In this paper it is argued that the relation between the socalled »Gutenberg galaxis« of print culture and the »Turing galaxis« of digital media is not one of opposition and substitution, but rather one of co-evolution and integration. Or more precisely: that the Gutenberg–galaxis on the one hand can be inscribed into the Turing–galaxis, which on the other hand is textual in character since it is based on linear and serially processed representations manifested in a binary alphabet.In continuation of this text and hypertext is described as notions of related but different sorts of complex systems and it is argued that both texts and hypertexts are best thought of as sequentially organised. The first part of the paper contains a description of the basic properties of computers
and digital representation answering the question: what are the properties common to all kinds of use of computers – whether used for one purpose or another? The second part is concerned with the relationship between printed and elctronic text and the third part addresses the idea of hypertext as systems which exploits modal shifts between node-mode and link-mode as a significant part of the semantics of the system.