Cana Fuest, PhD Candidate

I’ve been thinking a lot about the history of technology, and how much of what we use today has roots in theories from the mid-twentieth century. I already wrote about how artificial intelligence got its start back in the 1950’s. Another piece of technology that finds its beginning before the personal computer is hypertext. The first person to write about such an idea was Vannevar Bush, who published an article in 1945 called “As We May Think.” He referred to a futuristic technology called “memex” that would allow someone to store all of their information in mechanized fashion and be able to access it with speed and flexibilty (Harasim, 2017). He called it, “…an enlarged intimate supplement to his memory” (Bush, 2022, p. 108). Dr. Bush’s theory inspired Ted Nelson and Douglas Engelbart to turn it into a reality (Ted Nelson is the one who coined the word “hypertext”). These individuals wanted to enhance people’s intellectual capacity.

If we look at the time in history that Dr. Bush first published this idea, we see that it was right around when World War II ended. He recognized that it was time to cease making weapons and instead look to preserving and expanding our capacity to share knowledge with one another.

I’m not sure how many people today realize that much of our current technology stems from a desire to help people learn more, expand their knowledge base, and live more effectively. These theories were not developed simply for making money and entertainment. We have a tremendous opportunity to learn and explore our world with technology. Let’s make the most of that!

References

Bush, V. (2022). As we may think (1945). The Essential Writings of Vannevar Bush, 108–129. https://doi.org/10.7312/bush11642-025

Harasim, L. M. (2017). Learning theory and online technologies. Routledge.