Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 1

Overview
Dear Friend,1
My name is Scott Scheper, and I wrote the guide you're about to read.
Before you begin, I would like to provide you with an overview of what to
expect.

Actually, before I get to the overview, I'd like to first say:

Welcome to the Analog Knowledge Revolution!

What you are about to read in this guide will introduce you to the world of
the analog Zettelkasten (aka, the Antinet Zettelkasten).

The "Antinet" is a term possessing several meanings. First and foremost,

it's a playful jab at the digitally-obsessed state of Zettelkasten. You see, the
original Zettelkasten was a physical thinking system. Its creator, Niklas Luh-
mann, is "the most important German sociologist in the twentieth centu-
ry."2 Luhmann is also the most prolific sociologist of all time when it comes
to output. Luhmann produced 550 academic papers and seventy books in
approximately forty years.3 As the scholar Johannes Schmidt puts it, Luh-
mann was "a publication machine."4

Niklas Luhmann's secret weapon was his Zettelkasten, a term translating to

notebox in American English, and slipbox in European English.

Scott. P. Scheper
Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 2

However, Luhmann's notebox wasn't any ole notebox.5 Luhmann's Zettelkasten was uniquely
architected and ascribed to four principles (or what Luhmann refers to as "requirements").6 These
four principles (or requirements) map onto an acronym that composes the ANTI in Antinet.

The four principles are: 1 An Analog notebox, 2 with Numeric-alpha Card Addresses

affixed to each maincard, 3 possessing an internally-branching Tree Structure, 4 with

an Index that acts as a map for navigating the notebox.

Footnotes:

1 I only consider you a friend if you're someone who is committed to

growth and learning, and if you're not a buzzkillington. A buzzkillington
is someone who doesn't laugh while watching family guy.

2 Undisciplined, Archiving Luhmann w/ Johannes Schmidt, 2021,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kz2K3auPLWU, 19:16.

3 Johannes Schmidt, "Niklas Luhmann's Card Index: Thinking Tool,

Communication Partner, Publication Machine," Forgetting Machines.
Knowledge Management Evolution in Early Modern Europe 53 (2016),
289; Raf Vanderstraeten, "Luhmann on Socialization and Education,"
Educational Theory 50 (January 25, 2005): 1–23.

4 Johannes Schmidt, "Niklas Luhmann's Card Index: Thinking Tool,

Communication Partner, Publication Machine," Forgetting Machines.
Knowledge Management Evolution in Early Modern Europe 53 (2016),
311.

5 This is one reason why the terms "notebox" or "analog notebox" or

"Zettelkasten" or "analog Zettelkasten" don't do the system justice.
Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 3

All of this, together, forms a Network, which Luhmann referred to as a cybernetic system (a system
that leverages communication and feedback as signals, in pursuit of achieving a specific goal). 7

All of this, together, forms the term Antinet.

Luhmann's notebox wasn't just any notebox. It wasn't a system organized by convenient
categorical names (like Ryan Holiday's notebox system). Those types of systems are fine, although
a bit simplistic. Luhmann's system, on the other hand, contained both order and disorder.8 It
surfaces ideas and breakthrough insights that cannot be planned. This is part of its magic.

In brief, Luhmann's notebox wasn't just any notebox. It was an Antinet Notebox. It was an

Antinet Zettelkasten.

Footnotes:

6 Niklas Luhmann, "Zettelkasten Online Paper by Niklas Luhmann: Com-

munication with Noteboxes (Revised Edition)," trans. Manfred Kuehn,
accessed August 3, 2021, https://daily.scottscheper.com/zettelkasten/.

7 "ZK II: Note 9/8 - Niklas Luhmann Archive." Accessed January 10, 2022.
https://niklas-luhmann-archiv.de/bestand/zettelkasten/zet-
tel/ZK_2_NB_9-8_V.
Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 4

All of these Antinet principles form a unique thinking

system, which do not emerge in digital. Because of the
analog nature of the system, it forces certain emergent
properties to arise when you work with the notebox. When
there's no "all-encompassing digital search functionality,"
you're forced to imprint certain ideas on your mind.
Furthermore, when interacting with your own thoughts,
and reviewing your old self 's thoughts (written out in your
own handwriting), there's a communication experience
that emerges, which I contend is only present in the
analog form. The notebox becomes a second mind, or as
Luhmann referred to it, a "ghost in the box."9 It's almost as
if the notebox, with your own handwriting in it, becomes
its own entity possessing its own consciousness. When
working with your Antinet, you're communicating with this
unique second mind entity. A communication experience
emerges. This highlights why Luhmann titled his paper
"Communication with Noteboxes." He wasn't kidding. He
was communicating with his notebox.

This is but a small flavor of what you'll be exposed to when

you enter the world of the Antinet Zettelkasten.

Footnotes:

8 Niklas Luhmann, “Zettelkasten Online Paper by Niklas Luhmann: Com-

munication with Noteboxes (Revised Edition),” trans. Manfred Kuehn,
accessed August 3, 2021, https://daily.scottscheper.com/zettelkasten/.

9 "ZK II: Note 9 / 8.3 - Niklas Luhmann Archive," accessed January 11,
2022, https://niklas-luhmann-archiv.de/bestand/zettelkasten/zet-
tel/ZK_2_NB_9-8-3_V.
Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 5

This guide is broken up into three parts:

> The first part teaches you How to Build an Antinet Zettelkasten.-
This is the gold. It's important that you make sure to follow each
step in detail. Do not worry about trying to understand what you're
doing until after you finish it.

> The second part of the guide shares the most common mistakes
people make when starting out building an Antinet Zettelkasten.

> The third part of the guide answers the most common roadblocks
and questions that will soon arise in your Antinet Zettelkasten journey.

I hope you enjoy this guide, and I hope it helps you in your intellectual quest.

Much of the material in this guide derives from my insanely in-depth book, which is titled Antinet
Zettelkasten (which I wrote using my own Antinet, "Stewie"). If you want to go even deeper in
learning this world, then I highly recommend picking up my beast of a book (which is either
coming soon or already out, depending on the time you read this).

Until then, keep an eye out for my highly entertaining emails, and join the Antinet Reddit commu-
nity here: (https://www.reddit.com/r/antinet/).

Best of luck,
Your fellow Antinetter,10
Scott P. Scheper
 Table of Contents
Overview 1

How to Build an Antinet Zettelkasten 7

The 9 Most Common Mistakes People

29
Make When Starting

Answers To The 5 Most Common Roadblocks 50

People Run Into
Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 7

How to Build an
Antinet Zettelkasten
Here is an overview of the system we will be building:

Three Boxes

1 MAIN BOX
2 BIB BOX
3 INDEX BOX

B
C
B
C
A
A

(10 Ma Ind
00 in B A-Zex
A- ib
,et
c .)
Z

CONTAINING MAINCARDS CONTAINING BIBCARDS CONTAINING INDEXCARDS

NOTE
FRONT BACK 2 TYPES

TITLE
4 1 LIST INDEXCARD
9
CONTAINING MAINCARDS 22 A
32
ATOM: “4529/1”
EXCERPTS “.......”
ANATOMY: “3564/2”
REFORMULATIONS
1.
2. 2 KEYTERM INDEXCARD
3.
BIB NOTES ATOM
REFLECTIONS
COLLECTIVES OBSERVATIONS
‘234’ KEYTERM CUES
CARDLINK COLLECTIVES
EXCERPT CUES “He said...”
(INTERNAL LINKS)
EXTERNAL REFERENCE COLLECTIVES
(OUTBOUND LINKS)

2 TYPES OF COLLECTIVES (HUBS)

1. EMERGENT COLLECTIVES
2. STRUCTURED COLLECTIVES
 Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 8

The Supplies You Need

To help perfect the way I teach the Antinet, I conducted a series

of 1-on-1 Antinet coaching sessions (the recordings of which you
can find on my YouTube channel).

With each of my Antinet coaching clients, I recommend the

following materials for getting started:

1 Three noteboxes that can store 4x6" notecards (or one box, if you wish to save space
for now).

2 A set of blank double-sided 4x6" notecards.

3 A set of ruled colored 4x6" indexcards.

4 A set of alphabetical card dividers, wherein each divider label contains a dedicated
alphabetical letter (i.e., A, B, C, etc.).

You will also need a badass pen. Use a pen you love to write with. Think of it as an instrument.
People apply a ton of creativity to what colors they use. You're welcome to use whichever set of
colors work best for you. I've experimented with different colored inks over time. My current ink
repertoire is black ink for main notes, green ink for cardlinks, and red ink for ExRefs (i.e., citing
books and external sources).

Building Out Your Antinet

In my experience coaching people through this process, I

find that most people don't have a problem taking notes
from the books they read. Taking reading notes is a
straightforward process. Heck, it's even addicting and fun!
Those types of notes are filed in the bib box.
Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 9

The Bib Box

In my book, I go into a lot of detail on the process of extracting knowledge from the books you
read. For now, I'll give you a very quick overview.

When you read books, you'll want to use bibcard.

A bibcard is short for "bibliography card."

On the front side of the bibcard, you'll want to write out the bibliography details (starting with the
author's last name). You will later store this bibcard in the bib box sorted by the author's last name.

Here's a picture:

Next, turn the bibcard over, and then rotate the bibcard so that it's now vertical. This is where you
will be taking brief observation notes on the books you read.
Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 10

Here's a picture of the back of a bibcard:

After you're done reading, you will then use these brief observation notes to create a main note,
which are more elaborate notes stored on a maincard. You'll learn how to create maincards next.
Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 11

The Main Box and Index Box

Now, let's dive right into the heart of the Antinet, the so-called "hard part" of this whole thing.
We're going to build out the main box and index box of your Antinet. Realize that you're not going
to really understand why I'm telling you to do certain things in the beginning; but just follow exact-
ly what I say. Don't try and understand it yet. Just proceed step-by-step in a deliberate fashion.
Follow every detail. Sound good?

Let's go.

> Take out a pen with black ink. > In the top-right corner, write, 1000 (no
comma).
> Take out a blank white 4x6" notecard.
> In the center write, Arts & Humanities.

It should look like this:

 Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 12

> Take out another notecard. > Take out another notecard.

> In the corner write 2000, and in the > In the corner write 3000, and in the middle
middle write Social Sciences. write Natural Sciences.

> Take out another notecard. > Now, stack all five of these cards in

> In the corner write 4000, and in the > sequential order from 1000 to 5000, and
middle write Formal Sciences. place them in the first box.

> Take out one more notecard. > This is your main box.

> In the corner write 5000, and in the > On the front of this box create a small
middle write Applied Arts & Sciences. label for this box that reads Main.

It should look like this:

1 If you are living in a geo-

Now, pull out 26 ruled indexcards. I like to
graphic region adhering
use colored indexcards for these. Set them
to ISO standards, use the
in front of you.
A6 paper size. Or, if you
do not have access to
4x6" or A6 notecards, just
get creative. Cut out a
piece of paper to such a
size. Luhmann used old
pieces of paper from his
father's brewery, as well
as paper from his chil-
dren's old coloring books.

2 Luhmann chose the

top-left corner; I prefer
top-right corner.
 Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 13

It should look like this: It should look like this:

With the first indexcard, in
the top-left corner write, A.

> Do the same exact thing for the remaining twenty five letters in the alphabet.

> Now, stack the 26 cards in alphabetical order, from A-Z, then place the stack of 26 cards
in the second box.

> On the second box, create a label that reads Index, and place it on the front of the box.
 Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 14

> The first box is your main box. Your Antinet is a tree of knowledge. The tree contains five
main branches (1000, 2000, 3000, 4000, and 5000). From these five branches, many other
branches will "branch off ". Stems will form, and leaves of notecards will fill up the tree. Right
now, your tree of knowledge is barren. We'll fix that soon.

> The second box containing 26 cards is your index. Your index is the map you create as you
build your tree of knowledge.

> Now, pull out another blank notecard.

> On this notecard, write out the following quote. However, before you write it out, make sure
you leave about a centimeter of space at the top of the quote.

“
One of the most basic presuppositions of communication is that the partners can
mutually surprise each other. Only in this way can information be produced in the
respective other. Information is an intra-systematic event. It results when one
compares one message or entry with regard to other possibilities. Information,

”
accordingly, originates only in systems which possess a comparative sche-
ma—even if this only amounts to 'this or something else.

It should look like this:

 Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 15

At this point, you're probably wondering why the heck I made you write down this excerpt. After all,
your reason for using an Antinet probably won't focus on writing about communication theory or
information theory.

The reason why I chose to start with this is to show the flexibility of the system we're about to
create.

You see, in Luhmann's first Antinet, he created 108 top-level categories. They were rough starting
points. They included many topics he was interested in. Yet when he created his second Antinet,
it was focused primarily on his theoretical sociological work.

If Luhmann had started out with a broader classification system (instead of his arbitrarily chosen
108 categories), I hold that he would never have needed to create a second Antinet. If he had
structured his first Antinet to be all-encompassing, he could have created a branch (or set of
branches), which nicely encompassed his theoretical sociological work.

The goal with your Antinet is to avoid having to make a second, separate Antinet; to reach that
goal, you'll use an all-encompassing structure to house all your knowledge so that you can use the
same Antinet for the rest of your life.

This will be made possible by using a well-developed and robust classification system. For this
reason, I choose to use the academic disciplinary fields provided by Wikipedia.

Here is a link to Wikipedia's Outline of academic disciplines:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outline_of_academic_disciplines
Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 16

This classification system will serve as a rough guide for how to structure your Antinet.
You will notice that the contents of the academic disciplines have five top-level branches. These
five top-level branches map directly to the five branches you already created. The sub-branches
of each of these categories can be created and numbered arbitrarily. The choice of the numbers
and whether or not to even create the sub-branch is entirely up to you. Here's a picture:

I will now show you how to use the academic disciplines to help you figure out where to install
your notecards.
Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 17

OK, so where should we place the notecard we've just created?

The quote I had you write on the notecard is from Niklas Luhmann. He's writing of the Antinet as
his communication partner. He's observing that information comes about by comparing some-
thing to something else. I guess it could be filed in either an information branch, or a communica-
tion branch. But which one? In my opinion, the primary idea in this quote revolves around informa-
tion, so let's go with that.

Now, let's open up the Wikipedia's academic disciplines page, and search the page for the term
information. What we find are twenty-one search results for the term information on the page. We
also find that the first three seem irrelevant...

But aha! The fourth result seems intriguing... it's something called Information Theory. What the
heck is Information Theory? Let's find out.

Pull out another blank notecard. In the middle write:

Information Theory studies the transmission, processing,

Information Theory
extraction, and utilization of information.

It should look like this:

 Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 18

Still with me?

Good.

You now have two cards in front of you. One with the quote written on it, and the other for Infor-
mation Theory. If you don't, retrace your steps (and get your shit together). Kidding, but seriously.

Let's keep going.

So, now we have two cards with handwritten stuff on them.

Where should we file these cards?

Let's start with the second card we wrote. The one that outlines Information Theory.

By consulting Wikipedia's academic disciplines, we can see that Information Theory falls under the
field of Formal Sciences. It falls specifically within the subfield of Computer Science.

Still with me? Cool. Now pull out another blank card.

In the top-corner write, 4200 and in the middle write:

Computer Science is the study of computation, automation,

Computer Science
and information.

It should look
something like this:
 Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 19

Now it's time to consult the index. In your index box find the list indexcard C and pull it out.
With the card C, write an entry that reads Computer Science: '4200'.

It should look
something like this:

I like to put little quotes

around cardlinks so
they feel more
contained. It's just a
personal preference.

Now place the C list indexcard back inside the index box. File the card 4200 behind the card 4000
in the main box.

OK, now back to the Information Theory card.

Where should we file the Information Theory card?

Let's place it within the Computer Science branch. Why? Because according to Wikipedia's Outline
of Academic Disciplines, Information Theory falls under Computer Science. So, let's arbitrarily
choose 4212 for Information Theory.

In the top-corner of the Information Theory card write 4212.

 Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 20

It should look like this:

Now file this card in your main box behind card 4200.
Good job so far!

Now, there should be one remaining card in front of you—the card with the long-quote on it. Let's
figure out where to file this card.

In the Antinet, the name of the game is similarity. When figuring out where to install a card, you
must ask: What is this card most similar to?

OK, so what is this card in front of us most similar to? That's easy. It's most similar to the Informa-
tion Theory card. Indeed, it even falls within the Information Theory branch.

In the top-right corner of the card write 4212/1.

Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 21

It should look like this:

Heck yes! We're all done, right?

Almost, but not quite.

There are a few more things we ought to do.

First, pull out the list indexcard I from your index box.

Create an entry: Information Theory, and next to that write, 4212

Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 22

It should look like this:

There's another thing we ought to do (since we're pros).

Let's add an entry under list indexcard C for Communication within the context of Information
Theory. Pull out the list indexcard C and write Communication (within Information Theory):
'4212/1'.

It should look like this:

Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 23

OK, now file away C by putting it back in your index box.

In front of you, there should be one notecard: 4212/1. Before you install 4212/1 into your main
box, we have one more thing we need to do.

On 4212/1, what you did was write down a quote. The notion that Luhmann never wrote down
excerpts or quotes is a myth. Luhmann did, indeed, write down quotes from the books he read.
That said, you want to err on the side of creating more reformulation notes and reflection notes
(instead of excerpt notes). I'll detail those types of notes in a later chapter. For now, it's helpful to
start you off with an excerpt note (which is why I had you write down that quote)!

When you create an excerpt note, it requires one thing. It must also provide the source from where
the quote came from. To answer this, we shall now dive into External Reference Links ("ExRefs").
Stay with me, we're almost done.

On a computer, download the reference manager called Zotero by visiting

www.zotero.org.

After you download and install Zotero on your computer, there is

one more step. You must download the Zotero connector for your
web browser. Visit the following link and download the connector
for the browser that you use: https://www.zotero.org/down-
load/connectors

Next, open up Zotero.

Now, using the browser in which you have the Zotero Connector installed, visit the following

URL: https://daily.scottscheper.com/zettelkasten/
Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 24

This URL is where the quote originated from. It is an English translation of a paper titled Commu-
nication with Noteboxes by Niklas Luhmann.3

While viewing this web page, click the Zotero icon which should now be installed in the panel of
your browser. It should capture the page and add it as an entry to your Zotero Desktop application.

Footnotes:

3 I host this paper on a website I created while I was releasing daily

writing pieces (part of a daily publishing challenge).
 Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 25

Now, switch over to the Zotero Desktop application. Click on the new entry.

It should look like this:

After clicking on the entry, you should see four buttons in the right-hand area: Info, Notes, Tags,
and Related.

Click Tags.
Add a new tag and name it r.TDSSZ.4

The "r." prepended to the reference identifier indicates that we're referencing an ExRef stored in
Zotero.

Ok, now let's jump back to the card, 4212/1.

Take out a pen. One with red ink.

Immediately after the quote ends, add a little footnote in red ink by writing [1] after it. In the bot-
tom-left corner, with red ink as well, write the following: 1. r.TDSSZ. This signals to us where this
quote originated from.

Footnotes:

4 Since the website was created by yours truly, and since it is called The Daily
Scott Scheper, and, since it is a page about Zettelkasten, that's where the
abbreviation comes from: "TDSSZ".
 Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 26

It should look like this:

Now take a look at that beautiful card in front of you. Bask in its glory.

Now file it away behind notecard 4212.

That's it for now.

This should give you a taste for what it's like working with an Antinet.

You now have your main box and index box built out.

Eventually, as you build out your Antinet, it will grow significantly. Instead of one main box, you'll
have many main boxes. In fact, you'll probably end up with a box for each of the five branches
you've created. A box each for 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000, 5000.
 Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 27

It should look like this:

One of the things I recommend picking up is a set of alphabetical card dividers.

The card dividers are useful for when your index box expands. They're also useful for storing
bibcards in your bib box (which I'll outline in the chapter on Extraction).
 Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 28

Here's a picture of my index box:

The alphabetical dividers are helpful for sorting through the indexcards quickly.
These are mere conveniences. You don't need them to thrive in the beginning, but they're things
you'll want to add to your Antinet as it grows.
 Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 29

The 9 Most Common Mistakes

People Make When Starting Out
Before I share with you the most common mistakes people make when beginning their Antinet
journey, I'd like to ask you for a favor.

If you've enjoyed this guide so far, I'd love your help spreading the word.

Will you please share the Antinet website (https://www.antinet.org) with one friend?

Say something like, "Hey, I just read this guide on a crazy analog knowledge

system. It's pretty cool, and you should check it out. Here's the link to learn more:

https://www.antinet.org

Thank you for doing that. I really appreciate it! Seriously. People are so freaking brainwashed by
digital tools these days. The PKM space is littered with filth that results in brilliant minds wasting
their time on stupid things. Do not become a "bubble graph boi." Do not be tempted by the pretty
note bubble graphs of digital apps. Do not major in the minor. The Antinet Zettelkasten is for those
who wish to focus on producing fantastic work (instead of getting bogged down with digital work-
flows, themes, templates, and metadata conventions for creating notes). Do not fall into this trap!

Digital tools are better for many things. They're not better for one thing, however: that is, they're
not better for (drumroll)… thinking!

Thank you for your help in spreading the analog knowledge revolution.
 Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 30

Now… with that out of the way, we can move on to the next part of the guide—but only if you've
already shared the Antinet website with a friend (seriously)!

OK, now that you've shared https://www.antinet.org with a friend, let's talk about the most
common mistakes people make when starting out. I've found that the biggest things preventing
anyone from building out an Antinet are the false beliefs they adopt. These are mistakes in think-
ing. Let's dive into these mistakes now:

Mistake #1

Starting Without A Project In Mind

The biggest obstacle you'll face in building an Antinet is grasp-

ing how to even begin in the first place. At this phase you might
think that how you set up your Antinet is critically important to
its success. You might have the feeling that if you make a single
mistake in the beginning, the whole system is doomed forever.
Unfortunately, this is the case… Just kidding

I've seen advice in online forums dedicated to digital Zettelkasten telling people to just begin blind-
ly, even randomly. You'll also get advice from the bestselling books that the Zettelkasten just
emerges without planning—without trying to create some semblance of organization using cate-
gories.

For instance, you'll find authors stating things like: "The trick is that [Luhmann] did not organize his
notes by topic, but in a rather abstract way of giving them fixed numbers."5

Footnotes:

5 Sönke Ahrens, How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost
Writing, Learning and Thinking: For Students, Academics and Nonfiction
Book Writers (North Charleston, SC: CreateSpace, 2017), 19.
 Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 31

This notion is false. Luhmann never declared that anyone should start building an Antinet with no
idea at all of where they want to go. Luhmann's second Zettelkasten was planned with eleven fuzzy
categories. Luhmann's first Zettelkasten included 108 top-level categories.6

Luhmann's Antinet categories weren't undetermined; rather, many were predetermined. As

Johannes Schmidt observes, "The pattern that we see here is very much one of exploring and
reflecting on largely predetermined, fairly detailed fields of knowledge." 7

In brief, you don't want to start with zero idea of how you'd like to structure your Antinet. Ideally,
you want to start with a rough idea of where you want to take it. You want a fuzzy idea of what you
want to build. With that said, the system I'm about to teach you makes use of well-developed disci-
plinary fields, so even if you don't have a clue about what you want to use your Antinet for, it will still
work for you in the long term. The expansive disciplinary fields, plus the internal branching struc-
ture of the Antinet, enable the system to evolve in whatever direction your mind wishes to take it.

I realize all this sounds rather abstract and ambiguous; however, once you complete the instructions
I'm about to provide, you'll begin to see what I'm talking about. Once you spend a few weeks using
the system, you'll get a lot more comfortable with it, and you will be less likely to wonder if you've
done something wrong.

Footnotes:

6 Both are included as appendices in my book, Antinet Zettelkasten.

7 Johannes Schmidt, "Niklas Luhmann's Card Index: Thinking Tool, Communi-

cation Partner, Publication Machine," Forgetting Machines. Knowledge
Management Evolution in Early Modern Europe 53 (2016) , 296. https://-
pub.uni-bielefeld.de/record/2942475.
 Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 32

Mistake #2

Deleting Your Mistakes and Starting Over

During the beginning of building your Antinet, you must aban-

don your desire for perfection. One of the most valuable parts of
the Antinet Zettelkasten is… mistakes! Specifically, your mis-
takes, your own thinking mistakes, and even imperfections in
your own numbering conventions of the Antinet.

For instance, in the card I'm using to compose the section you're reading right now, I created what
could be called an imperfection in its numbering convention.
Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 33

As you can see from this card, the card address is 4214/5ACA/1. You'll notice that the end part is
in green (A/1), whereas the beginning of the card address is in blue. This is because at the time I
created the card I hadn't yet figured out where I was going to put it. Therefore, in the beginning I
would just write A/1 in green, and once I figured out where to install it, I'd prepend the address
with the actual location in blue. Notice that the stem of the cards before 4214/5ACA is 4214/5AC
and 4214/5A.

It should look like this:

4214/5A

* 4214/5AC

* 4214/5ACA

* 4214/5ACA/1

Note that there's no 4214/5AB. For some reason, I just skip right to using 5AC because I created C
before I even knew where I would install the card.

In brief, this isn't the convention I use these days. In my workflow today, I would first figure out
where I wanted to install the card before I wrote the note.
Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 34

The structure would be something like this instead:

4214/5A

* 4214/5A/1

* 4214/5A/2

* 4214/5A/2/1

In spite of the difference, both conventions are fine. The imperfections work just as well. It's just
that my new conventional way of doing things has changed over time. I find my current convention
makes more sense (to me), and it appears cleaner and more logical (again, to me). For instance,
today I wouldn't go from 4214/5A to 4214/5AC (thus skipping 4214/5AB). In addition, I also like
a more nested structure, which uses slashes (/). For instance, I prefer 'branching down' and creat-
ing 4214/5A/1 (opposed to appending letters onto letters, like 4214/5AB).

What counts, though, is the actual thought being developed. I never have the temptation to refac-
tor the addresses of my notes. There's no temptation to make my new notes perfectly backward
compatible with my old schemes for numbering. Why? I don't need to. The system just works.

In brief, don't delete your mistakes or imperfections. The reason for this is that there is value in
re-reviewing your thoughts or re-reviewing your previous mistakes to see how much you've grown.
Or even to see how your previous corrections of initially perceived mistakes turned out to also be
incorrect! All of these occurrences are valuable.
 Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 35

Here's a secret: even Luhmann didn't get it right the first time. First, Luhmann's thoughts them-
selves contained mistakes. Yet he never removed them from his Antinet. For instance, Johannes
Schmidt writes

“
It [Luhmann's Antinet] contains not only validated knowledge but also
reflects the thought process, including potential mistakes and blind alleys
that were later revised but not removed from the file as the original cards
always remained in Luhmann's file and perhaps a new card with revisions

”
was added if needed. 8

Second, Luhmann's conventions, and the components of his Antinet, were never deleted. He never
deleted his old indexes, for instance, but continually created more organized versions. After a
certain point, his index became messy.9 Instead of replacing the index with his new one, he simply
placed the new index after the old one. In total, his second Antinet contains four versions of the
index. 10

Footnotes:

8 Johannes Schmidt, "Niklas Luhmann's Card Index: Thinking Tool, Communi-

cation Partner, Publication Machine," Forgetting Machines. Knowledge Man-
agement Evolution in Early Modern Europe 53 (2016), 310. Emphasis added.

9 Johannes Schmidt, "Niklas Luhmann's Card Index: Thinking Tool, Communi-

cation Partner, Publication Machine," Forgetting Machines. Knowledge Man-
agement Evolution in Early Modern Europe 53 (2016), 306.

10 Johannes Schmidt, "Niklas Luhmann's Card Index: Thinking Tool, Communi-

cation Partner, Publication Machine," Forgetting Machines. Knowledge Man-
agement Evolution in Early Modern Europe 53 (2016), 306.
 Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 36

Not only did Luhmann modify the index component of his Antinet, he also experimented in other
ways. He created an index that was not organized by concepts' keyterms, but by people's names.
Luhmann thought that this was a helpful practice because our minds sometimes retrieve ideas by
thinking of the name of the author from which they derived. 11

Yet when Luhmann created a name-based index, he did not attempt to retroactively make it back-
ward compatible. He did not attempt to go through all of his previous notecards and make sure the
name-based index comprehensively referenced each of the notes. He did not systematically pursue
the strategy of adding items to the name index in every case. 12

What we learn from these examples is to extinguish any sense of perfectionism. That's right. I'm
asking you to extinguish the idea that your Antinet is to be a perfectly organized system. There's
far more power in creating paths documenting your various mistakes. The stems of thoughts and
ideas documenting your mind changing stands as an invaluable property of the Antinet. In addition,
you're encouraged to launch experiments (like Luhmann's people-focused index). But at the same
time, don't feel like you're bound to systematically pursuing such an experiment forever. Old experi-
ments are valuable in and of themselves, and who knows—maybe you'll pick up where you left off
one day and continue developing an experiment you began ages ago.

Footnotes:

11 Niklas Luhmann, "Communication with Noteboxes (Revised Edition)," trans.

Manfred Kuehn, https://daily.scottscheper.com/zettelkasten/. "This proves
to be helpful because our own memory—others will have similar experiences
to mine—works in part with key words and in part with author's names."

12 Johannes Schmidt, "Niklas Luhmann's Card Index: Thinking Tool, Communi-

cation Partner, Publication Machine," Forgetting Machines. Knowledge Man-
agement Evolution in Early Modern Europe 53 (2016), 306. "However, Luh-
mann did not systematically pursue this strategy."
 Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 37

Mistake #3

Doubting the Power of Analog

When first starting out, you may not realize the sheer power of
analog systems. In fact, you may still hold a systemic negative
regard for analog systems. Today, society blindly accepts that
technology and digital tools are better for everything. However,
digital tools are not better for everything. They're certainly not
better for thinking and evolving thought.

When you're just starting out, you may find yourself doubting this. You may experience false beliefs
and doubts about what you're investing your time and energy into. Please take my word for it until
then. In brief, analog is worth it. Developing your mind using analog tools pays off in the long-run;
heck, it even pays off in the short-run.

Mistake #4

Becoming Distracted by Digital Zettelkasten Myths

Perhaps the biggest distraction you'll face in building an Antinet is the misinformation and com-
plete inventions you'll find online about Zettelkasten. If you search Zettelkasten online, there's a
96% chance you'll come across a myth that misrepresents the system.13
Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 38

The myths you come across about Zettelkasten seem innocuous and quite rational at first. Yet the
smallest thing could prevent your notetaking system from becoming an actual second mind—a
communication partner. For instance, if you buy into the whole idea of creating atomic notes (per-
fectly organized sets of one idea per card), then you're setting yourself up for failure. The many
myths of Zettelkasten are something I expose in my book. For the time being, you'll have to trust
me: Don't get distracted by the stuff about Zettelkasten you find online.

Mistake #5

Not Understanding The Energy Investment Required

Building an Antinet isn't easy. Especially in the beginning. I'd like to re-emphasize a major point:
with the Antinet, you're doing things the old way, the hard way, the true way. Yet, you'll be doing
so bit-by-bit, card-by-card. Paradoxically, this turns out to be the easy way in the long-run.

Yet, the major premise in Sönke Ahrens's presentation of Zettelkasten is the notion that it will
make writing an easy, "seamless" activity.14 Ahrens makes it seem like it's a simple system. He mis-
appropriates Luhmann's phrase: "I must tell you that I never force anything. I only do what comes
easy to me." 15
Ahrens leaves out the fact that Luhmann said this immediately after outlining his
work routine in detail. In brief, Luhmann worked every day from 8:30am until roughly midnight.

Footnotes:
13 I pulled the 96% out of my ass; yet, when I surveyed the search results, I
found that roughly 9/10 results regurgitate Sönke Ahrens's interpretation of
Zettelkasten, which is not how Luhmann's Zettelkasten worked.

14 Sönke Ahrens, How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost
Writing, Learning and Thinking: For Students, Academics and Nonfiction
Book Writers (North Charleston, SC: CreateSpace, 2017), 5.

15 Niklas Luhmann, Short Cuts, Orig.-Ausg., 4. Aufl, Short Cuts 1 (Frankfurt am

Main: Zweitausendeins, 2002), 37.
Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 39

Building out an Antinet requires work and a deliberate investment of energy. However, you don't
need to work from 8:30am until midnight (for reasons I'll outline shortly).

When starting out, it's best to think of yourself as an airplane taking off.

beginning it will require more energy. You're about to be introduced to an entirely new way of
organizing and evolving your mind, and I'm also introducing you to a new way of reading and
developing your thoughts.

Combined with the overhead expenditure of energy required in learning a new system, you're also
starting from scratch. You'll face what I call index fatigue. In the beginning, you have a completely
barren structure. You'll therefore need to spend a considerable amount of time creating new
keyterm entries in your index. This is something that decreases and becomes less time-consuming
after several months.

Don't get me wrong: you'll always be creating new keyterm entries in your index. But, in the begin-
ning you'll be creating keyterms much more frequently. The important thing is that you manage
index fatigue well. Don't get burnt out. Don't land the plane before giving yourself a chance to hit
cruise control.
Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 40

Mistake #6

Not Dedicating Consistent Energy

While I do hold it to be true that the Antinet is for those

who accept the time investment required, it's important to
provide a caveat. The caveat is that consistency is the goal.
Keep in mind that Luhmann used his Antinet for forty-six
years (1951–1997). You should strive for the same.

When I preach hard work, don't interpret my advice as requiring you to work twelve hours a day on
your Antinet. Rather two hours of work per day consistently over the long term is a good goal.
That means reading or writing notes for two hours per day (on average).

The Catholic intellectual Antonin Sertillanges confirms this notion. To do great intellectual work,
a person needs only two hours per day of focused study.16 If you work full-time, you must carve
out two hours a day—either before work or after work (or, even split them up). In my early twen-
ties, when I worked a day job full-time, I carved out two hours of work every morning before I left
for the office. Luhmann carved out his deliberate focus time with his Antinet in the evenings.17

Footnotes:

16 OP A. G. Sertillanges, The Intellectual Life: Its Spirit, Conditions, Methods,

trans. Mary Ryan, Reprint edition (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University
of America Press, 1992), 11.
Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 41

As far as intellectual work goes, the two-hour a day rule seems to be a theme. For instance, the
scholar Umberto Eco recommends a similar time commitment in his book, How to Write a Thesis.
One can write a quality thesis, according to Eco, even if "they can only dedicate a few hours each
day." Yet Eco hints at an even more important variable: one's attitude. Those who gain the most in
writing a thesis, it seems, are those who pursue it as a means to attain a "certain intellectual satis-
faction."18 That is, those who approach the process of intellectual work with an attitude that
centers not on fulfilling an external requirement, but their own internal requirement. I agree.

Mistake #7

Not Having a Goal

Richard W. Hamming, an American mathematician who worked

at Bell Laboratories and who greatly influenced how computer
and telecommunication technology works today once observed
how shockingly common it was that his fellow employees were
content to work on unimportant problems. They lacked a clear
goal or purpose. He noted how it even seemed like they made a
deliberate choice to work on unimportant problems.

Hamming was a scientist obsessed with truth. He had the tendency of delivering his truth in an
unfiltered fashion (often at the expense of other people's feelings). One day Hamming approached
a fellow employee and said abruptly, Why are you even bothering to live if you're not working on
an important problem or goal? The employee, understandably, was quite upset. He scoffed at
Hamming's offensive words and stormed out of the room.

Footnotes:
17 Niklas Luhmann, Niklas Luhmann Short Cuts (English Translation), 2002, 11.

18 Umberto Eco, How to Write a Thesis, trans. Caterina Mongiat Farina and Geoff
Farina, Translation edition (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 2015), 5.
 Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 42

Later the employee wrote a letter to Hamming thanking him. The letter read: Thank you. Your
words ended up changing my life. 19

This brings us to the crux of the matter: goals. Specifically, your goals in building an Antinet. This
matter is so important that you must explore it in detail before setting out to build your Antinet.
It can be argued that people are too fascinated with Luhmann's Antinet, to the extent that many
people overlook the famous declaration Luhmann made. At the beginning of his intellectual career,
Luhmann was one of the first professors hired by Bielefeld University. The new administration
asked Luhmann what research project he would work on. His response was legendary amongst
sociologists: "My project was, and ever since has been, the theory of society; term: thirty years;
costs: none."20

The Antinet served as the perfect tool for Luhmann because it helped him with his ambitious goal.
His goal was a massive undertaking. It was a thirty year project that required a system that would
enable him to develop and evolve his thinking over the course of it.

This brings up the question: what is the goal of an Antinet in the first place?

In a sense, the ultimate goal of an Antinet centers on "maximizing the number of copies of the
genes that created it."21 Consider this: the goal of Luhmann's Antinet was to maximize the prolifer-
ation of his ideas. He intended to do this by packing in evidence from all of his readings. He began
by extracting knowledge from books onto their bibcards. From there he would develop that knowl-
edge by elaborating on it (primarily by way of reflection notes). These notes would then chain
together and create deeply rich knowledge that supported his theory of society.

Footnotes:

19 Richard W. Hamming and Bret Victor, The Art of Doing Science and Engineer-
ing: Learning to Learn (Stripe Press, 2020), 386.

20 Niklas Luhmann, Theory of Society, Volume 1, trans. Rhodes Barrett (Stanford:

Stanford University Press, 2012), xi.

21 Steven Pinker, How the Mind Works, Norton pbk (New York: Norton, 2009), 43.
Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 43

In other words, Luhmann was reproducing and

creating a legacy from his thoughts as they devel-
oped in his Antinet.

The goal of the Antinet, then, is to replicate the

thoughts of its creator in the real world. Think of
the thoughts as intellectual genetic material
encompassed in notecards. Therefore, the goal
centers on reproduction—not biological reproduc-
tion, but metaphysical reproduction of your
thoughts—and metaphysical reproduction of your
thinking throughout the world. This is achieved
through your thoughts being so well-developed
that they end up producing work that reproduces
those thoughts and allows them to be spread
throughout the world.

Luhmann's Antinet seems to have achieved this.

His books are studied by scholars today—or at
least studied by the ones with the diligence and
motivation to parse his deeply intertwined texts!
Yet, ironically, Luhmann's Antinet seems to have
the potential to proliferate and live on longer than
even Luhmann's actual theoretical work will. Or
perhaps it's not so ironic. People are fascinated
with how Luhmann became a book-writing aca-
demic research machine. The answer? The Antinet.

In essence, the goal of the Antinet is to reproduce

the thoughts of its creator by making it easier to
create written products with the thoughts it
stores.

Let's now turn to the dichotomy of growth vs.

contribution.
Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 44

Mistake #8

Approaching the Antinet

Zettelkasten With a Growth Mindset
Instead of a Contribution Mindset

There are two states one operates in when using the Antinet.
One is not necessarily better than the other. In fact, you'll likely
move back and forth between each state regularly.

The first state is the growth state. This occurs when using an Antinet to grow your own knowledge
and understanding. Whenever you're venturing into a new disciplinary field, you'll spend the begin-
ning phases learning by reading books in brand new fields and noting down brand new ideas. You'll
mostly be writing reformulation notes in this phase. You'll be encountering new ideas and reformu-
lating them in your own words.

The second state is the contribution state. This occurs when using the Antinet to publish work and
the focus is on contributing to others through teaching them material. In this stage your focus will
be books that you're creating.

You will often oscillate between the two states. However, I find that it's best to strive and live in the
contribution state. In other words, you want to write your notes as if they are part of a project or
book that you'll be publishing so that you can teach others. It's a paradox because the best way to
grow and learn something is by teaching the material, and the best way to do that is through
having the mindset of contribution.

In the beginning of working on your Antinet, you may not be ready to actually commit to a certain
project. I certainly wasn't when I began my journey. However, I would like to nudge you in the direc-
tion of moving toward contribution.
 Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 45

If Luhmann had not set out with the ambitious goal of creating a theory of society in thirty years,
there's a good chance we never would have even heard about the Zettelkasten in the first place. In
essence, Luhmann's Antinet wasn't the only thing that helped him create genius-level work. The
other thing that helped him was his massive ambitious goal for his Antinet.

The most important step to creating an Antinet that is too easily overlooked is determining what
your goal is before writing your first note. It is the overall objective—the why—behind what attract-
ed you to the Antinet that is critically important.

You ought to have at least a vague or general direction for what you intend to build with it.
As Steven Pinker points out in his book, How the Mind Works, without specifying a goal "the very
idea of intelligence is meaningless."22

And what is intelligence? It is the phenomenon the Antinet is engineered to create. Intelligence
comes from information. Information is a correlation between two things. Before you install any-
thing in your Antinet, you will compare and correlate. You must decide if a concept is "this or some-
thing else," as Luhmann says. 23

In brief, it helps to specify a goal. To be fair, however, the system works perfectly even when you're
in a state in which your goal is to learn and grow.

Luhmann's second Zettelkasten was started when he had a clear goal in mind. His first Zettelkas-
ten, however, was started when he didn't have a clear idea of what his intellectual work would entail
in the years he was working for the Higher Administrative Court of Lüneburg. During this time, he
spent his nights reading and building his Antinet. He said, "I started my Zettelkasten, because I
realized that I had to plan for a life and not for a book." 24

Footnotes:

22 Steven Pinker, How the Mind Works, Norton pbk (New York: Norton, 2009), 61.

23 Niklas Luhmann, "Communication with Noteboxes (Revised Edition)," trans.

Manfred Kuehn, https://daily.scottscheper.com/zettelkasten/.

24 Niklas Luhmann, Niklas Luhmann Short Cuts (English Translation), 2002, 22.
 Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 46

This statement seems to contradict his reason for starting his second Antinet (the Antinet he
created in order to work on his thirty-year book project culminating in his Theory of Society).

You might notice, though, that Luhmann did have a goal for his first Zettelkasten: it was to plan for
life by learning from many fields of knowledge.

In brief, the Antinet can serve both states. It can assist someone who's in the growth state (without
a clear end goal), and it can also assist someone who's in the contribution state (with a clearly
defined book or project).

From my experience, I have found the Antinet to really shine when one is in the contribution state.
When you have a specific project and goal in mind, the Antinet really begins to flex its strength.

In essence, what we're talking about here is the explore vs. exploit dilemma. That is, do you
approach work as an explorer with an open-mind? Or do you approach your work with a deliberate
goal, and exploit an opportunity you see? The explore-exploit tradeoff occurs every single day. It
can be as simple as going to your favorite restaurant, or trying out a new one. 25

In approaching this dilemma, I like a concept introduced by clinical psychologist and bestselling
author Jordan Peterson. One ought to define a deliberate goal to limit the chaos of life. Yet one also
ought to adopt a meta goal. The term meta, in Greek, means above or beyond. Therefore, one ought
to have a goal which resides above a concrete project in the physical world. An example of a meta
goal is to "live in truth." That is, a meta goal allows one to act diligently toward a defined end in an
authentic way that remains in alignment with your soul. 26 Have a defined goal, yes; however, if your
soul authentically shifts, shift with it.

Footnotes:

25 "Explore-Exploit Tradeoff - Definition and Examples," Conceptually,

accessed April 12, 2022, https://conceptually.org/concepts/ex-
plore-or-exploit.

26 Jordan B. Peterson, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, Later prt.

edition (Toronto: Random House Canada, 2018), 226.
Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 47

Mistake #9

Before Writing Your First Note

One critical point that rarely gets mentioned

may seem rather obvious: it's helpful to have a
project in mind for your Antinet. An Antinet is
not necessarily something you ought to do with
the idea of completely open-ended reading. As
Luhmann states, "I first make a plan of what I am
going to write, and then take from the note cabi-
net what I can use."27 When Luhmann drew from
the Antinet the material would use for a new
project, that material did not come about
through aimless reading. At some point, he
made a decision on what project to work on.

The key point is that when you decide to work on a project, it doesn't necessarily confine you to
that project forever. The material you create in one project will unearth material you can use in
your next project.

For instance, when I first started building out my Antinet, I didn't yet realize I was going to write
a book on it. I was planning on writing a book that sat at the intersection of copywriting, psychol-
ogy, and philosophy. My readings included books like The Hero with a Thousand Faces, which is
about the hero's journey and storytelling. It didn't seem like any of the material would have been
relevant to the Antinet Zettelkasten book; yet, as it turns out, it was relevant! In my section on the
tree structure of the Antinet, I used some of the material in discussing the metaphysical power
pertaining to the concept of trees. Moreover, reading about the power of trees may have helped
spark the light bulb that helped me realize that the Antinet is built on a tree structure.

Footnotes:

27 Hans-Georg Moeller, The Radical Luhmann (New York: Columbia University

Press, 2011), 11.
Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 48

What I'm trying to say is this: take a goal-oriented approach

when building out your Antinet. Do not worry if, later on, you
decide to progress to a completely different project. Why?
Because it's likely the material you develop will still contribute
to the new project. All domains of knowledge are interdisci-
plinary. Concepts in mathematics can serve one's under-
standing of philosophical concepts. The great mathematician
Bertrand Russell also penned one of the best books ever writ-
ten on philosophy (A History of Western Philosophy, which
won him a Nobel Prize in 1950). This is but one of countless
examples.

I'll keep hammering this idea into you: having a goal or project
in mind is critical when developing notes using an Antinet.
Even when reading a book, the goal-oriented nature and
intention of reading is paramount.28 I'll illustrate this princi-
ple more in the chapter on reading workflows.

The reason I keep emphasizing this is because the magic of

the Antinet really started taking off for me once I shifted to
contribution. In mid-June 2021, I made a decision to focus on
teaching the true Zettelkasten—the Luhmannian
version—the Antinet Zettelkasten. Up until that point I was
resisting the idea of writing a book about the Antinet. I feared
it would just be a distraction or procrastination-fueled detour.
It also appeared seemingly absurd at the time. My profession
and craft was in marketing, copywriting, and cryptocurrency
(which are much more lucrative markets). The PKM and pro-
ductivity market is as niche as it gets. And within that niche
almost everyone focuses on teaching the powerful "method"
of whatever the latest and greatest digital app is.

Footnotes:
28 Mortimer Jerome Adler and Charles Van Doren, How to Read a Book, Rev. and
updated ed (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1972), 45.
Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 49

Yet, I knew in my heart and soul the truth: analog tools serve as a much more effective system for
developing thought. I knew in my heart that people were left with watered down digital Zettelkas-
ten tools. There were no instructions or guides for how to build an analog version—the original
version. I couldn't let it go. So, even with doubts in my mind, I made a commitment. To hell with
the copywriting, psychology and philosophy project for now, I said to myself. I'm going all in on
the Antinet.

This is when things really started to take off. At this point I began to experience the magic of the
Antinet. Yet even before this commitment to the Antinet, I made a soft commitment to working
on a copywriting, psychology and philosophy project.

Again, commit to an idea or project and don't fret if you decide to shift into a different project alto-
gether. You can shift back to the original project whenever you're done with the new project. You
can also shift back to different projects if you hit a wall (figuratively speaking). As Luhmann says
(after outlining his twelve-plus-hour work days): "I only write when I know immediately how to do
it. If it stops for a moment, I put the thing aside and do something else."29 However, don't let Luh-
mann's turn you into someone who switches tasks every other day. Try to start things you'll finish.
Commit to them, but also know they can be revisited if you ever decide to switch to something else
after a few months.

Johannes Schmidt writes, "at least in the more

mature stage of Luhmann's theory-building since
the 1970s, [Luhmann's Antinet] did not serve as
a pure archive that he would develop independ-
ent of specific publication projects." Luhmann
only installed cards in his Antinet that were relat-
ed to publication requests he took on.30

Footnotes:

29 Niklas Luhmann, Niklas Luhmann Short Cuts (English Translation), 2002, 19.

30 Johannes Schmidt, "Niklas Luhmann's Card Index: Thinking Tool, Communication

Partner, Publication Machine," Forgetting Machines. Knowledge Management
Evolution in Early Modern Europe 53 (2016), 310-11. Emphasis added.
 Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 50

Yet, as Schmidt points out, the material Luhmann developed during the course of fulfilling publica-
tion requests—by writing research papers—ended up serving as the basis for his books. By taking
on one project, the new material created unforeseeable developments in his other long-term pro-
jects. As Luhmann worked on new publications, "in the process, he would also document the evolu-
tion of his thought process," writes Schmidt. "Over the course of producing these publications," his
theory developments were compounded.31

Answers To The 5 Most Common

Roadblocks People Run Into
There's a chance you'll have questions come up that I haven't addressed fully. In such a case, a
good resource is the Antinet Reddit Community (https://www.reddit.com/r/antinet/).
There's also a good chance the question you may have has been answered there, not just by myself,
but by other Antinetters, as well.

With that said, I'd like to address the most common questions I get asked. These are questions
that end up being a roadblock for progress. Do not let these questions stand as roadblocks. Do not
let them impede your progress. Stay focused, keep shipping, and keep building out your Antinet…
one maincard at a time.

Footnotes:

31 Johannes Schmidt, "Niklas Luhmann's Card Index: Thinking Tool, Communica-

tion Partner, Publication Machine," Forgetting Machines. Knowledge Manage-
ment Evolution in Early Modern Europe 53 (2016), 311.
 Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 51

Question #1

How Does Numbering Work?

This, by far, is the top roadblock. I've said it a million

times, and I'll say it again: Do not get hung up on
numbering. You'll make mistakes. That's fine. Why?
Because they're not mistakes. They're future gems
of creative breakthroughs in the form of accidents.
After about three months of using your Antinet,
you'll settle on a convention that you like best.

With that said, let's jump into a more tangible bit of advice:

Let's say you have a card in the Information Theory Branch (4212).

And then you have a card at 4212/4 which discusses Information vs. Knowledge. Now, let's say you
have two new notecards you've just written out.

The first notecard discusses: Examples of Information vs. Knowledge in real life.
The second card discusses: An alternative interpretation of Information vs. Knowledge.

The question at hand is: Where should you file these cards?

I like to think of it like this: If an idea furthers the thought of a card, then you want to "branch
down." This means appending a slash (/) after the card address, followed by a number (e.g., /1).

For instance, the first notecard, Examples of Information vs. Knowledge in real life, furthers the
idea of the card 4212/4. Therefore, you'll want to assign the first notecard an address of
4212/4/1. Therefore, the card Examples of Information vs. Knowledge in real life will have the
card address of 4212/4/1. It will be filed immediately behind 4212/4.
 Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 52

What about alphabetical letters? Think of alphabetical letters as "variations". For instance, the
second card discussing An alternative interpretation of Information vs. Knowledge is really just a
variation of the card 4212/4. Therefore, this card will get the address 4212/4A. It will then be filed
after all of the "branched down" cards.

Its tree structure looks like this:

4212: Information Theory Branch

* 4212/4: Information vs. Knowledge

* 4212/4/1: Examples of Information vs. Knowledge in real life

* 4212/4A: An alternative interpretation of Information vs. Knowledge

Please take note:

This is a general rule, and rules are meant to be broken. At the end of the day, the
name of the game is similarity. Place each card closest to its most similar neighbor.
That is the golden rule. I have spoken.
Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 53

Question #2

Where Should I Place This Card?

Again, it seems like the most common area where

people get hung up is the numeric-alpha addresses.
We imagine that there's some correct place or area
for a card to be filed. That's one of the downsides of
using academic disciplines as a classification
system. It implies that there's some perfect and
correct place for a card to be placed.

Again, let me make it perfectly clear: the correct place for any card is to install it near its most
similar neighbor.

If you want to install a card in a more remote location, under a branch you feel fits better, simply
create a cardlink for it. For instance, my main section where I write about the Antinet resides at
4214. However, there are certain sections related to that topic, which live in other locations.

For example, I have a section about writing by hand, which is discussed in 4214/3D/3B. However,
I also have a section on the power of writing by hand in section 1323. Why? Because the section
1323 resides closer to my section on writing. This isn't a problem. I just have a card within
4214/3D/3B that says, For more on writing by hand, see also: '1323'.

If you're struggling to figure out how to make branches for your cards, remember that there's no
correct solution. It's arbitrary. Each scenario will work. If you're trying to figure out whether to
create a branch at 4212 vs. 4300, let me offer some guidance: if the area will comprise a significant
portion of your work with many sub-branches, then I'd opt for 4300.
Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 54

This grants you the ability to organize a structure like this:

4300

* 4310

* 4311

* 4312

* 4320

However, even if you elected to go with 4212, you'll be fine. You can organize such a branch like this:

4212

* 4212/10

* 4212/10/1

* 4212/10/2

* 4212/20

These are very clean examples. However, in reality, when you use an Antinet, it's never perfectly
clean. It's a system of ordered chaos. Embrace it. Stop trying to confine the infinite depths of
knowledge to some preconceived set of categories.
 Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 55

Your Antinet, over time, will evolve into a unique structure. This gives it a personality. This is what
transforms it into an alter-ego, a second mind, a communication partner.

Question #3

What If I Already Have a Card There?

Another question I get asked pertains to what you should do if you already have a card installed in
the desired location.

This grants you the ability to organize a structure like this:

4214

* 4214/1

* 4214/1/1

* 4214/1A

4214/2
*

Now, say you want to install a card immediately after 4214/1. The only problem is that 4214/1/1 is
already there. What are you to do?
 Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 56

The solution is quite simple. Simply create a card 4214/1/0.

This then naturally brings up a follow-up question. What do you do when you want to install a card
before 4214/1/0?

Again, it's simple, move into the negatives. What comes before zero? Why, negative-one comes
before zero! Simply create 4214/1/-1

Now, using negative numbers is something Luhmann did not do; however, I've found it to work
quite well for me.

As a result you'll have:

4214

* 4214/1

* 4214/1/-1

* 4214/1/0

* 4214/1/1

* 4214/1A

4214/2
*
Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 57

Question #4

What If a Card Fits

Into Multiple Categories?

Let's go deeper into the question of where to install cards.

Again, the game you're playing with the Antinet is associat-
ing the card next to, or under, its most similar neighbor.

This exercises the comparison faculty of your brain. Comparison, again, is a critical process for
creating information, a precursor for knowledge.

If a card fits into multiple categories, first off, do not get anxiety about it. "Every place is adequate,"
as Johannes Schmidt says. "The card only has to connect with the card before it." 32

But what happens if you have a card that fits into two different places in your Antinet?

There are three primary ways to handle this:

1 Index Cardlinks 2 Hoplink Cardlinks 3 "See Also" Cardlinks.

Footnotes:

32 Undisciplined, Archiving Luhmann w/ Johannes Schmidt, 2021, https://ww-

w.youtube.com/watch?v=kz2K3auPLWU, 36:50.
Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 58

Index Cardlinks

In the walkthrough we just went through in This is an index cardlink. Whenever you're
building your own Antinet, we encountered a ready to create a branch in the main box of
scenario where a card fits into the information the Antinet for Communication, you'll also
branch, as well the communication branch. see that you have a card pertaining to Com-
What we did was simply choose to install it in munication within the Information Theory
the information branch. We then created an branch.
entry in the list indexcard for C, writing Com-
munication (within Info. Theory): '4212/1'.

Hoplink Cards

Another way of handling this would be to create a new card and place it in the Communication
branch (whenever it's created). On the card, it would simply say, For Communication in the con-
text of Information Theory, visit '4212/1'. This is what I call a hoplink card. Luhmann created
these types of cards, as well.

Here's an example hoplink card:

More on hoplink cards

are explored in the
chapter, Creation.
Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 59

"See Also" Cardlinks

In most cases, you don't need to create a dedicated hoplink card. At the bottom of a card already
written about communication, you can simply add a bit of text at the bottom that says: See also:
'4214/5AE/2'. Here's an example from my own Antinet:

This is a "see also" cardlink.

As you can see (pun intended), numeric-alpha addresses are powerful. They enable a whole wealth
of possibilities and ways to link bits of your knowledge together to generate new connections. This
is where a system like the Antinet really begins to outshine other systems.
Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 60

"See Also" ExRefs

"See also" cardlinks not only pertain to internal cardlinks (which link to cards within your Antinet).
They can also be used for ExRefs (external references).

For instance, say you read a book that contains a good passage relating to Love. Yet you're not
working actively on a project related to Love. Instead of developing an elaborate main note on
love, for sake of time, you can simply create an entry, which reads See also: r.Moeller, 36. Luhmann
did this frequently.

Question #5

How Do I Create Notes

for Cold Hard Facts?

While writing my book on the Antinet Zettelkasten, I received the

following question: How do I install cold hard facts in my Antinet?

The individual who asked me this question works in the field of French real estate law. He was won-
dering where to file the following note: "French real estate law requires each condominium to be
divided by unit, and each apartment is a unit."

On this matter, I'll say a few things.

I have indeed installed cold hard facts in my own Antinet. They are cards like population size by
country, revenue figures of businesses, etc.
 Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 61

However, I created these cold hard fact cards in the pre-Antinet days. 33
So that's one reason they
even exist. I have since retroactively gone back and installed many of these cold hard fact cards
into my Antinet. In every case, I've found the academic disciplinary fields to accommodate them.
There's always a branch for where they can go. And even if there isn't a clear branch within the aca-
demic disciplinary fields, you can just create one (and likely place it in branch 5000).

I like to place my cold hard fact cards on 3x5" cards. I like to consult them from time to time in
order to unearth accidental insights.

That said, the Antinet is primarily useful for creators. It's useful for those who wish to elaborate
on thoughts and evolve them by reflecting on them. You evolve your thoughts by linking them to
more thoughts filed behind them.

If you wish to just memorize a bunch of cold hard facts, an Antinet may be overkill. Heck, even digi-
tal tools like Anki do the trick for this type of thing. Of course, there is certainly value to be
obtained from the act of writing facts down by hand.

Typically, those who benefit most from an Antinet are writers, researchers, and creators who wish
to evolve thought.

After sharing my response with the individual who asked the question about cold hard facts, he
provided more clarity. In actuality, his work in French real estate law is for his thesis. In this case,
the Antinet will have more use, and provide more value.

To wrap this up, it is possible to use the Antinet to store cold hard facts. For example, you'd place
the previously mentioned card in Real Estate Law branch. For instance, 1310. Near that branch,
you could create a branch for French Real Estate Law at 1312. Within that branch, you can begin
creating cards pertaining to specific laws at 1312/1. Again, these numbers are arbitrary and can be
chosen by you based on personal whim.

Footnotes:

33 For over a decade, and before discovering the Antinet, I used a notebox
system organized by book or category (like Ryan Holiday's notebox system).
 Getting Started with an Antinet Zettelkasten 61

Conclusion

If you enjoyed this guide and found it helpful, I have only one request:

Could you please share the Antinet website with one friend?

Say something like, "Hey, I just read this guide on a crazy analog knowledge system. It's pretty cool,
and you should check it out.

. Here's the link to learn more: https://www.antinet.org.

Last but not least, if you enjoyed reading this guide and you would like even more Antinet knowl-
edge, you definitely want to check out my book. The title is Antinet Zettelkasten. Be forewarned: it
is an absolute beast of a book. It's for those serious about developing their mind the old way, the
hard way, the best way: the analog way!

Thank you, my fellow Antinetter, for joining me on this journey.

Warm regards,

And always remember,

To stay crispy, my friend.

Scott P. Scheper,
Saturday, 2:29 p.m.
Downtown San Diego, California