How to escape the linear that has been programmed into us: "on the subject of thinking processes, it seems to me that reading/writing/creating hypertext is a little like imitating how the brain works" - following a web of trails.

But both divergent and convergent forms of thinking are needed: why promote the non-linear at the expense of the linear?

But perhaps we are the last generation adept at linear thinking; and now we will be designing non-linear systems for the next generation, who will know nothing else. [1]

Problems with navigating hypertext, trying to locate information, etc., will probably be overcome in future designs. [2]

How hypertext particularly lends itself to re-reading: we begin exploring, divergently, then subsequent readings are convergent.

If hypertext continues to change with each reading, this suggests that there can be no common text for critical discourse. [3]

[1] Or is this another postmodern fantasy? Would realizing it mean abandoning a long tradition of scientific and philosophical thought on which we critically depend?

[2] Is there any sign of this yet in computer-based or internet search programs? Searches based on words are still at a primitive stage.

[3] This appears not to be the case so far with hypertext fiction, e.g., on afternoon, where critical discourse is recognizably dealing with the "same" text.