1. A computer implemented method to determine characteristics of sets of organized items comprising: identifying, by a computer, a first set of organized items as a compare-from location; identifying, by the computer, a second set of organized items as a compare-to location; determining, by the computer, a first recursive intrinsic reference representing the first set of organized items; determining, by the computer, a second recursive intrinsic reference representing the second set of organized items, wherein each of the first and second recursive intrinsic references is an intrinsic reference to an item containing another intrinsic reference, wherein each of the first and second recursive intrinsic references is a reference to a node in a corresponding hash directed-acyclic graph (HDAG), and wherein the HDAG is an acyclic graph in which higher-level nodes include references to lower-level nodes that are based on hashes of content within said respective lower-level nodes; and determining, by the computer, a discrepancy between the first set of organized items and the second set of organized items using the first and second recursive intrinsic references, wherein determining the discrepancy comprises using one or more algorithms to process pairs of HDAGs.