JARVIS VS. MEMEX
If you haven’t seen or aren’t privy to Marvel Comics ‘Iron Man’ films then a lot of my parallels in this post may be lost on you. However, perhaps once I have drawn them, you will feel enlightened to watch the films and see just how many comparisons can be drawn from Vannevar Bush’s work, life and more specifically his device which he coined ‘memex’…and the ‘Iron Man’ story line. The main corresponding themes between Bush and the film revolve around Howard and Tony Stark and the operating system featured in the films, titled ‘JARVIS.’
Vannevar Bush is an interesting figure of the 20th century. He was a Director for the office of scientific research and development, where he coordinated activities in the application of science to warfare. He also attended MIT and was passionately involved in engineering. All of these traits also correlate with Howard Stark and to some degree, Tony Stark in the Iron Man films. Stark attended MIT, was an engineer, used his abilities to design and create weaponry and worked on government WWI and WWII projects…sound familiar?
One of Bush’s most notable achievements was his essay, “As We May Think (1945). It was in this published work that Bush first introduced us to a hypothetical, advanced operating system or personalised device in which individuals would store everything of worth to them. He coined this device, memex, which is a portmanteau of ’memory’ and ‘index.’
“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.” – Vannevar Bush (1945)
It was upon reading the quote above that I started to draw further parallels between Bush and the Iron Man movie, or more acutely ‘memex’ and ‘JARVIS’. ‘JARVIS’ supposedly stands for ‘just a rather very intelligent system’ which it is. It is a highly advanced artificial intelligence system that Tony Stark (Iron Man) developed.
According to Iron Man Wiki (2015) “although J.A.R.V.I.S. is not human, as an A.I., he has access to an unlimited amount of resources, devices and programs that he can control and use at his own will to aid Tony in whatever he needs…automating everything from calculations, to any number of technological tasks.”
Bush’s ‘Memex’ was devised in 1945, his notions about technology, science and media were way ahead of his time. A time when he believed the camera, automobile and phone to be ‘ complex devices.’
“The world has arrived at an age of cheap complex devices of great reliability; and something is bound to come of it.”
We are yet to see the full embodiment of a modern day ‘memex’ or ‘JARVIS’ but I believe in Bush’s optimism that something is bound to come. For we are ‘the Google generation’ (Ian Rowlands 2008) and are further involved with high tech operating systems and artificial intelligence devices than ever before, where we rely on them daily if not hourly…
I’ll leave you with one final parallel. A clip from Iron Man 1 (2008) where Tony stark moves about his laboratory, communicating and working with JARVIS. Followed by a direct quote from Bush’s ‘As we may think’ (1945).
“One can picture it now, a future investigator in his laboratory. His hands are free, and he is not anchored. As he moves about and observes, he photographs and comments. Time is automatically recorded to tie the two records together.” – Vannevar Bush (1945)
Sources:
No author, 2015, A.R.V.I.S, Iron Man Wiki, WIKIA, viewed 16 March 2015, http://ironman.wikia.com/wiki/J.A.R.V.I.S.
No Author, published may 3rd 2014, Jarvis Interface and voice, online video, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wx7RCJvoCMc, accessed 16 March 2015.
Rowlands, Ian; Nicholas, David; Williams, Peter; Huntington, Paul; Fieldhouse, Maggie; et al. ‘The Google generation: the information behaviour of the researcher of the future’ Aslib Proceedings 4 (2008): 290-310. Accessed 16 March 2015.
Vannevar Bush. “As We May Think.” Atlantic Monthly1 (July 1945): 101-08. Online at http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/194507/bush, accessed 16 March 2015.
Media Maddy 