Comments

• harr

  October 20 edited October 20

  I also had positive experiences with diagram-as-code tools like GraphViz, PlantUML and Mermaid. They nicely complement a digital Zettelkasten because one can quickly visualize relationships. They nicely complement Markdown because they are text first.

  In Obsidian I use built-in Mermaid for that effect. This is how the post's example could be implemented in Mermaid:

  flowchart TD
      Will -->|+| Deterrents
      Will -->|+| Incentives
      Will -->|+| Action{"Action"}
  
      Deterrents -.->|-| Action
      Deterrents -.->|-| TN["Threshold for<br/>negentropy perception"]
  
      Incentives -->|+| Action
      Incentives -->|+| ID["Incentive density"]
  
      ID -->|+| TN
  
      Action -.->|-| Energy
      Energy -->|+| Action
  
      Action -->|+| Reward
      Reward -->|+| Conditioning
      Conditioning -->|+| HabitAccount
  
      Action -->|+| HabitAccount
      HabitAccount -->|+| Action
      HabitAccount -->|+| DP["Desensitization<br/>to pain"]
      DP -->|+| SE["Self-esteem"]
  

  It looks like this:

  

  Personally, I prefer words to +/- symbols. I learned from Novak's concept maps that a lot of insight can be gained by verbalizing the relationship. The quality of the relationship is still indicated by the stroke. For example like this:

  

  Diagram-as-code tools are useful. However, they can't handle too much complexity. At some point one needs to draw a chart manually for a more refined layout.
• harr

  October 21 edited October 21

  I found a community plugin that renders GraphViz diagrams in Obsidian. Same idea:

  

  Here's the source code:

  digraph G {
  
      Will -> Deterrents [taillabel = "+"]
      Will -> Incentives [taillabel = "+"]
      Will -> Action [taillabel = "prompts"]
  
      Deterrents -> Action [taillabel="discourage" color=red style="dashed" labelfontcolor=red]
      Deterrents -> TN [taillabel = "reduce" color=red style="dashed" labelfontcolor=red]
      TN [label="Threshold for\nnegentropy perception"]
  
      Incentives -> Action [taillabel = "encourage"]
      Incentives -> ID [headlabel = "increase"]
      ID [label="Incentive density"]
  
      // cf. the dopamine hypothesis [[201808210933]]
      ID -> TN [taillabel = "increase"]
  
      Action [shape="diamond"]
      Action -> Energy [headlabel = "costs" color=red style="dashed" labelfontcolor=red]
      Energy -> Action [taillabel = "fuels"]
  
      Action -> Reward [headlabel = "as"]
      Reward -> Conditioning [headlabel = "positive\nreinforcement"]
      Conditioning -> HA [taillabel = "strengthens"]
      HA [label="active\nhabits" shape="doublecircle"]
  
      Action -> HA [label = "mutually\nfacilitate" dir="both"]
      HA -> DA [taillabel = "can lead to"]
      DA [label="Desensitization\nto pain"]
  
      // [[202307221041]]
      DA -> "Self-esteem" [headlabel = "increases"]
  }
  

  I learned that GraphViz is an excellent alternative to Mermaid in Obsidian. Thanks!