1.) The film does not examine Silicon Valley per se, but it does explore the downsizing of the California defense industry in general after 1989. Furthermore, if the film had focused on a big Silicon Valley defense contractor like Lockheed Missiles and Space, the story would have been the same. Lockheed, for example, was the leading employer in Silicon Valley in the 1980s with a workforce of over 25,000. By the end of the 1990s it employed less than 10,000. Thus, as you watch the film, think about the impact of defense downsizing in relation to the history of Silicon Valley. In what ways was Silicon Valley hurt by the end of the Cold War? In what ways was it immune to the difficulties discussed in the film? What other factors conspired after 1989 to shape the particular Silicon Valley response to defense downsizing?

2.) Considering the evidence presented by this film, which was more important in the development of Silicon Valley in the 1980s and 1990s: scientific innovation, federal government spending, or the forces of free-market capitalism? Would your answer be the same if the focus were upon Silicon Valley before 1980? If not, how do you account for the relationship between your two answers?

3.) The film discusses the difficulties inherent in converting military contracting companies into for-profit private companies. Connect this analysis to the history of Silicon Valley as you have learned it this term. What other institutions resemble military contractors? What lessons about the relationship between technology and capitalism, between innovation and institutional culture, or between innovation and commercial success can you you draw from the history of military conversion in the 1990s? What lessons about the history of Silicon Valley in general do you draw from this history?

4.) Focus on the story about the Pentagon and the commercial application of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) technology. What does it teach us about the relationship between the military-industrial complex, technological innovation, and capitalism? Did ARPA or NASA form the same kind of relationships? Why or why not? Try to generalize from these and other comparative cases about the role played by the military-industrial complex in shaping the economic and technological history of Post-War America.
 

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