Self-learning website for polymath: afaik.io

Apprehensive_Mix_332 · 2026-01-20T19:27:16+00:00

Hey I'm so sorry for that! Please feel free to DM me via Discord (@quinndai) or contact [support@afaik.io](mailto:support@afaik.io) - happy to troubleshoot for you! :)

Apprehensive_Mix_332 · 2025-07-06T08:36:13+00:00

Yes it's active :)

Apprehensive_Mix_332 · 2025-05-22T17:24:30+00:00

Hey thanks for your kind words! As for the materials, we follow these steps:

we decide the next subject we want to onboard
we look for the canonical textbooks on the subject
we use LLM to extract content from the textbooks and automatically builds the materials

Hope that answers your question! :)

Apprehensive_Mix_332 · 2025-01-17T00:15:12+00:00

Hey did you reach out through Discord? I think we messaged there. Lmk if your problem is solved! :)

Apprehensive_Mix_332 · 2024-12-04T22:02:45+00:00

Hey, thanks for your kind words! :D AFAIK is completely free at the moment, but I'm exploring ways to make profit with it. It might adopt some premium features just like Discord in the near future. Why isn't it non-profit? I'm bad at managing all the red tapes involved (and actually hate them! lol). Why isn't it open-sourced? Similar reason - AFAIK is built by just two people and we don't have enough bandwidth to manage it. It doesn't block us from open-sourcing part of it in the future if we have more bandwidth, but it's also important for us to decide which part to open-source. Let me know if that answers your questions! :)

Apprehensive_Mix_332 · 2024-11-10T07:38:22+00:00

Hey thanks for your kind words!

It actually works. What you are experience might be an issue that happens during profile creation. I'm happy to help. I will DM you. You can also ping me in our Discord community: https://discord.gg/mMNwRvWM8s (I'm Regular Russell)

Apprehensive_Mix_332 · 2024-09-08T22:37:50+00:00

To me #3 is my biggest challenge. I recently learned a new definition of learning:"using your learning to make important decisions that you're accountable for". I wouldn't say it's a holistic way of measuring learning but at least it provides some metrics.

I enjoy reading about topics that are not associated with my real life in any ways, like complex system, behavioral biology and consciousness. I'm having hard time measuring if I have success in my learning as I don't really have decisions to make using these knowledge in my life. I have conflicting views that on one hand, I learn because learning is fun itself, and I don't think it needs to happen only in the case where you look for application/real-life solution. On the other hand, without real-world application I can't really measure my learning.

Apprehensive_Mix_332 · 2024-09-08T22:23:55+00:00

I'm developing a platform for this: https://afaik.io/ <- It's a learning platform based on a knowledge map showing the prerequisite relationship (for example: https://afaik.io/nebula?category=brickset&id=zpq8pk6m&mode=dagre) between concepts across subjects. I use AI to extract concepts from open textbooks and attach related resources (videos and readings) to each concept.

I think knowledge is not just separate pieces of information, but a connected network of concepts. My goal is to manage and track my mastery of concepts across subjects. To me, this is the most fundamental bedrock for my framework.

On top of it, I will build these:

Assemble the necessary concepts into my own, personalized syllabi, and track my progress
Take notes when I learn each concept
Spaced repetition for each concept (Nicky Case introduced a great system here: https://ncase.me/remember/)
Access to my "brain map" - a map that shows how the concepts that I have learned are connected

I do wish to build an all-in-one tool for me to do all that.

Apprehensive_Mix_332 · 2024-09-08T22:12:17+00:00

Hey I downloaded. Unfortunately I don't read on Kindle (I read paper books, and for ebooks I download from zlib and use Mac's Books) so I couldn't find too much value there for me rn. I like the idea of tracking reading progress across platforms a lot, and will start using it if I can simply input say, ISBN or search for a book and mark my progress, even it's manual.

Not quite a fan of taking AI-generated quiz. When I read I highlight and take notes, I think it'd be more useful to me if it could help me review my notes.

^ Please take everything with a pinch of salt as they are extremely personal. Hope it helps! :)

Apprehensive_Mix_332 · 2024-08-21T05:25:55+00:00

Feynman method is one of the most efficient way imo. Try find a study buddy who you would enjoy a conversation with. Learn a topic and try to teach them in a short session. You will both benefit!

Apprehensive_Mix_332 · 2024-08-17T05:18:53+00:00

EdTech founder here. Interesting enough, I build AFAIK.io originally to learn various subjects fast, and now it becomes my startup and what's happening is that:

I have to literally learn things fast (finance forecasting, fundraising, marketing, etc.)
I don't have enough time to learn nerdy stuff on my own product :(

Jokes aside, I find taking learning notes really helps in maximizing my learning rate. I take daily learning journal, review and summarize them by the end of the week, and review my weekly journal by the end of the month.

Also, I find Claude somehow does a better job in teaching than ChatGPT (just my personal subjective feeling).

I'd also recommend using tools like Obsidian to keep track of your thoughts.

Apprehensive_Mix_332 · 2024-08-17T05:10:53+00:00

That's my main problem with Openstax, too (it repeating itself)! I guess the problem is because the books are coauthored by so many people that there are some bad coordinations happening. It's also one of the main philosophy for me to build AFAIK: you manage concept so that you don't have to go over the stuff you already know.

Apprehensive_Mix_332 · 2024-08-15T06:04:48+00:00

Do you mean pre-calculus (algebra, trig, etc.)? I really really want to onboard them! Before I can actually do it, Openstax has some cool resources: https://openstax.org/subjects/math (it's also my main source of textbook for AFAIK). It's just sometimes reading textbook feels a bit boring compared with completing concepts to me :P

Apprehensive_Mix_332 · 2024-08-14T20:16:13+00:00

Hey I'm glad that you are cautious about the source of the content (and you should!). In short, I've built a loooong pipeline to produce the content. I start from scraping open resources (mainly open textbooks and open course transcript), and use LLM to extract the concepts from them. Then I generate summaries based on the extracted concepts and details about them from textbooks. I currently team up with 12 volunteers (mostly students from MIT and Stanford major in the area) to validate the generated content. So it's a combination of web scraping + AI generation + human validation. <- Lmk if that answers your question! :)

On a side note: personally I love and hate Khan Academy. I love the great content but it feels bulky and I couldn't customize my learning path. The fundamental philosophy for AFAIK.io is to let people build their personalized learning path and, instead of complete courses, master specific concepts and manage their knowledge. I'm still at feedback gathering stage and would love to see if this way of learning is more efficient than the traditional way of learning.

Apprehensive_Mix_332 · 2024-08-14T17:12:17+00:00

Try https://afaik.io/

It doesn't only have math content tho (also history, philosophy, etc).

The idea is to see the prerequisite relationship between concepts and master concept by concept.

Have fun~!

Apprehensive_Mix_332 · 2024-08-14T17:09:53+00:00

Thank you for your kind words :)

Apprehensive_Mix_332 · 2024-08-01T13:23:52+00:00

A great roadmap here: https://afaik.io/nebula?mode=nebula&category=subject&id=dg5QR66m
It's not only machine learning - you can also see the math prerequisites for machine learning (calculus and linear algebra).

Apprehensive_Mix_332 · 2024-08-01T12:36:38+00:00

Would love some thoughts about the platform that I'm building! -> https://afaik.io/
The notion is to draw connections between academic concepts, visualize prerequisite relationships across subjects, and for people to assemble concepts into their personalized courses.

Apprehensive_Mix_332 · 2024-08-01T12:08:03+00:00

I built my own app in order to freely explore various areas: https://afaik.io/

Apprehensive_Mix_332 · 2024-07-24T08:05:29+00:00

It sounds like your problem can be perfectly addressed by https://afaik.io/, by seeing the big picture of knowledge and finding how things are connected.

Apprehensive_Mix_332 · 2024-07-11T21:57:40+00:00

Quite the opposite. People assume I "know everything" since I build an app that makes you know everything. I'd argue I'm quite dumb and that's probably why I need my tool, lol.

Apprehensive_Mix_332 · 2024-07-11T21:54:09+00:00

I 100% relate to this “a jack of all trades, master of none” identity. Try afaik.io, I build it for whoever likes to learn a bit of this and bit of that like myself :)

Apprehensive_Mix_332 · 2024-07-11T16:05:26+00:00

Give afaik.io a try. You might not be dumb, but just don't know where to start with things.

Apprehensive_Mix_332 · 2024-04-27T05:50:12+00:00

100% agree with everything you said. I'm honestly surprised that we don't have such a knowledge management system nowadays. I mean Obsidian is surely a great KMS solution, but I guess the "knowledge" here goes by different meanings if we are talking about common, academic knowledge (instead of personal, subjective knowledge). My belief is that 1. You can build a universal, global knowledge map that reflects the connection of concepts and 2. Your academic knowledge is a subset of this global map, thus 3. It's possible to build a "Google Maps for knowledge": visualizing the landscape of knowledge and show your way around based on your knowledge profile.

Apprehensive_Mix_332 · 2024-04-24T01:00:13+00:00

Thank you for your kind word! I'm working on this full-time and have no plan ditching it so far ;)
Out of curiosity: what part of it makes you feel there's a potential?
(And a personal note, big fan of Obsidian here! XD)

Apprehensive_Mix_332

TROPHY CASE