Zettelkasten Against ChatGPT: What’s the Winner?
Opposite from many points of view, both are excellent creativity boosters, but only one is reliable
Niklas Luhmann invented the most effective competitor of ChatGPT—and other large language models (LLMs)—in the 1960s, when implementing an LLM was science fiction. He used only pen and paper with impressive thinking skills. He invented the Zettelkasten, or slip-box, method.
I can hear you asking: How can a slip-box compete against ChatGPT? It's like a wooden toy playing against the Play Station. There's no match.
Instead, it depends on the purpose.
When aiming to foster creativity, a slip-box — either material or virtual — is entitled to compete with ChatGPT.
You’ll likely use daily ChatGPT (or a competitor) to grab knowledge from the Internet, the global source that feeds that global second brain that ChatGPT is. Now, have you ever considered a personal second brain instead? This is what the Zettelkasten method provides and can compete against ChatGPT in three intertwined ways:
- Global versus personal
- Statistical versus logical
- Unobservable versus observable
