Shallow assumptions about complex topics are the bane of AI summary tools

Skimming articles and using quick AI-generated summaries is killing my ability, and yours, to understand complex topics. While the shortcut offers headline-level comprehension, it often miss vital details from primary sources. Instead of depending on summaries or (shudder) listicles and quick-hit videos, I’ve learned to prioritize original source material whenever possible.

Sick of social media, and stuck with it

The year is 2025 and the state of human interaction is at a crossroads. We’ve been here before. The social Internet reinvents itself every decade and five years after a pandemic things have coalesced.

For the better the Internet continues to be a place of discovery, entertainment and shared zeitgeist. At it’s worst it is a terrible conveyer of current events, of share in-depth analysis and a creator of civil public discourse. Personal posturing and AI generated content may have irrevocably broken things.

Why

The Internet is full of algorithmically compiled lists and summaries and those are great, but something is missing. The walled gardens of social media haven’t improved things and unless you follow the right people and check the platform regularly, you’ll likely miss most people’s reposts or recommendations.

History

In 2020 I began compiling a weekly summary of everything I read, watched or otherwise consumed along with a quick one-line takeaway. I’ve found these notes to be a helpful form of journaling, and I’ve tried to share these notes publicly.

I started this substack to share, via email, my weekly list of links and brief description of why it might be worth your time to check each link out. The concept isn’t unique, and I subscribe to several other folks who are doing the same.

Value

I still think it’s important for human curated content and wishfully think back to the hand curated days of the Yahoo directory. The Internet is a lot larger now and I don’t believe we can rely on a single gatekeeper to define that list. The Internet is also becoming a lot more fragmented with echo chambers building around every corner of online life.

In short if you choose to subscribe to the Brain Notes newsletter, I appreciate it and I hope that you find some value or discover something new from my weekly posts.

Thank You!