Item — HN Reader

> (1) distract ourselves (2) give us the feeling of accomplishment

I agree. A lot of personal systems like this are indeed unconsciously used to (1) and (2). This is especially the case when you try to implement a very complex+generic one like this vault. I can guarantee 90-99% failure, albeit you may learn something along the way !

Also, it is not a "BRAIN". It is worth stressing that because It is a bad and misleading name (almost as bad as PKM)

But you are generalizing too much. The problem is the "just" in your "it's just procrastination."

The thread is pointing to many benefits. For ME, it is not even about productivity anymore. It is about "healthier" work environment (in research-intensive activities).

More than that, It is not even about "ME" anymore. It about creating better tools and systems in the long term. Obsession and Fooling-ourselves (at the "MICRO" level) is exactly what feeds that larger MACRO evolutionary dynamics.

> We're not really achieving or producing

Speaking of fooling-ourselves, I feel that getting things done itself (at any cost) is also sometimes just a way to distract ourselves and give us the feeling of accomplishment, and also to "avoid that pain" (all three you cited). We may also be fooling ourselves at occasions here too in our rush to “producing” and "“producing” stuff. just saying…

And just like that we've hit infinite regress and the core existential questions to it all, why must we accomplish, is it to be happy? Accomplishments are finite and can die/fade away/stop, so placing your worth and peace of mind on them is subject to eventual failure and maybe even a crisis down the road, you'll keep wanting more, Kiarostami once said, responding to if he feels proud of his work, something to the affect of, 'proud is too big a word for humans'. So what is curation then? Is a PKM just a technology to help us remember? Again, to what end, I suppose it's all just instrumental

a page from Lao Tzu comes to mind

> Those who think to win the world > by doing something to it, > I see them come to grief. >For the world is a sacred object. >Nothing is to be done to it. >To do anything to it is to damage it. > To seize it is to lose it.