The problem I’m considering in this post is that I don’t know what I don’t know. I’m only aware of what I know.
I consume content and make notes on the things that intrigue me or the ideas they inspire. Some of these get captured into my Zettelkasten as permanent notes, linking them together. This forms a map of my knowledge and understanding.
What is a frontier map?
The frontier map of your knowledge shows the boundary between what you know and the unknown.
Each of us has an area of personal knowledge and expertise based on our own personal interests and lived experience, but it is only a small subset of knowledge. Beyond this subset lies knowledge discovered by others, and further still are the things no one yet knows.
The frontier map shows the border of what you know as a person and what is unknown. Once you know the frontier, it can help you to determine which part of the unknown you wish to explore next.
The practice: What I found when I mapped my own vault
As part of my quarterly review, Claude explored the boundary. My thoughts were that it would be easier for a third party to identify and analyse my knowledge frontier.
Claude identified a need to improve my understanding of the following:
- foundational philosophy
- Explore an alternative concept to intersubjective reality.
- Improve my understanding of technology and exponential growth.
It suggested books and articles based on expanding those areas of my knowledge, without straying too far from my intellectual borders. Which should help me to link this new knowledge back to what I already know.
I have read two of these books so far and found them very stimulating, especially The Problem with Philosophy by Bertrand Russell which made me question the way I see reality.
I think it helps that Claude has access to knowledge that I do not have. It can see where my map of knowledge fits in with the larger map of humanity’s knowledge and suggest ways to expand my own knowledge based on this.
One of the key aims of this blog is to explore knowledge and technologies such as AI and to share my experiences. Keep up to date with our most recent content by subscribing to our monthly newsletter.
Further reading
- Frontier mapping(What I don’t know): The medium post that originally introduced me to the concept of frontier mapping
- Bertrand Russell, The problem with Philosophy: book read following frontier mapping
- John Searle, The construction of reality: book read following frontier mapping
- Yuval Noah Harari’s Homo Deus: The book that introduced me to the idea of intersubjectivity
- My AI Quarterly Review: Q1 2026 Honest Assessment: A blog post on my experiences of carrying out my first quarterly review.