Dr. Vannevar Bush, Director of the Office of Scientific Research and Development, collaborated with many scientist during World War II. This article talks about the ups and downs science had in this period of time. The union of many scientist during this warfare led to the creation of many strategies and artifacts that would help on greater conflicts in history. During this time period science had a mayor boom to feed the needs of making more accessible our bewildering store of knowledge.
Inventions have increased the physical power of men to the extent that many, today tools, have replaced man strength with mechanical power such as trip hammers and their replacement of man fists, microscopes to enhance sight and visibility, and engines of destructions that are now part of the modern science. This only affected one side of the human being by only its physical aspect but not the mental one.
Vannnevar Bush stated that science, at one moment was unorganized and that many conclusions, if organized, could lead to many new advances and results that might enhance a human being’s physical and mental abilities. Yet in that period of time, science was growing at an immense speed even for scientists to handle, thinking this mayor “boom” in science could create a new event in human history.
One of the advances Vannaver predicted was those in photography and microfilm. Although this were advances with mayor effect, this had come short as machines would still be more versatile than they have been back in those days.
Still unsatisfied with the encounters, Bush still expressed the significance of specialization and consolidation, as “man profits by the inheritance of acquired knowledge”. The results must be able to move on by the reproduction of information throughout the science field.
Bush presented to the world his design of what appears to be a computer blueprint named Memex. A device capable of storing excess data and being able to access it and consult it with exceeding speed and flexibility. He stated that this device would be much more reliable than any human operator and even faster than this. More to this, the Memex will be capable of associative reasoning, something innate to the human mind. As scientists have adapted a logical process in which to examine the world, these machines will also be able to “manipulate the premises in accordance with formal logic”.
Stating that this artifact can act as a help to society and mankind, he predicts that this artifact will facilitate human mechanism and will facilitate life in the faculty of logical reasoning. Opening the world to dependency between humans and machines.
