Introduction

This is a very crude attempt to show how my mind works: how it connects and fits things together. This fills an intermediate role between my personal writings and those that I publish, usually on one of my websites.

"Cells that fire together, wire together" - Donald O. Hebb

What is Syndex?

• This is a public-facing version of what others synonymously might call: Memex, Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) Second Brain (BASB), Commonplace Book, Zettelkasten (Method, aka ZKM).

Sometimes I fancy my Syndex as a sort of proto-exocortex, or at least on the way there.

Etymology & Origins

<aside> The name "Syndex" combines two Greek elements:

• "syn-": from Ancient Greek σύν (sún) meaning "together, in company with"
• "dex": from Greek δείκνυναι (deiknynai), meaning "to show" or "to point out" </aside>

Core Principles

1. Showing → Knowing

Writing for myself is relatively easy. Having an external audience is a whole other challenge. Showing is much harder than mere knowing. The bonus is it helps me understand at a deeper level.

By communicating self-knowledge, one can cultivate it.

2. Linking = Thinking

I am a synthesizer. My interests are broad. I long felt I have a cacophony of callings. I dealt with that dissonance by gradually harmonizing the whole lot; In fact, most of my time (certainly writing) is spent on finding evermore connections between nodes.

3. Medium = Message

"The medium is the message," -Marshall McLuhan, 1964 Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man

I'm not happy on Social Media for several reasons:

• Too linear when the web allows for rich hyperlinking
• Need to play by the algorithm's rules

Knowledge Framework