0. meta

• ⭐ {0.1} my favorite questions
• {0.2} trail guide
  • {0.2a} trail guide - public
• {0.3} how i use obsidian
  • {0.3a} my rating systems
  • {0.3b} how i manage projects and tasks
  • {0.3c} my are.na key

1. identity and knowing yourself thru time

• {1.1} identity as self-definition
  • {1.1a} it's unclear whether identity is discovered or created
    • {1.1a1} two metaphors for identity formation
    • {1.1a2} waterman's elements of identity formation
  • {1.1b} a strong sense of identity comes from a well-developed self-definition
    • {1.1b1} we change our self-definition with evidence
  • {1.1c} a strong sense of identity requires a sense of continuity
    • {1.1c1} a sense of continuity comes from the integration of experiences, evolving senses-of-self, and identity elements over time
      • {1.1c1a} you need to commune with your past to understand your self
      • {1.1c1b} you need to commune with your present to understand your self
      • {1.1c1c} you need to commune with your future to understand your self
      • {1.1c1d} interacting with yourself over time
        • {1.1c1d1} your search and browsing histories build a resonance calendar
          • ~ jump to time is a grid
        • {1.1c1d2} boardroom meeting with your selves
        • 2024-03-25-23-31 my history with journaling
      • ~ jump to shadow integration
    • {1.1c2} liminal identity
      • {1.1c2a} shock disrupts the continuity of one's identity and their understanding of their inner and outer worlds
    • {1.1c3} identity crises happen when you are not situated in the context of - or oriented toward - your past, present, or future
      • {1.1c3a} stability is connection to, while recovery is reorientation toward, one's location in time and space
        • {1.1c3a1} time-binding refers to our ability to pick up where the last generation left off
          • & space-binding
          • & life archiving is time-binding
          • & if not being bound to time / space leads to identity crisis, a lack of time-binding can lead to generational identity crisis (see {1.2a2d} time collapse)
    • {1.1c4} erikson's stages of personality development ^140956
• {1.2} social context shapes the way we perform identity
  • {1.2a} social context is limited and less developed on social media
    • {1.2a1} social media requires fragmentation and decontextualization of our identities
      • {1.2a1a} social media removes agency in our identity performance
        • {1.2a1a1} the internet lets you try on new identities
          • {1.2a1a1a} online authenticity paradox
        • {1.2a1a2} social media encourages us to label ourselves for better visibility
          • {1.2a1a2a} many of us are turning our digital personas into personal or lifestyle brands
            • {1.2a1a2a1} digital identity maintenance requires feeding the machine
            • {1.2a1a2a2} a brand is a promise of consistency and dependability
              • {1.2a1a2a2a} systems are infrastructure for brand stability
              • {1.2a1a2a2b} silence, brand
        • {1.2a1a3} digital embodiment requires writing yourself into being
    • {1.2a2} context collapse
      • {1.2a2a} social media decontextualizes our relationships by flattening our social network
        • {1.2a2a1} flattened networks give the appearance of homogeneity
        • {1.2a2a2} the algorithm flattens all users into a single context
      • {1.2a2b} context collapse leads to information reaching unintended audiences without context
        • {1.2a2b1} context collapse and virality repurpose users into fodder for content generation
          • {1.2a2b1a} virality can spread your story while simultaneously taking away your control of the narrative
            • {1.2a2b1a1} virality exacerbates context collapse
            • {1.2a2b1a2} viral targets on social media indicate a platform failure
            • {1.2a2b1a3} broadcast vs viral communication
      • {1.2a2c} cancel culture is a result of context collapse (symptom?)
      • {1.2a2d} time collapse
        • {1.2a2d1} identity collapse
          • {1.2a2d1a} collapse of the self
      • {1.2a2e} content collapse ^136112
        • {1.2a2e1} kayfabe content
        • {1.2a2e2} truth collapse
          • {1.2a2e2a} truth in record-keeping on the internet and post-ai
            • {1.2a2e2a1} algorithms increase the spread of misinformation
            • {1.2a2e2a2} the algorithm is a gatekeeper of truth
            • {1.2a2e2a3} choose-your-own-adventure reality
        • ~ see also social media turned internet into visual medium
      • {1.2a2f} federated social media could lessen the effects of context collapse
  • {1.2b} the context of our lives is cumulative and intertwining
    • {1.2b1} history is the full context
• {1.3} partitioning, performing, and projecting
  • {1.3a} we have to un-self collectively
    • {1.3a1} the shadow lands
      • ~ jump to _index
      • ~ jump to _index
  • {1.3b} complexes are the basis for projections
    • {1.3b1} a complex is a split fragmentation of the self that distorts our perception of reality
  • {1.3c} the shadow
    • {1.3c1} shadow integration ^094661
    • {1.3c2} shadow work
    • {1.3c3} the body as a shadow
    • ~ jump to jung’s model of the psyche
  • {1.3d} neurosis is the tension created by self-division and fragmentation
• {1.4} identity as our unique location in time and space
  • {1.4a} one must unravel their personal myth
    • {1.4a1} pistis is loyalty to your inner law
    • {1.4a2} god as the greatest amount of libido
    • {1.4a3} archetypes are a way of organizing a set of things you might experience
      • {1.4a3a} mother and father archetypes
      • {1.4a3b} eros and logos
      • {1.4a3c} puella aeterna and puer aeternus are stuck in a childish worldview
        • {1.4a3c1} provisional life
    • {1.4a4} symbols are containers of meaning that unite the conscious and unconscious
  • {1.4b} individuation is an ongoing process that requires being able to balance the demands of our inner and outer worlds
    • {1.4b1} individuation requires psychological emancipation
• {1.5} jung's model of the psyche ^8405e3
  • {1.5a} conscious attitude
    • {1.5a1} psychological types are the foundation for conscious attitude
      • {1.5a1a} introversion and extroversion are ways of understanding the world depending on your relationship with objects
      • {1.5a1b} the four functions of consciousness
        • {1.5a1b1} sensation function
        • {1.5a1b2} thinking function
        • {1.5a1b3} feeling function
        • {1.5a1b4} intuition function
        • {1.5a1b5} personality development is supported by developing the four functions
          • ~ jump to erikson’s personality development
  • {1.5b} the personal unconscious

2. being online

• {2.1} we're losing the magic of our life's ephemera to the cloud
  • {2.1a} the essence of the everyday
  • everything is a subscription
    • artificial limitations create a user-hostile businesses
    • we’re living on the internet of shit
      • enshittification of physical products
    • so many products have digital locks because it allows the company to invoke section 1201 of the dmca
  • internet spaces have to pick two — free, open to the public, or quality
    • enshittification
  • computers are universal which gives them inherently low switching costs and intrinsic interoperability
    • tech gets big through network effects and stays big because of high switching costs
    • the answer to controlling big tech is forcing interoperability
• the internet has been suburbanized
  • digital gardens are collections of densely linked notes that evolve over time
    • the structure of digital gardens encourages curious exploration
      • rigid navigation makes content feel smaller
    • digital gardens are experiential text design
      • hypertext builds context
    • linking, annotating, changing, summarizing, copying, and sharing are the verbs of gardening
  • the extended internet universe
    • the public web versus cozyweb
    • the dark forest theory of the internet
      • bowling alley theory of the internet
  • the indieweb movement is an alternative to corporate-web
    • principles of the indieweb
    • publishing online is querying the internet for community
• poe’s law
  • the rule of goats
• social media transformed the internet from a place of text to a place of visual content ^43cae3
  • bad art is not unique to social media
  • not all media should be digital media
    • ~ see also content collapse

[!note]- archived 2026-08-03

• {2.1c} digital subscriptions are blurring the lines of ownership
• {2.1b1b} there are three subscription models
• {5.3b1} too much navigational structure distorts your voice and makes your content feel smaller
• {2.2a2b} digital gardens more closely resemble how we think than chronological feeds
• {2.4a1} we should not bring the machine of social media into walled gardens
• {2.3a} it's devastating to rely on megacorps for our tools
• {2.3} internet spaces have a triple-constraint of being free, open to the public, or quality

3. algorithmic distortion and cyber sociology

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• {3.1} the algorithm is a giant system
  • {3.1a} algorithmic amplification, repression, exposure, and inequality
    • {3.1a1} algorithmic monoculture
      • {3.1a1a} algorithmic monoculture is memeifying our politics
      • ? {3.1a1b} algorithmic monoculture is the memeification of culture-building
      • {3.1a1c} aesthetics replacing subculture
  • {3.1b} data voids are gaps in information online
    • {3.1b1} media manipulators exploit data voids by capitalizing on missing data and the logic of algorithms and search engines
      • {3.1b1a} media literacy is the ability to parse the information and messages presented in media
        • {3.1b1a1} our engagement with media and culture are shaped by our epistemological frameworks
        • {3.1b1a2} media literacy will not bridge epistemological gaps
          • {3.1b1a2a} they know about cellphones
      • {3.1b1b} disinformation works because it plays on our existing biases
    • {3.1b2} the potential for ai to scale media manipulation and disinformation
  • {3.1c} fraud in google search engine results pages
    • {3.1c1} crisis pregnancy centers target abortion-related keywords to show up at the top of serps
• {3.2} we're living in a doppelganger culture where we act as other to people's beliefs
  • {3.2a} we don't just disagree on the shape of reality, we disagree on who is in reality
    • {3.2a1} the mirror world is where people end up when their views are too extreme or fringe for traditional social media
      • {3.2a1a} the mirror world is part of the data void manipulation machine
      • {3.2a1b} once an issue is picked up in mirror world, it becomes untouchable
    • {3.2a2} activists and the establishment have changed their online vs offline positions
    • {3.2a3} overton window is shifting left and right
  • {3.2b} your online presence is a doppelganger
    • {3.2b1} the machine-made doppelganger is our real digital doppelganger
      • {3.2b1a} platforms own our digital identities
      • {3.2b1b} we should be able to view, edit, navigate, and use the data tracked about us through our digital tools and environments
      • {3.2b1c} big tech has become imperial and extractive
        • {3.2b1c1} technofeudalism is a system dominated by cloud capital
          • {3.2b1c1a} cloud serfs
        • {3.2b1c2} extractive culture makes us think we don't owe each other anything
      • {3.2b1d} social media engagement is reproductive labor
      • {3.2b1e} technical surveillance allows people to travel through time and space | we’re losing ourselves to the cloud
        • ~ jump to , {1.1a1a4f}
        • {3.2b1e1} we deputize tech companies with governmental and law enforcement responsibilities
• {3.3} the internet makes us treat each other like npcs
  • {3.3a} feelings yakuza
    • {3.3a1} your feelings say something about you, not about others
  • {3.3b} the infinite jerry springer machine
• {3.4} memes are units of cultural transmission
• {3.5} hard vs. soft technologies
  • {3.5a} natural language as a soft technology
    • {3.5a1} computing as a soft technology
    • {3.5a2} computing as a technological disruption to natural language

[!note]- archived 2026-08-03

• what we think of as algorithmic radicalization is just how most of us surf the web
• media literacy requires people to doubt what they see
• we cannot assert authority over epistemology
• we combat misinformation by building trust
• misinformation can be a scapegoat for declining trust in institutions
  • %% it’s not that i disagree with these notes; i was going to combine them, but it just feels kind of futile. i feel like this is so far from where we’re at these days and i don’t know that i see myself expanding this train of thought. %%
• {3.4a1a2a1} cloudalists are not selling us a commodity for profit
• {2.4a} cloud proles
• {3.4a1a2a1c} cloud fiefs
• {3.4a1a2a1c1} vassal capitalists
• {3.4a1a2a1c2} cloud rent
• there is no singular experience of the internet
• {3.1a} algorithmic monoculture requires memeification and turns users into evangelists
• {3.1b} how algorithmic monoculture creates fragmentation
• {3.1c} how algorithmic monoculture creates homogenization
• {3.1d} the algorithm has replaced culture-building
• {3.2a} performative aesthetics give you access to the trappings of community
• {3.2b} aesthetics as part of a subculture
• {3.3a} the algorithm is changing childhood
• {3.3a1} the internet is for children because they give the most currency in the attention economy

4. knowledge management and life infostructures

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• {4.1} a note is any artifact containing some point of data
  • {4.1a} atomic notes
    • {4.1a1} when does something become an atomic note
    • {4.1a2} indexing notes with folgezettel
      • {4.1a2a} maintaining folgezettel over time
  • {4.1b} how to organize notes
    • {4.1b1} comparison of common pkm organizational structures
      • {4.1b1a} nick milo's ACE organization framework
        • {4.1b1a1} nick milo's STIR framework
        • {4.1b1a2} nick milo's four effort intensities
        • {4.1b1a3} nick milo’s ai_os
          • {4.1b1a3a} nick milo's interpreter web clipper prompt
        • {4.1b1a4} nick milo's desktop organization
      • {4.1b1b} tiago forte's PARA framework
        • {4.1b1b1} forte labs digital declutter checklist
        • {4.1b1b2} tiago forte's curation method
      • {4.1b1c} august bradley's PPV organization framework
      • {4.1b1d} johnny decimal system
      • {4.1b1e} steph ango's vault structure
        • {4.1b1e1} steph ango's rating system
          • ~ see {0.3a} my rating systems
    • {4.1b2} options for organizing notes in obsidian
      • {4.1b2a} obsidian is a local-first notetaking app
        • {4.1b2a1} file over app
          • {4.1b2a1a} pkm software comparison
        • {4.1b2a2} options for publishing Obsidian notes
          • {4.1b2a2a} adding comments to obsidian publish
      • {4.1b2b} you don't need to reorganize your entire system at once
        • {4.1b2b1} build systems by working manually, organizing patterns, and mechanizing them
        • {4.1b2b2} no one is going to check your work
          • {4.1b2b2a} the most helpful skill you can develop in a pkm practice is decisiveness
      • {4.1b2c} archiving tags and linked mentions
      • {4.1b2d} obsidian bases versus notion databases
    • {4.1b3} hierarchy vs network in knowledge management and data organization
  • {4.1c} how to take notes from sources
    • {4.1c1} topic maps for learning
  • {4.1d} note-taking as digital gardening
    • {4.1d1} collect gardening metaphors
• {4.2} the limitations of pkm language- most
• {4.3} epistemology is the theory of knowledge
  • {4.3a} our personal epistemology is the context in which we think
  • {4.3b} thinking is the process of navigating our knowledge graph to find interesting paths or associations between unrelated ideas
    • {4.3b1} writing is turning your networked thought into a cohesive narrative
    • {4.3b2} thinking tools should help us navigate through our knowledge
    • {4.3b3} thinking is a form of doubling
    • {4.3b4} knowledge helps inoculate you against bad claims
• {4.4} what is the getting things done methodology
  • {4.4a} open loops in gtd
  • {4.4b} next actions in gtd
    • {4.4b1} store next actions by context
      • {4.4b1a} build momentum by getting started
    • {4.4b2} parallel vs sequential actions
  • {4.4c} projects in gtd
    • {4.4c1} common types of projects in gtd
    • {4.4c2} what to include in gtd projects
  • {4.4d} natural planning model
• {4.5} spatial notes, layered calendars, and other conceptual notetaking approaches
  • {4.5a} the memex is the original digital garden
    • {4.5a1} google search is actually close to the conceptual overlay of the memex

[!note]- 2026-07-26 overhaul archived

• tagging and linking are not alternatives to hierarchy
• people prefer to navigate file systems manually
• our minds do not think in files
• personal knowledge management is a practice of contextualizing one's life
• layered calendars
• the do vs. due date vs. layered calendar debacle
• spatial notes
• moved to fleeting
  • time is a grid ^6ad7dc
    • 🌲 life data as an identity graph with time as an axis
  • my device is my all-in-one tool

5. creativity, craft, and publishing

• {5.1} types of creativity
  • {5.1a} idea sex
  • {5.1b} projects are play
• publish what would have excited you six months ago

editing

• a defensible and personal premise creates a thru-line for your work

  • that’s the thing about
  • don’t market more, matter more
    • the tyranny of the right answer
      • {5.2b1a} optimization comes at the expense of originality
      • {5.2b1b} best practices lead to average work
      • {5.2b1c} expertise isn’t enough because everyone is saying the same things
      • {5.2b1d} frameworks create a fixed lens
  • {5.2c} be an investigator instead of an expert
  • {5.2d} hybridizing over specializing in work
  • {5.2e} the tyranny of real work

• build something growable

  • publish what would have excited you six months ago
    • do not stress over making your writing accessible
  • publishing online is querying the internet for community

• good writing has the right answers, not the best argument

  • {5.4a} essays start with a question
    • {5.4a1} creative nonfiction is about articulating how you encounter the world and process your experiences
  • {5.4b} therefore or but should come between your writing beats

• {5.5} the cycle of craft

  • {5.5a} finding your voice is an external process
  • {5.5b} antilibrary
    • {5.5b1} creating a research antilibrary

• {5.6} flow is a state of complete absorption in an activity in which your skills perfectly match the challenges

  • {5.6a} follow resistance and put yourself in situations that demand growth

• info product mediums and formats

to archive

• idea gardening is collecting seeds that can be planted later

• gardening is a protest against control, perfectionism, and the status quo

• a defensible and personal premise creates a thru-line for your work

• the tyranny of the right answer

• do not stress over making your writing accessible

• good writing has the right answers, not the best argument

• build something growable

original

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• {5.1} types of creativity
  • {5.1a} idea sex
    • idea gardening is collecting seeds that can be planted later
      • gardening is a protest against control, perfectionism, and the status quo
        • ~ jump to digital gardens
  • {4.1b1b2} tiago forte's curation method
  • {5.1b} projects are play
• a defensible and personal premise creates a thru-line for your work
  • that’s the thing about
  • don’t market more, matter more
    • the tyranny of the right answer
      • {5.2b1a} optimization comes at the expense of originality
      • {5.2b1b} best practices lead to average work
      • {5.2b1c} expertise isn’t enough because everyone is saying the same things
      • {5.2b1d} frameworks create a fixed lens
  • {5.2c} be an investigator instead of an expert
  • {5.2d} hybridizing over specializing in work
  • {5.2e} the tyranny of real work
• build something growable
  • publish what would have excited you six months ago
    • do not stress over making your writing accessible
  • publishing online is querying the internet for community
• good writing has the right answers, not the best argument
  • {5.4a} essays start with a question
    • {5.4a1} creative nonfiction is about articulating how you encounter the world and process your experiences
  • {5.4b} therefore or but should come between your writing beats
• {5.5} the cycle of craft
  • {5.5a} finding your voice is an external process
  • {5.5b} antilibrary
    • {5.5b1} creating a research antilibrary
• {5.6} flow is a state of complete absorption in an activity in which your skills perfectly match the challenges
  • {5.6a} follow resistance and put yourself in situations that demand growth
• info product mediums and formats

6. artificial intelligence

• {6.1} artificial intelligence will increase the power of the stream
  • {6.1a} artificial intelligence might necessitate a reverse turing test to prove humanity online
    • {6.1a1} is Online about to get way less cool
    • {6.1a2} tips for proving that you are not an llm
    • {6.1a3} artificial intelligence can never replace the human experience
  • {6.1b} artificial intelligence will change search engines and how people find our content
• {6.2} habsburg AI
• {6.3} chatbots are not the right interface for AI
  • {6.3a} ai prompts are just context
• {6.4} using AI images in marketing is the digital equivalent of a fake Chanel bag
  • {6.4a} determining whether an image has been AI-generated
  • {6.4b} how will our feelings about ai art change over time
• {6.5} we do not have an effective defense against deceptive AI
• {6.6} reader-generated essays as a use-case for AI

7. being and having a body, mind, and spirit

• {7.1} the body as a means of control
  • {7.1a} atomization and body control in men versus women
  • {7.1b} body people in the business of bodies
    • {7.1b1} so many physical hobbies become inaccessible to adults.
• {7.2} aging as body doubling
• {7.3} cycle syncing guide
• {7.4} red alert rules
• {7.5} care tasks are functional and morally neutral
• {7.6} stop giving yourself extra consequences
  • {7.6a} too sensitive and too needy do not exist
• {7.7} is the situation really complicated
  • {7.7a} the questions we ask ourselves are not rhetorical
  • {7.7b} make the decision right
    • {7.7b1} if you have a solution to your worst-case scenario, go after your best-case scenario
• {7.8} dream planning matrix
  • {7.8a} ikigai
• {7.9} secular spirituality
  • {7.9a} those without a religious affiliation are now the largest cohort in the u.s.
  • {7.9b} gods and archetypes are just precise language
  • {7.9c} spirituality is contextualization
• {7.10} feelings wheel
  • {7.10a} sarita walsh feelings list
  • {7.10b} three types of happiness
• vision board for style

8. we live in a society

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• {8.1} a person from a marginalized group accomplishing something doesn't indicate progress for that group, but for the majority group

• {8.2} the rough sex defense is used to argue that a person should not be held legally responsible for a death that occurred during allegedly-consensual sexual activities

  • {8.2a} in rough sex defense cases, we question the victim's sexual history more than the defendant's
  • {8.2b} indiscriminate sex positivity is a tool of the patriarchy
    • {8.2b1} women are becoming burned out
    • {8.2b2} horseshoe of representation of violence against women

• {8.3} euphemism treadmill

• {8.4} we all participate in gender affirming practices

• {8.5} society should work for humans

• {8.6} oscars and ozempic

• pop monoculture refers to facets of popular culture experienced by a huge amount of people at one time

• {3.3} we don't have a cultural childhood anymore

  • {3.3b} we don't have a cultural adulthood anymore
    • {3.3b1} the infantilization of millennial women

• household labor inequity

9. learning computer things

• {9.1} html tags
  • {9.1a} rotating elements in html
  • html cheatsheet
• {9.2} version control is a system that records changes to files
  • {9.2a} git
    • {9.2a1} revert changes in github
• {9.3} block protocol
  • ? how does the block protocol connect to my tagging idea
• {9.4} APIs
• markdown guide
• vectors in machine learning
• json package
• vs code preferences

10. creative writing

• {10.1} novel outline template
• {10.2} questions for character development
  • {10.2a} character sheet template
• {10.3} romance outline template
• {10.4} satire headline formulas
• {10.5} grapes worldbuilding technique
  • {10.5a} worldbuilding cultural iceburg
• that’s the thing about
• tropes i like

11. business ops and development

• {11.1} your business is a collection of systems
  • 🌲software is not a system, it’s a way to store and display your system
  • EDIT systematization method for businesses
• business operations includes system, project, and information management
• systems documentation is imperative for a healthy company
• ! need to clarify the difference between ops and systems
• ~ jump to personal versus business knowledge management
• software agnosticism in business systems
• local storage for business systems
• organizational frameworks for the meta work and operational management
• lean canvas template.canvas
• personal versus business knowledge management
• a defensible and personal premise creates a thru-line for your work
  • don’t market more, matter more

→ section for memoir?