Thoughts about As We May Think By VANNEVAR BUSH

As soon as I begin to read this article I begin to feel OVERWHELMED! I notice a lot of technical words that completely go over my head. I stop reading and begin to read again (much slower) just so I can get some sort of a grasp about what Bush is actually talking about.

When I begin to read the article a second time I start to understand what Bush is trying to relay. He wants to talk about all the possibilities that technology can have on society. Topics ranging from photography and the modern keyboard. It completely shocked me that he is writing all this in 1945!

He explains how WWII has been a war that involved not only soldiers but scientist. This was a war that involved technology and needed the help of scientists to win. He quickly states that scientists have not been able to focus on their own projects because they  must focus on the war.

Bush explains that technology has improved every aspect of life for the individual and will continue to benefit human for many years to come.

“Of what lasting benefit has been man’s use of science and of the new instruments which his research brought into existence? First, they have increased his control of his material environment. They have improved his food, his clothing, his shelter; they have increased his security and released him partly from the bondage of bare existence. They have given him increased knowledge of his own biological processes so that he has had a progressive freedom from disease and an increased span of life. They are illuminating the interactions of his physiological and psychological functions, giving the promise of an improved mental health.”

He predicts how technology will continue to change. One example he uses is the how photography will continue to progress.

“Certainly progress in photography is not going to stop. Faster material and lenses, more automatic cameras, finer-grained sensitive compounds to allow an extension of the minicamera idea, are all imminent.”

I am just shocked that all is predictions came true! And it leaves me wondering what are scientist predicting now and will it come true?