Bush Source Note
Title: @bushWeMayThink date: 2023-02-05 type: reference
tags:: #Bush #Web #Internet #Technology
Reference¶
Bush. n.d. As We May Think - The Atlantic. Available at https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1945/07/as-we-may-think/303881/ [Last accessed 18 January 2023].
Annotations:¶
Summary & Key Takeaways¶
- In Bush's As we may think, the author takes a deep dive into the growth of technology and how it affects us. Bush begins by looking at how we are in a war with technology, as he explains that many professions have resorted to creating gadgets to help them do their job. Bush explores the idea that technology has in a way taken over our minds as it is all we rely on saying, "The difficulty seems to be, not so much that we publish unduly in view of the extent and variety of present day interests, but rather that publication has been extended far beyond our present ability to make real use of the record" (Bush 1). Bush illustrates that new technology is extremely complex, but reliable, and that it is useful to humans. He takes a dive into may of these new technologies, such as a record player or TVs, and comes up with an idea that in the future devices will be extremely powerful. From this he explores the idea that in the future technology will be able to have all the world's knowledge fit in the back of the van and that it will come at a small cost. This is his early prototype to the web. He says "They will be controlled by a control card or film, they will select their own data and manipulate it in accordance with the instructions thus inserted, they will perform complex arithmetical computations at exceedingly high speeds, and they will record results in such form as to be readily available for distribution or for later further manipulation" (Bush 4). He follows up by explaining that even with this technology, scientists will still need more.