http://hyperworlds.org/nextinternet.html

What will the Internet be like 40 years from now?

by Jack Seay - October 8, 2005- freely distributable

Certainly it will not look like the current brain-dead world-wide
web. It is likely to look like the Xanadu hypertext software designed
40 years ago by the visionary Ted Nelson. He envisioned:

Being able to edit everything any number of times, but without losing
the original document or other versions. This is very unlike wikis;
where identities, ownership, and integrity of documents are uncertain
and easily destroyed.
Creating composite documents, drawing from any available source,
without having to ask permission, and all original creators get paid,
if they wish, for every re-use of their material. This happens
automatically and invisibly.
Links between documents will be bi-directional and unbreakable, even
after they are edited. Links will not break merely by changing names
of documents, or moving them to different directories. Links will be
of varied types, and between any spans of a document.
These are foundational qualities that need to be the basis of all
other software and the Internet of the future.
There are many other new programs with highly desirable features:

eBay and Paypal: secure, fairly simple payments and reputation tracking

Amazon: links to related items and reviews

iTunes: easy to purchase digitized music, audiobooks, and music
videos; listening to and viewing podcasts, numerous other great features

iPod: simple interface to listen to and view media

Google Maps: pan and zoom the world from space on your computer

Second Life: virtual reality - here and now, with building 3D objects
and text chatting in a collaborative environment with people from all
over the world

the gesture interface software as seen in the movie, Minority Report

and many more

These would be so much better built on top of the Xanadu-zigzag
foundation.

home

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

http://hyperworlds.org/transliterature.html

Some thoughts on transliterature

by Jack Seay - Oct. 3, 2005 - freely distributable

Display and edit the following lists:

Content list

{url: start, length} A document content address and a span of text in
it.

...
...
Format list
{document address}

{start, end: bold} External markup applied to a content list.

{start, end: italic}
...
Dimension list - Lists connecting the other lists
{content} Text of a document, can include transcluded portions of
other documents.

{version} What edition of a document
{format} External markup
{view} 2D, 3D, mindmap, outline, etc.
Version list
{base document}

{version 2} - pointing to a content list
{version 3}
...
To display and edit documents:
Point to a content list

Display it's dimensions, which point to versions, formats, views, etc.
Choose a format, version, and view type
The display program keeps everything linked to it's origin, so any
copying, moving, pasting, outlining, formatting - creates new lists
that point to the original documents. You don't point to D, which
points to C, which points to B, which points to A. You just point to
A. Every revision points directly to the first source of everything
contributing spans of text to the current document.
Version lists would not contain content, just pointers to content
lists: doc 1 is the base document, doc 2 is the second version of it,
etc.
Special web servers could be set up that guarantee stable addresses
for all documents placed on that server.
Normal files and http protocol would be used. All HTML, CSS,
Javascript etc. would be stripped from the files before content is
used. Only the text is wanted. All else is embedded markup, a useless
and evil pollution to be purged; replaced by separate format lists
applied to the content. Any editing programs must keep all markup
separated from the content (invisibly). The user should see and edit
the finished product, but the programmers need to be clever enough to
always keep them stored separately. HTML web pages could be
deconstructed into separate content and format lists. No need for the
current bizarre combination of embedded HTML, internal and external
CSS, server side includes, javascript, blah, blah, blah. All markup
would be external. Why do I say embedded markup is an evil pollution?
Because I have wasted large parts of my life trying to keep track of
changes, trying to reformat documents for different end uses, then
losing track of which formats have which version of the text. I have
wasted thousands of hours attempting to learn today's incredibly
complex methods of creating web pages (a grossly inferior and
severely broken form of hypertext). Millions of other web developers
endure the same creativity killing, unnecessary complications,
wasting hundreds of millions of hours of valuable time.
See transliterature.org
Home

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http://hyperworlds.org/frustrations.html


Frustrations

by Jack Seay

Oct. 3, 2005

I want tools that allow me to do what I want quickly, logically,
without what I consider unnecessary steps.

I am currently re-learning Flash to do some web pages. I have learned
to use this program in the past, but it is so non-intuitive and
complex that it is taking much of my spare time for a month to just
get back to where I can use it again. Many things that I could do in
a few seconds using a better designed tool such as Rebol View or
Revolution take a large chunk of an hour to accomplish in Flash. It
is a powerful program, but so non-intuitive that it hinders the
creative processes going on in my head. Instead of taking a few
seconds to add an interface element and then going on to the next
step, I have to go through 50 steps to do something simple, and by
then I have lost track of what I wanted to accomplish. It is
maddeningly frustrating to use.

But due to the fact that it is on nearly everyone's computer, for
commercial web design it is practically required. I wish the Rebol
browser plug-in and/or Rebol View was on almost every computer, and
then I would use it instead. There are a few things that Flash can do
easily, such as simple 2D animation, but trying to do something like
a pop-up menu is a nightmare of complexity. Some programs let you
drag one onto the page, fill in the details, and you are done. Not so
with Flash. The tutorial that shows how to just get it set up (not
including the actual links, just the menu items) takes over 50
minutes of movies. Ouch! That's just to make something that other
tools let you drag onto the page in one swipe of the mouse. And many,
many other things are almost as hard to do in Flash.

Then there is cgi (server programming). It is even more frustrating
than Flash. I have never been able to install and run a Perl program.
Several times, with the help of a monstrous set of PHP programs, I
have managed to get a form working. But God Forbid I should ever need
to modify it. Just thinking about that scares me. I have Filemaker
and have spent a considerable amount of time learning it. It is easy
for creating personal databases to use on my computer. But when it
comes to creating a multi-user database-driven website that will
require a SQL database, Perl scripts, CSS style sheets, Flash
animations and scripting, HTML pages created with Dreamweaver,
graphics with Javascript created with Fireworks, setting file
permissions and other Unix stuff on the server, etc., etc., ad
infinitum, ad naseum; it makes my head spin with the complexity of it
all. And worst of all, it is completely unnecessary that it be this
hard. Rebol can do many of these nightmarish tasks with a line or two
of simple code. Since Rebol is so different, it takes a while to
learn, especially since I have yet to find a good tutorial for anyone
new to programming. But I am determined to learn it and write a
simple tutorial if I have to.

Python looks interesting, but much of what I have read about it just
involves creating HTML forms and using Python to write the cgi
scripts. Not what I had in mind for the limitless creativity I had in
mind. I am still dissatisfied with anything less than the combined
features of Xanadu and zigzag. I use other tools, especially Thinker
for personal use (I am writing this in Thinker). It has transclusions
(see-thru links), but not some of the other main features of Xanadu.
But very useful in the meantime.

I am constantly wishing that we could just start over with better
tools and do it right this time, but the tools just aren't there yet.
Abora gives you a feel for what it is like to do side-by-side text
editing of versions in Xanadu, but doesn't have graphics. David Jones
is working on making the Xanadu code accessible for programmers, and
I hope that yields some tangible results soon. Gzz and zz give you a
thrilling feel for what it is like to work in n dimensions, and I
can't wait to see a full-blown n-dimensional Xanadu. I day-dream
about it, and software like Second Life gives me a chance to create
3D objects and, after I learn scripting, to animate them in a multi-
user online game. But I want to swap out one of the 3 dimensions with
another in my dimension list, link anything to anything, pull in the
content of web pages, books, movies, and music, and annotate them for
myself and others to see and annotate, edit new versions, and much
more. And I want it all to happen at the speed of thought, not the
glacial rate of creating with Flash.

None of the languages I have looked at yet have all the features I am
looking for. But ones like Rebol and Revolution seem to have started
at a higher level than Flash did, so I think will become more
prominent in the near future. I am hoping that one of them can become
the language to write Floating Worlds in. But it may take a
completely new language or operating system to do the job. But since
Rebol is extensible with dialects and Python has much potential,
maybe one of them can get it done. But realistically, it may take
something like a new version of Second Life, scriptable with a more
powerful language like Rebol or Revolution. I hope it doesn't become
a 50 headed monster like the web has become, so it will take a lot of
careful thought and experimentation to get it right. It will be
important not to set it in stone too soon, or it could become
encrusted with useless legacy hindrances, which I think is what
happened to Flash.

Keeping content separated from format; using transclusions instead of
copies; building in a simple secure payment system; having everything
linkable with 2-way unbreakable, typeable, point/span to point/span
links; having everything in n-dimensions (viewable 2 or 3 at a time);
will give us the solid foundation to build the information system of
the future - Floating World (the combination of Xanadu and zigzag).

Let frustration be replaced by exhilaration.




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Why I am optimistic about Xanadu and zigazag.

by Jack Seay

July 18, 20005

Xanadu has failed to materialize after decades of sporadic
development. Is it just a lost cause? Has it's time passed? I don't
believe so. I think its' time has not yet arrived, but will do so in
the near future. I try to be skeptical. But I also doubt my doubts. I
ask why something may not work, but then question my answers. So I
don't think I am being naive in still having hope for Xanadu. I see
lots of less capable systems thriving, but I think they do so because
they are just easier to implement. It's not that they meet real needs
better. Xanadu has a couple of key concepts I keep coming back to
again and again. They are inescapable. Whenever I use software that
doesn't have them, I wish it did.

1. Separate format from content.

2. Always keep all versions.

By separating format from content, you make it much easier to
retarget a document to different platforms without having to maintain
new changes to many separate content bases. That could quickly become
a nightmare. You also allow the same material to be viewed from many
angles and viewpoints, and reorganized by many different structuring
principles and outlines. You aren't stuck with looking at something
in only one way. You can refocus your emphasis according to a
particular need without having to start over. By keeping all
versions, you allow something to be re-used over and over by the
originator and others without harming the original. If you or a
client change your mind, you can always see what you have done before
and go back to it. You can be completely creative, try out dozens of
ideas, then pick the best ones. These are just basic needs I have,
like hot water and toilet paper. I can live without them, but it's
not always pleasant to do so, and I always miss their absence. Life
would just be a lot better with them. That's how I feel about and how
I think about Xanadu and zigzag, and why I will continue to support
their development until someone can prove these are not important
needs. I doubt that will happen.

Back to main page

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I added a page to the hyperworlds website:
http://hyperworlds.org/ReplacingWeb.html

Replacing the web

by Jack Seay - July 6, 2005

Our media unneccessarily reflects our political system. In my country, there are
only two
viable (electable) political parties. Only one is usually in dominent power at
any give time,
and only 2 points of view are considered worthy of a hearing. But there are
often more
than 2 sides to an issue. I will be controversial here, because the issue I am
confronting is
the lack of a media that correctly handles controversy. It is sometimes
contended that
wikis are the ideal media for presenting a plurality of views. I think this is
not the case. A
wiki discourages controversy (as do most mailing lists and Internet forums). You
have to
stay "on topic" because of a lack of structuring systems and inadequate personal
filtering
capability by and for each user. On mailing lists, everything gets thrown into a
common
pot. Forums allow starting new threads, but lack really good cross-linking and
hypersharing among the threads. Wikis allow anyone to change anything, but this
enables
the destruction of information by vandals. A better solution would be to only
allow
creating new versions based on existing ones. Deleting something should only be
allowed
to the creator of that content, or for legal reasons; because deletion destroys
links to the
deleted content. It is better to just create a newer version of a document and
leave the
older version still available, but pointing to the new version (showing the
changes made).

Others should have carte blanche to quote anything, but the original content
creator
should always receive payment and credit (if they are selling their content). In
addition,
any quotations should automatically link back to the original full-length
context crafted by
the author.

Second Life is planning on implementing HTML display in both 2D and 3D. This
will be an
improvement over the simple plain text notecards now in use or the 3D bitmap
text that
can be created now (with difficulty). But I hope this will only be a temporary
transitional
text-handling technique. SL deserves the features of Xanadu and zig-zag.

1. Links - 2 way unbreakable of different types: to and from any length spans,
not just
from a point to a full document.

2. Hypersharing - this will protect authors from having their work stolen or
destroyed, and
allow readers unlimited quoting rights. Also called transclusions, this will
facilitate simple
automatic incremental payment systems where desired; robust, powerful, and
flexible
versioning with visual intercomparison of versions.

3. Separating content from format. This will allow creating multi-use versions
of the same
document for various needs: PDA's and phones, printing, web pages, 3D and nD
explorable documents, and much more.

4. Views: These are related to formats, but are templates that display any
document in a
variety of ways, 2D and 3D grids, stacks, scatter diagrams, simple pages,
floating
branching streams, and anything else that can be imagined. Formats will apply
text styles
to specific documents, views will display any document in a variety of ways.

Versions will allow each reader to have their own personal "copy" of any
document, with
their annotations, highlighting, footnotes, links, corrections, additions, etc.
- without
destroying the original. This personal version can be kept private to the reader
or shared,
and can even be hypershared in other people's personal versions. Movies can be
made
where anyone who wants to can edit their own scene list in any order they
desire.

We are divided politically, religiously, and philosophically. We lack the proper
forum to
present our cases and compare them to others. Sure, we compare what we believe
compared with a charicature of our own making of what we believe others believe,
but
that's not good enough. Let those who best understand a viewpoint present it
fully, and
then quote them in such a way that readers can follow every quote into its'
original
context. Let those who use a word define their own meaning of that word in their
modified
version of a dictionary. For example, a writer presenting a case for
macro-evolution may
use a definition of science as being the study of a naturalistic Universe (one
not permitting
a designer). And a writer presenting the case for intelligent design will
obviously use a
different definition of science. These different definitions of the same word
are part of the
full context of each presentation, and there cannot be a true understanding of
either
viewpoint without that context of the differences in the language. Same goes for
all other
viewpoints on this and any other topic.

HTML and the Web are hypertext very nearly as simple as possible. This has lead
to overly
complex fixes to try to overcome the limitations. What is needed is something as
simple as
appropriate, and as complex as needed to get the job done right. The Web doesn't
even
come close to that in any way, and never will as long as it doesn't have the
basic feature
set of Xanadu as outlined here. Ideally, I would here link to the better
description of
Xanadu in Ted Nelson's book "The Future of Information", but it is out of print.

http://hyperworlds.org/SoftwareDesign.html
It is a bit rambling and will probably be revised several more times, but I
welcome any
comments you may have on it.

The domain name jackals dropped the hyperworlds.com name they were holding onto
for
years and I snapped it up. It now points to hyperworlds.org.

http://hyperworlds.org/answers.html

If Xanadu and Mirror Worlds are the answers, what are the questions?

by Jack Seay

Feb. 6, 2005

What folder did I leave that document in?

What did I name that file?

What changes did I make to it? Can I compare any 2 or more versions?

My hard drive crashed; I didn't back it up with my over-complicated
backup software; now what?

Can I reformat a document for different screen size, PDA, desktop
printer, offset press, audio reading, etc.?

What if I change the text (pictures, audio, video) in a particular
format, do all the formats of this version reflect the change?

How can I use part of another document without asking permission, and
still be legal?

How can I get paid when someone quotes parts of my book, listens to my
music, or watches my movie or animation?

Can I create a slight modification of something created by someone else
and not step on anyone's toes?

How can I (or my accountant) make notations and highlight possible
errors in my bank account without corrupting the original document?

Can I link from this sentence to that paragraph, movie segment, or song
verse? Can links be made unbreakable and bi-directional?

How can I participate in a debate in ways not even imaginable using
current methods?

Can I rampantly re-use anything made by anyone and know that they will
get fair payment automatically; and that anyone can always see the full
context of the original anytime?

Why is it so hard to update and expand web-pages? Is there a better way?

How can I show the vast, intricate, inter-relationships of this
Universe, my thoughts, all human knowledge, and all the arts; in all
media past, present, and future (when available)?

What kind of software will we want to use when our PDA's are connected
with 3D VR glasses, surround sound, and 20+ coordinate data gloves
(instead of a 2 coordinate mouse).

Can my database be more flexible, yet maintain integrity?

Can computers by my servants, not my masters?

How can I get a high-level overview, but zoom in to any level of detail?

Can software usage and/or programming become both more intuitive and
powerful?

Does any software have to be browse-only?

Is the hierarchial file-system obsolete?

Is the OS as the determinant of software's look and feel obsolete?

Does all human knowledge have to be fragmented into disconnected
corpuscles of curriculum?

Can business software be more like playing a high-end videogame and
less like sitting in a dentist's chair?


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Just added the following links:

Nicholas Carriero and David Gelernter
How To Write Parallel Programs: A First Course Could this be the way to
create a virtual super-computer on the Internet to serve Xanadu and
Zigzag?

Scientific Computing Associates
Linda User's Guide & Reference Manual Download a demo of Intel-Linux
software and a PDF manual (159 pages).

Jack Seay - Lubbock, Texas
http://hyperworlds.org - Replacing the Web

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Xanadu: A tool worthy of chronicaling and creating the achievements, documents,
and
discussions * of all mankind ( * scientific, political, artistic, literary,
mathematical,
personal, social, religious, etc.).

Making a Movie in Xanadu
http://hyperworlds.org/xanadumovie.html

Participate in and read various discussions (a combination of what we now call
groups,
chats, and e-mail lists). When you read a good quote or part of a discussion,
book-mark it
and add some keywords for your index of resources. Listen to some music, read
books,
watch movies; doing the same in all these. Continue this process throughout the
making
of the movie. This will provide some of the dialog, plot, music, and even some
video you
will include. Since much of the discussion will be video chat, this could become
good
material for a movie that includes discussion of philosophy, religion, politics,
science, art,
music, etc. (see Mindwalk). Not that these are isolated areas of thought, as
there will be
much overlap and interconnectedness (intertwingularity). Other people could be
making
movies similar to yours. You could make a version based on theirs, and visa
versa. A lot of
movies could then be hyperlinked together in a variety of diagrams that point
out the
relationships and viewpoints. Since everything in Xanadu is fully quoteable and
editable,
you won't need anyone's permission to use anything, and they won't need your
permission
to use your contribution, and everyone gets paid fairly for all they have
created, every time
it is used. This happens automatically, without complication, because the
structure of
Xanadu supports it. So if you say something in a discussion that someone else
quotes in a
screenplay that is edited by someone else and is made into a movie by someone
else; then
every time someone watches that part of the movie (even inside another movie),
you
automatically receive a small payment. You can choose to give away your words,
music,
pictures, video for free if that's what you prefer. After the "official" editor
releases the
movie, the out-takes and bloopers that got cut can be included in comedy or
longer
versions by other editors.

token_word is now on the server used by hyperworlds.org. Thanks to Jason Rohrer
for
all his hard work on this program.
http://www.hyperworlds.org/cgi-bin/tw/tokenWord.pl

Hello,
This is michelle. I am happy to join in your group. I also invite all
of you yo join in my mining web site,too.

I recently start a new data mining web site. It is MiLiWo (Mining
Linking the World) Data Mining Site. Data mining is already a hot
topic now and applied in any kind of industry. Consequently, we start
this data mining community where you could discuss any topic related
to mining, exchange experiences with each other, get latest news,
view Books introduction, and understand mining tools of public
domains or of vendors. Most specially, we will discuss articles about
data mining application non-periodically from our opinions here. You
could discuss those writings , problems in implementation and suggest
solutions from your experiences with every miner from all over the
world there. Of course, the site will become better since your
coming. We really would like to discuss with you from any kind of
industry.

  I sincerely invite all of you to join my web site, Mi Li Wo, which
is located at: http://miliwo.no-ip.com

There you can also join our forum, which is located

at:  http://members.lycos.co.uk/datamining

Registration is requested before reading any articles in the forum.
It takes only less than a minute. An email with account activation
instructions will be sent to the email address you provide. Then, you
can activate your account and start a topic right away!

The forum is just started, we will add more articles soon. Please
feel free to post your articles any time. Once our website is online
and connected to this forum, it's for sure that more data miners will
come to this forum.

Sincerely yours,
michelle

I added the following paragraph to "The OS and Software of the Future" http://
hyperworlds.org/futureos.html

Although links between documents and segments of documents are not connected
using filenames and folders, these can still be used as organizing structures
when
desired. It's just that reorganizing and renaming, copying, moving, etc. won't
break
any links. The same document or segment of a document can be in as many
locations
as desired. Those locations may look like trees, lists, folders, spiderwebs,
neural nets,
imaginary n-dimensional animations with voices, music, movies, books, radio and
tv
stations, unglued magazines; with all thoughts, ideas, art works, and visions
linked
visually in numerous ever-changing selectable views. The limits of our
imaginations
will be the limits of our software.

Hi all!

Who out there is working orthoplex realizations?
My own small contribution, described in part at

     http://www.algebraist.com/

is at the moment frozen in time, partly because
I haven't had a breath to spare to work it
further, partly because I'm rethinking parts of
it, wanting to go back to a structure more
accomodating of the things Ted Nelson's original
idea allows.

Thanks for any information you can provide.

--
Jan Theodore Galkowski   (o°)
  jtgalkowski@...
  http://www.scguild.com/usr/1707I.html
  The Smalltalk Idiom
  laboratory workflow software
  high function databases

What Xanadu has that others don't: When responding to any argument
(for or against something), you will be able to comment on each and
every relevant sentence. The document you are commenting on will
automatically link to your analysis. Whether readers of the document
see your comments or not is up to them. They will have filtering tools
to include or exclude whoever they want. That is their decision to
make. Thus every possible viewpoint can be heard and can cross-comment
on each other as much as desired.

token_word intro

by Jack Seay

June 7, 2003

The purpose of token_word is to give you experience with 2 of Xanadu's important
capabilities - transclusions and micro-payment on the Internet.

(Xanadu is an advanced hypertext system designed by Ted Nelson over 40 years
ago. It is far more capable than the World Wide Web. He says "The World Wide Web
was not what we were working toward, it was what we were trying to *prevent*."
The Web is a mess of unstable plug-ins, broken links, and non-editable pages,
unsuited to the needs of copyright - the opposite of Xanadu.)

1. Transclusions: These are used by token_word to simulate links. They are used
to build composite documents from permanent segments. When you create a
document, it becomes permanent. To create a new version, all the text that will
stay the same is seen from the original and only what is new is added. This in
turn becomes a new permanent document that includes original text and segments
pointed to in the previous version. Links don't break because they refer to a
specific unchanging version.

2. Micro-payments on the Internet: Every character of text is bought from the
original writer only once. If it is read again in another document, it isn't
paid for again. If you read a quotation from author B in an article written by
author A, then A gets paid for what A wrote and B gets paid for what B wrote,
but A quoted. This encourages complete freedom to quote anyone in as much length
as desired, since they get paid for you quoting them and the link to their full
document can always be followed.
Features of Xanadu not (yet) in token word: links, formatting, non-text media.

3. Links: user and author definable types. Can be used to designate dimensions
and any 3 shown at any point in time.
Advertisers will be required to use links that indicate sponsorship.
Readers/viewers/listeners who want to let a business pay for a document may
select from a menu of ads to view. This will be completely optional. You will be
able to exclude any objectionable, irrelevant or uninteresting ads from future
viewing. You, not advertisers, will decide on content. Why should they, not you,
decide the viewpoint and substance of your intellectual and emotional life? As
long as there are businesses with products and services to sell, there will need
to be advertising. But the customers should make the rules on when, where, and
how they will see and hear ads. And no business has any right to prevent the
truth from being told about them. If the cost of distributing digital media is
kept cheap enough, most people will pay their own way most of the time to avoid
the distraction of ads, as they do at a movie theatre. They will request ads
when they are in the mood, just as they look up Yellow Page ads. The power to
blackmail must be taken away from the producers of deceptive ads for fraudulent,
dangerous, or worthless products and services. See the Cluetrain Manifesto
http://www.cluetrain.com/apocalypso.html

4. Formatting: This will include the usual text attributes such as font, size,
color, italics, bold, etc. It will also include collapsible outlines, visual 3D
diagrams showing links to any selected group of dimensions. These can even
change through time to indicate states in the past or plans for the future.

5. Non-text media: pictures, sound, recorded and synthesized speech, animations,
video, 3D graphics (animation, CAD, mathematical, scientific, artistic and
combinations of these). Hybrids such as graphics produced by music and movies
containing all source materials used in producing it. As for how these media can
connect people, see http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.08/korea.html

token_word: http://www.apnrecords.org/cgi-local/tw/tokenWord.pl

Here's a new page I added to the http://hyperworlds.org website:

From token_word to Xanadu

What will it take to move from token_word's functionality to that of
Xanadu?

   The main question to ask is what do you want to do that you can't
   do now on the Internet.

    Token_word does not have embedded markup codes, such as the Web
   has HTML. This is one of token_word's greatest strength's and one
   of the Web's greatest weaknesses. Xanadu stresses the importance of
   separating content from formatting. This way the same text can be
   formatted in many ways for different purposes (such as matching the
   formatting of other documents it is included in).

    Xanadu uses "transclusions" to construct composite documents.
   These will include all types of media. Token_word has these for
   text. This is different than the usual "copy/cut and paste" used on
   computers. Rather than making a copy of text, the original is
   viewed in another document, as if using multiple layers of
   transparent plastic. This has many advantages - simple tracking of
   re-used content for fair royalty micro-payments, comparison of
   changes among versions, unlimited re-use of copyrighted material,
   and following extracts to examine original context.

   Animators (before using computers) painted on layers of acetate and
   stacked them to produce an image. This way a background painting
   could be used for many frames without repainting everything for
   each frame. It could be moved a little each frame to simulate
   foreground object and camera movement. This was later done using
   software layers. 3D animation allows rotating objects to see all
   dimensions of something changing through time. In addition, the
   attributes of an object (combinations of transparency,
   translucency, reflectivity, texture, and dozens of other
   attributes) could be animated through time. Objects can be linked
   to affect each other's movement, appearance, and rotation.

   Text, video, mathematically and artist generated graphics,
   synthesized and sampled sound and music and speech, VR,
   collaborative human and computer work and play, data mining,
   simulated intuition - all these and more can be mixed, animated and
   linked in potentially infinite dimensions.

   Already it is possible for artists and musicians to produce
   creative works with software that surprise even them. With the
   mixed media described above and unhindered re-use of segments of
   their own and other's work, new types of yet unimagined art,
   science, mathematics, and philosophy will happen (the boundaries
   between these "disciplines" blurring and often disappearing as in
   Hermann Hesse's "The Glass Bead Game", also titled "Magister
   Ludi").

   Every existing type of software could be re-written to take
   advantage of Xanadu's features. Perhaps the operating system could
   handle much of it. The distinction is often blurring between the
   OS, scripts, and applications - as the user will interact with a
   composite of them - and with other people around the world.

   Programming may roughly be divided into two aspects: data
   structures and algorithms. Traditional programming places the
   emphasis on algorithms (how to manipulate data). Xanadu and
   token_word emphasize date structure. No amount of fancy
   manipulation can make up for weak structure. A strong and flexible
   structure that provides the capabilities here described makes
   almost anything possible in software.

   So far, token_word uses only one set of data to create each
   document: content. To become more like Xanadu, two more sets need
   to be added: formatting and links. token_word uses transclusions as
   a sort of linking. This provides for linking to spans of text in
   another document, quoting it exactly word for word. Full linking
   will allow the links to read in words not in the document linked to
   and also allow two documents to link to each other. token_word
   allows this only partially. Formatting sets will allow a variety of
   formats to be applied to the same content: different type styles
   and sizes, collapsible outlines, etc. By overlaying the three data
   sets, different views of a single text may be created.

   The other major improvement will be to move to custom software
   rather than using a browser. This will make it possible to do a
   great number of things, such as editing text with formatting and
   transpointing arrows between content in windows.

Pay attention to this, as it is the pre-curser to getting the tens of
millions of copyrighted works onto the Internet, in a way where
everyone gets fair payment, even when quoted and re-quoted.

token_word

http://www.apnrecords.org/cgi-local/tw/tokenWord.pl
Implements some of the major features of Xanadu in a web browser,
including transclusions and micro-payment royalties. Just try it out.
I was amazed. If you want to read about it first, see
http://hypertext.sf.net/token_word/token_word.pdf

Although not as graphically fancy as the Web (yet), it has the most
important elements needed to replace the World Wide Web as we know it
now. If you sign up for an account, you get 50,000 demo tokens free,
to purchace that many characters of text. You can later buy more
tokens at 1 million for a dollar using PayPal. When you read
someone's document, tokens are transferred from your account to the
author's. When someone reads your document, you get paid in tokens.
If someone quotes your document, you get paid every time someone
reads your words. The non-demo tokens have cash value.

Finally, after 40 years of waiting, a working subset of xanalogical
hypertext.

> I have created a related website at http://hyperworlds.org

It looks good, Jack.

Andrew Martin
ICQ: 26227169 http://valley.150m.com/
-><-

I have created a related website at http://hyperworlds.org

Hello,

The moderator of the RebolWorlds group has changed the group's name.
This means that both the group's email address and the group home page
location have changed.

The group email address:
Hyperworlds@yahoogroups.com

The group home page location:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Hyperworlds

If you have links which point to this group or an address book entry
for the group, you should update them, as the old addresses will no
longer work.

Regards,

Yahoo! Groups Customer Care

The Rebol Worlds Project: combine features of: Maple, Thinker, gzz,
Xanadu, Mirror Worlds

Features:

Write in Amiga VP, Java, and/or Rebol; whatever works best.

Transclusions, royalties

versioning of all documents (a document is any type of data in any
form)

open source

infinite dimensions

support for all datatypes

two-way non-breakable links (point to point, point to span, span to
span)

separate format from content, multiple formats (views) can be applied
to any content

sound, video, animation, graphics

dynamic loading and unloading of data and program (only when needed,
only as much as needed)

permanent data-store (with forward and backward pointers ot updates,
revisions, and added links

full support for all languages (Unicode), math, music, and logic
symbols (and output)

embedded programs

support for true 3-D VR

synchronous, asynchronous

any element can be human and/or computer generated and/or live data
feeds

redundant security

servers run on EROS (for secure storage of persistant data), and peer-
to-peer

totally customizable interaction and filtering (all elements of UI
hideable, free, pay, ad supported; selectable by user/provider)

advertizing supported areas are finely-grained customized to each
individual (but anonymous using encrypted codes). User can block any
unwanted ads.

superset of the Internet (contained inside, linked to/from)

contains all digital and analog media (phone, television, radio,
print media, software, arts, sciences, etc.)

anything can be annotated anytime in any way, but integrity of
original maintained (provider specifies whether revisions can be made
public or must be kept private [they will have to pay extra to
prevent public annotations, this is to encourage open criticism])

by default everything is authenticated, and financial, private,
business, and security-related information is encrypted

security of data has #1 priority; all treated as if it was digital
money (often it will be)

any document can be as clutter-free as desired to maintain focus of
attention

links, revisions, stretch-text, dimensions shown/hidden individually,
translucent layering

Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The
troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see
things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no
respect for the status quo. You can praise them, disagree with them,
quote them, disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them. About the only
thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things.
They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They
inspire. They push the human race forward.
Maybe they have to be crazy. How else can you stare at an empty
canvas and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song
that's never been written? Or gaze at a red planet and see a
laboratory on wheels? We make tools for these kinds of people. While
some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people
who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are The ones
who do.
THINK DIFFERENT

These are some notes that I will try to explain in more detail later.
The concepts are explained in greater detail in "Mirror Worlds" and
"Literary Machines", both necessary books to understand these ideas
fully.

Mapping Xanadu into RebolSpace.

LTuples (Linda tuples) are Rebol datatypes beginning with "x." and
followed by more numbers and dots. Relative links into the same file
(LTuple) are translated into full addresses if a copy is made to be
transcluded. Each LTuple to be Xanadized has a
"x.nnnn.nn.nnnnn.nnn..." field that can be used to uniquely identify
it. The server will be replaced with a subspace identifier. Thus,
Linda becomes the "filesystem" that Xanadu uses.

Mapping Mirror Worlds into Xanadu. (I think the above option will be
better.)

LTuples are stored as files or parts of files on a Xanadu server and
moved into RebolSpace for action.


------------------
Jack Seay jackseay@... http://home.earthlink.net/~jackseay/jack
Honesty is never out of style.

Why the Web Must Die

   by Jack Seay - July 10, 2001

   first very rough draft

The World Wide Web is incredible, but it must die. It is amazing
almost beyond belief, that is, unless you know the history of
hypertext; of which, Web pages are a dismal failure. Its'
greatest strength is the fact that it uses the Internet (a
network of networks) to connect millions of documents.  Its'
greatest weakness is its' lack of flexibility. It is difficult
to edit, to show alternate views of, to display with different
formatting, or add your own comments. Its' greatest strength,
the Internet it runs on,  could be exploited to connect millions
of documents using a superior form of hypertext. The web will
probably die slowly, unless a big spider can descend on it, suck
its' brains out, and spit out a new stronger, leaner animal.
Perhaps a program could dissect web pages and separate the text
content from the formatting, and allow partial or full reuse of
the format.  This is probably not ideal, and would introduce new
complexity, but may have some value during the transitional
phase. I was using a hypertext program called Thinker for
several years before the Web existed.  Thinker
( http://www.webcom.com/thinker ) is not designed to be a world
networked hypertext, but it does highlight several capabilities
the Web lacks. Everything in Thinker is editable all the time.
There are not separate browser and editor programs. It does
outline processing with dozens of levels of outline that can be
hidden or shown locally or globally.

The web doesn't map to the way I work. I like to set bookmarks
at specific locations in a book, highlight and underline, and
write comments in the margin. I might want to draw pictures or
diagrams as I write, mark through deletions so I can see what I
deleted. I may be reading ten books at a time, and want to
immediately pick up where I left off in any of them. I would
like instant definitions, synonyms, examples, and explanations.
But more important than mapping to how people work on paper is
how they think; trying to see the big picture and pull up
various obscure thoughts when needed.

If you visit any university library, you will find hundreds of
thousands of books filled with mathematical equations that are
very difficult to incorporate in web pages or email. The vast
majority of the best material written or recorded in other media
is copyrighted. The web includes no good system of paying
royalties and thus excludes most of the best material. Many
hypertext systems handled the problems better than web pages
long before the web existed. Many efforts are underway to add
new features onto HTML  to give it new life, but it only makes
it more of a patched up and ugly monstrosity (a kludge).

As you read any document, you should be able to mark it up and
annotate it as much as you like, if only for your own use. If
your changes are made public, they should only be as a revision,
with changes you made being visible, and the original author
receiving royalties (if copyrighted) for every word you quote.
Xanadu, in development, will support this.

The Web is easy to use for a beginner, point and click, and
there is much to commend in being simple to learn to do simple
things. The problem is when you want to do more than point and
click. Then it all becomes very difficult and complex, and
impossible to do many things I have mentioned here.

To build a strong house, you have to start with a strong
foundation. HTML ain't it. Better would be a single unified data
structure, cross-platform, that not only allows, but encourages
the types of "basic" qualities I'm discussing, most of which are
highly discouraged by the Web, with it's HTML foundation.

If this document were in a hypertext that allowed outline
processing, the "executive summary" (this article) could be at
outline level 1 and read first. Then the outline could be opened
to level 2 for reading footnotes and definitions in context.
Then level 3 could examine in more detail how these features are
implemented in various hypertext programs, projects, and
proposals. Level 4 could go into more detail of the user
interaction with an ideal system. Level 5 could examine data
structures and algorithms required. Level 6 could have actual
code samples. Level 7 could comment on the code. Thus you could
start by getting the big picture, then gradually zoom in on more
and more details of structure; sort of a fractal telescope.
Multi-dimensional software could allow you to select sets of
elements to display in an outline, side by side, or explore in
an animated 3D environment where individual dimensions viewed
swap out dimension sets as needed.

In this document, I am trying to first record generalizations in
a broad overview. Later, I will take more time to add
references, links, definitions, exceptions, clarifications, and
examples. These could be shown as pop-up windows, flown by like
many bi-plane towed banners, shown faded off in the distance, or
in expandible outlines.

The problems of email are many: It encourages messages with
incorrect subjects, and the subjects are limited to one short
line. Emails can't be cloned and placed in several categories
using any of the programs I've tried. Received messages can't be
annotated with personal notes, or edited to strip redundant
text. The system encourages too much repetition (quoting). New
messages should instead be displayed as part of the total
context, highlighted as new and graphically connected to the
quoted context, rather than repeating bits of messages removed
from their context. As each response is pointed to, its'
connections to the original and other responses are displayed.
When a message is deleted, it should be possible to choose to
delete all its' clones or just the current one, and allow
undeletion or not. To a writer, individual letters and words are
not the only important units of thought. Clauses, phrases,
sentences, paragraphs, sections of chapters, chapters, character
dialog, and sections of a book are also important; and should be
easily rearranged, reformatted, or deleted by these groupings.
Text should be able to be multi-selected for mass changes to
format. Selection of vertical rectangles of text and irregular
shapes should be allowed. Formatting should be fluid, to change
with the focus of attention: character, theme, subplot;
graphically highlighting the current priority. A more
aesthetically pleasing indicator of quoting than "greater than"
signs is desirable.

Chat and email are similar enough that they could be combined in
a single environment, with options to mark chatting as such,
since much of it will be more personal and not well thought out.
This way it could be hidden if desired. But it would be kept for
later reading, searching, and data mining.

What is needed is a data structure that supports a more complete
set of functions: automatic version archival and comparison,
royalty payments, security, authentication, encryption, multiple
viewing displays, complete editability, infinite dimensional
linking, two-way unbreakable links, and scalability.

The display program (front-end) can be as simple or as complex
as the tasks require. The best places to look for ideas of what
should replace the Web is to study hypertext programs either
existing, proposed before the Web existed, or in development.
Many are far better hypertext than HTML will ever be. Mirror
Worlds could include a metaphor generator to automatically
create clarifying examples to help you understand abstract and
obscure concepts. Readers should always be given the option to
be notified of revisions to a document, then shown the new and
old versions side-by-side, with graphical display of exactly
what has changed.

Complete means all parts are whole.

Links to relevant web pages can be found at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RebolWorlds/links




------------------
Jack Seay jackseay@... http://home.earthlink.net/~jackseay/jack
Honesty is never out of style.

Jack Seay said at Ò[RebolWorlds] New list name and subjectsÓ.
[Jul/07/2001Sat 03:59]

|The Rebol_MirrorWorlds list is now RebolWorlds

I meant to say "The Rebol_FloatingWorld list is now RebolWorlds".
------------------
Jack Seay jackseay@... http://home.earthlink.net/~jackseay/jack
Notice: Your mouse has been moved. Windows will now restart so this
change can take effect.

The Rebol_MirrorWorlds list is now RebolWorlds. The subjects covered
will now also include Mirror Worlds. I am updating the description on
the web site and will post it when finished. We will discuss the
feasability and design of advanced hypertext systems using Rebol. If
any major coding efforts are begun, they could be spun off into a new
list.

I had another list called Xanadu_MirrorWorlds which was slated for
destruction because it had no members other than myself, so I am
incorporating it's subject matter into RebolWorlds. Here are the
contents of it's messages:

1. How will it all come together? I think it will be a combination of
Xanadu
and Mirror Worlds. Who will pay for it all. I say leave it to the
user to
decide. It they want to pay for it themselves, let them. If they are
willing to allow themselves to be subjected to advertizers to pay for
them,
let them decide how much and which advertizers.

2. Both the Mirror Worlds and Xanadu systems have advantages. Here of
some of each:

Xanadu - unbreakable 2-way links, access to all versions of a
document, simple payment system for royalties, easy re-use of all
materials.

Mirror Worlds - data mining, simple system of distributed parallel
processing.

Both systems have addressing systems that allow for virtually
infinite quantities of data. Xanadu uses tumblers (numbers such as
123.0.7584.8343.2.0.456 which contain the address of the server,
author, document, version, and location in the document). Mirror
Worlds uses the Linda language type which somehow keeps track of the
location of data without the programmer having to know where it will
be found.

It would not be a good thing to be forced to have 2 separate versions
of each document (one for each system). Should there be hooks from
one system into the other? Should one system be modified to include
the capabilities of the other? Should they be merged or just
intertwined?

<--------->
With current technology, pieces of information are destroyed, get
lost or are stored but never found by the people who most need them.
Libraries burn, files are misplaced in cabinets, or a piece of
knowledge is simply lost in the growing sea of information. Take the
notion of a theory and a refutation. The two ideas are separated by
space, time, authorship, perhaps even disciplines. The refutation may
be undiscovered and undiscoverable by a researcher, who then wastes
years of effort pursuing an erroneous idea. If theory and refutation
could be permanently linked together, the web of context would be
vastly enriched. -- Udanax Green Febe Protocol

Floating World Specifications
Rebol implementation

first draft 4-Nov-2000 Jack Seay

This is the result of rough brainstorming for applications. I will
try to fill in this outline later with concrete examples and
definitions.

Web browser or FW application (pass web pages to browser)
	 Program could be kept smaller if not required to support
             current defective standards (HTML, XML, etc.). However,
             it may be more necessary to prop up current usage until
             betters standards can replace them.

Business applications
	 POS, online - telephone ordering, inventory (integrated).
	 Manufacturing (T.O.C. - Eliahu Goldratt).

General requirements
	 Expandible and summary views
	 No unreasonable constraints on length of fields
	 Easy to rearrange order and display of fields
	 Swappable field descriptions (online vs. phone ordering)
	 Elements and sets of elements specifiable as to who can edit.
	 Self training - no "computer literacy" needed. Software
             should be "user literate"
	 It should be possible to hot-swap changes in design while
             software is in use on a network. Old
	     records should automatically work in new design.
	 Don't show user so many controls at one time that it causes
             confusion. Allow controls to easily be
 	     hidden or revealed for easier viewing or printing.
	 Windows and/or screens bookmarkable and namable.
	 Custom user-named environments.
	 Allow users to make program changes - to be approved
             by "higher authority" if necessary. Issue
 	     appropriate warnings for the need to test and debug first
            (for the benefit of management).
	 No unnecessary restrictions on the sequence fields are filled
            in.
	 Ability to insert comments (suggestions, complaints, more
            info, etc.) anywhere - attached to any field (this is
            absolutely essential!)
	 Make it easy to correct mistakes (seems universally lacking
            in P.O.S. software).
	 Keep required fields to a minimum (allow over-ride of
            required fields unless absolutely essential. Is
 	    this info so important it's worth losing a customer over?)
	 Make it as easy as possible to change the software (text,
            graphics, layout, interaction, etc.), even it
	    changes may not go into effect until tested.

Give examples of bad software design
	 Manufacturing, convenience store, security gate entry
	 Of all the software I've used, custom business software has
            been the worst. Employees got blamed for defects in the
            programs, and sometimes quit their job. I've sometimes
            gotten into trouble for pointing out the defects in very
            expensive software.