As We May Think
E17
As We May Think is a seminal 1945 essay by Vannevar Bush that envisioned hypertext-like information systems and profoundly influenced the development of modern computing and the internet.
All labels observed (5)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Memex | 3 |
| As We May Think canonical | 2 |
| The Memex | 1 |
| Vannevar Bush's Memex concept | 1 |
| memex | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T18 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: As We May Think Context triple: [Vannevar Bush, notableWork, As We May Think]
-
A.
Science, The Endless Frontier
Science, The Endless Frontier is a landmark 1945 report by Vannevar Bush that laid the foundation for U.S. federal support of scientific research and the modern science policy framework.
-
B.
Differential analyzer
The Differential Analyzer is an early analog mechanical computer designed to solve differential equations using interconnected rotating shafts and wheels.
-
C.
Vannevar Bush
American electrical engineer and science administrator (1890~1974)
-
D.
Ted Nelson
Ted Nelson is an American pioneer of information technology best known for coining the term "hypertext" and envisioning non-linear, interconnected digital documents.
-
E.
Douglas Engelbart
Douglas Engelbart was an American engineer and inventor best known for pioneering the computer mouse and groundbreaking concepts in interactive computing and hypertext that helped shape modern personal computing.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: As We May Think Target entity description: As We May Think is a seminal 1945 essay by Vannevar Bush that envisioned hypertext-like information systems and profoundly influenced the development of modern computing and the internet.
-
A.
Science, The Endless Frontier
Science, The Endless Frontier is a landmark 1945 report by Vannevar Bush that laid the foundation for U.S. federal support of scientific research and the modern science policy framework.
-
B.
Differential analyzer
The Differential Analyzer is an early analog mechanical computer designed to solve differential equations using interconnected rotating shafts and wheels.
-
C.
Vannevar Bush
American electrical engineer and science administrator (1890~1974)
-
D.
Ted Nelson
Ted Nelson is an American pioneer of information technology best known for coining the term "hypertext" and envisioning non-linear, interconnected digital documents.
-
E.
Douglas Engelbart
Douglas Engelbart was an American engineer and inventor best known for pioneering the computer mouse and groundbreaking concepts in interactive computing and hypertext that helped shape modern personal computing.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (47)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
essay
ⓘ
non-fiction work ⓘ |
| addresses |
information overload
ⓘ
memory augmentation ⓘ postwar scientific research ⓘ |
| aimsTo |
enhance human intellect with machines
ⓘ
improve access to scientific knowledge ⓘ |
| author | Vannevar Bush ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States
ⓘ
linked to:
United States of America
|
| describes |
Memex
ⓘ
linked to:
As We May Think
|
| firstPublishedDate | July 1945 ⓘ |
| form | prose ⓘ |
| genre | science and technology essay ⓘ |
| hasLegacy |
cited in histories of the internet
ⓘ
inspired research on interactive computing ⓘ |
| hasSection |
The Memex
ⓘ
linked to:
As We May Think
Wholly New Forms of Encyclopedias ⓘ |
| historicalContext | World War II ⓘ |
| influenced |
Douglas Engelbart
ⓘ
J. C. R. Licklider ⓘ Ted Nelson ⓘ human-computer interaction ⓘ hypertext ⓘ information science ⓘ personal computing ⓘ the internet ⓘ |
| length | long-form magazine article ⓘ |
| mainTopic |
information retrieval
ⓘ
information technology ⓘ knowledge organization ⓘ scientific research ⓘ |
| notableConcept |
Memex
ⓘ
linked to:
As We May Think
associative trails ⓘ hypertext-like linking ⓘ |
| originalLanguage | English ⓘ |
| proposes |
associative indexing
ⓘ
mechanized personal library ⓘ trails of association ⓘ |
| publicationYear | 1945 ⓘ |
| publishedIn | The Atlantic Monthly ⓘ |
| publisher |
The Atlantic Monthly Company
ⓘ
linked to:
The Atlantic Monthly
|
| recognizedAs |
foundational text in information science
ⓘ
seminal work in computing history ⓘ |
| targetAudience |
engineers
ⓘ
general educated public ⓘ scientists ⓘ |
| timePeriodDescribed | future of science after World War II ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: As We May Think Description of subject: As We May Think is a seminal 1945 essay by Vannevar Bush that envisioned hypertext-like information systems and profoundly influenced the development of modern computing and the internet.
Referenced by (8)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: As We May Think
linked to: As We May Think
linked to: As We May Think
linked to: As We May Think
linked to: As We May Think
linked to: As We May Think