Got an interview with @eriktorenberg tomorrow - will be introducing a lot of people to @RoamResearch and the core ideas behind it:
- Zettlekasten
- Excel for text
- Threaded Twitter as hint of future of collective intelligence
Front-loading my first brain with "best of" thread
- Zettlekasten
- Excel for text
- Threaded Twitter as hint of future of collective intelligence
Front-loading my first brain with "best of" thread
Source material for this is going to be filtering my tweets by min-favs
Not that these are the best ideas - but there's a strong signal that they're the most articulate/digestable ones
Here's link if you want raw material
twitter.com/search?q=from%…
2/
Not that these are the best ideas - but there's a strong signal that they're the most articulate/digestable ones
Here's link if you want raw material
twitter.com/search?q=from%…
2/
A bit surprising that this was one of most viral tweets
On getting rejected from YC many times, and general skepticism out there that there is need for a new "notes app"
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On getting rejected from YC many times, and general skepticism out there that there is need for a new "notes app"
3/
Venture Stories is more about trends than founding stories, but if I had a fund I'd be totally into backing the crazy slightly homeless founders working on Alan Kay timescales
4/
4/
If best-tweets was the marker would have to be something about mobile
Tradeoffs of giving people what they want vs prioritizing the places where good thinking really happens
5/
Tradeoffs of giving people what they want vs prioritizing the places where good thinking really happens
5/
y'all really care about mobile
I mean... even just the hint of it
But the big ideas are much more likely what we dive into
The high level goal of getting compound interest on your thoughts
"Accretive Knowledge Work"™ @andy_matuschak
The high level goal of getting compound interest on your thoughts
"Accretive Knowledge Work"™ @andy_matuschak
Apparently we have multiple North Stars
And like finance metaphors
And like finance metaphors
Excel. Excel. Excel.
Related - excellent post on Excel + Trello - sourced via @yoshikischmitz
joelonsoftware.com/2012/01/06/how…
joelonsoftware.com/2012/01/06/how…
"The great horizontal killer applications are just fancy data structures"
And while we have tables and lists - regular people are lacking some of the more powerful ones
And while we have tables and lists - regular people are lacking some of the more powerful ones
Even more powerful than just giving people UIs that map to data-structures would be to give them the ability to map algorithms over their thoughts
We've just barely started here - so far you've mostly only got filter...
But soon
We've just barely started here - so far you've mostly only got filter...
But soon
Queries are an extension of filter - pretty incredible how much folks like them even when they're this rough
@RoamResearch is an IDE for your thoughts
But like, an easy one to get started with - just docs and nested lists for beginners
But the power under the hood is the ability to use thoughts LIKE code - since
But like, an easy one to get started with - just docs and nested lists for beginners
But the power under the hood is the ability to use thoughts LIKE code - since
But also - Roam is better than existing IDEs, which is why we hear things like this
Why would Dan say such a thing - (he works at Facebook on Developer tools, so my guess is he has the best ones)?
Because the way we organize code is just as bad as the way we organize all other notes...
In folders and files that don't fit your brain.
Because the way we organize code is just as bad as the way we organize all other notes...
In folders and files that don't fit your brain.
"Effective tools can have strong influence on how people conceptualize their tasks, both because the tasks can be mapped into the tools, and because the capabilities of the tools can EXTEND how people SEE their tasks."
- Conceptual Models, Jeff Johnson
- Conceptual Models, Jeff Johnson
The "holy grail" for Roam is augmenting intelligence
First with individuals, then for society
Starts with stuff like this
First with individuals, then for society
Starts with stuff like this
Writing is a tool for thinking
If you can't write it in your own words - you likely don't actually understand it
If you can't write it in your own words - you likely don't actually understand it
But you shouldn't have to decide what "file" or "folder" an idea belongs in in order to articulate it
Today the web looks like this
twitter also looks this way, since you can't see where a thing is quote tweeted from
twitter also looks this way, since you can't see where a thing is quote tweeted from
Knowledge Management Systems follow a file cabinet approach - built on THE WRONG physical metaphors
Your thoughts don't fit neatly into single categories
The notes you took on the book you read about Prepping for Disaster on the beach last summer, recommended by your friend Nat - they aren't only accessible when you think about the beach...
The notes you took on the book you read about Prepping for Disaster on the beach last summer, recommended by your friend Nat - they aren't only accessible when you think about the beach...
Celebrate Mess
It's Ok to base digital tools on physical metaphors - but you need to choose ones that take advantage of the new affordances digital gives you
A better physical metaphor than folders was the 10,000 hyperlinked index card system developed by Niklas Luhman
A better physical metaphor than folders was the 10,000 hyperlinked index card system developed by Niklas Luhman
We might be making more progress on hard problems if our tools actually supported us in
Building up ideas
Correcting flawed premises
Making new connections between old ideas to generate insight
Building up ideas
Correcting flawed premises
Making new connections between old ideas to generate insight
Just realized @eriktorenberg is in the Threaderati - if not #roamcult already
Good that we'll be starting on some shared premises
Good that we'll be starting on some shared premises
The future is here - it just isnt evenly distributed
Unfortunately twitter is also completely unaware or unwilling to build that future
Fortunately we've been working on the foundations for a while
Roam is a tool to help you remix and structure your own thoughts, because that's the prerequisite for real collaborative sense makng
Covid isn't nearly the biggest threat we'll face this century - we'll need new institutions for helping people update and act on a changing world
Quickly
Quickly
Unfortunately I think we're still months if not years away from being able to provide a real collaborative sense-making platform...
But the early experiments we did at least helped me convince my housemates to shelter in place a few weeks before mandate
But the early experiments we did at least helped me convince my housemates to shelter in place a few weeks before mandate
Also helped calm me down from thinking this was literal end of the world
I'm starting to get legitimately amped for this interview
No idea which way it will go though
- easily could end up spending the whole time talking broad scale #gameb collective intelligence type stuff
- easily could end up spending the whole time talking broad scale #gameb collective intelligence type stuff
This would probably be a mistake though
@RoamResearch is still a MOSTLY a single player tool
The best way we can help people with THIS crisis is to help them organize their "grand unifying theory" in quarantine so we're better equipped for next one
@RoamResearch is still a MOSTLY a single player tool
The best way we can help people with THIS crisis is to help them organize their "grand unifying theory" in quarantine so we're better equipped for next one
On Grand Unified Theories - Foxes and Hedgehogs
And the mission of Roam to help people DO SCIENCE in every aspect of their lives
And the mission of Roam to help people DO SCIENCE in every aspect of their lives
