---
title: "Too Much Knowledge: an essay on knowledge and attention"
description: "Summary of the essay: knowledge integrates into personal worldviews, while attention is the finite resource we spend to absorb meanings."
date: 2026-01-08
display_date: "January 8, 2026"
image: "/img/library/concepts/20260108-knowledge-attention/kdpv.png"
image_alt: "Knowledge and attention"
---

# Too Much Knowledge: an essay on knowledge and attention

<zoom-img src="/img/library/concepts/20260108-knowledge-attention/kdpv.png" alt="Knowledge and attention"
        width="100px"></zoom-img>

I published an [essay on knowledge and attention](https://habr.com/ru/articles/983094/)
        on Habr and also added it to my [library](/en/library/concepts/20260108-knowledge-attention.html).

## Brief summary

In this essay, I argue that:

- people don’t “transfer knowledge” — they integrate fragments into their personal worldviews,

- integration is limited by attention, which is finite and expendable,

- classic text structure (title → blurb → table of contents → preface → main text) is a mechanism for saving attention,

- modern platforms already measure attention investment implicitly through behavior,

- LLMs let us work consciously with narrative density (summaries, embeddings),

- embeddings can be used as a universal “fingerprint” of meaning,

- summing embeddings of texts a person has read yields a dynamic profile of their interests,

- and this opens a path to new personalization and collective thinking built on partial overlaps between worldviews.

If you’re interested, you can discuss these points with me [privately](https://t.me/wiredgeese).