If your desk, desktop, or Obsidian vault feel a little… chaotic, this is your sign. Try this 3-part process I call the “Big Clean” to organize all of your spaces physical, digital, and mental so you can do your best thinking.
If the year started out great, but now you're feeling overwhelmed again, we have an exclusive 90-minute event for those in the Knowledge Accelerator on March 10th to power clean our physical and digital thinking spaces.
We are opening up 3 seats in the Accelerator, but only tomorrow the 28th for 24 hours. (We want to test out giving a personalized onboarding experience.) Raise your hand if you're very interested in Accelerator and want the enrollment email at 9am PT tomorrow.
Ideaverse Lite 2.5, Coming Soon
The free Ideaverse Lite is getting a big update from version 1.5 to version 2.5.
- An all new online video course.
- A few of my favorite Obsidian bases, preconfigured.
- More to be shared later...
It's been downloaded around 100K times at this point.
Update on the AI + PKM Bootcamp
I want to run this one-day bootcamp because having my own semi-autonomous AI employee is a separate Obsidian vault has been quite useful for several stuck efforts of mine and much more. That said, I'm putting it on hold so that I can focus on writing the book. It's at a crucial juncture and hard choices need to be made.
"Soft Paper" Obsidian theme (still waiting approval)
Do you know how long it takes for Obsidian themes and plugins to get approved these days? I could ask in their forums but I know a few of you would know. I'm just curious.
LYT Workshop
Student Showcases
We're in our final week of the annual LYT Workshop and it's time for one of our favorite parts: student showcases. We have mechanical engineers, writers, scientists, artists, architects, game designers, and so many more giving us tours of how they've personalized their custom PKM system during our recent LYT Workshop.
It's incredible to see how they've adapted the tools to support their thinking and their unique efforts while also being so inspiring for others to see as well. I learn something from each and every showcase and every one of them is an opportunity to reflect on my own PKM structure and progress in meaningful ways.
Speaking of which...I need to finish up this email to attend this morning's session!!
The Sensemaking Vortex
In this one graphic, so much is being shown. But what I think is just so powerful is how the two methods we've pioneered at LYT feed into each other—giving you a practical, inevitable way to switch between architect and gardener (one of the most common sticking points in any creative or knowledge-based work).
Idea Exchange
Are you attending the PKM Summit?
The 3rd annual PKM Summit is happening next month in Utrecht, Netherlands. I've gone the past two years and both times delivered on all levels, and this year, in collaboration with the organizers, I'm happy to announce a 10% discount to the newsletter! Register at 10% off for the PKM Summit here.
Generous feedback on the incomplete AI Manifesto
I received rich and meaningful feedback on the AI Manifesto sent in last week's email. It will take me a while to process but a few things stood out.
While the manifesto frames the covenant as being about how words reach the page, some respondents, argued it should be about whether the meaning is true.
Some see their role changing from writer to "engineer, producer, director." Interesting. I wonder if that changes who will get the "Written by" credit in the future. Perhaps AI-assisted books will need to acknowledge their co-writer.
Some compared AI writing to Grammarly. Some uses of AI are similar to Grammarly, like the reviled "Refine" pop-up that appears whenever I select text in Google Docs. But most uses of AI in writing exceed that.
Perhaps the most thought-provoking as a separate line of questions: Did it help you tell the truth? Did it deepen understanding? Did it reduce harm? These speak to an "honesty of trajectory" that is more accessible and less virtuously dismissive. I'm still ruminating on these.
Another person framed it in terms of Asimov's laws, giving us a Zeroth Law: “AI interaction must serve truth and understanding.”
Additionally, and most difficult to solve, the manifesto communicates AI as almost a singular type of interaction, when in reality, it takes many forms: writing assistance, NotebookLM podcasts, code generation, image synthesis...and these might all need different ethical weightings.
What remains unchallenged are the following:
- Superficial learning is real, rampant, and dangerous
- The covenant between creator and audience matters
- Human meaning-making can’t be fully delegated
These are important, and very incomplete, ideas to continue thinking about.
Keep sending your thoughts.
Stay connected,
Nick
P.S... If you're feeling overwhelmed, what if you tried tidying your physical space first?
Sorry for any typos, I'm jumping into the showcase session for the LYT Workshop, starting now...
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