Monday, December 7, 2009

"A File Structure for the Complex, the Changing, and the Indeterminate" by Theodor H. Nelson

-1965
-coined the word "hypertext" to signify "a body of written or pictorial material interconnected in such a complex way that it could not conveniently be presented or represented on paper"

Nelson describes a system that is "multifarious, polymorphic, many-dimensional, [and]infinite." Understanding that the internet as we know it only embodies a fraction of his idea of hypertext, how must a system that embodies the definition fully operate?
I feel like it would include pretty much all of the technologies we've discussed thus far. It would be accessible anywhere at all times (maybe even to the point of digitally augmenting human perception and modes of communication?). I'm not entirely certain. The intro asserts that such a system would be difficult for an average web used to visualize. But I feel that many modes of human expression seek to more aptly articulate, even emulate, the human experience, so why should the world wide web not integrate spatial and temporal dimensions as perceived by the human being? I keep thinking about the scene in "Minority Report" where the protagonist is walking through a shopping center and each advertisement is speaking specifically to him. Take this idea a step further, and everything a person sees or hears is met with options to identify, relate to a bank of memories saved since birth, and modify.
Memories and ideas are available for filesharing. The internet can be used for much more than objective understanding. It could be used to relate more deeply to the people immediately around you and to expand your own subjective understanding.

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