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If Leonardo were alive today would he write his notebook by hand? Or would he adopt a modern a technology that would let him put down his thoughts and diagrams

If Leonardo were alive today would he write his notebook by hand? Or would he adopt a modern a technology that would let him put down his thoughts and diagrams more expressively and precisely, that would allow better revision and better retrieval at a later date? I suspect he would choose the latter. I see no magic in putting pen to paper. Something like a python / jupyter notebook containing words and figures (and perhaps code) that could be indexed automatically and later searched naturally and intuitively seems far more powerful, reusable and extensible than paper. Or maybe the note taking process could start with writing on paper, then digitize them into digital form. That way you could determine whether pen and ink were essential to the process or not.

psychomugs 5y ago
There actually is magic to pen and paper. There’s a wealth of research showing the benefits of employing the motor skills of handwriting compared to typing, such as better memory and lower cognitive load. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C34&q=handwriting+vs+typing&btnG=#d=gs_qabs&u=%23p%3DZY60Fi7QpKMJ https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C34&q=han... https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C34&q=handwriting+vs+typing&btnG=#d=gs_qabs&u=%23p%3DdRyaeUPQY90J https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C34&q=han...
nautilius 5y ago
> If Leonardo were alive today would he write his notebook by hand? Or would he adopt a modern a technology that would let him put down his thoughts and diagrams more expressively and precisely, that would allow better revision and better retrieval at a later date? I suspect he would choose the latter. I suspect he would choose the former. He could have dictated his thoughts to an assistant. He could have made his sketches more 'expressively' in oil on canvas. But he didn't. He chose to be alone with a notebook and get his thoughts out.
goldfeld 5y ago
Or perhaps today's Leonardos lost themselves in computer mess and can't think as straight and simply, unassisted, as that renaissance rockstar. Perhaps we'd have more profound genius if fountain pens, letters and hardcover tomes were more popular in young circles than Medium.
- Qem 5y ago
  He would have wasted his life posting food pics on Instagram.
Qem 5y ago
His drawing abilities were awesome, he probably would stick to paper, assisted by modern inventions like ballpens and mechanical pencils. People like to shun paper, but I think that happens because most of us have awful drawing skills, so it is used as a medium for verbal thinking, but not for "crankshaft-thinking", as Feynman called it.

psychomugs 5y ago

There actually is magic to pen and paper. There’s a wealth of research showing the benefits of employing the motor skills of handwriting compared to typing, such as better memory and lower cognitive load. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C34&q=handwriting+vs+typing&btnG=#d=gs_qabs&u=%23p%3DZY60Fi7QpKMJ https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C34&q=han... https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C34&q=handwriting+vs+typing&btnG=#d=gs_qabs&u=%23p%3DdRyaeUPQY90J https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C34&q=han...

nautilius 5y ago

> If Leonardo were alive today would he write his notebook by hand? Or would he adopt a modern a technology that would let him put down his thoughts and diagrams more expressively and precisely, that would allow better revision and better retrieval at a later date? I suspect he would choose the latter. I suspect he would choose the former. He could have dictated his thoughts to an assistant. He could have made his sketches more 'expressively' in oil on canvas. But he didn't. He chose to be alone with a notebook and get his thoughts out.

goldfeld 5y ago

Or perhaps today's Leonardos lost themselves in computer mess and can't think as straight and simply, unassisted, as that renaissance rockstar. Perhaps we'd have more profound genius if fountain pens, letters and hardcover tomes were more popular in young circles than Medium.

Qem 5y ago
He would have wasted his life posting food pics on Instagram.

Qem 5y ago

His drawing abilities were awesome, he probably would stick to paper, assisted by modern inventions like ballpens and mechanical pencils. People like to shun paper, but I think that happens because most of us have awful drawing skills, so it is used as a medium for verbal thinking, but not for "crankshaft-thinking", as Feynman called it.