Content is about to go exponential
My wish to look under the hood of my 15-year, 30,000-note knowledge management system was granted via the Obsidian AI plugin “Smart Connections,” by Brian Petro. ¹ Unfortunately, the results were highly disappointing, and I wrote about the big holes that “Smart Chat” revealed in my PKM. ² My conclusion was reimagining a knowledge management system.
Moving out
Part two of this reimagining series involves moving ChatGPT (or you) into another house (Obsidian Vault). I once advised people to keep their prose in the same vault as their other notes. I was wrong. With the tsunami of information heading our way, you’ll need a safe place.
Tsunami of information
A tsunami results from large-scale disturbances generally caused by earthquakes, volcanic activity, or landslides. In the information world, a massive earthquake occurred with the introduction of ChatGPT and other large language models interacting conversationally. And like a tsunami, the resulting waves, i.e., AI applications, processes, workspaces, artwork (see above picture), and photo upscaling (to name a few), will roll across the ocean floor with barely a ripple toward the unsuspecting general public. However, even those paying attention will be astonished by the energy unleashed. Tsunamis are one of the most destructive natural disasters in the world; this information wave will reach heights we can’t possibly comprehend.
Information overload
Most people already have a semi-state of information overload, where information exceeds one’s ability to process and manage. Indeed, we often bring this state upon ourselves through the proliferation of sources to which we attach ourselves, such as social media, news outlets, and other online platforms including Medium. The consequences of information overload can reduce productivity, focus, and even our attention span. “A wealth of information,” Herbert A. Simon says, “creates a poverty of attention.” ³ I wonder if Mr. Simon realized in 1971 that he was looking at the relatively flat rise at the beginning of an exponential growth curve.
Only a penny
We’ve all heard the story about the farmer who thought the farrier’s price of horseshoes was reasonable when his first nail only cost a penny, doubling with each subsequent nail. I, too, feel like the farmer when I read about “automating content,” “building a fully automated AI writing team,” and “mastering the art of book writing with ChatGPT4.” The rate of evolution for content creation will be an exponential growth pattern in which the quantity of content creation will be proportional to the function’s current value. The function is, of course, the number of writers globally that are eventually attracted to a fully automated writing unit; I suspect that function’s value will be considerably more significant than n=1 (how many zeros in 8 billion?)
Nothings better than space
You’ll need a space just for you: your prose, your thoughts, journal ideas, and musings. The information tsunami will wash over the whole of the earth, making it increasingly difficult to distinguish between what’s written by humans and machines; I recommend setting a clear boundary between the two before it’s too late.
Thank you for Reading!
While coffee may not be my cup of tea, I do have a passion for beautiful jewelry. If you enjoyed reading my article, I invite you to visit Jewelry Art by Linda, where every piece is lovingly crafted by hand with meticulous attention to detail.
Written April 20, 2023
Editorial assistance by Grammarly.com
Footnotes and References.
- Petro, Brian (NA) https://github.com/brianpetro/obsidian-smart-connections
- My article on Medium. https://medium.com/@brickbarnblog/obsidian-ai-plugin-smart-connections-found-some-big-holes-in-my-pkm-22830fa30b2a
- Simon, Herbert A. in Martin Greenberger (ed.) Computers, Communications, and the Public Interest (1971)
