science

Intertwingularity

Intertwingularity is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Intertwingularity rather than just read about it. In short: Intertwingularity is a portmanteau of the words intertwined and intermingled, coined by information-technology theorist Ted Nelson in 1974 to express the dense and interconnected relationships in human knowledge. The term is now commonly used to describe semantic systems of organization that are non-sequential, non-hierarchical, and which are antithetical to hierarchical systems.

Key takeaways

Intertwingularity belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Intertwingularity to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Intertwingularity from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Intertwingularity is a portmanteau of the words intertwined and intermingled, coined by information-technology theorist Ted Nelson in 1974 to express the dense and interconnected relationships in human knowledge. The term is now commonly used to describe semantic systems of organization that are non-sequential, non-hierarchical, and which are antithetical to hierarchical systems. Nelson first introduced this term in Computer Lib/Dream Machines as part of his broader critique of existing hierarchical systems of organization in computers, and, historically, it is associated with his other work on hypertext and Project Xanadu in reimagining the linear organizational structures of computers with cross-connections.

Origin and theory Intertwingularity was introduced by Nelson as a way to describe his position on how all information is "intertwined" and "intermingled", first mentioned in Computer Lib/Dream Machines where he states how "everything is deeply intertwingled ... there are no "subjects" at all; there is only all knowledge, since the cross-connections among the myriad topics of this world simply cannot be divided up neatly." Nelson refers to intertwingularity by contrasting it with conventional forms of organization, such as hierarchical classification or sequential organization; he believes that the structural imposition of categories or hierarchy distorts the relations between the things being represented. Intertwingularity is closely related to the memex as introduced in Vannevar Bush's essay "As We May Think", owing largely to the memex's influence on Nelson in his conceptualization of intertwingularity and Project Xanadu. The use of associative trails in memex was meant to emulate the mental processes of the human brain, similar to Nelson's theorization of intertwingularity and implementation in Project Xanadu.

Computer Lib/Dream Machines In Computer Lib/Dream Machines, Nelson uses his belief in intertwingularity to justify his opposition to hierarchical organization in hypertext and computers, differing from the views of Douglas Engelbart and Gordon Pask. Nelson specifically identifies Gutenberg's invention of the printing press as the source of hierarchical structures of organization: "Hierarchical and sequential structures, especially popular since Gutenberg, are usually forced and artificial. Intertwingularity is not generally acknowledged—people keep pretending they can make things hierarchical, categorizable and sequential when they can't." The dos-à-dos structure of Computer Lib and Dream Machines is intended by Nelson to be a representation of intertwingularity.

Philosophy Nelson connects Heraclitus' idea of the unity of opposites, or flux, to his thinking on intertwingularity, notably Heraclitus' metaphor of a flowing river. He positions this in contrast to Aristotle, whom he believes is in "support of hierarchy".

Uses and implementations

Nelson is generally credited with the invention of hypertext and was involved in the development of the Hypertext Editing System (HES) at Brown University with Andries van Dam, which was inspired in part by intertwingularity. Branching text and links in the HES were among the first implementations of user interaction with hypertext that allowed for the cross-connection and reorganization of different text, and also acted as a foundation for his hypertext work in Project Xanadu.

Project Xanadu

Project Xanadu was Ted Nelson's project to develop a full-scale infrastructure that preserves the intertwingled nature of knowledge in a hypertext system. Many envisioned mechanisms in Xanadu systems, including transclusion, intercomparison and tumblers, were designed to mirror intertwingled ways of organizing content and knowledge. Enfilade data structures, also invented by Nelson, were used to facilitate cross-connections between data through versioning and inheritance, allowing for the sharing of subtrees between multiple trees.

Influence

Information systems and design Intertwingularity is perceived to have anticipated developments in information design concerning the non-linearity of knowledge. Nelson's intertwingularity-inspired Project Xanadu attempted to address some of these concerns through persistent links, transclusion and version management, many of which are recurring points of comparison with the World Wide Web. Peter Morville, an influential figure in information architecture, discusses intertwingularity in some of his books. In Ambient Findability: What We Find Changes Who We Become (2005), Morville uses the concept of intertwingularity to describe the experience of using hypertext on the web and starting to use computers embedded in everyday objects, known as ubiquitous computing. In 2014, he published a book called Intertwingled: Information Changes Everything about the intertwingularity of the universe, crediting Nelson with the word. David Weinberger wrote about intertwingularity in Everything Is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder in 2008, explaining that providing unique identifiers for items helps enable intertwingularity. Intertwingularity and the philosophy of hypertextual systems have also been considered within system design as a means of increasing user agency in opposition to algorithm-based or agentic systems.

Academic The concept of intertwingularity was celebrated at the "Intertwingled: The Work and Influence of Ted Nelson" conference on April 14, 2014, at Chapman University. The organizers published a book called Intertwingled: The Work and Influence of Ted Nelson in 2015, with articles about Nelson's work and legacy. One of the organizers of the conference and editors of the book, Douglas Dechow, said, "In the 1960s, he saw a world of networked, interlinked – intertwingled, if you will – documents where all of the world’s knowledge is able to interact and intermingle [...] He was the first, or among the first, people to have that idea." Often referring back to Ted Nelson's characterization of intertwingularity, intertwingularity is used in other academic disciplines to describe a non-hierarchical form of organization based on the interconnectedness of its associated elements. In education, intertwingularity has been used to describe the interconnectedness of concepts and technology in learning environments, largely in support of the digitization, accessibility or reassessment of traditional pedagogy.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Intertwingularity

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Intertwingularity claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Intertwingularity before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Intertwingularity ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Intertwingularity

In research: Intertwingularity appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Intertwingularity in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Intertwingularity is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Knowledge, Mereology, Ted Nelson, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Intertwingularity outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Intertwingularity in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Intertwingularity means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Intertwingularity out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Intertwingularity in simple terms?

Why does Intertwingularity matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Intertwingularity?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Intertwingularity.