Vivian Linderman's Library tagged no_tag → View Popular

05 Sep 09

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.
Selection by association, rather than
indexing, may yet be mechanized. One cannot hope thus to equal the speed and
flexibility with which the mind follows an associative trail, but it should be
possible to beat the mind decisively in regard to the permanence and clarity of
the items resurrected from storage.
4 more annotations...
- a device in which an individual stores all his books, records, and communications, and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility.
- Wholly new forms of encyclopedias will appear, ready made with a mesh of
  associative trails running through them, ready to be dropped into the memex and
  there amplified.
- encompass the great record
- learns to wield that record for his true good.

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.
methods of transmitting and reviewing the results of
research are generations old and by now are totally inadequate
2 more annotations...
- Mendel's concept of the laws of
  genetics was lost to the world for a generation because his publication did not
  reach the few who were capable of grasping and extending it; and this sort of
  catastrophe is undoubtedly being repeated all about us, as truly significant
  attainments become lost in the mass of the inconsequential.
  
  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.
- A record if it is to be useful to science, must be continuously extended, it
  must be stored, and above all it must be consulted.