The Memex

The Memex

In Bush’s first article, he argues that in the future there will be new instruments that increase control of the material environment and increase the span of life. This new system will be used to cope with all the information of researchers, which at the time was very time consuming and inefficient. In his second article published 30 years later, he gives this device a name, the “memex”. This memex was now redefined as a device where man could store books, records, and all means of communications so there is speed and flexibility. This device would provide selection by association rather than indexing, which was the type of sorting being used at the time.

In the article about the reactions to the idea of the memex, the authors argued that Bush doesn’t just predict the future of the world wide web, but he influences the creation of it. Providing the idea of the “memex” in turn influenced scientists to try to create it.

When I googled “memex”, I came across an interesting video that gave an animation of what the actual model of a memex would look and be like if it was real. This animation of the memex resembled a large desk, that had many drawers, screens, pads, and other compartments connected to it. The user of this memex created “trails” which linked his ideas, articles from history, and random ancedotes about certain topics together and then stored them in his memory. Using a memex, one can also insert things into other people’s memex. The animation seemed like an accurate respresentation of Bush’s memex, but it was still very far off from today’s world wide web. For example, the size of the memex was compared to a large desk. Today, “our memex” can fit in the palm of our hand. There were also specific compartments for each capability of the memex. With our device, it is simply one screen that we input information into. These differences simply prove that although Bush’s prediction had some similarities, it is still very different than the technology that exists today, and this technology will only continue to progress. I also enjoyed the video of the animation because it was ironic: 60 years ago when this was written computers didn’t exist; now, the only way people talk about and remember his ideas are through videos, blogs, and websites.

Works Cited

"Memex Animation - Vannevar Bush's Diagrams Made Real." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2014.