5 ms·

This is such a strange headline. > Why note-taking apps don’t make us smarter Because... they're not supposed to? To me, this sounds like "Why pen doesn't ma

This is such a strange headline. > Why note-taking apps don’t make us smarter Because... they're not supposed to? To me, this sounds like "Why pen doesn't make us smarter" or "Why lamp doesn't make us smarter". Why was the author expecting it to make us smarter anyway? Where did they get that expectation?

jasonlotito 3y ago
> This is such a strange headline. This is such a strange comment. "They’re designed for storage, not sparking insights. Can AI change that?" That's the sub-header. The followup. The next line. > Because... they're not supposed to? Tell that to the note-taking apps that are adding AI to their apps in order to "make us smarter" as some would say. To improve our knowledge, to think bigger, to brainstorm for us. > Why was the author expecting it to make us smarter anyway? The headline doesn't say that at all. In fact, the article starts off by making it very very very clear that they aren't doing this. > Where did they get that expectation? They didn't. That's your conclusion. > To me, this sounds like "Why pen doesn't make us smarter" or "Why lamp doesn't make us smarter". They sound nothing alike. The sounds are completely different. You should get your hearing checked. =)
dkarl 3y ago
Heh, you haven't looked around for a note-taking app recently. Note-taking is like the nerdy version of weight loss. There's a cottage industry around note-taking apps and techniques, complete with dozens (at least) of people producing influencer content on how they make their life amazing using <notetaking-method-A> with <notetaking-app-B>.
- LordDragonfang 3y ago
  No, you see, they're not "note-taking apps", they're PKMSs - Personal Knowledge Management Systems. (bleh)
  - doubled112 3y ago
    This sounds like the equivalent of a gas station attendant calling themselves a petrol product distribution technician.
  - datadrivenangel 3y ago
    The problem is that people confuse information for knowledge.
- pavlov 3y ago
  Yes, it feels like people are desperately searching for "This one crazy hack that will make you think better!" In my experience, thinking more is the only thing that will reliably make you think better. And to think more, you need space and time, not a breathtaking density of inputs and outputs surrounding your thoughts, which seems to be the note-taking industry's solution.
  - boredemployee 3y ago
    >> you need space and time ie.: a simple walk in a park or a calm and silent place
  - taude 3y ago
    Agreed. Everyone is overthinking it, and spending their brain cells on the wrong thing looking for that one panacea. Wanna get fit: watch what you eat, burn more calories than you intake, exercise, probably minimize alcohol intake. Wanna learn stuff: intake new information from a reliable source, write it down (in anything), reprocess the information in your own words, and review often enough for you to pick it up. Anything I'm missing?
    - brightlancer 3y ago
      I agree there isn't a panacea, but small improvements can pay huge dividends over time. > burn more calories than you intake That's harder than it sounds. Most people incorrectly measure how many calories they intake and incorrectly measure how many calories they burn. Even for folks who correctly calculate both, they then have to change behaviors -- usually behaviors that have been developed over decades. Again, harder than it sounds. This is why so many people keep seeking out weight-loss solutions: because the best way isn't easy. While most folks today can pick any note software (or notebook) off the shelf and happily jot things down, a relative few folks are trying to do a _lot_ more with their notes and are going to be frustrated with the generic tools that most people use. For those few folks, the easy way isn't the best way. And this isn't new: depending how we categorize it (har), folks have been trying to refine their "note-taking" for hundreds or thousands of years. I don't think they were looking for a panacea; they were heavy thinkers who wanted to improve their process.
tgv 3y ago
I think the pen and the lamp have made us smarter. You need tools to "scale up" knowledge distribution and acquisition (and reliability). Writing and printing did are essential in that. It's not an unreasonable starting point to think that note-taking apps can help us further.
LordDragonfang 3y ago
The title gets even funnier when bookended with the author's conclusion: "The reason, sadly, is that thinking takes place in your brain."
- tomcam 3y ago
  My wife vehemently disagrees
taude 3y ago
Yeah, this is dumb. Gotta study your notes and things you write down. Most people don't have the raw IQ or photographic memory to get it first try.
dang 3y ago
Ok, we've changed the title to a more representative phrase from the article.

jasonlotito 3y ago

> This is such a strange headline. This is such a strange comment. "They’re designed for storage, not sparking insights. Can AI change that?" That's the sub-header. The followup. The next line. > Because... they're not supposed to? Tell that to the note-taking apps that are adding AI to their apps in order to "make us smarter" as some would say. To improve our knowledge, to think bigger, to brainstorm for us. > Why was the author expecting it to make us smarter anyway? The headline doesn't say that at all. In fact, the article starts off by making it very very very clear that they aren't doing this. > Where did they get that expectation? They didn't. That's your conclusion. > To me, this sounds like "Why pen doesn't make us smarter" or "Why lamp doesn't make us smarter". They sound nothing alike. The sounds are completely different. You should get your hearing checked. =)

dkarl 3y ago

Heh, you haven't looked around for a note-taking app recently. Note-taking is like the nerdy version of weight loss. There's a cottage industry around note-taking apps and techniques, complete with dozens (at least) of people producing influencer content on how they make their life amazing using <notetaking-method-A> with <notetaking-app-B>.

LordDragonfang 3y ago
No, you see, they're not "note-taking apps", they're PKMSs - Personal Knowledge Management Systems. (bleh)
- doubled112 3y ago
  This sounds like the equivalent of a gas station attendant calling themselves a petrol product distribution technician.
- datadrivenangel 3y ago
  The problem is that people confuse information for knowledge.
pavlov 3y ago
Yes, it feels like people are desperately searching for "This one crazy hack that will make you think better!" In my experience, thinking more is the only thing that will reliably make you think better. And to think more, you need space and time, not a breathtaking density of inputs and outputs surrounding your thoughts, which seems to be the note-taking industry's solution.
- boredemployee 3y ago
  >> you need space and time ie.: a simple walk in a park or a calm and silent place
- taude 3y ago
  Agreed. Everyone is overthinking it, and spending their brain cells on the wrong thing looking for that one panacea. Wanna get fit: watch what you eat, burn more calories than you intake, exercise, probably minimize alcohol intake. Wanna learn stuff: intake new information from a reliable source, write it down (in anything), reprocess the information in your own words, and review often enough for you to pick it up. Anything I'm missing?
  - brightlancer 3y ago
    I agree there isn't a panacea, but small improvements can pay huge dividends over time. > burn more calories than you intake That's harder than it sounds. Most people incorrectly measure how many calories they intake and incorrectly measure how many calories they burn. Even for folks who correctly calculate both, they then have to change behaviors -- usually behaviors that have been developed over decades. Again, harder than it sounds. This is why so many people keep seeking out weight-loss solutions: because the best way isn't easy. While most folks today can pick any note software (or notebook) off the shelf and happily jot things down, a relative few folks are trying to do a _lot_ more with their notes and are going to be frustrated with the generic tools that most people use. For those few folks, the easy way isn't the best way. And this isn't new: depending how we categorize it (har), folks have been trying to refine their "note-taking" for hundreds or thousands of years. I don't think they were looking for a panacea; they were heavy thinkers who wanted to improve their process.

tgv 3y ago

I think the pen and the lamp have made us smarter. You need tools to "scale up" knowledge distribution and acquisition (and reliability). Writing and printing did are essential in that. It's not an unreasonable starting point to think that note-taking apps can help us further.

LordDragonfang 3y ago

The title gets even funnier when bookended with the author's conclusion: "The reason, sadly, is that thinking takes place in your brain."

tomcam 3y ago
My wife vehemently disagrees

taude 3y ago

Yeah, this is dumb. Gotta study your notes and things you write down. Most people don't have the raw IQ or photographic memory to get it first try.

dang 3y ago

Ok, we've changed the title to a more representative phrase from the article.