Scott Hanselman 👸🏽🐝🌮Jul 7, 2023
Today I released my *900TH EPISODE* of the @hanselminutes tech podcast. That's an episode a week, 900 times, y'all. This week is a very special guest THE INVENTOR OF ETHERNET. Check it out, subscribe, review, + above all, please share: https://www.hanselminutes.com/900/from-ethernet-to-geothermal-energy-with-bob-metcalfe #podcast #freshtech
From Ethernet to Geothermal Energy with Bob Metcalfe

This episode of Hanselminutes is in partnership with the ACM Bytecast podcast! In this episode, we have a special guest: Bob Metcalfe, the inventor of Ethernet, co-founder of 3Com, and recipient of the 2022 Turing Award. Bob joins us to share his insights on the history and future of computer networking, and his current work in geothermal power!

Show threadJason WoodwardJul 8, 2023
@shanselman I remember unfollowing him on twitter in the early or mid 2010s for being a raging right winger. Hope he’s reformed.
Show threadScott Hanselman 👸🏽🐝🌮
@woodwardjd I didn’t get that impression from our hour+ chat. He’s working on renewable energy and appreciated my diverse show’s guest roster. Perhaps you’re thinking of Uncle Bob?
Jul 8, 2023 at 2:49amWeb
Show threadJason WoodwardJul 8, 2023
@shanselman that’s great to hear. Definitely not thinking of Uncle Bob - I’ve never been much interested in what he’s had to say, so never followed. Pretty confident it was Metcalfe. To be fair it was prior to, well, the “right wing nuttery” of the past 8-10 years, so maybe it was more “classic right wing” which I still wasn’t interested in back then.
Show threadJason WoodwardJul 8, 2023

@shanselman this morning I dug through my twitter archive export, and then the wayback machine. Look at pre-jan 2011 (after which twitter's frontend JS makes it harder to read the archived pages). Unfortunately Bob started a new twitter account (RobertMMetcalfe; with the original BobMetcalfe now being squatted), so it's harder to poke through the real site.

It's hardly damning, but there are some hints at what I remember in [ https://web.archive.org/web/20101210054511/https://twitter.com/BobMetcalfe ], in particular tax policy commentary.

Bob Metcalfe (BobMetcalfe) on Twitter

MIT engineer, Harvard mathematician, Xerox scientist, Ethernet inventor, Stanford professor, 3Com founder, InfoWorld pundit, Polaris partner, Texas professor.

Show threadJason WoodwardJul 8, 2023

@shanselman one might also guess the vibe based on his follows listed on the right.

Anyway, despite being generally skeptical, I still think people can change, and if he's using his influence in positive ways these days, that's wonderful news. At the very least this thread has prompted me to give this episode a listen on my next run!

Show threadScott Hanselman 👸🏽🐝🌮Jul 8, 2023
@woodwardjd he identifies as libertarian and talks about it here https://ubiquity.acm.org/article.cfm?id=342328
Show threadJason WoodwardJul 8, 2023
@shanselman maybe that was the "code smell" I detected back then, and mislabeled!