Historical Placement

How does the recent war figure in this article?
Consider the state of technology when Bush is writing and the prescience of his thoughts.
Which of his ideas have some to pass? Which have not? Which have been transformed?
What technology do you think we are in need of now?
What does the title mean?

The Problem

What is the primary issue that Bush is addressing here?
How would the devices he describes help to fix this problem?
What does logical thought have to do with it?
Do you think that Bush's approach is the best one? Can you imagine an alternative?

The Memex

What is the memex? How does it work?
What relationship does the functioning of the memex have with the workings of the human mind?
What is associative organization? How is it different from indexing?
What materials are within the memex? How would you access them?
What is a trail? How would you go about making one? Sharing one?

The Memex and Modern Technology

How is the memex similar to the personal computer? How is it different?
What does the memex have in common with the internet?
Is a link similar to a trail? Why or why not?
What problems do you see in contemporary thought that you feel might be addressed by technological invention?

The Memex and Paper Writing

How is the function of the memex similar to the function of writing an argumentative paper?
What is involved in trying to get your reader to follow your "trails"?
What pitfalls exist in mapping out these trails?