The project, dubbed Memex, has been in the works for a year and is being developed by 17 different contractor teams who are working with the military's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Google and Bing, with search results influenced by popularity and ranking, are only able to capture approximately five percent of the internet. The goal of Memex is to build a better map of more internet content.

"The main issue we're trying to address is the one-size-fits-all approach to the internet where [search results are] based on consumer advertising and ranking," says Dr. Chris White, the program manager for Memex, who gave a demo of the engine to the 60 Minutes news program.