Something interesting that I noticed about my thought streams is that they tend to loop in on themselves when they feel "complete". There's a similarity to the "Hero's Journey". Expanded this into some thoughts on "Idea Chains"

This is a normal chain of thoughts, i.e. a typical tweetstorm. Each idea is somewhat related to the ones before and after it but the start and end can be wildly different like a game of telephone.

A chain of ideas can loop in on itself creating a Link. In stories, this makes the story feel complete. In other fields like comedy or music, these loops tend to have very "good" feelings. E.g. building up to a joke or a chorus.

Here's the Hero's Journey and Dan Harmon's Story Circle for reference:

A thread of thoughts is like going on an adventure or vacation. When it eventually loops back, the idea has "transformed" in your mind even though technically it's recognizable as the original idea. A Ship of Theseus transformation.

The completed journey represents the "Soul" of the idea. Similar to the "Quality without a Name' this is the "Story with no Words". It has to be experienced (by reading through each thought in the link) to "get" what has actually happened.

Thought streams that loop in on themselves are not intended for communication to someone where A and B are roughly located and a bridge of platforms is built to span the distance. Looping ideas are more like dancing or music, they don't have a 'point'. They don't go anywhere.

It's possible for one idea link to "connect" with another even though there is no direct connection. Like a quantum leap. Sometimes two things just "feel" related even though they may be about entirely different things.

For small quantum leaps, it can be like food from the same culture or music from the scale. Larger quantum leaps look like incredible creativity or genius, building connections between completely random things yet having it make sense.

A higher level link is like a journey for the higher level "soul" of the idea. The soul recognizes itself across small distances and goes on a journey, looping back on itself and transforming from the journey.

A Level 2 Chain has N^2 thoughts if it's built out of chains with N thoughts. Similar to a regular chain it can be open ended or also loop in on itself like a bracelet.

Same for a Level 3 Chain:

And a Level 4 Chain:

If a base chain has 10 thoughts linked together then you have:
Level 2: 100 thoughts
Level 3: 1,000 thoughts
Level 4: 10,000 thoughts
Level 5: 100,000 thoughts

Each of these corresponds to a higher level of "soul" going up in abstraction. A level 1 chain is random thoughts stream but if you can weave it together into a level 2 chain, it's an Idea. A Level 3 chain is like a PHD thesis or the idea of "Black Swan".

A level 4 chain is like a manifesto like "Antifragile" while a level 5 chain is like a "personal" manifesto and is probably the largest size of a coherent idea of human can create.

For coherent ideas at larger scales you need more people. A level 6 chain is like "What is means to be American/Chinese/Indian". A level 7 chain is probably an entire field like Math/Physics. A level 8 chain is the whole of human knowledge and level 9 is The Human Experience.

At each higher level you get to greater and greater and more and more abstract "souls".

There are also some other shapes you can create with links that might be more interesting metaphors. E.g ideas can be weaved into "chainmail” as a defense or a "whip" as a weapon.

A chainmail of ideas is like a maze. You're still going round and round like a dance but you're getting dizzy and the dance isn't ending. It creates anxiety, stress, and paranoia rather than fun.

A whip of ideas goes from bigger to smaller. It's very hierarchical with subordinate ideas following the lead of the higher ideas. This gives the root idea a very long "reach" like a tentacle and also feels somewhat alien and proby.

An idea that doesn't know what to do with itself just flails about in awkward and often destructive movements. It doesn't know how to "dance" because it's seeking a "point". It's either overly invasive trying to get 'into you' or just spreads like a virus.

A "bad" idea is an idea that cannot complete a hero's journey, thus becoming a villain. If every journey is a hero's journey then a "bad" ideas is just an idea that has no "Life". It doesn't know what to do with itself.