In the reading “As We May Think”, Vanneyar raises the idea that often concepts, such as the invention of the keyboard, are thought of by one person long before the invention is made by another. This is because at the time the idea is thought, resources to make it a reality are not available.

“Two centuries ago Leibnitz invented a calculating machine which embodied most of the essential features of recent keyboard devices, but it could not then come into use. The economics of the situation were against it: the labor involved in constructing it, before the days of mass production, exceeded the labor to be saved by its use, since all it could accomplish could be duplicated by sufficient use of pencil and paper. Moreover, it would have been subject to frequent breakdown, so that it could not have been depended upon; for at that time and long after, complexity and unreliability were synonymous.”

I wonder if this could be true of something like the internet. I think it not only possible, but probable, that long before they were invented, people would have had ideas for things similar to the computer and the internet. However the ability to produce these things efficiently is a recent development.

(Extract taken from reading: Bush, Vannevar. “As We May Think.” The Atlantic July 1945. The Atlantic. Web. 19 July 2013. (PDF))