Vannevar Bush

As We May Think

Interpretive notes by Dani Day...

Vannevar Bush was definitely ahead of his time.  His thought processes were precursors for much of what is going on in technology today.  From a man who contributed to mass destruction to a philosopher hoping for the betterment of humanity, he explored possibilities in communication and information storage and retrieval.

            His focus in this essay was to establish a form of storage and retrieval that mimics the human brain by using association rather than indexing and file folders and subfolder filing of information.  His thoughts were that people were growing exponentially and the amount of information was overwhelming lead him to create the “Memex” machine.  The Memex was designed to sort and file information by way of connecting information through “trails” that could be created by the user to make it easier to find information.

            The idea of the human memory as transitory and finding a way to create a more permanent memory makes me question the Web.  When a site is created, is it really permanent?  Or is it only in the associative mix as long as the client continues to pay for the server space?  If this is the case, how can the computer and the Web be any different from the human mind?

            His ideas of immediate gratification of photography are similar to what we see now with digital photography.  Many of his other insights and ideas have come to fruition over the past few years.

            One thing he points out is the need for invention based on need for information.  I see much of this as a question of whether “necessity is the mother of invention” or is the question really “invention becomes the mother of necessity.”  I say this because it seems that we tend to need to create a new machine to help us process information because our inventions and other creations have lead us to a point where we “need” a new way to sort through it.  (It is kind of like the question “which came first, the chicken or the egg”) You need one to create the other.  (sorry, I digress)

            I have a new understanding for progress and invention based on his statement that “whenever logical processes of thought are employed…thought for a time runs along an accepted groove, there is an opportunity for the machine.”  I guess that is why man invented the wheel.