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2bd organizes notes by metabolic state rather than topic. This mirrors how information naturally flows from capture to crystallization.

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The five states

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Captive — Working notes

High-velocity, volatile intake. This is where you write daily. Location: 00_Brain/Captive/ Files:
  • Today.md — Daily capture, meetings, tasks
  • Week.md — Weekly focus and progress
  • Month.md — Monthly themes and goals
  • Quarter.md — Quarterly direction
  • Year.md — Annual vision
Flow: Planning rituals prepare these from templates. Review rituals archive them to Periodic.

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Synthetic — Active drafts

Short-term executive memory. Projects in progress, drafts being refined. Location: 00_Brain/Synthetic/ Purpose: Active project work that isn’t yet crystallized knowledge. Also stores self-learning observations before they mature into insights.

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Periodic — Archives

The permanent timeline. Every period gets a unique, consecutive note. Location: 00_Brain/Periodic/ Structure:
  • Daily/ — 2026-02-08.md, 2026-02-09.md, …
  • Weekly/ — 2026-W06.md, 2026-W07.md, …
  • Monthly/ — 2026-02.md, 2026-03.md, …
  • Quarterly/ — 2026-Q1.md, 2026-Q2.md, …
  • Yearly/ — 2026.md, 2027.md, …
Flow: Review rituals archive Captive notes here. This is the permanent record.

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Semantic — Reference

Crystallized knowledge. Evergreen notes that remain useful over time. Location: 00_Brain/Semantic/ Purpose: Insights that have graduated from observation through the self-learning pipeline. Reference material you return to.

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Systemic — Structure

Templates, workflows, and configuration. The infrastructure that supports the system. Location: 00_Brain/Systemic/ Structure:
  • Templates/ — Templates for all note types
  • Directives/ — User profile and AI personality
  • Coaching/ — Coaching prompts and guidance

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Information flow

Captive (you write)              Periodic (rituals archive)
────────────────────             ────────────────────────────
Today.md   ──review──►           Daily/YYYY-MM-DD.md
Week.md    ──review──►           Weekly/YYYY-Www.md
Month.md   ──review──►           Monthly/YYYY-MM.md
Quarter.md ──review──►           Quarterly/YYYY-QN.md
Year.md    ──review──►           Yearly/YYYY.md

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Why metabolic states?

Traditional systems organize by topic (work, personal, projects). This fails because:
  1. Topics are subjective — Where does a work project that affects your personal life go?
  2. Topics multiply — You end up with hundreds of folders
  3. Topics hide stale notes — Old notes in topic folders never get reviewed
Metabolic states solve this by organizing around information lifecycle:
  • Fresh notes go to Captive
  • Active work lives in Synthetic
  • Completed work archives to Periodic
  • Timeless knowledge crystallizes in Semantic
The system naturally moves information from volatile to permanent without you deciding where things go.