New Media Reader: "As We May Think" Summary (pgs. 35-47)

In Vannevar Bush's 1945 article "As We May Think," he discusses inventions of the time in addition to providing his speculations on future technological innovations that will come about. Bush, however, voices his concern that the ending of WWII may hold back scientific advancements due to insufficient government funding. Bush talks about future developments in the world of photography that would allow photographers to simply wear a pair of special glasses through which they could look and capture images of their field of vision. This film could then be developed instantly using a dry technique, rather than chemically developing the film over time. Bush then came up with his idea for a mass storage device which would store thousands of books and pictures. Bush called this idea of his the "memex" and proposed that users of the memex would be able to take notes right there on the screen using a keyboard in conjunction with different buttons and levers. The notes taken by each user and the different research "trails" incorporated could then be saved and made available to other users of the memex. The article closes with other technological predictions made by Bush.