Nathaniel Hawthorne and Vannevar Bush head to head

After having read the essays of Nathaniel Hawthorne http://www.eldritchpress.org/nh/fw.htmland Vannevar Bush http://www.ps.uni-sb.de/~duchier/pub/vbush/vbush-all.shtml, one could be prompted to ask himself one question: is man better off to embrace the antiquities of life or to pursue the advancement of technology vigorously? Hawthorne relates back to the prominence that an open fire had in the lives of thinkers, priests, and other various persons. He argues that the invention of the air tight stove is just one of the newest technologies that are, in the future, to remove the true beauty of life. He embraces the unique, irreplaceable charm of a fire side. This lends one to think of Abraham Lincoln who was known, in historical literature, to have read by a fire side. On the other hand, we have the argument of Bush which retorts by showing that mans’ life has been advanced greatly by technology. He sought, through his invention of the Memex, to open the vast quantity of knowledge to those who were scientists and scholars. He envisioned man having access to all types of knowledge through one ultimate source. Unlike Hawthorne he saw technology as a progressive chapter in the lives of men around the world.Hawthorne would cringe to know that in a modern world, through the click of a button, anyone can access any sort of knowledge they want. On the contrary, Vannevar would be happy because he could think of his crude Memex as an ancestor to the World Wide Web. One could interpret Hawthorne’s opinion of his air-tight wood stove as a call for the abolition of those things that would divert a person’s attention from the things that matter in life such as a natural existence with desires for the things of olden. I myself can see the strain that computers and the internet can put on society. Men and women who devote hours upon hours with their face attached to a screen pouring over the latest notifications on their Facebook profiles. In a way, you can see the complete uselessness of the internet for some. For some it is a glorified way to socialize that leaves out the natural face to face communication that was previously required for simple transactions such as “hello,” or “happy birthday.” One wonders, “What then is the point of this monstrosity that is the internet?” Well, the internet in its infancy was designed to help the military operate things in the absence of telephones and other types of communication. However now, it is nothing more than a sophisticated toy for the multitudes to chat through, download music, and watch videos with.I wonder whether Bush would have anticipated such uses as those previously listed for such a grand tool as the internet. His Memex was nothing more than a complicated and loud machine which filed through cards in search for desired information. Despite its primitive design and insatiable loudness the idea of the Memex is directly in tune with the concept of the World Wide Web. Bush’s desire was to concentrate useful knowledge into one area so it could be easily accessible. This is certainly achieved in our time. All that is left is to convert the world’s books into characters on a screen, a feat which is in the works. Strangely enough, despite my distaste for computers and the internet, they are very much intertwined with my life and will be for the remainder of it. For this reason I must see the light in technology and its impact on human life. It does have it practical uses. I, for one, can access material which helps me in my research in academically related matters such as research papers. Also many things related to the internet have helped spur an entirely new economy which provides jobs for many. It also gives one the ability to compare and contrast different news sources. The internet is a constant reminder that the world is out there and it is exponentially evolving in the realm of technology.With this being said, I believe that Hawthorne is right in his assumption that a certain quality of life is sacrificed for the sake of technology. It takes the average person from the fireside and places them in a centrally heated and carpeted room. The internet has claimed countless hours of many who could have been walking a wooded path while inhaling a lung full of fresh air. Instead our pupils are burning while we stare at a glowing screen with the ashtray beneath it smoking and overflowing. Of course this is worse case scenario. Bush thought up a good idea with good intentions of generating the human mind and making knowledge and information more useable instead of hidden away in some remote location in an old dark library. I think that is possible to formulate a balance between the modern and the old, we’ll have to.