A graph is the most flexible, intuitive and least restrictive data structure for working with digital information

[[ 2021-05-14 ]] #knowledge [[ knowledge graph ]] #cognition-augmentation

When I started using networked note-taking programs, it really was a paradigm shifting experience. What I realized is that most of the programs we use greatly restrict how we are able to work with units of information. Really, what this all comes down to is how the underlying data is structured. All computer programs are a gateway for the user to manipulate the underlying data.

Long story short, a graph (network) is the most flexible, intuitive and least restrictive data structure for working with digital information. Things can exist in multiple places at the same time and it’s much easier to find, refactor, reuse, remix, units of information in ways just not possible with other tools. Instead of forcing our brains to think about information in computer-like ways, we make the computers process and store information in ways that more closely resemble how we think about information intuitively.

our minds require external scaffolding to perform complex intellectual feats, and structuring digital information as a graph can definitely help create such scaffolding. This cognitive infrastructure effectively becomes a mind-computer interface: zettelkasten is a way to map my own mind network.