When data of any sort are placed in storage, they are filed alphabetically or numerically, and information is found (when it is) by tracing it down from subclass to subclass. . . .
The human mind does not work in that way. It operates by association. With one item in its grasp, it snaps instantly to the next that is suggested by the association of thoughts, in accordance with some intricate web of trails carried by the cells of the brain.

It makes so much sense that this way of thinking is what launched Hypertext in the first place. We do not think in straight lines, but in mind maps spreading like spiderwebs. Scrolling through pieces of information, we come across one that links to something else or reminds us of a past experience, and we either choose to follow down that path or we choose to keep scrolling. Choosing whether to click on the link that a page presents us with, or to persevere with the original page.

We make this decision constantly, so quickly that sometimes we aren’t even aware of it. And yet, when you stop to think about it, often the link from one topic to another is so unclear it seems invisible.

Earlier today, I was having a conversation with a friend when I realised that even though I still was listening to what they were telling me, I was also thinking about the way the sunlight had streamed through the trees in beams of light when I visited Hanging Rock two weeks ago. At first, I had no idea why I had started thinking about this memory, and I also wasn’t fully aware that I was even really thinking about it, until I realised that I wasn’t 100% listening to what my friend was telling me.

There was something about something he had said to me, that had brought me back to that moment. The link was so unclear that I was barely aware that I had even selected it, let alone known that it was there.