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 'As We May Think' -- essay by Vannevar Bush, 1945
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 Return to top of page · Post #: 1 · Written at 12:50:51 AM on 16 May 2020.
GTC's avatar
 GTC
 Location: Sydney, NSW
 Member since 28 January 2011
 Member #: 823
 Postcount: 6678

I was drawn to this fascinating essay by a reference in the book I am reading at the moment: Spycraft: The Secret History of the CIA's Spytechs, from Communism to Al-Qaeda

QUOTE: "As We May Think" predicted (to some extent) many kinds of technology invented after its publication, including hypertext, personal computers, the Internet, the World Wide Web, speech recognition, and online encyclopedias such as Wikipedia


The essay: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1945/07/as-we-may-think/303881/

The author: Vannevar Bush (March 11, 1890 – June 28, 1974) was an American engineer, inventor and science administrator, who during World War II headed the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD), through which almost all wartime military R&D was carried out, including important developments in radar and the initiation and early administration of the Manhattan Project.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vannevar_Bush


 
 Return to top of page · Post #: 2 · Written at 7:40:03 AM on 16 May 2020.
Fred Lever's Gravatar
 Location: Toongabbie, NSW
 Member since 19 November 2015
 Member #: 1828
 Postcount: 1245

Thanks GTC, Bush was one character in history I had not heard about.
Definitely a man to be admired and capable of clear thinking about what could be.
In times of duress, men like Bush stand out with capability.
What he would make of todays buffoons in power, like Trump, would be worth hearing!
Although I guess he had examples in his own time. As I read, he dispatched a few that got in his way.
A man of science.

Fred.


 
 Return to top of page · Post #: 3 · Written at 10:37:54 AM on 16 May 2020.
Jimb's Gravatar
 Location: Kanahooka, NSW
 Member since 18 November 2016
 Member #: 2012
 Postcount: 712

Thanks GTC.
A good read.


 
 Return to top of page · Post #: 4 · Written at 10:48:09 PM on 16 May 2020.
NewVista's avatar
 Location: Silver City WI, US
 Member since 10 May 2013
 Member #: 1340
 Postcount: 977

For his Memex vision, the secret ingredient - the high speed Von Neumann CPU - already existed at that time, and Schneider-Hoover's vision of the SPC/soft-switched phone network was just around the corner. But Page-Brin's web-PageRank-search-colossus (the dream come true) further into the future.


 
 Return to top of page · Post #: 5 · Written at 10:45:52 AM on 17 May 2020.
Ian Robertson's Gravatar
 Location: Belrose, NSW
 Member since 31 December 2015
 Member #: 1844
 Postcount: 2363

There was an article in a 1940's Radio and Hobbies that predicted the smart phone, describing a pocket-watch sized device with which we could have video conversations between anyone, anywhere in the world.

quote from memory:

This would require the invention of many technologies hitherto unknown..

It was predicted for the year 2000, didn't miss by much.


 
 Return to top of page · Post #: 6 · Written at 12:31:24 PM on 17 May 2020.
Robbbert's avatar
 Location: Hill Top, NSW
 Member since 18 September 2015
 Member #: 1801
 Postcount: 2011

Don't forget Dick Tracy and his communication watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdUmm56T_0E


 
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