The Seductive Power of Knowledge Graphs

One of the things that first drew me into the world of modern note-taking applications was the intricate but deceptive beauty of the graph view. Images of vast webs of connected knowledge that promised the ability to visualize order from chaos seduced me in a way that mere words on a page never could.

The graph from Roam Research was the first that I saw; however, its simplicity quickly caused the novelty to wear off. So rather than doubting the value of knowledge graphs, I thought that perhaps what I needed was even more complexity.

So I switched to Obsidian because it had a prettier, more organic, and more customizable graph view. Surely that was the missing piece in my knowledge development system. The whole experience reminded me of a quote from the tv show House.

“Beauty often seduces us on the road to truth.”

Although there’s nothing inherently wrong with a note app having a graph view, it often serves as a distraction. Pointlessly optimizing our workflows to make pretty graphs rather than developing beautiful thoughts.

Managing knowledge graphs has become a modern Sisyphean task.

I’ve spent more time than I’m willing to admit considering and reconsidering the structure of my notes to look the best. Sometimes even making the process more cumbersome just to make the web of chaos seem a little more organized.

The misconception that we can maintain a well-ordered graph develops early on. When we only have a few dozen notes, it’s easy to manage how it looks and even extract some meaning from the visual connections. But this functionality of note apps quickly loses value as your collection grows.

Insights that are revealed with 100 notes become hidden with 10,000.

Another part of the problem that causes us to spend our time fine-tuning our workflows is that we have only indirect control over how those graphs of knowledge are rendered. So we are left trying to manipulate its appearance with tags and links (contributing to their excessive use, as discussed in my previous article).

New apps (such as Scrintal) are now being released, giving you even more control over how your notes are visually connected. But I think that no matter the level of control, a knowledge graph will only provide value on a small scale, such as sketching out specific arguments and ideas. Trying to represent all of your notes meaningfully within a two-dimensional grid is like trying to herd cats. You can try, but you aren’t likely to get anywhere, and the reward won’t be worth the investment. You’ll just have a group of cats.

So set up your systems to focus on developing your thoughts and stop worrying about your knowledge graph.

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