Critical Mass
how much is enough?
(n.) how many entries are needed to have the engine self sustain. there are multiple sub-system engines
Engines include:
- search engine ( > ycb < ) (>ycb< means energy focused internally, think the effort it takes to keep a fire that's warming your house running by moving the logs around)
- synthesis engine
- sharing engine == sharing entries (ycb ->) (ycb-> means warming the house)
- storing engine == storing entries (-> ycb) (-> ycb means adding logs)
- overall input engine == -> ycb (the end to end process of storing)
- overall usage engine == > ycb < (the end to end process of growth and maintenance)
- overall output engine == ycb -> (the overall process of affecting the external world with ycb)
| Engine | # entries (low) | ... (avg) | ... (high) | reasoning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| search | 2 | 1000 | inf | l: you need at least 2 things to search and see a sort m: 1000 things is a list worth searching h: you can index infinite items for search |
| synthesis | 2 | 10 | 50 | l: one thing can't be in a relationship with itself m: 10 items connected == 2 distant ideas with 4 neighbors each h: the human mind can't store the complexity of many more relationships than this + set is either too dense or too sparse |
| sharing | 1 | 50 | 50 | l: here's a thing i want to show you m: i have different friend groups, i show them different things h: i have a max num of friend groups |
| storing | 0 | inf | inf | l: storing is immediately valuable, because yeah m + h: the value of storing goes up as the value of the synthesis and share engines go up |
| input | 10 | 100 | inf | l: you wont reap the rewards of storing immediately, but it is a fallacy to over index on the now (hedonism/present bias). 10 is when you start to see this. m: 100 is when it becomes habitual, you get a eye for what's good to store h: using different types of input (img, audio, etc) |
| usage | 10 | 25 | 100 | l: usage is largely synthesis related tasks, you need entries to start forming relationships and "amino acid" information chains m: 25 is enough that you can start doing serious syntesis work in a localized topic h: realistically, you'll only be engaging with 100 entries or so a day (though you may see more) |
| output | 1 | 25 | 100 | l: sharing one entry with a friend m: same as usage engine h: publishing well cited essay level work happens when you have a polymathic diverse set of data |
Reasoning as Toggle Lists
search engine
l: you need at least 2 things to search and see a sort
m: 1000 things is a list worth searching
h: you can index infinite items for search
synthesis engine
l: one thing can't be in a relationship with itself
m: 10 items connected == 2 distant ideas with 4 neighbors each
h: the human mind can't store the complexity of many more relationships than this + set is either too dense or too sparse
sharing engine
l: here's a thing i want to show you
m: i have different friend groups, i show them different things
h: i have a max num of friend groups
storing engine
l: storing is immediately valuable, because yeah
m + h: the value of storing goes up as the value of the synthesis and share engines go up
overall input engine
l: you wont reap the rewards of storing immediately, but it is a fallacy to over index on the now (hedonism/present bias). 10 is when you start to see this.
m: 100 is when it becomes habitual, you get a eye for what's good to store
h: using different types of input (img, audio, etc)
overall usage engine
l: usage is largely synthesis related tasks, you need entries to start forming relationships and "amino acid" information chains
m: 25 is enough that you can start doing serious syntesis work in a localized topic
h: realistically, you'll only be engaging with 100 entries or so a day (though you may see more)
overall output engine
l: sharing one entry with a friend
m: same as usage engine
h: publishing well cited essay level work happens when you have a polymathic diverse set of data
