Posted by MrVandemar 6/28/2025
Mine is for consolidation of knowledge. For instance, when I study math and I write a pen and paper proof as an exercise I then write a clean note from scratch and link to other theorems or corollary notes I have etc. Similar stuff for computer science or programming. I find out that this process solidifies the work I'd already done and make it less likely to forget.
I also think people get a bit too dogmatic about the ways to use technology to help improve your life. Like, what the heck complex rules about Zettelkasten? I don't know what kind of expectations they have going into this. Do these "influencers" telling you how to use it sell the promise of the ultra-intelligent god from the popular meme? Just open the damn editor and write, you will find what works for you through tinkering and iteration.
Maybe they were doing it wrong and should've been writing down durable knowledge that has lasting value.
I write down guides to do things, explanations of how things work that make sense to me, information that I know will be useful at some time but will be accessed infrequently (e.g. information about people or projects).
A 7,000 book reading list seems useless if your goal is to read all of them. But if it's just a bank of interesting books to pull from when you want something to read on the beach or on a sunny weekend, that doesn't cause me stress at least. I'm adding to the bank, not adding items to do. Like my list of board games to try.
Well
But comparing it with photography, it influences how you experience the world. Sometimes it makes you feel like an outsider documenting instead of being in the moment.
I always cringe a bit when people take endless videos of fireworks or concerts. There is a fine line between wanting te remember a feeling or moment and just brainlessly recording.
I’m wouldn’t be surprised if this second brain movement is similarly lacking its connection with “reality” and when lacking clear intention.
I think there's a couple of points during his journey the author could've came to a more balanced conclusion than deleting his "second brain" (obsidian folder).
First is ofc the tool-creep that he mention. It was supposed to be a support tool, to make you reach a goal or solve a problem. Yet it become a goal in itself. A classic Goodhart's law. This should've led him to realize that he need to limit what context the Second brain idea is applied to. Luhmann, the Zettlekasten guy kept in his physical office, segregating his "thinking & writing, work" with the rest of his life. The authors case is the classic "Todolist trap". If he could've identified that early, he could've maybe siloed it better to the useful part.
Second, The "Unread list". One of the first things even in the Zettlekasten ideal (which spanned the entire second brain idea) is to never put in anything unprocessed. Everything, new idea to new reading, should be first processed, thought of, and then written down in your own word. When you break this principle, your second brain is not a brain, it's a todo list.
The third is to humanize it. This also affect point 2. If you properly review your second brain, you'll notice that great insight or ideas you wrote down doesn't seem so great anymore, or lacking. It's also hard to recount why you considered this thing great, or worth writing down. That's when you realize that sometimes, the detail of the idea doesn't matter as much as why/when and how you came up with it. You more often can come up with same idea, hopefully even more refined, if you just remember the context of it.
This should transform your "second brain" from not merely being a list of connected ideas, but with contexts. Who did you share that idea with? Where you sad/mad/angry? what did you do the day you got that idea? Those are all ques your brain can use to reconstruct the entire picture, wayyy better than just words. People that wrote diaries have known this since forever. It's not the ideas you want to keep, but the mental state that reached you to that idea. New, future you, can take that idea way way further, given the same mental state. This insight alone should delete all unread lists. At best it should be delegated to a reference/archive "folder" disconnected from your second brain.
Second brain is not an archive, it's a process. When you misunderstand that, often because you're attached (ego) to the ideas you generate, you fall for the trap the author did.
Edit: I realized that the author is from the rationalist movement. That kinda figures.