The majority of human data exists in the form of inert blocks of text—like the one you’re reading right now. All the actual processing of the raw information contained within this paragraph happens exclusively within your brain. But is the human mind the sole sanctum of data processing?

Not at all. Take, for a simple example, calendar events. Unlike the data locked within this text, the data in your calendar app has been fundamentally digitized, to the point where the calendar app can correct you if you overbook yourself. This is because the calendar app has been “taught” (at a purely logical level) what a calendar event is, and what should happen if the events overlap. Because we know how to translate a calendar event into something a computer can understand, the fundamental power of calendar events has been realized. So, what would happen if we applied this concept to…everything important to us?

If each bit of information that was important to us was “unlocked” in this way, able to interact with ALL other data important to us, the resulting network of information would automatically provide new insights that we had never considered, as it connects “nearby” concepts together, providing “out of the box” thinking without thinking. This would allow us to more accurately and completely analyze the dormant information already present within our collective data.