A Second Brain is a popular term for a particular application of Personal Knowledge Management (PKM).
Quite recently, Tiago Forte coined the term in his course ‘Building a second brain (BASB)’.
But originally, it’s based on the idea of a man called Vannevar Bush. He coined the concept ‘Memex’ in his paper ‘As we may think’. As science had been increasingly utilized for warfare during WW2, he shares his vision for the advancement of the mental capacity of humans as opposed to the physical advances that had caused so much suffering.
Written in 1945 (!), it’s surprising that he already criticizes the breadth of information and the way it was relayed at the time in the domain of research, given these problems were comparatively tiny when contrasted with our current ‘free information age’.
Next to this, he portrays a vision for the personal computer that is surprisingly accurate:
Consider a future device … in which an individual stores all his books, records, and communications, and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility. It is an enlarged intimate supplement to his memory. - Vannevar Bush
Where the ‘Second brain’ comes in
As mentioned in our episode on the second brain, we believe the intentional use of computers to aid our memory and thinking is what underlines a new stage of human progress that is less obvious on the surface.
To our understanding, it can be more accurately called ‘augmented intelligence’. This is a slightly more sophisticated use of the concept, because the capabilities of devices have outgrown the more basic usage of memory aids or advanced calculation.
Using sophisticated systems and increasingly sophisticated user experiences to interface with these systems, all created with ‘augmented intelligence’ in mind, we can improve our mental state and our performance by reducing disorder in consciousness. This ‘machine aided thinking’ can reduce errors, increase output, and more importantly help us create more order in consciousness.