|
SECTIONS
|
 |
THE HUMAN BRAIN
Bush wished to copy the same system that our brains use. He illustrates that in the library system of information retrieval, to get to a certain piece of data, there is a direct and singular path that must be followed from one section to another. If there happens to be an associated piece of data that is also needed, then a complete withdrawal from the present information thread must occur before the new data thread can be explored.
The human mind does not work that way. It operates by association. With one item in its grasp, it snaps instantly to the next that is suggested by the association of thoughts, in accordance with some intricate web of trails carried by the cells of the brain. (Bush, As We May Think, pt. 6)
Bush is saying that the mind can instantly flip from one piece of data to another without having to back out of the current information thread. The mind can simply jump to a corresponding idea in a different piece of data through the associative properties of the data. This associative property of the mind is what Bush was trying to achieve when he envisioned the memex.
|
