I found this article fascinating, and surprisingly (even horrifyingly) relevant to the state of technology today. I’m impressed by Bush’s predictions as to how technology would exist in the future and appreciate how sharp and incisive his language is. He writes about confusion because “we are being bogged down today as specialization extends.” This reminds me of how technology companies that once specialized in certain products (Apple, for example) have extended themselves to other sectors, often entertainment, in order to increase profits. Specialization in certain businesses doesn’t seem to be as common as it once was now that these companies can become involved in and often dominate multiple industries.
His claim that “the world has arrived at an age of cheap complex devices of great reliability; and something is bound to come of it” is frighteningly accurate to today and our reliance on technology and reveals how it has served the same purpose for decades. I like the word cheap because of one of its possible definitions: “contemptible because of lack of any fine, lofty, or redeeming qualities,” which in a lot of ways describes devices.
His theory that cameras in the future will be small enough to fit on people’s foreheads reminded me of predictions that people will have chips in their brains and how technology will consume and live on or within our bodies eventually. This is similarly suggested when he talks about glasses that can take photos, which would also highlight technology becoming more integrated in people’s lives. His implied critique after, that “the only fantastic thing about it is the idea of making as many pictures as would result from its use,” suggests he also finds increasing technology prevalence to be ludicrous.
It was fascinating to read Bush’s technological ideas that have since come true, such as the ability to “snap the camera and to look at the picture immediately” and how “selection devices of this sort will soon be speeded up from their present rate of reviewing data at a few hundred a minute.” On the other hand, it was saddening to read about situations that are no longer true, like how “the users of advanced methods of manipulating data are a very small part of the population,” considering data analysis for harmful reasons has become popular.
I almost laughed at his claim that “no one would wish to spend the money necessary to make this change in the telephone system,” regarding speeding up how long it takes for a machine to process a phone number, considering how much money has been poured into accelerating the speed of various processes. It was fascinating to read about how transactions at department stores used to require three cards to have a hole punched through them. That section also reminded me of all the processes that take place when buying something as Bush mentions that inventory has to be updated, the salesperson has to receive credit, and a note needs to be made of the sale. I find that because technology handles so many transactions, it’s easy to forget all the necessary steps in various circumstances such as a store purchase.
