Three prototypes exploring what it means to actually understand something—not just store it. Built on learning science, designed for Org-roam.
The Problem
Having a note about something is not the same as understanding it. Most "second brain" systems optimize for capture, not comprehension.
Connecting notes with backlinks doesn't mean you understand the relationship. The link exists, but can you articulate why?
Perfectly organized notes create an illusion of knowledge. Real learning requires struggle, retrieval, and elaboration.
Reading and highlighting feels productive. But without active retrieval, information decays. The forgetting curve is relentless.
Core Insight
The gap between "having a note" and "knowing something" is bridged by active processing—not passive storage. These prototypes force that processing.
Three Approaches
The unit of knowledge is not the answer but the question you can't yet answer. Understanding arrives through repeated retrieval failure.
The Question — specifically, questions that reveal gaps. Each tracks your struggle history.
Forced retrieval before hints. Spaced repetition scheduling. Confidence calibration.
Durable, retrievable knowledge. You know something when you can recall it on demand.
You understand something when you can make a child understand it. Knowledge dissolves into language—the simpler, the deeper.
The Explanation — your attempt to teach an imaginary student at multiple levels.
Forced elaboration. "Why does this work?" prompts. Progressive simplification.
Deep, transferable understanding. You know something when you can teach it.
Understanding lives in connections. The relationship between ideas—causal, analogous, contrasting—is the knowledge itself.
The Edge — the articulated connection between two concepts, with typed relationships.
Mandatory relationship descriptions. Cross-domain comparisons. Schema visualization.
Integrated, networked understanding. You know something when you can relate it.