Ahmad Woods – Linkage-Borges, Bush, etc.

In the garden of the forking paths the main character Yu Tsun is a spy whose cover has been blown and now has to complete his mission with little to no resources but he manages to think of a plan regardless. He meets up with a doctor albert who informs him of his ancestors all the while he’s being hunted. At the end Yu Tsun makes the questionable decision to kill Dr. Albert instead of his pursuer which costs him his life but he ultimately managed to fulfill his mission. By killing Dr Albert sent the necessary message to his boss. The garden of the forking a simple espionage story in my opinion and it doesn’t seem like there isn’t much else to draw from here.
As We May Think the essay by Vannevar Bush is probably the precursor to many of the technologies we have today such as hypertext, personal computers, the World Wide Web and online encyclopedias. Bush argues that science has improved tremendously but the way we manage knowledge and information is antiquated. He proposes the memex to solve such a problem. Stuart Moulthrop’s “You say you want a Revolution? Hypertext and the Laws of Media” also talks about how technology can and is shaping future occurrences.
To answer the question that David proposed I think technological advancements will continue to make our lives simpler. To put it simply technology serves as a tool to in fact simplify things. I used this example once before but a fork was considered a piece of technology (well it still is technically) when it was crafted and its big purpose was to make eating out food easier. Fast forward to modern times it’s the same deal. Technology is meant to solve problems. At the same time though it can further complicate things by introduction politics into the matter. Basically some tools usage differs from user to user and that’s where the politics start. Let’s say 3D printers are mass produced some one consumer uses his 3D printer to print house hold appliances and another guy uses his 3D printer to print weapons. There’s going to be some issues and most of the backlash is going to be pointed at the device and not at the users. In that sense they can complicate things