After reading Bush's 1945 article, "As we may think," on the Memex, I read the updated 1967 article, "Memex revisited." The progress of Bush's thoughts on the speed and connectivity in the projection of technology was quite interesting. After the first two, I read the thoughts on the 1995 symposium on Bush's idea of the Memex, 50 years after it was orginially published. The additions of other scholars on the topic added interesting insight on Bush's original ideas. The combination of all the scientists and scholars that added some idea or product to what we call the internet today was very intriguing. It's captivating to learn how and when each new addition or adjustment to our current internet technology system was made.
After learning more about the development of the current internet, I searched for commentary on the Memex system. I found a short article by Michael Fraase discussing the Memex system, "The lost manuscripts: Commentary on Bush's Memex." Fraase did an excellent job of consolidating all of Bush's thoughts into a concise review. He focused on the main points Bush argued and how they have developed into today's society. For example, Bush had a pessimistic idea of a personal computer in the not near future. Fortunately, his future has become present. The idea of a personal computer is very popular today and one of the most frequently used instruments of the internet. Another idea Fraase brought up that Bush discussed was the amount of storage these computers could hold. While this article was written in 2009, Fraase complains that his first computer's amount of storage was insufficient. As argued by Bush, this was one of the main problems with such technology. The ability for personal computers to old mass amounts of storage is still not achieved, but has surely improved. Although the storage capacity isn't infinite, the amount allotted in personal computers today vastly outstretches Bush's predictions. Fraase's review of the Memex was concise and easily related Bush's ideas to the technology in our current society. It's very inspiring to see such innovation finally become possible after over half a century!
1 comment:
I agree that the idea of the amount of storage on personal computers being so limited is a problem. However, I feel the concept of ideas such as the cloud are rendering the former idea moot. With the possibility of potentially endless amounts of storage online, the idea of running out of personal storage space is becoming non-existent. The only downside to such an idea is the fact companies are making you pay for additional space. If you have the funds though and are willing to spend them, you shall never run out of storage space so long as you have connection to the internet.
Post a Comment