Andy Matuschak

Ratcheting progress in tools for thought

There are some people trying to develop tools for thought, but there isn’t yet a meaningful field around tools for thought. The difference is that a field is about ratcheting: developing a growing shared corpus of general knowledge and ...

In search of better questions

One provocative litany I’ve used to frame my work is: what comes after the book? Is it pictures of pages on screens? Is it videos of lectures? Why are all the answers to this question so boring? Where are the powerful ideas about how pe...

Member preview: try Orbit in your own writing

Hello, all! I'm having a contemplative start to the year, working to shift up some of my systems and plans in response to the reflections in my 2020 wrap-up ...

Reflections on 2020 as an independent researcher

Now available publicly if you'd like to link to it externally.

2020 was my second year as an “independent researcher.” It’s certainly not...

Your help requested! Quick survey on funding independent research

As the year draws to a close, I'm assembling some reflections on being an independent researcher in 2020. One important section centers on patronage as a funding model—and I could use your help to complete it!

Willing to help? Please 2020-12-14 18:34:43 +0000 UTC View Post

Prompt makeover logs

My past few weeks have been filled with plenty of interesting conversation about the prompt-writing guide and the challenges of formulating knowledge, both...

Early access: "Translating knowledge into spaced repetition prompts"

I spent November working on a detailed guidebook and style manual for modeling knowledge and writing spaced repetition prompts. The guide will also be the first large public demonstration of 2020-12-07 18:04:40 +0000 UTC View Post

Invitation: "Translating knowledge," workshop on spaced repetition prompt-writing

I've been shifting my focus to helping authors learn to write with Orbit. As part of that effort, I'm developing a set of materials to help people develop a personal spaced repetition practice, since 2020-11-20 19:45:39 +0000 UTC View Post

Liquid olives and iPhones; problem-solving and problem-finding; The Uncertainty Mindset

Growing up years ago in the midwest, my perception of a fancy restaurant was awfully simple. Firstly, fancy restaurants have fancy waiters who make you feel uncomfortable for using the wrong utensil. And secondly, fancy restaurants use fancier ing...

Working with authors: text-writing requires prompt-writing requires text-writing

A few weeks ago, I had something to celebrate: Orbit had reached the point that authors could publish texts using it. Normally, when software projects reach a major milestone, there’s something highly visible that “goes live”—something to ...

Preview: a brief explanation of Orbit

I've been tackling a tough writing challenge: briefly introducing Orbit, explaining how it works, and sketching what it aspires to.

The context is that at least initially, people will first encounter Orbit as a small embedded widget in a web...

The carrying capacity of a regular memory practice; deliberate practice and flow

Slow, compounding progress is a subtly powerful force. Regular weightlifters might not perceive their progress in every session, but as the weeks go by, they’ll find they can handle loads which would previously have flattened them. Richard Hammi...

The galaxy brain problem; speed-running UIs

I’ve been spending a lot of time these last few weeks trying to make Orbit explain itself.

In Quantum Country, the essays themselves are, in part, essays about the mnemonic medium. The first essay spends 1,000+ words introducing, motivatin...

“Skip”: exponential-backoff deferral mechanisms and fuzzy inboxes

If you search Google Scholar for research on spaced repetition systems, you’ll find a sea of papers focused on optimization. They’re tuning algorithms for less forgetting, more stabilization, better scheduling. To be clear, these are worthy as...

Celebrating a significant Patreon milestone; thoughts on crowdfunding tools for thought

We've now crowdfunded two thirds of a grad student-level grant for research on tools for thought.

Early access to new essay: "Timeful Texts"

Click here to read "Timeful Texts."

How might one create ...

2020-07-24 16:39:45 +0000 UTC View Post

A nascent art direction for Orbit

(You may have received a duplicate notification for this post: Patreon lost all the images in the last one, so I had to recreate it! Bluh…)

So far, I’ve been using Quantum Country’s design language for Orbit, just to help me focus on a...

Demonstrating a "personal mnemonic medium"

I've spent lots of time this past year thinking about how to use writing to develop ideas over time. Writing is an important part of my r...

Bringing ideas into your Orbit

As I’ve mentioned in recent posts here, I’ve spent these last few months building infrastructure which I hope will help me (and others!) explore a wider set of ideas around systems like the mnemonic medium. In some real sense, it feels like I�...

Big milestone today: generic embeddable prompts

Hello, kind patrons! I mentioned in the last post that I was working on a next iteration of the system behind Quantum Country that can be embedded anywhere o...

What's next?

Hello, kind supporters! Andy here. Now that the final chapter of Quantum Country’s published, we wanted to share what we’re up to next.

First off: an important update to the Patreon. After years of scrappy independent projects, Michael�...