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Sixty Years of Memex

Posted by timothy on from the I-can't-remember-that-far dept.

CubicStar writes "Sixty years ago, Vannnevar Bush published on 'Atlantic Monthly' his seminal article on the Memex, that computer-like device which would provide access to a huge amount of interlinked information. At the time computers were experimental and secret but a visionary (with a shadowy edge) proposed something which even today looks at least influential."

6 of 101 comments (clear)

  1. Two words... by Verminator · · Score: 3, Funny

    Majestic Twelve.

    --
    "The more corrupt the state, the more it legislates." - Tacitus
  2. What is this article about ? by zymano · · Score: 3, Funny

    Anyone want to sum it up for the rest of us ?

    1. Re:What is this article about ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      the Web is pretty much what he was predicting.

      Shitty blogs, 90% of mails being spam, porn ruling the network, credit cards being stolen, FUD spreading all over, illegal P2P representing half the trafic, and the worst : dupes on Slashdot.
      Thanks, Vannevar !

  3. Bush invented internet by Colonel+Panic · · Score: 2, Funny

    So apparently it was Bush who invented the internet, not Gore.

  4. Bush's Views and Modern IP by salesgeek · · Score: 3, Funny

    I wonder what Bush would think of the current state of things, where people try to patent ideas originating durring the second world war? I wonder, too, if better telling the story of the rise of the computer and internet, and the history of software would help people understand just how big the giants are that today's "great innovators" stand on the backs of. I also wonder if people understand in the land rush to make all things some form of property or ther other just how much of their own freedom, and their own ability to express and create they give away.

    And I also wonder how long after the Memex's release it will be before we see Duke Nukem Forever.

    --
    -- $G
  5. Re:He didn't mention pornography once by commodoresloat · · Score: 3, Funny
    The fact that people are more likely to store gigabytes of porn on their 'memex' than encyclopedias probably didn't enter the poor little guy's head.

    Not everyone has these priorities, you know. Believe it or not, many people do store encyclopedias, and tons of non-pornographic photos, video, music, etc. on their hard drives. Not everyone stores gigabytes of porn.

    I mean, I do, myself, of course, but I've heard that there are people who don't.