Cybernetics

Lately, I've been reading The Web of Life by Fritjof Capra. It's got me thinking about interconnectivity and cybernetics...

Metabolic enzyme pathways showing biological feedback loops

Cybernetics involves the study of systems with feedback loops. These looping systems can be simple or very complex, and they apply to a wide variety of topics including ecology, homeostasis, neural processing, cognition, self-organization, economics, and much more.

As a consequence, I've come to the conclusion that Thinker is currently flawed. The node data structure of Thinker is too fixed on strictly hierarchical structures. Thinker does not handle complex nonhierarchical looping networks of nodes as well as it could. Nonhierarchical links do exist in Thinker, but their implementation is limited, and their structure is awkward. Consequently, I am working on some major upgrades to Thinker with this new paradigm in mind.

Working out some link structures...

There's will be no strict attempt to avoid hierarchies, just expand beyond them. Nodes may still be arranged hierarchically by default for practical data storage reasons, but the ability to link to any other data node in the system will also be ingrained in the data format. It will be just as easy to create a flat interconnected associative web as a deep hierarchical tree.

The new data format will also have the added benefit of separating the label and value fields of nodes and hopefully clearing up some of the confusion, awkwardness, and ambiguity of two fields in each node. The new paradigm will have only one value field in a node. This will make it clear to the user where they should enter text instead of immediately presenting them with a choice.

When new nodes are added as children or when an associative link is created, the link connecting the nodes will automatically contain another node. This node will initially be visually inconspicuous and will most readily be used as a spline handle for adjusting the curve of the link (an added bonus feature which Thinker doesn't not currently have). Menu options on this link node will allow the user to edit the link and add a text label, thus replacing the old label field. Since associative links will also follow this structure as well, the user will be able to apply labels to them (something one can't currently do in Thinker either).

So there will be standard nodes with values connected by link nodes with labels that describe the relationships between the values. This will make informal data and mind mapping much more intuitive and straightforward while also easily allowing for more formal structure and definitions when you need it.