Computer filing systems counter-intuitively represent documents by a descriptive name, and/or by a nice neat icon. A next-generation OS will add topological properties to define the physical shape of each file, allowing you to interact with your computer in the same way you're used to doing with real
paper files:
- searching for a thing based on your vague recollection that it had a torn-off corner, or by the bewildering variety of colored sticky notes you attached to it which you didn't bother to write anything on because you were sure you'd remember what you meant by a blue post-it
- folding things over to make them fit into a folder of the wrong size
- "losing" pages when they end up folded in half and wedged underneath other pages at the bottom of the hanging file
- crumpling them into little balls and building a pyramid
This behavior would be built into the low-level filesystem, so it would be impossible for a program to read the contents of a file unless it were properly uncrumpled.