By the 1980s and 1990s, Moore's Law had emerged as the underlying assumption that governed almost everything in the Valley, from technology to business, education, and even culture. The "law" said the number of transistors would double every couple of years. It dictated that nothing stays the same for more than a moment; no technology is safe from its successor; costs fall and computing power increases not at a constant rate but exponentially: If you're not running on what became known as" Internet time," you're falling behind.

What the Dormouse Said: How the Sixties Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry