# As We May Think  ## Metadata - Author: [[Vannevar Bush]] - Full Title: As We May Think - Category: #articles - Document Tags: [[article]] [[idea]] [[memex]] [[memory]] [[old]] - URL: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1945/07/as-we-may-think/303881/?single_page=true ## Highlights Our ineptitude in getting at the record is largely caused by the artificiality of systems of indexing. When data of any sort are placed in storage, they are filed alphabetically or numerically, and information is found (when it is) by tracing it down from subclass to subclass. It can be in only one place, unless duplicates are used; one has to have rules as to which path will locate it, and the rules are cumbersome. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gmtj56fntffd51j38q7qmcdp)) The human mind does not work that way. It operates by association. With one item in its grasp, it snaps instantly to the next that is suggested by the association of thoughts, in accordance with some intricate web of trails carried by the cells of the brain. It has other characteristics, of course; trails that are not frequently followed are prone to fade, items are not fully permanent, memory is transitory. Yet the speed of action, the intricacy of trails, the detail of mental pictures, is awe-inspiring beyond all else in nature. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gmtj5gdzpmhct9ezpje0008m)) Selection by association, rather than indexing, may yet be mechanized. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gmtj68gzsycdhsy7240zcg0t)) associative indexing, the basic idea of which is a provision whereby any item may be caused at will to select immediately and automatically another. This is the essential feature of the memex. The process of tying two items together is the important thing. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gmtne4fy0rxfq0ewpt1xb84n)) when numerous items have been thus joined together to form a trail, they can be reviewed in turn, rapidly or slowly, by deflecting a lever like that used for turning the pages of a book. It is exactly as though the physical items had been gathered together from widely separated sources and bound together to form a new book. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gmtnfny9qehkyd10kx83e0as)) There is a new profession of trail blazers, those who find delight in the task of establishing useful trails through the enormous mass of the common record. The inheritance from the master becomes, not only his additions to the world's record, but for his disciples the entire scaffolding by which they were erected. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gmtnx7jq72y411mne0eye3qg)) He has built a civilization so complex that he needs to mechanize his records more fully if he is to push his experiment to its logical conclusion and not merely become bogged down part way there by overtaxing his limited memory. His excursions may be more enjoyable if he can reacquire the privilege of forgetting the manifold things he does not need to have immediately at hand, with some assurance that he can find them again if they prove important. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gmtp3gv66kvp1th1ygxyhrg5)) ## New highlights added December 22, 2022 at 1:16 AM There is a growing mountain of research. But there is increased evidence that we are being bogged down today as specialization extends. The investigator is staggered by the findings and conclusions of thousands of other workers—conclusions which he cannot find time to grasp, much less to remember, as they appear. Yet specialization becomes increasingly necessary for progress, and the effort to bridge between disciplines is correspondingly superficial. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gmv3q8akp77r4kmwtstddjm9)) Professionally our methods of transmitting and reviewing the results of research are generations old and by now are totally inadequate for their purpose ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gmv3qzb1c2es6j7ppryrwvwc)) The difficulty seems to be, not so much that we publish unduly in view of the extent and variety of present day interests, but rather that publication has been extended far beyond our present ability to make real use of the record. The summation of human experience is being expanded at a prodigious rate, and the means we use for threading through the consequent maze to the momentarily important item is the same as was used in the days of square-rigged ships. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01gmv3rj4v9v9nmnvvgbmdjw6n)) ## Working Memex Prototype https://trevor.smith.name/project/memex