As We May Think.

 Bush's optimistic hopes for the direction of science were most likely shared by many others in his field. Its too bad the war wasn't over, more weapons needed to be developed, chemical weapons, agent orange, napalm. Thankfully science was able to contribute once again, or else the Viet Cong would've tunneled their way to Washington and punji sticked Kennedy on the White House lawn. 

 

 I can see why Bush would be so optimistic, so many amazing developments and possibilities. The possibility of producing "cheap complex devices of great reliability", sorry buds, that was about as likely as world peace. However, one device was produced to be reliable and cheap. One of the most reliable designs of the 20'th century. It is so reliable that Mozambique put it in their coat of arms, as did Zimbabwe and East Timor. The AK-47, the antithesis to designed obsolescence, used against U.S. soldiers in at least 3 major conflicts and many smaller ones, I wish the designers of my Samsung cell phone were operating under the same mantra. 

 I'm very pleased to say that my Technics 1200 turntable was built to last, the design has barely changed since the late seventies, and they still beat out any other turntable on the market. I apologize in advance, I'm going to talk about music and DJ'ing again, its the only way I can keep myself from talking about wizards and seances. Back to the turntable, the Tech 12, which somehow isn't a dying breed, despite being technology dating back to before Bush wrote his article. Its a vital instrument in the enjoyment of a musical catalogue, even in this digital age. The serato program allows DJ's to play MP3's as if they are records, unfortunately, most DJ's have awful taste, and this allows any party ego to take his shirt off and play terrible electro remixes. I love vinyl and I love turntables, I love vinyl because its physical, because if its taken care of it can last forever. My "catalogue" of vinyl may be cumbersome, but I value it, its music you cant find on the internet, its music I chose to move across the country with me, and its music that had its own journey before I owned it. The bad music I purchased I got rid of, the good stuff stayed, I cant say the same for the music on my Ipod that was lost when it crashed this fall. 

 Bush predicted the future path of technology so closely its spooky, and as he is so correct in our need to "mechanize" our records, I think he would be saddened by the devaluation of important information worth keeping and the obsession with the instant.  There are so many positives and negatives to discuss on the subject of technology that I feel I have to take one position, this doesn't mean that I don't value the other side. However, due to my generations massive hard on for technology and any fan-dangled bullshit thats fed to them, I have to fall into my predictable roll as curmudgeon, and say that I will embrace technology grudgingly, fighting it every step of the way.