Continuous meta reflections on my life and work. Quick notes. No editing. [[2026-02-19]] The problem with "doing too much" is that you are doing too much, but at the same time there's a generative quality to it where even though it tires you out it also leads to a level of output and pattern recognition that I think would be impossible without doing too much. This is interesting, on some level I think what I am trying to do is create [[Navigable Intelligence]], at the highest level of abstraction whatI liked to do is take a domain, build deep organized context about it, and make that context navigable by others. [[2026-02-16]] I caught a cold or something. I've been in bed all day just trying to rest. I asked an LLM how to speed up my recovery and it said I need to rest, like completely rest. No low-grade productivity stuff, just completely shutting off, doing nothing. And yeah. All of this has made me realize how much I suck at truly taking a break and how I have become so bad at it. ### on [[Editorial Thinking]] [[Editorial Thinking]] is a concept that may or may not stick around for me. I really, really enjoy sequencing information together across mediums, it puts me at ease and it seems useful to others as well. I’m beginning to investigate what my relationship with structure even is, a work definition I got through speaking with [[Claude]] was: *the strategic, critical process of selecting, organizing and framing information to create meaning and context for an audience*, but I’m not sure how I feel about that just yet. I started reading [[In the Blink of an Eye]] again today, well I guess truly for the first time. Most of what I understand about writing, editing, and structure I’ve picked up through instincts, doing things, and a bit mentorship, but I’ve never really taken it as seriously as I probably should have. ### Emotion & Story in [[Editorial Thinking]] I’ve been put off by how powerful Emotion and Story can be, and I’m trying to change that. Mostly because I do not like that one can have power over how someone perceives things by sequencing them in a specific way. It’s a pattern that has bothered me for a long time. But I think it’s about time I accept it and see how far I can go with all of this. This sequencing is unavoidable. It’s something the brain always does. For example, right now, you are reading this sentence one word at a time and then together it takes on a new meaning in your mind. Any word on its own does not have the same meaning. There’s no way for me to escape this reality. Humans connect things. The only thing I can do is go into it with full awareness and responsibility of its power. Emotion is how something feels. Story is what something means. With Emotion alone, you have feeling without meaning. With Story alone, you have meaning without feeling. When you fuse these things together it becomes significantly more powerful and more memorable. It becomes it’s own new thing. This interplay is a core dynamic of great editing. As you watch something or read something, how does it make you feel, and as you’re feeling that thing, what new information, or understanding, or meaning should be revealed at that exact moment so you have an experience that fundamentally shifts how you see something. In progress thoughts. I’ve never tried to externalize these things… [[2026-02-15]] ### on maintaining the latest context: One of my frustrations with this website, or any website I have ever created is finding a way to reflect the latest context of what’s on my mind. It’s like every website that I have created for myself becomes obsolete almost instantly. This is part of the reason why I started working on [[Futureland]]. The idea was that it was a way to display an identity and body of work in process. These days I use [[X]] a lot to share my rough ideas (and almost always have), but even there I find it hard to truly share what I am thinking about, in process. My following and audience has grown on that platform and the algorithm works a specific way. What I like most about [[X]] is the comedy of it, and the distribution it can create for your work and ideas, but to take advantage of that distribution you have to formulate your ideas in a specific way. So this page is about capturing a free-streaming thoughts. I’m not sure how long this will last. I’m not sure how much I will edit things. ### on visual thinking: Are visuals and thoughts inseparable? What about sounds and thoughts? If they are, is that why it feels like I need to listen to specific music to think a specific way? Does that mean if I spend some time looking at specific kinds of images, I can have new ideas? Is there always a back and forth relationship between these forms of media and the kinds of thoughts I’m having? ![[original_9f61457c7371e310adfe505b42583570.gif]] >[!caption] >By [Nik Arthur](https://www.are.na/block/21871657) ![[nikarthur_dominicfike-gif 1.gif]] >[!caption] >By [Nik Arthur]([https://www.are.na/block/21871657](https://www.are.na/block/21871641)) ### on this file: I wonder how long this file is going to get. I write *all the time*. I basically think through typing. If I keep using this file eventually something has to fuck up but for now I guess it works. I also wonder like who am I writing for? I need to write and document these things for myself because they are core to my creative process, but I don’t know why, there’s something about putting my ideas into the world that changes them in some way, have not been able to figure out why this is or if it’s just in my head. Something powerful happens when I publish stuff on the Internet. ### on [[Claude code]] and [[Obsidian]] Canvas: I am writing a lot more about this because I’m going to be presenting how I’ve been using [[Obsidian]] and [[Claude code]] to expand the way I think and also to learn new things faster. It’s like part two of an essay I wrote titled “[[Using LLMs for Cognitive Enhancement in the West End of Toronto]]”. But one of the cool things I’ve encountered is that you can use [[Claude code]] to generate canvases in [[Obsidian]] for you because it’s all json. It’s a cool way to dump a bunch of a notes in a file and then get an agent to help you see it in a different form. ![[Screenshot 2026-02-15 at 9.30.02 PM.png]] >[!caption] > Screenshot of a canvas about How I Use Obsidian ### On new writing projects: I’m feeling the desire to write things that are less meta, and less explain-y. I want to write much more immersive and complex pieces. I need to write more fiction. I should push myself much further as a writer, especially now with [[LLMs]] and [[Artificial Intelligence]], I should use these tools to learn faster and break past ceilings and levels of abstraction I’m stuck at. Even if no one reads the pieces, I like writing stories and creating worlds enough to do it, just to deepen my understanding of how it works.