Actually, I tend to think that there's something distinctly
natural in the associative process of writing. But the moment I commit
that thought to writing I think: but writing, in its essence, is a means
of taming that associative process, the impulse to continually branch out.
It's a making of a commitment, a process of limiting the possible worlds
that are hinted at, by choosing the best, the most preferred, option. The
mind associates "naturally", but the hand focuses. And the entire history
of critical thought may be the very basic process of making order out of
chaos. Perhaps the greatest attraction that hypertext holds for me is the
opportunity that it offers to have my cake and eat it too; to both focus
yet branch out at one and the same time.