Daily Notes

Just as humans are incapable of generating random numbers, we struggle to consciously generate random ideas - to the point where actively trying to ‘think differently’ often seems to only further calcify existing patterns. Instead of attempting to brute-force creativity, the brain must be confronted with novel stimuli in order to reorganize its per

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Clearly a fundamentally different approach is required. The Roam vision for human knowledge is a collective, open-source intelligence, constantly rearranging, iterating and evolving in the pursuit of truth. Each of us would become a node within this collective intelligence, forging links and creating networks, sharing the very best each has to

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We are experiencing an unprecedented explosion of knowledge. Every day, 2700 books are published in the United States alone, 6850 scientific papers are authored, more than 2 million blog posts go live, and 294 billion emails fly back and forth. The amount of total data produced with every rotation of the Earth would fill a stack of books stretching

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Users can remix and connect ideas in multiple overlapping hierarchies, with each unit of information becoming a node in a dynamic network. Any given node can occupy multiple positions simultaneously, convey information through defined relationships, and populate changes throughout the graph. With weightings assigned to the strength of relationships

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The synthesis and cross-pollination of ideas from diverse fields presents low-hanging fruit for both individuals and society. The investment of time and effort required to become a specialist quickly runs into a point of diminishing returns. By contrast, accumulating a ‘talent stack’ of dilettante-level knowledge or skills can unlock insights and o

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Current solutions also lack interconnectivity. Many files are divorced from context; cast into a drawer, rather than methodically fitted into a broader framework of knowledge. Knowledge trees can create pseudo-relationships between files nested within a given hierarchy, but these are not explicit, and can only describe a vertical ‘parent and child’

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Unlike the brain, the file cabinet approach makes it difficult or impossible to remix or reuse the same piece of information. Each time a change is made to any given file, it has to be tracked down and updated in every location in which it exists. This leads to redundancy, with a cluttering of near-identical ideas, and significant work any time a s

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The uptake and growth of prediction markets has been dampened by regulatory issues, but possible workarounds include a non-fiat token, or reputation-linked points system.