Here's a brief summary of why this article and why Vannevar Bush was so impactful. (Please note that this is all from memory, so while some of the specifics mig

Here's a brief summary of why this article and why Vannevar Bush was so impactful. (Please note that this is all from memory, so while some of the specifics might be off, the general thrust is right) Vannevar Bush helped organize the American scientific effort during World War 2, and afterward was instrumental in setting up the modern university research system we have today. The main argument was that research was the "Endless Frontier" (hence the name of the book about him). Things like the National Science Foundation and DARPA are part of this compact, that the Federal government would fund research universities to do fundamental and applied research, which in turn would help contribute to American national security. Regarding this specific article (As We May Think), I would argue that it's core impact is that it made a case for why information technologies were needed, and laid out a vision for what that world might be like. Even though the article was written in 1945, it talks about information overload(!), and the challenges of finding the right information when there is so much of it. It also imagines an early form of hypertext via a device called the Memex, which later inspired Ted Nelson, Doug Engelbart, and others in their work. There's even discussion of a kind of collaboration in the form of "trails" or paths as to how one found a piece of information in the first place. One might share these trails with others, forming a kind of hyperlink that we don't have a modern equivalent for. Intriguingly, Bush also imagines wearable computers (a wearable camera) that can be used to help augment people's memories. In short, this article heavily influenced a lot of people's thinking about what computing technologies could potentially do in the future, and was a major part in getting us to where we are today.