The Critical Role of Memory in Personal Knowledge Management Systems
A Vision of the modern Zettelkasten
It is often said, that reading old texts can (in addition to insights into history), broaden our understanding of different perspectives, cultures, belief systems, and worldviews. This can foster empathy, tolerance, and a more nuanced view of the world.
Heinz von Foerster (1911-2002) wrote a paper “What Is Memory that It May Have Hindsight and Foresight as well?” in 1970 in the journal The Future of the Brain Sciences.
What draws my interest in this paper was his concept of memory, which I think is relevant to the development of the Personal Knowledge Management systems of today. I am also intrigued by the fact that von Foerster and Niklas Luhmann (1927-1998) were contemporaries and corresponded with each other, especially on the topic of cybernetics.
Memory and storage
Memory and storage are two different things, but we often use the terms interchangeably. In programming, "memory" is often used to refer to storage locations for digital values, but this is not entirely accurate.
Storage is simply a place to put data. It does not have any built-in intelligence or organization. When you store something in storage, you expect to be able to retrieve it exactly as you left it. Storage is a faithful recording of data. For example, if you put a diamond ring in a safety deposit box, you expect to find the same ring when you open the box later.
On the other hand,
Personal knowledge management systems (PKMs) are storage devices, but they are not memory devices. They can store a lot of information, but they do not have the same ability to organize and access that information as true memory. PKMs rely on search, indexes, tagging, linking, and visualization to help users find the information they need.
Recall and Recognition
Recall and recognition are the two typical operations of memory. Recall is the ability to bring something to mind without any external cues. For example, if you are asked to remember your childhood home, you can probably do so without any difficulty. Recall is not faithful. Witnesses may not be sure of what they saw or heard, and their memories may change over time. They may also be influenced by leading questions or other factors, which can lead to contradictory statements.
Recognition is the ability to identify something that you have seen before. For example, if you see a picture of your childhood home, you will probably recognize it. In recognition, we match the input with the existing recalled constructions from our memories.
Both recall and recognition can be influenced by a variety of factors, such as leading questions, emotions, and biases. It is important to be aware of these factors when evaluating the accuracy of memory.
Personal Knowledge Management System as it should be.
The storage function of PKMs is essential, as it provides the foundation for the other functions, such as indexing, tagging, searching, and association.
However, if a PKM only performs these functions, it is simply a library or database. It would not be considered a personal knowledge management system (PKM) because it does not take into account the personal context of the user.
The "personal" in PKM refers to the fact that the system is tailored to the individual user's needs and preferences. This includes the user's prior knowledge, interests, and goals. The system should also be able to track the user's progress over time and make connections between different pieces of knowledge. There is a timeline, and if we consider the various topics as spatial dimensions, they form a multi-dimensional space-time continuum.
In other words, a PKM is more than just a tool for storing and retrieving information. It is a tool for helping the user to make sense of their knowledge and to use it more effectively.
This points to a major problem with almost all of our current PKMs. They can only store information and retrieve it based on keywords or other search criteria. This means that they cannot be used to remember things in the same way that our brains can.
Luhmann’s Zettelkasten
If we speculate that Luhmann was familiar with von Foerster’s idea of memory, so let us see how he handled it in Zettelkasten.
Notes in ZK are never captures from external sources. They can refer to their original sources. When a new note is written, the exact place in the existing Luhmann numbering system is determined. This is referred to as the placement problem, relating the existing with the new knowledge. It can be complicated if categorizations need to be revised because they were not flexibly defined in the beginning. The placement problem is the recognition operation of memory.
The continuity of streams of thought is implemented by Folgezettel. Branchings are allowed. Memory reconstruction is basically tracing their past thoughts forward and backward along the Folgezettel.
Modern Zettelkasten.
Today, we have much more sophisticated software to implement Zettelkasten, including the availability of large language models (LLMs). LLMs can assist in the recognition, recall, and reconstruction operations of memory in a different way than in the traditional Zettelkasten.
LLMs could assist or even automate the recognition, recall, and reconstruction operations of memory in a different way than in the traditional ZK. Embeddings could become personalized to be used in those memory operations.
LLMs can also be used to reconstruct the continuity of streams of thought. This can be done by tracing the links between notes.
The LLM can also be used to generate new ideas by connecting different notes together.
This would bring us closer to Luhmann's ideal of Zettelkasten as a conversation partner who can surprise, challenge and stimulate him.