Agenda Item Week 2

"the memex has been envisioned as a means of turning an information explosion into a knowledge explosion" (Bush 36). This statement appeals to me, and says to me 'knowledge is power'. That computers act as a form of communication and brings everyone from everywhere together. In this way, technology--the internet, has brought people together to share a commonality.

"Science has provided the swiftest communication between individuals; it has provided a record of ideas and has enabled man to manipulate and to make extracts from that record so that knowledge evolves and endures throughout the life of a race rather than that of an individual" (Bush 38). This quote appeals to me because before reading this passage, it hadn't occurred to me how science in itself is communication. What I find most interesting is how this article opens with talking about bombs and war. Reading further along the article you then realize the intellectual path into brilliant technological processes. As such, "shortly after 'As We May Think' was first published, Doug Engelbart, a young radar technician, came across it in a Red Cross library for U.S. soldiers in the Philippines. Later, with the memex in mind, Engelbart began work that would result in the invention of the mouse, the word processor, the hyperlink, and concepts of new media for which these groundbreaking inventions were merely enabling technologies" (Bush 36). It is most fascinating how a young radar technician invented such technological advances in which we are most dependent on today.