Vannevar Bush first described his vision of the "Memex" in his 1945 article "As We May Think." In the article, Bush describes how an overload in information is not an increase in knowledge. He expressed his post-WWII concerns that scientific advancement would lead to destruction. Bush thought up this invention, the Memex, that would record all information and consolidate it into memory. This transformation of information into knowledge, he predicted, would hopefully solve the potential destruction due to scientific advancement.
In Bush's 1967 article "Memex Revisited," he explains how various technological advancements, such as magnetic tape, had made the idea of the memex a real possibility.
At the synopsis held at MIT in 1995, it was discussed that Bush's memex wasn't so much a prediction of the future; it was a creation of the future through influence, both direct and indirect.
In a commentary on blogs.ubc.ca, Len Pelletier notes that contrary to today's World Wide Web, the memex did not allow readers to create and share their own thoughts and information. This creation accounts for a chaos in the World Wide Web that was not present in Bush's vision of the Memex.
Though I recognize Vannevar Bush strongly influenced the future with his proposition of a super-informational-organizer that could turn information into knowledge, I don't believe that the World Wide Web has worked to accomplish that task. The high levels of creation involved in the web today, as mentioned by Len Pelletier in his review, has defeated the purpose of the "memex" to turn information into knowledge. Humans are in an even bigger information overload that is not hindering, but also not helping, the goal of understanding.
1 comment:
It is interesting to read your commentary since mine was all about the positive effects it has on our community and society. I think it is essential to look at the problem in both ways and that could bring in more dimension for this creation.
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