Memex's Time Has Finally Come

I found this article brief article in the "leadership" section of the magazine fast company (obviously their online edition). The piece comes from September of 2012, and it discusses both the history and the increasing possibilities of the Memex. He begins by talking about the Memex's history, which is more or less covered by the pieces we have read in preparation. Here he covers the theories he's found in his research of why the Memex was never build (clunky, no need) or never should have been built (ruins attention spans). He finally, and most interestingly, speaks to the impact the idea of the Memex had on 20th/21st century technologies, and then ends by talking about how with the creation of those technologies could actually allow the creation of the memex.

However, this final argument is slightly confusing. He talks about the sleek abilities of the iPad/tablets, and the impact of the Cloud, in reference to finally creating the Memex. If we have those technologies, why make it then? In the piece about common reactions/impacts of the original Bush piece it's said that "[the memex] provided the seed for describing a revolutionary way of thinking and working that would take place because of, and by means of, emerging technology". This implies, correctly, that the importance of the Memex is less the design, which would be incredibly clunky, but the ideas that it put into the ether. Why would you create this initial technology when what it has created is just as capable and as accessible as Bush could have ever hoped the Memex would be.

http://www.fastcompany.com/3000954/memexs-time-has-finally-come