Question Hierarchy - Four Levels

Not all questions deserve the same treatment. The confusion that leads to digital hoarding comes from treating them equally.

The Four Levels

Level	Example	Lifespan	Storage
Feynman 12	”How do systems self-organize?”	Years	Permanent note (hub)
Research question	”What size hot water tank do I need?”	Until answered	Becomes alias in the Idea note that answers it
LO sub-question	”What is opportunity cost?”	Until exam	Lives in scaffolding; becomes alias if Idea graduates
Confusion flag	”Wait, why does scarcity force choice?”	Minutes	Not a note—just a marker to return to

How to Identify the Level

Feynman 12: Questions you return to across years, across domains. They filter everything you learn. You probably have fewer than 12.

Research question: Has a concrete answer that will inform a decision. Once answered, the question becomes an alias in the Idea note.

LO sub-question: Generated from course material to guide reading. Lives in scaffolding. If the answer graduates to an atomic note, the question becomes an alias for wayfinding.

Confusion flag: A moment of “wait, what?” while reading. Not even a full question—just a marker to return to.

Questions Don’t Dissolve—They Become Wayfinding

The Idea note is titled with the answer. The questions that led to it become aliases in YAML:

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aliases:
  - "What is opportunity cost?"
  - "Why isn't free actually free?"
  - "How do I evaluate trade-offs?"
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# Opportunity cost is the next-best alternative foregone

Now searching “What is opportunity cost?” surfaces this note directly—no plugins needed. Questions serve as entry points to Ideas.

The Key Insight

Questions are process (they guide thinking), but they leave behind wayfinding (aliases). Only Feynman 12 questions persist as their own notes because they’re hubs that accumulate many Ideas over time.

Common Trap

Treating LO sub-questions like Feynman 12 problems. Creating individual notes for “What is scarcity?” “What is choice?” “What is opportunity cost?”—when these should be bundled in a single chapter scaffolding note and discarded after the exam.

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North: Where this comes from

• Feynman’s 12 Favorite Problems (the top level)
• Per-Note Questions (linking ideas to questions)
• Question Generation SOP (systematic question creation)

East: What opposes this?

• Flat Question Storage (all questions in same system, no hierarchy)
• Digital Hoarding (keeping everything “just in case”)

South: Where this leads

• Scaffolding Notes vs Atomic Notes (two-tier storage system)
• The Ownership Filter (deciding what to keep)

West: What’s similar?

• Eisenhower Matrix (urgent vs important → different handling)
• PARA Method (projects vs areas vs resources → different persistence)