A Zettelkasten is not PKM, it's a "tool for thinking"

I read Niklas Luhmann's article, "Communicating with Slip Boxes", for about the 50th time. I finally came to this simple revelation.

Here's why it matters in how you organize your "notes".

Niklas Luhmann wanted to create A.I.

• He wanted his slip box to surprise him.

• He wanted his slip box to be independent.

• He wanted his slip box to be a communication partner.

• He wanted his slip box to provide patterns of thoughts he didn't plan for.

To do this, he opted for a more chaotic, open-organization approach. He organized his 90,000 only through Sequencing, Linking, and Indexing.

He felt that thematic structures will only get in the way of his goal.

Here are 3 reasons why.

• Top-down structures are useful in mapping out knowledge. But, it's not useful in generating new knowledge (or surprises).

• He'd rather read his notes like a choose-your-adventure book, not a book he already knew the ending to.

• He didn't love the complexity of a high-level structure, as it'd be a nightmare to maintain in the long haul. (i.e. What happens when a note breaks a category?)

To sum up: this technique guarantees that its order which is merely formal does not become a hindrance but adapts to the conceptual development. - Niklas Luhmann (transl. Manfred Kuehn)