“The End of Organizing” by Dan Shipper argues that AI will be the best way to organize our notes in the future.
So you rarely go back to use your old notes. It’s too cognitively expensive and not rewarding enough. For an old note to be helpful it needs to be presented to Future You in a way that clicks into what you’re working on instantly—with as little processing as possible.
As you consume content and take generic notes, the AI can transform it into more meaningful text, autocomplete the thought, apply context, and organize it, making it easy to find again.
As you create content, AI could show your notes as you type. Imagine typing about a topic, and the AI presents the notes to you as you type, as it applies to the current context.
Many note and reading apps already incorporate AI, including Readwise, Mem, Mymind, Craft, and Notion. Some with plugins that add this, including Obsidian and Logseq. It should quickly evolve to the point envisioned in this essay.
This essay does not account for the act of writing as a way to help you think and learn. If we let AI do the lifting for us, does that make us smarter, or do we lose the ability to think for ourselves? There is a fine line.