Augmenting Long-term Memory
This article is about committing knowledge to long term memory. I've been thinking about ways to actually augment long term memory with external storage. I'm unsatisfied with current software (mind maps, OneNote/Evernote, WorkFlowly, org-mode...). They all feel like building a document. I noticed when I come back to my notes in those formats it takes too much time to retrieve information and to add new information without re-structuring existing information. The existing solutions are not optimized for quickly putting down some facts/ideas/goals for later retrieval, without worrying about layout and structure.<p>To efficiently augment memory, the software (especially UI) should mimic the way we think. Each captured thought should be in some way related to one or more previous thoughts and stored in the correct context. Inputted notes should be fairly short and they should be organized in graph structure. Edges should define relations, for example: contains, depends on, implies, follows.<p>When retrieving a thought it should be visualized in context with other related thoughts. This graph should have same layout each time it's retrieved, for better visual navigation. If the system limits the visualization of graph up to 2nd neighbors, there should always be enough space on 2D plane to expand the graph with new thoughts. Manual layout should be discouraged because it wastes too much time.<p>The basic storage/retrieval model could also be expanded with additional processing to further offload brain activities: logical processing (if an assumption proves to be incorrect, all dependent thoughts should be flagged as incorrect/uncertain), goal prioritization, future event reminders.<p>The hard problem is entry method. Because such system should always be accessible, the candidate devices are smartphone and smart watch. So far all input methods except keyboard are too slow and error prone. Most input methods also obscure much of screen space and require visual feedback to verify that text is correct (swiping and auto-correct). I'm researching gesture-based and chording virtual keyboards, but there's nothing suitably fast.<p>This is on my side-project back log, but hopefully I'll find something close enough I can use instead of building from scratch. Any suggestions?