Vannevar Bush’s article “As We May Think” was a very interesting read. Although I did find it confusing at times and I did have to re-read several sections to fully grasp the meaning, I still got a lot out of it.
One thing I liked about the article was its structure. The first few sections merely described ideas or concepts, and later sections had more concrete examples of those ideas. For example, Bush discusses “dry photography” towards the beginning of the article and then references it many times specifically toward the end. This layout made sense to me and helped me to understand exactly what he was talking about.
On the other hand, I disliked how complex the language was. There were several terms that were either too advanced or too specific to a certain topic for me to understand what was going on. I had to re-read some parts of the article to feel less confused, but was still left unsure of exactly what Bush was talking about. This didn’t fully distract me from understanding the article as a whole, but it did lead to some uncertainty and even frustration.
As for the content in the article, I found the points Bush made to be incredibly relevant to contemporary technology. Although “As We May Think” was written in the 1940’s, it seems advanced and more recent because most of what he discusses is pertinent now.
Starting in section 6, Bush describes a machine he coins a “memex.” Quite obviously to someone in today’s age, he seems to be describing a computer. I found it really interesting when he explained the processes of which a computer, or memex, works. When he spoke of trails, for example, it reminded me of the folders on a computer. This made me think more deeply about the technology we use today and how it really works. This deeper thinking was also evoked in other sections, such as section 5 when Bush described the simple way that a telephone works.
Vannevar Bush is a genius in the sense that he wrote of such advanced processing technology in what seems like such a long time ago. Despite minor distractions and confusion due to the writing style of the piece, “As We May Think” was a gratifying read.