Postings

Building a Second Brain

March 25, 2022

I’m a voracious reader. I have been all my life. I devoured books in my childhood summers out of school, so my Mom used to take me to the public library weekly to feed my habit. We had a mimosa tree in our yard that was struck by lightning but survived, and as it grew, the split between the two main trunks was the perfect place for a young girl to crawl into and read for hours during the hot summer days. The flowering branches hid me from view, and that’s where I hid from everyone to read my books. At night, after everyone in my family had gone to sleep, I would sneak out of bed with my flashlight and crawl into the bathtub, hidden by the shower curtain, and read. Incorrigible! I heard my Mom once discussing with my Dad about whether my behavior was so abnormal that maybe they should consult a therapist? Happily, they maintained a worrying distance and did not intervene. {Smile}

I also tend to go down rabbit holes when I read. If I read a book by an author that I like, I will read everything I can find by the same author. Same thing for concepts, ideas, categories. So, little wonder then that when I recently read The Extended Mind by Annie Murphy Paul, discussing human beings as networked organisms, I dove deep into the idea of extra-neural resources.

In 1998, Andy Clark and David Chalmers published an academic essay that asked, ‘Where does the mind stop and the rest of the world begin?’ They argued that human cognition had become increasingly entangled with technology and that technology was no longer functioning as simple tools but affecting how we think. (See my previous blog post about The Shallows by Nicholas Carr.) They argued that the human mind is extended through our bodies, environments, and relationships. (At about the time I was reading this book, I also watched My Octopus Teacher—an Oscar-winning documentary about the relationship between a human being and an octopus. I highly, highly recommend this movie. One of my takeaways from the documentary was that some of an octopus’s cognition is derived from its tentacles and not just its brain. See how the book and the documentary connected for me?)

Paul takes this idea further in her book by arguing that elements of the world outside our brains may effectively act as mental ‘extensions,’ allowing us to think in ways our brains could not manage on their own. She talks about the importance of designer environments that enable an extended perspective and one in which the rich resources of our world can and do enter into our trains of thought. “As long as we settle for thinking inside the brain, we’ll remain bound by the limits of that organ. But when we reach outside it with intention and skill, our thinking can be transformed. It can become as dynamic as our bodies, as airy as our spaces, as rich as our relationships, as capacious as the whole wide world.” By reaching beyond the brain to recruit these ‘extra-neural’ resources, we can focus more intently, comprehend more deeply, and create more imaginatively—to entertain ideas that would be unthinkable by the brain alone. Paul argues that intelligence is not a fixed property of the individual but rather a shifting state dependent on access to extra-neural resources and the knowledge of how to use them. And that concept reminded me of a book by the award-winning dancer and choreographer, Twyla Tharp, called The Creative Habit, where she stresses how important it is to creativity to have a space in which all of our behavior is focused on the creative act, the connection of new ideas, and thinking.

Okay, so hang on because we’re heading down the rabbit hole. The concept of personal knowledge management was not a new one to me. I was introduced to commonplace books when I was in college. Commonplace books have been with us since the mid-17th century and were an information management device in which a note-taker stored quotations, observations, and definitions. Commonplace books were kept and shared between learned men to share ideas and knowledge, especially before the printing press. Women often used them as the only outlet they had for writing down their observations since they could not publicly acknowledge that they even had a brain! I’ve been keeping a commonplace book most of my life. When I was a teenager, we called them diaries. In my 30s, we called them journals, prompted by Julia Cameron’s book The Artists’ Way. (I think it’s an interesting aside that human beings seem to be animals obsessed with collecting things. How many people do you know that are collectors?) I think this idea that humans collect items also relates to photographers, who collect photos and organize them into books. I’m a photographer, so I’m guilty of that vice. But, I also collect ideas. {smile}

As I explored the concept of personal knowledge management, I was introduced to the idea of the zettlekasten – a German word for slip box. Niklas Luhrman was a prolific scientific writer (over 70 books and 400 scholarly articles), and he attributed his productivity to his use of the slip box technique. A zettlekasten is an organized system of notecards, with each notecard containing a single idea but with extensive links between all the cards. This is contrasted with a commonplace book, which also allows the logging of disparate ideas without the easy possibility of connecting those ideas.

I tagged the zettlekasten concept and then headed further down the hole, drawn to the idea of ‘smart notes.’ The book by Sönke Ahrens, How to Take Smart Notes, was eye-opening for me. Ahrens outlined a system for gathering information by systematic note-taking and then fusing the data into your memory by coupling your ideas with the notes you’ve taken.

As I was diving deep into the tunnel, the next stopping-off place was in the realm of productivity and getting things done. Business consultants argue that information is coming at us so fast, we have to use technology to organize our environment for maximum productivity. The book by David Allen, Getting Things Done—The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, is considered almost a bible by these people. The acronym GTD is used frequently on their forums as a shortcut way of referring to all the techniques discussed in the book. GTD and personal knowledge management (PKM) are often considered flip sides of the same coin.

But I wanted to separate personal knowledge management from productivity issues because I’m no longer part of the ‘women who work, manage a household, family social life, and parent’ group. I’m, gratefully, retired from that mayhem. Instead, I’m facing the end of my life. I am interested in managing my knowledge base, increasing my ability to procure ideas, distill them with my own accumulated wisdom of old age, and produce new ideas and new thoughts. I have always believed that creativity means connecting seemingly disparate ideas in new ways. That is how the knowledge base for humanity is expanded. That requires a collection of ideas—the larger, the better. And I want to be creative. I also believe that part of the purpose of life is to learn as much as you can for as long as you can.

That drew me to Tiago Forte, a business consultant who teaches a concept called building a second brain. He argues that the function of the human brain is to be creative, think, and create new ideas—not the remembering of schedules and numbers and most of the mundane things we spend our time focusing on. He argues that if you can place those items in a technological ‘second brain’—a repository of information that you trust will be there when you need it, your brain can focus on what only the human brain can do. And that is creating new ideas.

Forte teaches that creativity is not a mysterious force that is conjured from nothing; it emerges from practical efforts to gather, organize, and digest your ideas and the ideas of others. He encapsulates this process by the acronym CODE, which stands for Collect and Curate, Organize, Distill, and Express. Your thoughts have value, and by capturing them and saving them, you can allow them to live forever in a trusted system that reflects your goals and interests. This also leaves your mind free and clear to develop even more ideas! He also argues that organizing your ideas is critical. Rather than using a decimal system, like libraries do, or broad categories, like most of us do, we should organize based on projects. He also argues for a ‘slow burn,’ letting ideas percolate, adding to them over time. This fits very well with the productivity of Luhrman’s zettlekasten. Luhrman often argued that his prolific writing resulted from daily dialogue with his zettlekasten. And Forte stresses the same process: don’t passively consume vast volumes of information that soon gets forgotten, but use what you’re learning to make new things, new ideas. You have to put your second brain to work daily.

So, I’m sure this was TMI (too much information) about GTD and PKM. But when I’ve taken a deep dive down a rabbit hole, reviewing my journey by writing it down allows me a different perspective. I think I will continue on this journey, but I promise you that I will not bore you with continued details!

Travel Safe, my friends. Remember—it’s the journey, not the destination!

Take Me To Church

March 10, 2022

I’ve heard this so many times from so many people, ‘There is nothing new under the sun.’ And I disagree. I think art is like the human life cycle—two old ideas fuse to form a new idea {Smile}. Recently, I was reminded again of how an artist can create something brand new from another artist’s idea when I watched a video of Sergio Palunin performing the song Take Me To Church. And I was very glad that I saw his interpretation because the original music video gave me nightmares! It was powerful and effective but so intense that it was scary. And although the song was new almost a decade ago, it still carries a lot of punch for the world we are in today. Actually, good art is like that—it is timeless.

As usual, I meander around the point. So, here goes. I love music and I’m pretty eclectic in my tastes. And while I often have diverse emotions when I listen to music, there are very few times that I feel intense fear and anxiety. That changed the first time I saw Brendan Canty and Conal Thomson’s music video for Hozier’s Take Me To Church.

Andrew Hozier-Bryne (who goes by Hozier) is an Irish singer/songwriter. His song, Take me to Church, was nominated for the song of the year Grammy in 2014. In interviews, Hozier has said that his song was written in protest to policies, particularly in the Catholic Church, that value rules and prejudice over love and acceptance.

In his music video, Hozier goes even further to protest policies not only in organized religion but in the state-sponsored suppression of homosexuality in countries like Russia. He said in one interview, “If you feel offended or disgusted by the image of two people kissing if that’s what it is, but you’re more disgusted by that than the actual violence…I think you should take a look at your values, maybe.”

Like I said earlier, I found this video scary and intense. It made me feel sad for humanity. The images stayed with me for a very long time.

So, then I saw David LaChapelle’s (director) dance video by Sergei Polunin to Hozier’s song. And I was captivated by the beauty and grace in this interpretation.

Sergei Polunin is often considered ballet’s ‘bad boy’ because of his independent streak. He was the youngest principal dancer for the British Royal Ballet, until he quit in his early 20s to start a freelance career. And remember I said at the beginning of my post that although Hozier’s song is almost a decade old, it has relevance today? Well, Sergei’s interpretation is also relevant today. Polunin is a Ukrainian born ballet dancer. He has Russian, Ukranian, and Serbian citizenship but has said that he considers himself Russian. He has a portrait of Putin tattooed on his chest!

So, can one admire the art even if one does not agree with the artist?

Here are the lyrics to Hozier’s song:

My lover’s got humor

She’s the giggle at a funeral

Knows everybody’s disapproval

I should’ve worshiped her sooner

If the Heavens ever did speak

She’s the last true mouthpiece

Every Sunday’s getting more bleak

A fresh poison each week

“We were born sick”, you heard them say it

My church offers no absolutes

She tells me, “Worship in the bedroom”

The only Heaven I’ll be sent to

Is when I’m alone with you

I was born sick, but I love it

Command me to be well

A-, Amen, Amen, Amen

(Chorus)

Take me to church

I’ll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies

I’ll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife

Offer me that deathless death

Good God, let me give you my life

If I’m a pagan of the good times

My lover’s the sunlight

To keep the Goddess on my side

She demands a sacrifice

Drain the whole sea

Get something shiny

Something meaty for the main course

That’s a fine looking high horse

What you got in the stable?

We’ve a lot of starving faithful

That looks tasty

That looks plenty

This is hungry work

No masters or kings when the ritual begins

There is no sweeter innocence than our gentle sin

In the madness and soil of that sad earthly scene

Only then I am human

Only then I am clean

Oh, oh, Amen, Amen, Amen

(Chorus)

I hope your day is filled with love and acceptance!

Drifting

March 5, 2022

I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.
Mae West

I felt the Mae West quote was appropriate for this posting because my three months of radio silence have failed my blog obligations. (And the quote also reflects tangentially something I’m going to talk about later.) Now, granted, I think the comic innuendo in Mae’s statement is not referring to a writer’s failings, but I still liked the lighthearted tone of the quote {smile}.

So, why the radio silence? I have just returned from a 3-month coastal retreat that focused on rejuvenation. And I do know how fortunate I am to have had the privilege to do so. I discarded all obligations, schedules, and alarms. I minimized screen time on all devices. I restricted the time I would allow for current events to intrude in my space. (Thank you to my friend Henry for the wise advice, long though I delayed in taking it.) I embraced solitude and quiet.

Metaphorically, I placed myself in a snow globe (except that it was a salt and sand globe). And it worked! I think this is important to share because we need to know that it is possible. We can rest; we can find ways to heal ourselves from the trauma of witnessing devastating human loss from a global pandemic, from the soul-crushing rise in conflict and strife, tribalism, tyranny, hatred. We can find hope again and find inspiration again (special note to my sweet friend Barbara).

I allowed myself to linger in the wild world, following natural rhythms. I gazed at the ancient and very permanent ocean and thought about how it had been here long before me and would be here long after my minor concerns had departed the earth. I created a restorative sleep habit—something I lost in my early childhood. I embraced quiet contemplation, bracketed by the thrumming back and forth of ocean waves.

Even though I was living in a calm, clear stillness, I still found it challenging to engage in the focused, deep thinking that I had known at one time in my life. I drifted (like Snow White) from one unconnected thought to another.

What gives? Well, two books that I devoured recently seem to offer answers. The first book, by Nicholas Carr, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. The Shallows: What The Internet Is Doing To Our Brains proposes that “the linear mind is being pushed aside by a new kind of mind that wants and needs to take in and dole out information in short, disjointed, often overlapping bursts—the faster, the better.” Carr argues that the content in the medium—in this case, the internet—matters less than the medium itself in influencing how we think and act. Eventually, it can change who we are as individuals and society. That’s a scary thought, and one that Carr argues is chipping away at our capacity for concentration and contemplation.

Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention—And How To Think Deeply Again by Johann Hari reiterates many of the same thoughts as Carr. Hari says, “The sensation of being alive in the early twenty-first century consisted of the sense that our ability to pay attention—to focus—was cracking and breaking.” The statistical data Hari conveys is alarming: college students switch tasks once every sixty-five seconds. The median amount of time they stay focused on any one job is just nineteen seconds. The average adult working in an office stays on one task for only three minutes; most office workers in the U.S. will never get more than an hour of uninterrupted time in a day. For the average human brain, if you focus on something and get interrupted, it will take twenty-three minutes to get back to the same state of focus. And forget the notion of multitasking. The human brain is only capable of one or two simultaneous thoughts in our conscious brain at a time. Instead of multitasking, we are ‘switching.’ The constant switching degrades our ability to focus. If you’re spending a lot of your time not thinking but wasting it on switching, you’re just wasting brain processing time. One study found that the effect of technological distraction (emails and calls) on an individual’s focus and attention was more significant than the effect on focus from smoking a joint! In other words, if you’re trying to get something done, you’d be better off getting stoned than checking Facebook and Twitter frequently.

Solving the big problems that humanity is facing requires the sustained focus of many people over many years. And yet, the human brain is losing the ability to attend and focus for an extended period. Scientific researchers have noted this brain drain, and the fear is that we are heading toward a world where there will be two classes of people. One type will be aware of the risks to their attention and will find ways to live within the limit of the human brain’s ability to process information, sustain focus, and attend to critical data. And then, there will be the rest of the society with fewer resources to resist the influence of the medium. They’re going to be living more and more inside their computers and manipulated by the medium.

I have long been baffled by the fact that large numbers of Americans seem willing to embrace wildly irrational thinking and blatant disinformation. It’s like a horror movie from the 50s—half of our population is having their brains sucked out by the internet!

This whole idea makes me feel like Artax, Atreyu’s horse, in The Never Ending Story when he sinks into the swamp of sadness ? (A classic, by the way. I highly, highly recommend!)

The Neverending Story (2/10) Movie CLIP - Artax and the Swamp of Sadness (1984) HD

Watch this video on YouTube.

I hope you are doing well, staying healthy, and taking care of yourself in all ways.
Diana Davidson

Johnny B. Goode

December 21, 2021

Once again, NASA has boldly gone where no one has before. The Parker Solar Probe, launched on 12 August 2018, flew through our Sun’s corona and upper atmosphere for the first time on 28 April 2021. So why is it notable today? Because it was only this week that the data from the event finally traveled back to Earth and was confirmed by scientific analysis. I love the interpretation given the event by Nicola Fox, Heliophysics Division Director of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. For the first time, she said, “humanity has touched the sun”.

The mission of the solar probe is to gather data that will help our understanding of solar winds, magnetic fields, and other astronomical events that could be a threat to satellite communications—something that we have grown increasingly dependent on. But studying our own star also allows us to increase our knowledge about all stars…and our universe. The NASA Parker solar probe will make 21 close approaches to the Sun throughout a seven-year mission, with the next major flyby in January 2022. Then, NASA says, in 2024 the probe will reach its closest proximity to the Sun…and afterwards, will die in a fiery cataclysm in 2025.

The technology of this accomplishment blows me away. The Sun’s corona is one million degrees Kelvin at its hottest point! The solar probe was engineered with special heat shields to maintain the instruments on board the spacecraft at a safe 81 degrees Fahrenheit.

I’m sure I’m not the only Southerner who wishes that NASA could engineer a summer hat for me when I’m out and about on one of my home state’s sultry summer dog days {smile}.

Having grown up in Rocket City, USA, I’ve always been a bit of a space news junkie. So, the news this week confirming the success of the probe put me in mind of another NASA event that I have followed most of my adult life. The launch of the twin Voyagers spacecraft in 1977, with the primary mission to explore Jupiter and Saturn, electrified me at the time. Voyager 1’s entry in 25 August 2012 and then Voyager 2’s entry on 5 November 2018—into interstellar space was a cause for celebration. For me, it spoke a narrative not only of science and vision, but of poetry. In order for Voyager 1 and 2 to move into interstellar space, the spacecraft had to pass through the heliosphere—the bubble around the sun created by the outward flow of the solar winds from the sun and the opposing inward flow of the interstellar wind. It is hard for me to even grasp those words without also trying to visualize what that must look like. That is the vision part. The poetry part comes with the moment of transition into interstellar space. The heliopause marks the end of the heliosphere and the beginning of interstellar space. Just the word ‘heliopause’ sounds like poetry to me–as does ‘solar winds’ and ‘interstellar wind’ 🙂

And if one has any doubt that science, poetry, and music do not have deep, deep intertwined roots, then the next astounding aspect of the Voyager mission will clarify just that fact. A ‘golden record’ was included on each of the Voyager spacecraft. The record was a 12 inch gold-plated copper disk containing sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth. The purpose of the golden record was to carry a greeting to any form of life, should that be encountered. How is that not magic and science and vision all rolled together? The fact that Dr. Carl Sagan of Cornell University was chair of the committee that determined the contents of the record—yes, the same Dr. Carl Sagan of the “pale blue dot”—was also significant for me because he was my hero. Over thirty years ago, as Voyager 1 was hurtling toward interstellar space, and thirty four minutes before its cameras turned off forever, the spacecraft swiveled around and gazed backward. A last visual goodbye to Earth before aiming for the heliopause. Candy Hansen, who was part of the Voyager imaging team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, was the first to look at the last images from Voyager’s backward facing cameras. She thought at first that there had been a problem because although she could identify Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter…she could not find Earth. And then, she noticed a bright spot in a ray of scattered light that she knew was not a dust or blemish. A bright dot that Carl Sagan later referred to as,

 “That’s here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives … on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.”

Yeah, that’s why he was my hero. And the poetic idea that as all of us live out our lives and then die— our words, our music, reflections of our humanity—has propelled past the heliopause and into interstellar space to live forever and ever. How is that not science and poetry? So, where does the ‘music’ part come into that conceptual space I referred to earlier as an intertwining of music, science, and poetry? Well, one of the songs on the golden record was Chuck Berry’s Johnny B. Goode. Here’s a classic video of Chuck Berry playing the titular song with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.

https://youtu.be/6swgiM9vSEE

A year after Voyager 1 and 2 had launched in 1977, Saturday Night Live did a newscaster skit with Steve Martin in which he claimed that the golden record, our first attempt at interstellar communication, had, in fact, been received by aliens. And they sent a message back. The alien response was finally translated by scientists to English and what it said was, ‘SEND MORE CHUCK BERRY!’

So—science, music, and poetry—forever enshrined in a golden record that has passed the heliopause and is hurtling through interstellar space.

To All, Good Light, and a Merry Christmas!

Community

December 14, 2021

I grew up in a region of the country often called ‘tornado alley’. I remember my mom urging me and my brothers and sister into the bathtub of the only bathroom we had—and then hovering over us while thunder and lightning crashed outside our home. I was too young to fully understand what was going on but I will never forget the look of fear on my mom’s face. I understood the danger completely, though, as a young mother myself--holding my baby daughter tightly in my arms when we had to be evacuated from our flooded home in the aftermath of tornadic weather.

The survivors of this week’s horrific tornado onslaught have been through intense, surreal trauma and they are suffering. They need as much help as we can spare. Donations can be made through this link:

https://secure.kentucky.gov/formservices/Finance/WKYRelief

In a previous posting, I wrote about the familial interactions I saw in the Maasai Mara. I was so fortunate to observe mothers of several species—elephants, chimpanzees, zebras, warthogs, gazelles, cheetahs, leopards—caring for, playing with, teaching their young. But did you know that even the flora of the Maasai Mara interact with each other? The acacia tree is common in the sub-tropical African Savannah. Whenever I see the iconic umbrella shaped silhouette, I am immediately drawn back to memories of the dusty, orangey haze of the African mara.

African acacia trees are a preferred food source of giraffes, probably because these trees have higher protein levels in their leaves than many other trees. Over time, acacia trees have evolved long spines and hooked thorns to protect themselves from foraging giraffes. The problem is that giraffes have also evolved, developing long, dextrous tongues that are capable of evading the long thorns of the acacia tree.

What to do? Well, acacia trees have another, much more rapid solution to the problem. African acacia trees produce increased leaf tannin as a defense against excessive browsing by giraffes. The higher level of tannins can be lethal to giraffe and other browsers. But in addition to this, the trees will emit ethylene into the air, warning trees downwind that a herbivore is nearby. Acacia trees receiving the aerosolized message will also increase their own production of tannin. How cool is that? Acacia trees are members of a supportive community that chemically communicate with one another. My human community has much to learn from the cooperative behavior of not only the wildlife of the Mara, but also the trees themselves.

Poem of the Day

Sea Glass by Bernadette Noll

I want to age like sea glass,

Smoothed by tides

but not broken.

I want my hard edges to soften.

I want to ride the waves

and go with the flow.

I want to catch a wave

and let it carry me to where I belong.

I want to be picked up and held gently

by those who delight in my well earned patina

and appreciate the changes I went through

to achieve that beauty.

I want to enjoy the journey

and to always remember that

if you give the ocean something breakable,

it will turn it into something beautiful.

I want to age like sea glass.

Song of the Day

Gulf Coast Girl, song by Caroline Jones, featuring Jimmy Buffett, Kenny Chesney, Lukas Nelson, and Mac McAnally

Caroline Jones - "Gulf Coast Girl" - ft. Jimmy Buffett, Kenny Chesney, Lukas Nelson & Mac McAnally

Watch this video on YouTube.

I hope for good light and calm seas for all of you!!

Sand in my shoes

December 5, 2021

Well, we may be through with COVID but it is not through with us. I think I made it back from Kenya in the nick of time. Omicron raised its ugly head (or should I say mutated spike protein) resulting in a global travel ban from South Africa and other African countries into the United States, the UK, and Germany. Although Kenya was not one of the African countries in the ban, reverberations through the air travel industry would have surely caused complications in my travel from the continent. How lucky I was to have made it home—jet-laggy as hell— but home before the travel bans.

And now, I’m at my happy place!

My boys and I have the beach pretty much to ourselves. We take long, long walks—I listen to audio books and they chase sea gulls.

I don’t mind the solitude. In fact, I relish it. Puts me in mind of one of my favorite poems, Sea Fever, by John Masefield.

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;
And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull’s way and the whale’s way where the wind’s like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.