Fortune predicted the "Kilowatts boom" in 1939 — compute has since grown 15 orders of magnitude
floguo · x · 2026-09-20
A vintage anecdote circulating in AI circles: Fortune magazine's December 1939 cover story was "The coming boom in Kilowatts." A researcher shared the cover, noting that in the 86 years since, energy/compute has grown roughly 15 orders of magnitude with no sign of slowing. Separately, a collector of 70 Fortune issues from the 1930s–60s is looking for help digitizing the archive.
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