Zettelkasting Eufriction
Hi everyone,
I've been moved by a discussion fragment in another thread1. Two things captured my attention. First was the writing and use of humor to deliver the message. The second idea that swirled out of the Ambassador of Cool was the notion of eufriction. @ZettelDistraction lifted it from Bob Doto2, but it would have been lost to me if he hadn't shared it here.
Below is a zettel I created from this interaction. I've reproduced it in its entirety so you can laugh, critique, criticize, slam, skip any part or theme in the zettel, or ignore the whole thing.
The numbered entries below are direct quotes from @ZettelDistraction.
The bulleted comments are my reflections. I integrated and connected where I could.
I found this along with Bob Doto's essay2, a lively ZK exercice. I spent a couple of hours diving deeper into eufriction. Seeing the gaps in my ZK. I have another zettel which is still providing a little eufriction. Maybe I'll share it here a little later.
I really hope I haven't made a mess of things.
---
UUID: ›[[202204301102]]
cdate: 04-30-2022 11:02 AM
tags: #metaphor #egomania #humor
---
Shipping Container as ZK metaphor
Subatomic: What are the proper uses of a ZK, and where can we slip into complacency and let the ego intrude?
Part of a post that struck me as humorous in a "kick in the butt" way. The discussion is about apt metaphors for ZK. 1
(Ahrens, 40) suggests a shopping container as a metaphor, but a better analogy might be a shipping hub.
How does the central repository of interlinked standardized-format notes of a Zettelkasten assist the writer?
- It turns the writer into a shipping container.
- I love the humorous visual this induces.
- Without the Zettelkasten, writers would have to ship individual Zettels worldwide directly from their desks.
- More humor. I imagine analog zettelkasters making paper airplanes and launching out skyscraper windows.
- The Zettelkasten serves as a memory hole for writing projects that go nowhere.
- A humorous warning if I'm not careful.
- The Zettelkasten introduces eufriction into the writing process (Doto 2022).2
- the ZK introduces positive friction into the writing process.
- Eufriction is Good Friction [[202204301205]]
- Using the idea that something induces friction in a system as a "bad" thing is sometimes wrong.
- It encourages reflection on the important instead of the merely interesting.
- This is a serious turn.
- It encourages the separation of concerns through "note atomicity."
- More seriousness.
- It provides the writer with a stable collection of notes written as if for publication.
- Here, we start down the path of collection bias. I what to look at this in my case.
- It facilitates schema formation, recall, and recombination.
- A concise #definition of work of zettelkasting.
- It provides the writer with an all-consuming procrastination tool.
- Humorous but factual in my case
- Note-taking At The Expense Of Writing [[202107111250]]
- Siren Song of Brain Prosthetics [[202103300546]]
- Once the Zettelkasten reaches critical mass, it expostulates with the writer over their writing.
- Humorous warning about letting ego run the ZK
- ZK Zettelkasten [[202003231430]]
- The prolific sociologist Niklas Luhmann claimed that it worked for him.
- I take this as a humorous bow to the ZK gods.
- No one knows.
- A humorous catchall ending. Probably more accurate than we'd like to admit.
References
@ZettelDistraction
Will Simpson
My zettelkasten is for my ideas, not the ideas of others. I don’t want to waste my time tinkering with my ZK; I’d rather dive into the work itself. My peak cognition is behind me. One day soon, I will read my last book, write my last note, eat my last meal, and kiss my sweetie for the last time.
kestrelcreek.com
Howdy, Stranger!
Comments
What a beautiful word, eufriction! Love the sound.
Ironically, I suddenly understood the etymology of the name of a horrible idea that just a few hours ago I was discussing with my middle schooler daughter: eugenics.
(another example of how a stream of thought results in connection discovery)
This was a brillant metaphore, from the book and all ! I love imagining myself as a FedEx of knowledge… Or not, I don't know if I want to see myself as a computer who carries "packages" between my CPU through RAM to my hard drive system.
Thank you for highlights it, Will
This word is much more ugly indeed and sounds like a cyberpunk dystopia, but it was real in Europe in a really dark age, and it mights become real in some circles of humanity in near futur as well. I'd rather stick with "eufriction". Or "Eurythmics" and make "Sweet Dreams" !
Thank you. A high compliment
Who is the Ambassador of Cool? It couldn't be me. It must be Bob Doto.
Here I should have credited Carly Fiorina for that phrase. She was a philosophy and medieval history major. I am unaware of a better answer to the question "why study philosophy?" than hers.
Eufriction is a nice neologism whose connotations I won't pursue here, although it seems to have triggered a neologasm, a portmanteau word that isn't as nice as the eufriction that led to it.
GitHub. Erdős #2. Problems worthy of attack / prove their worth by hitting back. -- Piet Hein. Alter ego: Erel Dogg (not the first). CC BY-SA 4.0.
I have met the eufriction concept many months ago.
I still don't know if it is a "welcomed" concept in the Zettelkasten world, but in my mind model that I've developed in these months it's one of the most important thing that "makes things work".
There is too much focus on "friction-less" aspects of workflows, but seldom I meet someone writing that in some tasks we need friction
The term 'eufriction' is new to me. But not 'desirable difficulty.'
"The term was first coined by Robert A. Bjork in 1994. The UCLA psychologist introduced the concept as an experience that makes learning more difficult, allowing students to form stronger connections."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desirable_difficulty