Below is a list of tools for networked thought I’ve come across:
Name | Open source | Self-hosted | Publishable |
---|---|---|---|
Athens | Yes | ? | |
Roam | No | Yes (via public database) | |
org-roam | Bring your own org-export | ||
Obsidian | No | No | Yes (via plugin) |
Logseq | Yes | No (but plans to) | ? |
neuron | Yes | Yes | Yes |
The Archive | No | No | ? |
Notion | No | No | Yes |
TiddlyWiki | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Dendron | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Silverbullet.md | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Links to this note
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Tools for Thought Are Necessarily Monolithic
I read Unbundling Tools for Thought and I find myself agreeing and disagreeing. They are correct that people over invest in tools for networked thought and can get stuck in an unproductive cycle of rebuilding the system over and over again. They are incorrect that the solution is to unbundle into multiple tools and interop between them—point solutions are good at what they do but don’t provide as much building material needed to make it a home.
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Tools that enable connections between ideas and memories help to improve the growth of accumulated knowledge. These tools build a ‘knowledge graph’ that mirror the way the human brain functions and offer the possibility to query it in ways that we typically access knowledge and memories, by context and association.
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Hyperfine Village Organizes Ideas Spatially
I came across the idea of a hyperfine village from Lisa Hardy. It’s a novel way to organize your ideas into a metaphorical “village” so you can more easily recall them in context later. Rather than search or rote memory to recall an idea later, you can go for a stroll in your village.