19 Matching Annotations
  1. Apr 2025
    1. Lao Tze saidthis about seeing the hole:Thirty spokes are joined together in a wheel,but it is the center holethat allows the wheel to function.We mold clay into a pot,but it is the emptiness insidethat makes the vessel useful.We fashion wood for a house,but it is the emptiness insidethat makes it livable.We work with the substantial,but the emptiness is what we use.—from the Tao Te Ching, translated for public domain by j. h. mcdonaldIt’s easier to critique something that exists than to create from nothing.

      for - Lao Tze - quote - the value of emptiness

  2. Dec 2024
    1. Trump expect if he creates another world financial crisis he believes there will be a bailout and he believes that he and his cohort the world's wealthy will benefit from there being vastly more money in circulation with very little to use it on except the inflation in the value of the assets that they own that is what he's banking on this is literally I think his Economic Policy

      for - quote - economic crashes are profitable for the elites - Trump plans to crash the global economy so that subsequent Quantitative Easing bailouts will inflate value of assets of the rich - from - Youtube - Trump wants to crash to benefit the ultra wealthy - Trump's planning to crash the global economy - Richard J Murphy - 2024, Dec

      quote - economic crashes are good for the elites - Trump plans to crash the global economy so that subsequent Quantitative Easing bailouts will inflate value of assets of the rich - Trump expect if he creates another world financial crisis - he believes there will be a bailout and - he believes that he and his cohort the world's wealthy will benefit from there being vastly more money in circulation with very little to use it on except the inflation in the value of the assets that they own - That is what he's banking on - This is literally I think his Economic Policy - This is what he expects as a consequence of his trade Wars - He doesn't care that we suffer - He won't care about the countries in the developing world - the vast majority of countries in the world in fact who have their debts denominated in dollars who will suffer enormously as a result of their struggle to find the means to repay those debts - As for the time being, the dollar is inflated in value and interest rates are too high he won't care that people are thrown out of work - All he cares about is the inflation in asset values and that is what the whole of the world economy is now geared to create - for the benefit of a few - at cost to the vast majority - Trump's Economic Policy makes sense if you see it in this way - He runs a bailout economic strategy that is going to work for him and his friends because - it will result when the world economy crashes and yet more money being made available through the central banking system to inflate the value of the assets that they own - And they'll say thank you very much we did very nicely out of that when can we have another crash?

    1. Bodhidharma is vast emptiness, nothing holy. The way we usually express a version of that is through the idea of no gain, that there is nothing to fix, nothing to accomplish. I particularly try to express that in a psychological sense in which we don’t have to improve ourselves or fix ourselves or remove any underlying defect or fill in any kind of deficit.

      for - quote - value in modernity - emptiness - nothing holy - nothing of value - nothing to accomplish Barry Magid - adjacency - value in modernity - emptiness - nothing value - nothing of value - Zen - Buddhism - the sacred - Barry Magid

      quote - value in modernity - emptiness - nothing holy - nothing of value - nothing to accomplish Barry Magid - What is the ultimate meaning of Buddhism? - We need to ask that if we’re going to practice it in our lives. - Bodhidharma is vast emptiness, nothing holy. - The way we usually express a version of that is through the idea of - no gain, - that there is nothing to fix, - nothing to accomplish. - I particularly try to express that in a psychological sense in which we don’t have to - improve ourselves or - fix ourselves or - remove any underlying defect or - fill in any kind of deficit.

      adjacency - between - value in modernity - emptiness - nothing value - nothing of value - Zen - Buddhism - the sacred - Barry Magid - adjacency relationship - In last night's multi-meaningverse convergence of the Fairschare Commons group, now morphed into the Fellowship of the Sacred Commons (FSC), we spoke of VALUE - It was something Paul brought up - Here in this quotation, we can see that if everything is sacred, then we cannot value one thing over another - If everything is holy, then nothing is holy (holier) than some other holy thing - We can be incomplete, yet complete at the same time, because we are each and every one of us, a unique expression of the sacred (mother)

  3. Nov 2024
  4. Oct 2024
    1. The Periplus also describes the route from China to India, where silk was shipped by land via Bactria to Barygaza and then via the Ganges River to Limyrike. This passage provides evidence of connections between China and Rome during the first century of the Common Era. The trade links were significant, with many travelers focusing on trade, particularly silk, which formed an important part of the economies of several societies.
  5. Aug 2024
  6. Jul 2024
  7. Jul 2022
  8. May 2022
  9. Dec 2021
    1. The possibility of arbitrary internal branching.

      Modern digital zettelkasten don't force the same sort of digital internal branching process that is described by Niklas Luhmann. Internal branching in these contexts is wholly reliant on the user to create it.

      Many digital systems will create a concrete identifier to fix the idea within the system, but this runs the risk of ending up with a useless scrap heap.

      Some modern systems provide the ability for one to add taxonomies like subject headings in a commonplace book tradition, which adds some level of linking. But if we take the fact that well interlinked cards are the most valuable in such a system then creating several links upfront may be a bit more work, but it provides more value in the long run.

      Upfront links also don't require quite as much work at the card's initial creation as the creator already has the broader context of the idea. Creating links at a future date requires the reloading into their working memory of the card's idea and broader context.

      Of course there may also be side benefits (including to memory) brought by the spaced repetition of the card's ideas as well as potential new contexts gained in the interim which may help add previously unconsidered links.

      It can certainly be possible that at some level of linking, there is a law of diminishing returns the decreases the value of a card and its idea.

      One of the benefits of physical card systems like Luhmann's is that the user is forced to add the card somewhere, thus making the first link of the idea into the system. Luhmann's system in particular creates a parent/sibling relation to other cards or starts a brand new branch.

    2. The fixed filing place needs no system. It is sufficient that we give every slip a number which is easily seen (in or case on the left of the first line) and that we never change this number and thus the fixed place of the slip. This decision about structure is that reduction of the complexity of possible arrangements, which makes possible the creation of high complexity in the card file and thus makes possible its ability to communicate in the first place.

      There's an interesting analogy between Niklas Luhmann's zettelkasten numbering system and the early street address system in Vienna. Just as people (often) have a fixed address, they're able to leave it temporarily and mix with other people before going back home every night. The same is true with his index cards. Without the ability to remove cards and remix them in various orders, the system has far less complexity and simultaneously far less value.

      Link to reference of street addressing systems of Vienna quoted by Markus Krajewski in (chapter 3 of) Paper Machines.


      Both the stability and the occasional complexity of the system give it tremendous value.

      How is this linked to the idea that some of the most interesting things within systems happen at the edges of the system which have the most complexity? Cards that sit idly have less value for their stability while cards at the edges that move around the most and interact with other cards and ideas provide the most value.

      Graph this out on a multi-axis drawing. Is the relationship linear, non-linear, exponential? What is the relationship of this movement to the links between cards? Is it essentially the same (particularly in digital settings) as movement?

      Are links (and the active creation thereof) between cards the equivalent of communication?

  10. Apr 2021
  11. Feb 2021
  12. Dec 2020
  13. Nov 2020
  14. Feb 2018
  15. Aug 2016