Hello Reader,

Do you know what this quote means?

This quote is thrown around a lot and, like all quotes, multiple interpretations are associated with it.

Some people associate it with synergy like in “a team working together can achieve greater things faster than a person working alone”. That’s a possible interpretation.

I research (and note-taking), I interpret it in relation to the concept of “Emergence” – a concept from the area of Complex Systems that works wonders when applied to our ideas (and notes).

From this perspective, "the whole is more than the sum of its parts" because the whole has abilities that the parts don’t have. For example:

• A human can speak. Their lungs, throat, and brain alone can’t.
• A clock can display the time. Its cogs, pointers, and other mechanisms alone can’t.
• A car can transport people and things from one place to another. An engine, a seat, and a fuel tank alone can’t.

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But there is more to this quote.

"The whole is more than the sum of its parts".

It is not enough to put all parts of a car together for the car to work. Instead, the pieces need to be arranged in a given way and interact on a certain way for it to be a functional car. The same thing for a clock or the human body.

The interactions between the parts matter as much as the parts themselves. If the parts interacted in a different way then they would not build the whole OR would build a different whole.

Also, change the characteristics of the parts and you will have wholes that look different: people with different voices, clocks with different styles, and cars that look and feel entirely different.

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Now, what does it have to do with research and knowledge creation?

You can generate new ideas through emergence.

Your original ideas.

Take all ideas you ALREADY HAVE, explore the connections between them, and identify the new wholes you can build from them.

It is that simple.

Well.. depending on how you take your notes, of course.

If you take long text notes (I call them “document notes") then won't be that simple to spot ideas and their connections. There is just too much text everywhere!

But if you take some time to break down your long notes into idea notes (i.e. notes that focus on a single idea) and link them to each other, you end up with a network of ideas.

Pair that with a visual tool to see multiple notes and their connections (like Scrintal or “post-its in a whiteboard”) and it is much easier to SEE the whole “emerging”.

New "wholes" that no one else has thought about before are not immediately obvious. Instead, you need some time to getting used to "seeing" them. But, with the right mindset and a bit of practice, you start seeing ideas popping up everywhere.

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Here are 3 of the examples I give in the PKM for Research Mentorship that I will leave here as a challenge for you.

What ideas emerge from the connections of ideas in each sentence?

1. Keanu Reaves acted as the character Neo in the movie The Matrix
2. A customer purchased an item sold by a store
3. A person takes notes for knowledge capture. (There are at least 2 ideas that emerge from this one)

Reply with your answers and I will give you mine 😊

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Talk to you soon.

Until then, take care.

Bianca