I always check for proof of good synthesis when reading yet another Second Brain guide.
Yes, yes, you can tell me how you’ve set up the perfect notetaking workflow, but can you show me how it’s helped you?
I want proof of work, dammit.
I also recommend reading The Dream Machine, by M. Mitchell Waldrop. The early pioneers of computation were motivated by creating a better tool for thought. More famously, Doug Englebart successfully bootstrapped his research lab in the pursuit of augmenting human intelligence.
I think the current tft folk are pursuing a noble goal. But they forget the lessons of the pioneers of this field, which is to actually evaluate the outputs.
Which isn’t to say that the entire tft pursuit is bunk. Computers are one of the most powerful tools for thought.