"Memex"-Melissa Quirk

It was very interesting to see Bush’s initial thoughts and predictions in “As we may think” on the “memex”, or future advanced society. He was very close and even accurate in many of his points and predictions of what the future would bring and the vast improvements and flaws. It was almost even more intriguing reading Bush’s article twenty years later on the “memex revisited” as time had passed and advancements had occurred. The reactions of the many scholars at the Symposium held at MIT in 1995 added some great points and insight on Bush’s idea of the “memex” and the outcome and flaws of his predictions. It was also interesting to see how although this was the most recent required reading on the “memex”, there was still so many advancements ahead of their arguments in light of today’s society and technology. Bush was very descriptive and clear in his predictions and I enjoyed reading them and comparing them to life and technology today.

I searched for a commentary on Bush’s idea of the “memex” and found “The lost manuscripts: commentary on Bush’s memex” by Michael Fraase. Fraase did a wonderful job of commenting both critically and positively on Bush’s predictions and articles overall. He touches on the idea of mass storage and Bush’s doubt in this capability. However, we now have great capacity for mass storage. I agree with Fraase’s critical analysis of Bush’s doubt in society’s future capability in storing mass amounts of information within technology. Just look at how much information and technology the iPhone can hold, and it fits in my pocket! I also liked how Fraase touched on the idea of communication technology, as I took great notice to this as well when reading Bush’s articles. However, I wish Fraase had used more examples and gone more in depth. Although considering his commentary was written in 2009, he did not have quite as many communication technology examples as are present today five years later. This brings me to Fraase’s mention of the speed in which technology has grown. He acknowledges Bush’s prediction of the technology growth and speed of the “memex” and ties it into the present quick growth of technological advancement. My only critique is that I wish he had gone more in depth of how quickly technology transforms in society today, but again, this commentary was five years ago. Overall, Fraase did a wonderful job of analyzing and linking the ideas in Bush’s article with society’s advancements and technology today. I enjoyed reading all these articles and seeing Fraase’s view.

 http://www.farces.com/the-lost-manuscripts-commentary-on-bushs-memex/