The Memex by Vannevar Bush

This weekend I read articles dealing with an idea of “Memex” (compound word of memory extender) designed by Vannevar Bush. The “Memex” is an implement organizing vast amount of information for the sake of much easier accessibility. In order to discover what other people think about this device, I searched about it on Google, and I found a piece of writing, “Memex’s Time Has Finally Come” written by David Lavenda. He at first introduces Bush’s Memex as a remarkable tool that allow people to offload memory clutter to an external device for handy retrieval. He also rated Bush as a first class engineer and the device was designed using contemporary, off-the shelf technology. The Memex, however, was not every built, so Lavenda researches and finds some reasons: no real need for the device, a clunky user-interface, a different model the way we think. I agree with him on that although a tool named Memex was not actually created, but the realization of it is finally about to occur, because the widespread availability of two new technologies will make it a reality: the ubiquitous availability and affordability of cloud storage, and the proliferation of the iPad and other tablet computers. Furthermore, the Memex has been proven to be considerably influential because it has been cited by many inventors as their inspiration. It is interesting that I was only familiar with internet, but its inspiration, the Memex, is still referred by various quarters today.

http://www.fastcompany.com/3000954/memexs-time-has-finally-come