Talk:IBM and World War II

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not a substantial topic on its own????? There is a book called IBM and the Holocaust and two lawsuits were filed. Regardless of how you feel about the merits of their arguments, they've reached all the WP thresholds for having their own article. Andrew Gradman talk/WP:Hornbook 16:52, 25 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Ladies and Gentleman: This discussion should not be about just one subsidiary but 20 subsidiaries including, Dehomag in Germany, Watson Italiana in Italy, Watson Business Machines in Poland, plus other subsidiaries and agents in Holland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, Brazil, Hungary, Vichy France and many others. Any who wish the book or documentation, contact me at inquiry@edwinblack.com or Andrew who I just been introduced to but who has both--as do many others on Wikipedia. A final thought--this article should not be about IBM during WWII, but IBM during the Holocaust since their activities started long before the War, in 1933. Edwin Black.
Mr. Black, on a number of your posts I've noticed that you're not in the habit of indenting. If you could please put colons at the beginning of the paragraph (one more colon than was used in the previous paragraph, as I have just done), it makes it easier for everyone to distinguish the end of a comment. Thanks. 128.59.180.151 (talk) 21:03, 27 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I am getting that slowly. But I shall soon have little to say in these pages and will work more offline with those who wish it. As for User 151, if you wish a copy of the book or documentation, please ping me at inquiry@edwinblack.com. Should I have done 3 colons? Edwin Black Washington DC (talk) 18:20, 28 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I agree with the factual content, but am not sure IBM (as opposed to computing technologies in World War II) should be the topic.
Mr. Black himself has written, "Make no mistake. The Holocaust would still have occurred without IBM. To think otherwise is more than wrong. The Holocaust would have proceeded—and often did proceed—with simple bullets, death marches, and massacres based on pen and paper persecution. But there is reason to examine the fantastical numbers Hitler achieved in murdering so many millions so swiftly, and identify the crucial role of automation and technology." [1] Jim.Callahan,Orlando (talk) 14:27, 4 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Computing technology was used for several purposes in World War II including code breaking (Bletchley Park), calculating ballistic trajectories and statistical dispersion for aiming artillery (Ballistic Research Laboratory, Andrey Kolmogorov), development of the atomic bomb (Feynman#Manhattan Project) and the tracking of prisoners at internment and concentration camps. Jim.Callahan,Orlando (talk) 14:27, 4 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Where IBM punch card technology was used, it should be noted, but so should other technologies, such as Marchant calculator machines for example:
During the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos "The new IBM punched-card machines were devoted to calculations to simulate implosion, and Metropolis and Feynman organized a race between them and the hand-computing group. "We set up a room with girls in it. Each one had a Marchant. But one was the multiplier, and another was the adder, and this one cubed, and all she did was cube this number and send it to the next one," said Feynmann. For one day, the hand computers kept up: "The only difference was that the IBM machines didn't get tired and could work three shifts. But the girls got tired after a while." "

[2]Jim.Callahan,Orlando (talk) 14:27, 4 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Uses of computer technology in wartime is an important topic, although punch cards have been replaced by databases and even newer "big data" technology, the issues of computer aided ethnic cleansing, internment and genocide are still with us. Jim.Callahan,Orlando (talk) 14:27, 4 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

usa hates jews? go to hell wikipedia[edit]

the usa was concentrating hard?

"In both the United States and Germany concentration or internment camps were established during World War II, "

Sorry... wtf? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.171.43.37 (talk) 23:53, 30 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The links in the article are a bit misleading, but the US did have internment camps for Japanese — Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.183.195.113 (talk) 08:11, 10 June 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Merger proposal[edit]

This article can't be merged into the main history article because it is too big already (file size 439kb). I've removed the merger proposal notice. Alanl (talk) 08:11, 8 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

This is a terrible article[edit]

While the provisioning of punch card technology to both the Nazi government and the department in the USA that was responsible for the Japanese-American internment is a hobby horse for some of the people here, it isn't making for a good article.

For one thing there is already an entire article on the book on that topic.

As another writer pointed out below, IBM was already a widespread multi-national company. For another IBM provided all sorts of technology to the USA in the war, they invented new calculating machines, they retooled factories to make munitions. None of that is here.

This article really needs to be comprehensively re-written or else deleted. The article on the History of IBM already covers this topic better than this drill down.

ZeroXero (talk) 20:31, 28 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

  • Try your luck with WP:AFD. That there is an article on the book is not a valid reason for deletion, though it is worthwhile investigating whether that article has validity to it. Drmies (talk) 05:04, 15 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

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  1. ^ Black, Black. "Introduction". IBM and the Holocaust. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  2. ^ "Evolving from Calculators to Computers". Manhattan Project History. The Manhattan Project Heritage Preservation Association, Inc. Retrieved 4 July 2014. Unless otherwise indicated, this information has been authored by an employee or employees of the University of California, operator of the Los Alamos National Laboratory under Contract No. W-7405-ENG-36 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The U.S. Government has rights to use, reproduce, and distribute this information. The public may copy and use this information without charge, provided that this Notice and any statement of authorship are reproduced on all copies. Neither the Government nor the University makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any liability or responsibility for the use of this information.