Tree of Knowledge

Tim Urban, from a much longer and otherwise interesting post about Tesla energy:

I’ve heard people compare knowledge of a topic to a tree. If you don’t fully get it, it’s like a tree in your head with no trunk—and without a trunk, when you learn something new about the topic—a new branch or leaf of the tree—there’s nothing for it to hang onto, so it just falls away. By clearing out fog all the way to the bottom, I build a tree trunk in my head, and from then on, all new information can hold on, which makes that topic forever more interesting and productive to learn about.

People tell me I know a lot of obscure information, but wonder why I’m simultaneously unable to remember simple tasks and actions. I think Tim’s explained why: the obscure facts are little knowledge leaves that I graft onto a tree of context,¹ and that’s what makes them stick.

For example, the Seahawks worst-ever season was 1992. One of their two wins was against the equally hapless New England Patriots.² This victory earned them the second spot in the 2013 draft.³ New England took future pro-bowler Drew Bledsoe from Washington State⁵ at number one, who played well until he was injured and replaced by sixth-rounder⁴ Tom Brady. Seattle wasted their pick on Rick Mirer of Notre Dame.⁶

All this sticks because each fact hangs on something else memorable, like thinking the Hawks should blow that game to get Bledsoe, or enforces an already held belief, like Notre Dame sucks.

In contrast, random actions like dropping off a package or doing a chore are little atomic things with no purchase on a larger contextual tree. If I don’t do them immediately or capture them in my GTD system they are lost in time, like tears in rain.