Vannevar+Bush.+“As+We+May+Think”

Vannevar Bush. “As We May Think” __ http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1945/07/as-we-may-think/3881/ __ Critical Article Presentation Mona Albalaw
 * Bush, Vannevar. “ As We May Think. ” //Atlantic Monthly//. July 1945. Web.**

__**Overview**__ Vannevar Bush' s essay was published in July 1945 at a time of the US nuclear attacks on Japan. He expresses his concern to the goals of scientists and physicists after the war was over. During the war other fields were not affected such as the job of a biologist and medical scientists for their research and objectives didn’t change because of the war unlike the physicists who had to change their original paths to aid the war in for example creating destructive weapons. However, with the end of the war, they have to find new objectives to serve humanity rather than destroy it. Vannevar Bush divided this essay into eight sections. Section 1: He discusses the usefulness of science to our existence. Science aids us to have more control over our environment, such as improving food, shelter, clothing, security, and medicine. Scientific research improved, and plenty of ideas were produced. Still, the application of these scientific findings is another matter that should be improved as well. Section 2: Since scientific research is important, it must be stored properly. It is stored through conventional writing, photography, printing, films, disks and magnetic wires. This part predicts that in the future, there will be new methods to store this valuable information, for example predicting the improvement of photography, such as in the future we won’t need wet plate to take a picture. Concerning film, he predicts that huge amount of knowledge can be stored into a compressed desk. In the future, compression will be available to store huge amount of knowledge and will be much cheaper that its original print form. Section 3: In the future, the process of recording information will improve as well. He predicts that in the future, a writer would cease to write in pencil or use a type writer, and instead get down his words directly through talking into a record. He also predicts that in the future there will be machines capable of doing multiple tasks at a high speed such as performing complex arithmetical computations. Section 4: In the future, scientific process will not only be excluded for arithmetic and statistics, and it will be available for mass production depending on the market’s needs. Section 5: In the future, there will be machines that will not be just used by the scientist, but by anyone as long as this machine uses logical laws for the production of higher analysis not just in mathematics but in everyday affairs. Forms of selections will improve as well especially through the use of telephones, in department stores, and even in the libraries. Section 6: However, there is a problem with selection. Accessing to a huge data of information is not an easy task due to its indexing methods. Information is stored and filed alphabetically or numerically. One can access to certain information by locating it using these methods, which is of course unlike the human mind which operates by association in retrieving information. Achieving such mental process artificially is not easy, thus an improvement has to be achieved in locating data by using analogy and association rather that indexing. He predicts a device for the individual naming it “memex,” desk with keyboards, which will be used to store huge amount of knowledge such as books and will be used as a supplement to memory. Section 7: This device, the “memex,” will not only try to copy the selective process of the human brain in retrieving information, but it will also be able to tie two items together on demand through the use of codes. Thus when researching a particular data, one can access to numerous items that have joined through the use of these codes forming a long trail of many items. Section 8: In the future due to these numerous developments, locating and sharing knowledge will be much easier. These machines will be used not only by scientists, but by attorneys, physicians, chemists, and historians who will be using this enormous common record will be available to everyone. __**Commentary**__ As a reader from the 21th century, I find Vannevar Bush' s article very enlighten. From a historical point of view, I can testify that most his predictions has come to life. The creation of computers, and the birth of the World Wide Web that made accessing and retrieving information easy, cheep, and on demand by the mass public. Scientific progression is indeed beneficial to the survival of human beings, and sharing knowledge is essential, and developing machines that aid such development is indeed much better that developing weapons for mass destruction. However, for a student in a class focusing on digital literature, I wonder what a student would gain from such article, rather than historical information and an example of a scientific thinking in the 40s? Vannevar Bush at the beginning was focusing on recoding information and transmuting it. Indeed, a writer had to use pen or a type writer to record his work before printing it and then publish a sell it, a process that takes time, and money to do so. A writer in our age uses the computer and all its privileges to record his work, and publish it on the web. Fast, easy, cheap, and accessible to anyone around the globe. __**For Discussion**__ “All our steps in creating or absorbing material of the record proceed through one of the senses—the tactile when we touch keys, the oral when we speak or listen, the visual when we read. Is it not possible that some day the path may be established more directly?” Today’s main stream science fiction toys with the idea of human consciousness living forever in machines. Was that what Vannevar Bush was thinking about in his last section? Is it indeed beneficial to create a machine more adequate to replace the limited power of the human brain?