Genealogy of Influence
 The family of creative thinkers is big—and getting bigger all the time. This interactive "visualization" tracks the connections between the West's most influential artistic, scientific, and technical minds. Launch the project and it all looks very manageable: 11 names, ranging from Plato to Proust, make up a neat family tree. But click on any one of those names and dozens of new branches sprout. From Proust alone, a whole thicket of literary types pops into existence. Click again, and you find yourself lost in a wood of great names and individuals you've never heard of. Currently boasting 500 people and more than 1,000 "influences," the site draws from Wikipedia, various encyclopedias, and other texts to provide brief blurbs about each person and his or her intellectual lineage. Check back soon, and we're sure that this colorful family tree will have grown all the larger.
|
