I’m guessing that if you’re reading this blog, you’ve previously encountered As We May Think, Vannevar Bush’s essay in The Atlantic Monthly foretelling much of computing revolution, and importantly its effects on how we think and interact with information. I read it years ago and found it amazing that someone contemplated this so long ago (mid-1940s.)
I’m reading The American Idea, a collection of some of the most influential essays printed in the Atlantic in its first 150 years of publication, and again encountered As We May Think. It’s stunning, imagine the context in 1945 in which he wrote this piece. Most interesting was his observation that the collection of human knowledge was far out-pacing our ability to keep up with, and importantly, interact with, this knowledge. His invention, manifest in a machine, the Memex, was hypertext media. I won’t do it justice to provide commentary, or pull out selected quotes, you should go and read it entirely.
When you’re done reading this piece, also order the book, it’s filled with similarly influential items which have driven all aspects of American society.