Prompt Cast
Errol Morris Discovers His Late Brother's Hidden Legacy as the Inventor of Email
TLDR Errol Morris uncovers the surprising claim that his brother, Noel Morris, invented email, a fact that was unknown to him until after his brother's death. Through investigation, Morris confirms that his brother did indeed invent email, shedding light on his brother's hidden legacy.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
Errol Morris discovers a comment on one of his essays claiming that his late brother, Noel Morris, invented email, which surprises him as his brother never mentioned it while he was alive.
02:03
Errol Morris' brother, Noel Morris, was a brilliant and inventive person who had a job programming early computers and built mechanical contraptions, but Errol never knew about the claim that his brother invented email until after his death.
04:23
Errol Morris visits his brother Noel in Cambridge, who had a console in his apartment and was highly respected for his programming skills, making it seem possible that he could have invented email without telling his family.
06:25
Errol Morris reflects on his brother Noel's death and the surprising number of people who attended his funeral, realizing that his brother had a larger impact and more connections than he had previously thought.
08:37
Errol Morris investigates his brother Noel's work on the development of email at MIT in the 1960s, finding that Noel and his colleague Tom Van Vleck implemented the idea of email despite their bosses telling them not to.
10:27
Noel and Tom implemented the idea of email at MIT, allowing multiple people to leave messages for each other on a shared terminal, and they believed that what they did was still electronic mail.
12:20
Errol Morris finds a sense of relief in discovering that his brother did indeed invent email, confirming that there is a world out there where people program things.
Categories:
Technology
Society & Culture
