Cognition, Computation, and Connection

Exploring and solving for the fragmentation in our digital memory systems

I'm working on a project, and I find myself taking notes in a document where I can really just be with myself and my thoughts. Then I paste these notes into a conversation with Claude to refine them and integrate different perspectives. Then I take some output from that conversation and paste it into my AI code editor to begin building. The issue is that all three of these are areas where I'm continuing to think, but each tool is inherently separate from the others. Copy-pasting my thoughts between these systems becomes tiresome, and this problem only amplifies as I work on different but related projects across these systems.

This might seem like a small inconvenience, but it points to something much deeper: the way we use technology is incredibly fragmented, and this fragmentation is shaping how we think.

The Fragmentation Problem

Think about how you remember things digitally. Your friend's phone number lives in your contacts app. That thing you wanted to tell them about sits in your notes app. Your coffee plans for tomorrow exist in your calendar. The photos from your last hike together, the journal entry about that day - all scattered across different apps, different systems, different corporate servers.

For those of us using AI heavily, this fragmentation is becoming even more apparent. I'll have a breakthrough conversation with Claude about a project architecture, then switch to Cursor to implement it, and Cursor has no idea what Claude and I just discussed. Later, I want to continue the conversation with Claude about what I've built, but I have to reconstruct all that context manually. Each tool is a silo, and I'm the only bridge between them.

This isn't just about convenience. As Jeremy Lent observes in The Patterning Instinct, there's a complex interdependency between our cognition and our culture - and our tools are a huge part of culture. We build fragmented technology systems because our psyches have become increasingly fragmented. But now our fragmented technology systems create increasing fragmentation in our psyches and in our society.

Why Current Solutions Fall Short

There are attempts to solve this, but most of them involve keeping you locked in a walled garden. Apple devices share context beautifully - as long as you stay inside the Apple ecosystem. Google is connecting Gemini with Gmail and Drive - as long as you use Google's tools. ChatGPT now has memory across conversations - as long as you use ChatGPT for everything.

Even more specialized tools like Tana, which bills itself as an "Everything OS," still create enclosed systems that work best when all your information lives inside them. And they all share a critical flaw: you don't have true agency and ownership over your information. You're trusting corporations with increasingly sensitive data as we seek to put more of our cognitive life into these systems.

The Vision: An Open Memory Layer

What we need is a new kind of memory system - one that's open and interoperable from its foundation. A system where your ChatGPT and your Claude can access the same context, where your Cursor knows what you've been thinking about, where your calendar and contacts and notes can all draw from a shared understanding.

But this can't just be about AI. It needs to be accessible in traditional ways too - through calendars, contact managers, note-taking apps. And if we're going to build something that holds this much of ourselves - who we relate with, how we're relating, what we're working on - then it has to be trustworthy. Which means you need to be able to self-host it, to have true autonomy over your data.

This isn't about creating a system that remembers everything automatically, like some are trying with smart glasses that note where you left your keys. It's about creating a system where we can intentionally log what matters to us and have that information be genuinely accessible across our digital lives.

Why This Matters

Frank Zappa said the mind is like a parachute - it doesn't work if it's not open. If an open mind is more effective, then our extended cognition needs to reflect this same openness. But openness works best with boundaries, with intentionality, with respect for human agency.

The potential I see is for our cognition to more accurately reflect our holistic interconnectivity as our tool usage becomes more interconnected. As we build tools that can bridge systems together, I can already feel my own thinking beginning to change. Imagine what becomes possible when that bridging isn't painful but fluid, when our tools support rather than fragment our natural ways of thinking.

This project is one I'm immensely interested in creating. I feel the struggle daily around how disconnected my systems feel and the strain it creates on my overall cognition. As someone immensely interested in living well and living as fully as I can, I want systems that support life feeling like an easeful and meaningful flow. And it's clear to me now that if I want that to exist, I have to work to create it.

If this resonates with you the way it does with me, let's be in touch. Transforming our technology is no small task, but it's one I know we're immensely capable of.