The squares are meant to represent a two-dimensional version of the human tendency to compare. They are the digitization of the colon and the equal sign. Think of them as two pixels, side by side, in the same way that two dots (or points) side by side represent the colon, used to represent an analogy.

Or the same way that two lines side by side represent the equal sign, used to represent equation.

The digital world, however, encourages juxtaposition as a mode of operation. By means of the hotlink, hypertext juxtaposes two web “pages” in an almost “comic” format (comic here referring both to comics as a medium of communication and to comics as an adjective describing the general tone of the digital era).

As the history of communications technology unfolds, there is a process of dimensional generation: from zero dimensions, which we see in the colon—two points—we advance to one dimension, which we see in the lines of the equal sign. And at the cusp of the digital era, we now see the squares—two dimensions. Analogy to Equation to Pixation. The anabiosis of the word online.

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