Winston Profile picture
Singapore 🇸🇬 Doctor, Zen/Dzogchen, PKM | Obsidian/Tana stack 📚 Nerd out with me, I enjoy all kinds of topics :)
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Nov 19, 2023 9 tweets 3 min read
My ongoing transition into Tana from Obsidian - a thread: I made a video about a year ago showing how i used this on obsidian using its local graph view - so please kindly don't parrot the 'graph view is useless' meme (I have so much to say about that).
Oct 30, 2022 6 tweets 1 min read
Case against large systems: Is having a large PKM system or graph that good? It might be a sign of poor filtration of information and "pkm hygiene" The argument about large systems is that you get to have returns from previous efforts, with the expectation of compounding and building on previous knowledge
Oct 29, 2022 6 tweets 1 min read
To think out of the box, you first need to destroy the box Just like Plato's cave - you don't know what it's like outside of the box until you get out of it. The concept of the cave being everything you knew has to shatter completely.
Oct 23, 2022 6 tweets 1 min read
Building a master thread of use-cases for my schemas Master thread for "parent-node-child" (superset-node-subset) schema - functioning on set theory
Sep 30, 2022 12 tweets 4 min read
(1/10) In Jan, I posted how it would be amazing to have a tool that synergizes bidirectional linking and an attribute system. In June, it was like X'mas came early when I was invited to test the alpha version. Here's how Tana blew my mind🧵 (2/10) Since then, it's been tough to hold the silence on this incredible tool that I've had the fortune of testing. I mean, just look at the team working on this. If this doesn't inspire confidence in what this product is and will become, I don't know what will.
Sep 8, 2022 8 tweets 2 min read
Was wondering why I ditched Luhmann. A thread why I did... To start with, most "modern Zettelkastens" already aren't the original implementations, neither do they carry similar principles. Zettelkasten-inspired, yes. Original zettelkasten, unfortunately not really.
Sep 8, 2022 4 tweets 1 min read
Currently thinking hard on how connection of thoughts lead to higher order thoughts, abstraction vs elaboration How do we make things come together without serendipity/luck? Without proximity or similarity? How do we tap the counterintuitive?
Aug 16, 2022 6 tweets 1 min read
Some time/task management strategies I use when time is of the essence - personally structured for the heat of Emergency med, ICU, and fast-paced work when you can't compromise for quality Constrain your inbox - I use a single-page, about A5 sized. Setting big constraints gives you allowance to feel them up - Parkinson's Law applied to inbox space?
Apr 12, 2022 16 tweets 4 min read
A thread on knowledge weaving Before that, let's talk about threading. Threading is the act of appending thought to a previous sequence of thought. This happens in conversations, forum posts, Twitter, mathematical inductions, logical flows, flowcharts, systems, art, and so forth. Everything threads.
Apr 11, 2022 5 tweets 1 min read
Been seeing a lot of comments on how remixing things is not real creativity, and that AI is only able to copy, paste and restyle based on previous inputs. I think the brain is equally limited in the same way. It cannot conceive of something it has no precursor to. The question isn't about whether it using remixed material imo. It's about the level of synthesis you can achieve from using old materials. Is it just a simple combination, or does something greater than a sum of its components emerge? Is it multiplication or just addition?
Apr 10, 2022 6 tweets 1 min read
We go around creating internal maps on what we perceive the world to be, and this chase for security through mapping out the entire world is a strange obsession that leads to several situations "If I read enough, I build my map of the world so well that I can put a label to everything that could possibly happen, then maybe I can make life happen the way I want it to go... or solve the problems it throws at me..."
Mar 26, 2022 6 tweets 3 min read
Going to try to document my workflow A really simple skeleton of my current workflow
Feb 26, 2022 4 tweets 1 min read
A thought experiment. Maybe a good frictionless PKM is building to augment the primitive parts of our human brain. We have, according to chronological order of development:
1. Hindbrain (rhombencephalon)
2. Midbrain (mesencephalon)
3. Forebrain (prosencephlon)
Also:
1. Neuro-endocrine systems
2. Neuro-vascular systems
3. Neurotransmitters
4. Limbic system
Feb 17, 2022 4 tweets 2 min read
Starting a thread that will document my exploration into @Heptabase - mainly because it has a cost barrier. Let's see if it's worth the hype, because my expectations are raised when you need upfront costs. @Heptabase Upfront, I really do not like the cost barrier - it forces you to chalk up a year's worth of "monthly subscriptions" and do not offer trial subscriptions. That leaves a bad taste in my mouth from the start. But of course, function comes first, so let's see if it's worth it.
Feb 8, 2022 4 tweets 1 min read
Here's a thread of a sharing series of my workflow in Obsidian as I build it in public... 1/ Threading Mode in @obsdmd
Feb 6, 2022 12 tweets 3 min read
Been analysing the process of recall. It's starting to seem that there is no distinct phase for input versus output. Whenever there is an input, the mind is already giving auto-outputs. It's a biofeedback system. Hence synthesis can only happen through feedback and appendage. "Threading mode" came from analysing what our minds do when receiving six sense inputs; but it did not adequately dive into how our mind automatically feeds back and creates big works of synthesis by wrestling concepts on paper.
Feb 5, 2022 4 tweets 1 min read
Hope dataview gets up to its notion-like tables soon. Heard it was in the works... This would seriously take obsidian apart from other knowledge graph apps and make it serious competition with notion. The best part about notion's databases is not that it is a simple spreadsheet or table, but that it literally is linked with existing pages with attributes/metadata. Relational databases introduce interactibility between databases. It's like no-code programming for the lay.
Dec 25, 2021 7 tweets 2 min read
The problem with outliners:

Parent
- A
- B

When we want a sequential chain of thought, we nest them as equal level children under the same parent. The alternative would be a very ugly way:

Parent
- A
- B
- C
- ...

This way makes more sense but looks horrible. The maths doesn't work out either. When use method 1, A/B/C are related via an OR (x) function. In method 2, A/B/C are related via an AND (%) function. We intuitively feel this burden that something is not right. And yet we don't like going into indenting hell.
Dec 23, 2021 15 tweets 3 min read
An imagined PKM app in a thread... It should be structured exactly how a thought works. One transient thought comes along, and is auto-tagged by datetime and custom metadata. Tags change its type - "actionable" vs "knowable". Like a tweet, you can chain another thought to this (thought train)
Oct 12, 2021 10 tweets 2 min read
Just a thread on how to maximise your Obsidian experience and learn how to use it really quickly (and unlearn bad habits)... Install "CodeMirror Options" on the community plugins to get access to the closest WYSIWYG mode you can find... github.com/nothingislost/…
Jul 26, 2021 11 tweets 3 min read
Working in @obsdmd has forced me to rethink of a PKM strategy that is also compatible with Roam, and here's what I've come up with so far: Input Notes, Summary Notes, Connector Notes, Category Notes, and #properties. Let me explain what these mean... This strategy was built because I needed some structure while preserving the anti-hierarchy of zettelkasten - inspired by MOCs, Zettelkasten and how language works.