Amongst the witty exchanges and awesome cupcakes (thank-you “Head-Chef” Elliot, red velvet is always a winner) last tute, this question struck me the most; Is hypertext narrative alive?

George Landow defines Hypertext fiction in this weeks reading:

“[hypertext fiction is] the desire to create multiple stories out of a relatively small amount of alphanumeric text provided by a major force driving in writing afternoon“

If our final experience changes every time we read a hypertext narrative; that our choices or decisions can alter the outcome of the story as we read and interact with the hypertext, could this mean it is in fact alive? Is it so different to meeting a person for the first time (our small amount of alphanumeric text) and we get one impression or experience from interacting with them, but then the next time you bump into them may be in an entire different context and our interaction with them results in a new or different experience.

Is hypertext fictional narrative so different from the stories and experiences we gain in our interactions with people? Maybe, but that depends what your definition of hypertext is.

The technological world of the internet and hypertext, obviously, lacks the dynamic of a human, who’s brain is constantly evolving and changing when faced with new stimulus every day. In short, hypertext doesn’t have its own brain, so I guess based on that, it can’t be seen as “alive” as a human is.

WAIT! That being said… Ever thought it strange that when you shop or browse online — whether it be any social networking site, Amazon, iTunes, online clothing site, or even google, they seem to know exactly what you’re interested in?

Just now looking at what advertisements appear on my Facebook, they are all related to University, Television and cake. Out of all advertisements they could use on my news feed and it’s cake. I love cake. Freaky Facebook, how do you KNOW that? Is it because I seem to ‘like’ a number of cake related posts, google search about cake recipes? I’m not quite entirely sure, but you seem to know a lot about me for a concept that doesn’t qualify as an entity OR have a brain.

This is getting far to into ‘artificial intelligence’ for me, so signing off.

If you like this, you may also like:

This

Or This

This too

And maybe if you’re feeling like it, this as well.

…..I’m hungry, sorry.