The concept of the hyperlink, if not limited by its role in a digital format, goes far further back than computation. The Talmud, a text detailing Jewish theology throughout history, with its heavy use of annotations and nested commentary over generations, and the Ramayana and Mahabharata, with its branching discourse, are early examples of how hypertext has reflected human thought throughout history (Soumen).

Both Talmudic scholarship and hypertext imply a way of knowing that is different from the linear format that writing often takes. It acknowledges through its many margin annotations that there is not one answer to the open propositions of the original text and that thought is layered, shaped by generational and societal changes.

A typical Talmud page combines original text, oral tradition, commentary, annotation, and references to other religious texts in ways that are "busy, nonlinear, filled with different typefaces, graphical symbols, parallel and intersecting frames, and even multiple languages" (Weiss). The natural left to right pathway that the eye takes when reading is disrupted in the Talmud, with the reader being interrupted by sections of subsequently added commentary. Often, you find yourself jumping back and forth in the text for an answer that came earlier than the question itself (Aarseth). It attempts to contain all relevant commentary on the original text to a single page, therefore gathering information over time into nested and interlinked segments.

Hypertextual spread of the Babylonian Talmud

Not only does the Talmud embrace visual nonlinear writing, but it allows a text thousands of years old to be reframed over time through annotation, meaning the text itself does not belong to a set period of time. If we look at this from a hypertext point of view, this is a fantastic analog for a modern wiki. The Talmud also acknowledges that the text belongs to no individual, as the identity of commentators is lost over time to the combination of all their thoughts onto a limited physical space. Past annotations are cross-referenced and critiqued, allowing religious knowledge to become an open paradigm. The internet, too, is an ever-changing public interface of evolution through editing.

The hyperlink is a continual process of reinvention with clear precursors (Turow). It is a format of thought rather than something to separate the digital from the printed. These handwritten texts from centuries ago and the HTML coded versions we see today are not so different. When we look past the physical/digital dichotomy, we can see an underlying desire to break the bounds of time and constraints of linear thought.

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