Bell Labs is actually my go-to example of a much-hyped research institution whose work was mostly not counterfactual; see e.g. here. Shannon’s information theory is the only major example I know of highly counterfactual research at Bell Labs. Most of the other commonly-cited advances, like e.g. transistors or communication satellites or cell phones, were clearly not highly counterfactual when we look at the relevant history: there were other groups racing to make the transistor, and the communication satellite and cell phones were both old ideas waiting on the underlying technology to make them practical.
That said, Hamming did sit right next to Shannon during the information theory days IIRC, so his words do carry substantial weight here.
Bell Labs is actually my go-to example of a much-hyped research institution whose work was mostly not counterfactual; see e.g. here. Shannon’s information theory is the only major example I know of highly counterfactual research at Bell Labs. Most of the other commonly-cited advances, like e.g. transistors or communication satellites or cell phones, were clearly not highly counterfactual when we look at the relevant history: there were other groups racing to make the transistor, and the communication satellite and cell phones were both old ideas waiting on the underlying technology to make them practical.
That said, Hamming did sit right next to Shannon during the information theory days IIRC, so his words do carry substantial weight here.