I don't see any cause and effect association
between the IBM and AA slogans - it's seems
like speculation. Is there a non-anecdotal
source for corroboration that it "... was
adopted by AA members from a sign that came
with early IBM calculating machines ..."

T J Watson Sr coined the slogan "Think" in 1911
long before the forerunner companies evolved
into the name "International Business Machines"
in 1924. The slogan consisted simply of the
single word "Think."

http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/attic2/attic2_207.html

Cheers
Arthur

- - - -

From: Jon Markle <serenitylodge@...>
(serenitylodge at mac.com)

Re: Another of the slogans: Think think think

This one was exlplained to me: Think it all
the way through.

Hugs for the trudge
Jon (Raleigh)
9/9/82

- - - -

From: "Glenn Chesnut" glennccc@...
(glennccc at sbcglobal.net)

It seems to me that Arthur's warning should
be taken seriously.

It certainly appears that a lot of legend
and creative myth-making has built up around
this. I did a search on the internet for IBM
and the word "think," and in every single
case that word only appeared once. I could
find no example at all of an IBM sign that
had "Think Think Think" three times, let
alone with the fanciful explanations that
are sometimes given in AA legend about
what these were supposed to mean.

So to give a few examples out of many:

IBM Archives: THINK Sign
http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/attic2/attic2_207.html
The "THINK" motto was developed by Thomas J. Watson, Sr., three years before he
joined the forerunner of today's IBM in 1914. By the early 1930s, THINK began to
take precedence over other slogans in IBM, and it appeared on signs such as this
in IBM plants and offices, and in company publications, calendars and
photographs all over the world.

http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/vintage/vintage_4506VV2024.html
THINK was a one-word slogan developed by IBM founder Thomas J. Watson, Sr. It
appeared in IBM offices, plants and company publications in the 1920s and in the
early 1930s began to take precedence over other slogans in IBM. It eventually
appeared in wood, stone and bronze, and was published in company newspapers,
magazines, calendars, photographs, medallions -- even New Yorker cartoons -- and
it remained for years the name of IBM's employee publication. You can still find
echoes of Watson's motto in the brand name of IBM's popular notebook computers:
the ThinkPad. This photograph shows a number of THINK signs rendered in a
variety of languages for display by IBM employees around the world.

http://home.comcast.net/~suptjud/IBMMachines.htm

http://www.timewarptoys.com/think.jpg
(on this webpage http://www.timewarptoys.com/gallery.htm )

http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/vintage/vintage_4506VV2184.html
It's 1940 and these 22 young men are operating an electric accounting machine
installation somewhere in IBM. We know it's an IBM installation because visible
in the photograph are an IBM job time recorder (for logging the start and end of
various accounting jobs), one photo of Thomas J. Watson, Sr. and five THINK
signs. Can you spot them?

- - - -

On Jul 9, 2009, at 6:03 PM, John Barton
<jax760@...> wrote:

> THINK, THINK, THINK
>
> This slogan is not found in the BB but was
> adopted by AA members from a sign that came
> with early IBM calculating machines. The sign
> said:
>
> THINK of what you are about to do
>
> THINK of what you are doing
>
> THINK of what you have done
>
> - - - -
>
> J. Lobdell <jlobdell54@...> wrote:
>
> We have been discussing the early AA slogans,
> especially "But for the Grace of God."
>
> But another of the early slogans was also
> mentioned:
>
> This one -- "Think think think" -- was perhaps
> not biblical. It seems to have been an IBM slogan
> put up on a Cleveland AA bulletin board or the
> equivalent ca 1944 much to the chagrin of
> Clarence S., who observed (approximately)
> "Alcoholics don't think -- they emote."
>
> (Mitch K. can probably provide chapter and
> verse on this.)