fundamental way, a politician whom Intel will find to be a helpful guide in an era when policy takes on more and more importance.
As Gordon Moore prepares to step down, let’s remember a contribution he’s made that is as valuable as any other — he’s been a beacon of civility in a frequently mean place.
Maybe we should coin another Moore’s law: Greatness and humility can be part of the same person.