I'm a little sad that my best friend, the mind map, was not mentioned. Wouldn't have been too useful in that interview anyway.
But as a writer, I have thought about this a lot. I call it "describing the surrounding things." When I try to describe hard-to-describe things, I can see the thing as a fuzzy hologram that looks different from different angles. You can look at the hologram with different lenses as well. You can describe the "arms" and "lenses" that you are viewing the hologram (idea... object) from. But it is hard to find a satisfying description of the hologram itself.
That is why mind maps feel so organic to me. You have the hologram in the center, and connected to it are the arms and lenses.
Ideas are not simple. In fact, I have come to the conclusion that you cannot hold an idea in your mind as a single object. It is all a landscape. Think about how Umberto Eco describes a painter framing a piece of a landscape.
Mind maps serve the same functions as nesting (thanks c1sc0 for bringing that up), but they are easier to play with. And are, of course, translatable to nests.
This is the first time I've written out my thoughts on lists like this; this interview really made me smile. So I really hope that my description here helps some of you visualize what Umberto is talking about.
*E: Some of you may be wondering why lists are so important, and I've gone through my post a couple of times and I really don't think it does lists justice. I'm going to have to come back to this....
But as a writer, I have thought about this a lot. I call it "describing the surrounding things." When I try to describe hard-to-describe things, I can see the thing as a fuzzy hologram that looks different from different angles. You can look at the hologram with different lenses as well. You can describe the "arms" and "lenses" that you are viewing the hologram (idea... object) from. But it is hard to find a satisfying description of the hologram itself.
That is why mind maps feel so organic to me. You have the hologram in the center, and connected to it are the arms and lenses.
Ideas are not simple. In fact, I have come to the conclusion that you cannot hold an idea in your mind as a single object. It is all a landscape. Think about how Umberto Eco describes a painter framing a piece of a landscape.
Mind maps serve the same functions as nesting (thanks c1sc0 for bringing that up), but they are easier to play with. And are, of course, translatable to nests.
This is the first time I've written out my thoughts on lists like this; this interview really made me smile. So I really hope that my description here helps some of you visualize what Umberto is talking about.
*E: Some of you may be wondering why lists are so important, and I've gone through my post a couple of times and I really don't think it does lists justice. I'm going to have to come back to this....