By Jules Herr, Greg Phoenix, and Bert Weidt
Like Emerson's famous address of 1837 on "The American Scholar," this paper by Dr. Bush calls for a new relationship between thinking man and the sum of our knowledge" -Editor The Atlantic Monthly, July 1945.
As director of the Office of Scientific Research and Development, Dr. Vannevar Bush has coordinated the activities of some six thousand leading American scientists, thus commanding a fair amount of credibility in almost every scientific field. However, in his article As We May Think his scientific expertise is not being challenged. Rather, Bush asks the scientists of the world "what will you find to do now? ...worthy of your best."
World War II meant many things to many people, but for most the end meant even more. It was a time to rebuild the world and a time to come home to set up shop the way things used to be. The war also had an incredible impact in the evolution of humankind, the industrialization of the mind. Our desires to record knowledge, collect information, and to communicate accross long distances became a necessity. Some people had high hopes about what the future would bring. Others feared that what may come next would be more turmoil and destruction. In all this uncertainty Vannevar Bush knew one thing for sure about the future, and that was who would be responsible for shaping it. What he didn't know was how it would be shaped.
Bush rightfully felt uneasy about the future in the hands of scientists without a purpose. However, Bush was quite the visionary with his own philosophy about what the future should be like and what the future could be like. In his article, Bush shares with us his opinion about what science might bring us. Bush was not trying to be the next Nostra Damus, but rather a Columbus or DeVinci of his time deriving what the future should hold for all. He realized the real possibilities of future technology based on what was already being developed.
As We May Think made people aware of the positive impacts science could offer our society, and was perhaps one of the most important efforts Bush ever attempted.