AI Commonplace Journal

[JimMorrison]

Hi all,

I have been on my Life purpose journey for awhile now trying to find my passions and develop something meaningful with them, I have little experience with anything so I am teaching myself through self help, self education, and introspection, how to do good business, marketing, sales, AI development, web design, building my values and understanding what I want out of life. So far I have been stuck on developing something that i'm passionate on and that is also useful. I had a vision that I wanted to create a commonplace journal but one that implements AI. I don't even know where to start or if it will be worth it, as I have to sacrifice time away from my kids in order to get anything done, as far as taking time to question all these things and dig into the minutia.

 As a parent, working on balancing all these things along with self actualizing, and trying to lay a foundation or infrastructure for myself and my family has been difficult, but I am willing to study and research and understand myself as long as it takes. Leo's content has been some of the most influential and helpful guides to help me navigate and guide my understanding. When reflecting deeply I really want to develop my interest into something more.

My question is, is an AI Commonplace Journal that was able to organize and keep track of your insights, quotes, websites and all the other good stuff with an AI that keeps track and references all those things based on whatever you are looking to pull from your knowledge pool useful to you? Is this something you would pay to have, and what else would you expect it to have as a feature?

Thanks for any feedback!

[yetineti]

AI can be a gift or a curse.

It will not make a good commonplace journal/journal.

It’s memory is poor, it would depend which AI you use, data issues, no real back up for data, no file management system or custom organization, etc.

There is also epistemic consequences that have to be considered for such a thing. Be careful giving your sovereignty to anything, especially an AI.

Do not give AI any personal data, remain vague, avoid using qualifying information/information that could build too personal of a data log on you, etc.

Always use a VPN and encrypted emails or burner emails that do not have your name/qualifying information in them.

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If you can do that, AI will be great. I’d highly recommend ChatGPT and even ChatGPT+ for $20 a month. You get a very liberal amount of usage time and if you can remain anonymous enough it can provide some great contemplation and insights.

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You do not even have to protect your privacy to the extent I do— mainly I do not think it would make a great commonplace journal. Its format is not suited for that.

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For a commonplace journal, I used to use a 2010s version of OneNote. I had to buy it from Germany, though, and I think it probably is not sold anymore.

I do not trust new, cloud, serviced writing applications. I like having personal backups and data privacy.

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I once heard, ‘If all you tell is the Truth, you won’t have to remember a thing.”

I do not remember where I heard that. But I ended up living by it, maybe more than I’d like to admit.

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I use reminders, ‘vent’ journal, leave myself notes, save documents or charts on my phone, have a calendar, etc.

But really the idea of a commonplace is a knowledge catalogue, in my interpretation. It’s obviously more than that as well.

Which is why I do not like to put my eggs all in one basket. I have already done that with my self.

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If all I tell is the Truth, I won’t have to remember a thing.

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I have no need to recite numbers or facts.

When I contemplate something, it is either understood or it is not. I am either right or I am wrong. The answers may change or they may not.

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I find the process around a commonplace book highly engaging, fun and practical regardless of whether there is actually a commonplace book itself haha.

 

Edited March 25 by yetineti

[JimMorrison]

Thanks for the response, I do think in that same way of not being too personal with it but also I feel like it can be good to assist in individual needs like tailoring a diet or supplement plan to yourself. Also in an AI journal, you would use the AI as a tool implemented in the journal in my mind rather than having the AI run the whole journal itself.

[The Renaissance Man]

@JimMorrison Hey, I know there are already similar tools around. I think Notion AI does this. It's available for $8 a month or something like that. I don't have direct experience with it.

Keep in mind most people already have their favorite knowledge management system in place, so asking them to migrate to a new tool entirely is tough. It needs to be something extraordinary, and if it is, the competition will try his best to replicate it in their own software. Just so you know what you're getting into.

Anyway, to be honest I don't see how it would be useful to me. The functions you mentioned (quote below) are not a current issue of mine. Organization when you have tons of notes and resources has been a problem for many, but I've found my own solution. So I don't need to "find" information. I almost always know where it is, and I find it easily. It's not perfect, obviously, but it's low maintenance and good enough.

On 3/24/2025 at 4:19 PM, JimMorrison said:

an AI Commonplace Journal that was able to organize and keep track of your insights, quotes, websites and all the other good stuff with an AI that keeps track and references all those things based on whatever you are looking to pull from your knowledge pool

Also, I always take notes with the purpose of understanding and learning, and never of just "capturing" interesting stuff. If I need an AI to pull up my knowledge, that's a problem for me, because it's a sign that info is not in my head.

So unless I am missing some function, I would not find it useful, for the way I like to manage my notes. But that's how I use my PKM system. Maybe I'm the exception.

[yetineti]

20 hours ago, JimMorrison said:

Thanks for the response, I do think in that same way of not being too personal with it but also I feel like it can be good to assist in individual needs like tailoring a diet or supplement plan to yourself. Also in an AI journal, you would use the AI as a tool implemented in the journal in my mind rather than having the AI run the whole journal itself.

I use AI quite extensively, actually. I have used it for diet and supplements, for example.

I find I am willing to tell it height, weight, etc. 

I will also explain specific situations and see what it thinks as well.

I am just weary of it being centralized, like with a journal, or accidentally giving personal information, etc. 

It also struggles with such large context awareness like you may be wanting, at least with out custom models or additional funding.