Richard Feynman Joins Danny Hillis to Build the Connection Machine

Richard Feynman and the Connection Machine

I recall when Richard Feynman first dismissed my plan to build a parallel computer with a million processors as the dopiest idea he had ever heard. Yet, his curiosity led him to join my startup, Thinking Machines Corporation, where he tackled the complex router design and helped organize our chaotic team. Drawing on his Los Alamos experience, he transformed our group dynamics and championed unconventional applications like neural networks, proving that even the craziest ideas deserve a chance.

"That is positively the dopiest idea I ever heard."