by Gord Hotchkiss
In his famous Atlantic Monthly essay
As We May Think, published in July 1945, Vannevar Bush forecast a mechanized extension to our memory which he called a “memex”:
Consider a future device for individual use, which is a sort of mechanized private file and library. It needs a name, and to coin one at random, “memex” will do. A memex is a device in which an individual stores all his books, records, and communications, and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility. It is an enlarged intimate supplement to his memory.