What was the memex?

In 1945 Vannevar Bush described a computer system very similar to today’s modern internet in a seminal article in the Atlantic Monthly entitled "As We May Think". He called his creation the memex. Bush imagined the memex as a device that would function as a supplement to our own faulty and limited memory. We would use it to store all of our books and communications, and it would allow us to summon them at will. Although the internet evolved features that Bush did not anticipate, his vision found realization in the web we use today. Particularly in the search engines which allow us to retrieve information so quickly and easily.

Credits: Talking: Geoffrey Challen (Assistant Professor, Computer Science and Engineering, University at Buffalo). Producing: Greg Bunyea (Undergraduate, Computer Science and Engineering, University at Buffalo).

Part of the https://www.internet-class.org online internet course. A blue Systems Research Group (https://www.bluegroup.systems) production.