Connections

Manage how information connects

Connections are a core part of Think Machine.

Real information is all tangled up. And the Interwingle toggle on the left-side of Think Machine is an easy way to gain control.

You can also hit the Tab key to quickly toggle between interwingle levels.

Isolated Connections

Think Machine by default works with explicit connections. You can say 1 is connected to 2 which is connected to 3.

1,2,3
x,2,z
1,a,b
a,2

These connections will be shown explicitly in Think Machine.

Confluence Connections

In the first level of Interwingle, Think Machine will connect shared parents.

Notice how 1,2,3 and 1,a,b are connected because they both share the parent 1.

Fusion Connections

In the next level of Interwingle, Think Machine will connect shared starts, ends and direct connections.

Notice how a becomes a connector to both 1,a,b and x,2,z.

Think Machine treats two node connections like a,2 as direct connection. Every case of a will be connected to every case of 2.

Bridge Connections

In the final level of Interwingle, Think Machine will connect shared middle nodes.

Notice how 2 gets a bridge connection between 1,2,3 and x,2,z.

Interwingle Stacking

The Interwingle levels stack—meaning every level includes the connections of the previous levels.

This allows you to control how deep or shallow your graph is connected.

If this sounds complicated, it's much easier to just start playing with Think Machine, click around—and things will start making sense.

But if you really want to control the shape of your information in Think Machine—mastering these levels will be key.