Rhizome.im

Artifact Spotlight

A landmark isn't just an address; it's a destination with gravity. This monument, rhizome.im, is an exploration of that principle. It embodies a core concept from the philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari: the rhizome.

Unlike a tree, which has a central root and a clear, hierarchical structure, a rhizome is a subterranean stem like ginger or grass. It has no beginning or end, and it grows in all directions. Any point can be connected to any other point. This is a powerful metaphor for a way of thinking that resists control and celebrates decentralized, emergent meaning.

The early, hand-built web was profoundly rhizomatic. It was a web of hyperlinks forged by individual curiosity, not a feed dictated by a central algorithm. This monument is a tribute to that spirit. As you add points to the canvas, you are not building a pyramid; you are cultivating a field. You are participating in a system where the connections are more important than the origin points—a living map of thought without a king.