Everything is a fractal - the deeper you go, the more you zoom in, the more information there is

I have frequently sought out additional information when I am researching a factual write-up, and discover vast amounts of the stuff out there. My problem then is: "Where do I stop?"

I share the vision of E2 and have the desire to include as much as possible, but were I to do that, the nodes I produce would be huge, so I divide them into logical articles, seeking that precious "unit of information". Then I research each of them, and the process continues, if the Muse takes me. It's like zooming into a Mandelbrot fractal - more and more and more, and it often doesn't matter where you zoom.

As an example: I write an article on bodgers, because I like their woodland craft, and think that it's a valuable addition to the database. I discover that they use pole lathes, so go off and research that. In the course of writing that, I learn a lot about timber, bungie and elasticity. That takes me off somewhere else, and I start a node on that. And so on, and so on...

I have always been this way. When I was about seven, my parents bought me an encyclopædia in eight volumes; The Book Of Knowledge. I would sit and read it, flipping through articles for hours. Then I discovered libraries, and eventually the Internet, and still I do the same. As a result, I am a mine of trivia, everything connecting to everything, and the connections themselves resolve into new things to read and learn.

When can I stop? When the Sun is a cold, hard coal whirling alone in space. When I've learned to connect everything.

 

Edit 14th April, 2021: I think it's worth pointing out that I wrote this mere days before Wikipedia was launched. Wikipedia, that rabbit-hole of fractal, connected information. Also, I still have that Book of Knowledge encyclopædia