202109091132 Notes should be densely linked

Pushing ourselves to add lots of links to our 202109091129 Evergreen notes makes us think deeply about the connections that a concept might have (202109091134 Notes should be concept-oriented).¹ Since 202209091130 Notes should be atomic, we can also make links across boundaries that might even surprise us (202109091131 Notes should surprise us).

Finding the right links is also valuable. It requires that we re-read old notes and approximate a spaced repetition pattern.

By recording connections manually and intentionally, we build fine-grained associations between our atomic notes. These fine-grained associations allow organic structures to emerge (202109091133 Notes should associate organically). The network of connections that emerges here is arguably more valuable for knowledge accumulation (202109060836 Knowledge should accumulate) and management (202109060845 Knowledge is a heterarchy) than the contents of the notes themselves.

202209091142 Notes are the fundamental unit of knowledge work and manually connecting them amounts to nothing short of interpreting the units and finding patterns. From there, it's trivial to synthesize our multiple interpretations and models into a final thought — for instance, a written work.

Also consider how 202109060835 Knowledge is constructed and 202209091141 The goal of note-taking is not to be better at taking notes, it's to be better at thinking, which adds to the support for spending the time to densely link our notes.