Meta-access problem for academics

Apart from being the lead designer of Hookmark and mySleepButton at CogSci AppsCorp., and author of CogZest books, I am an adjunct prof at Simon Fraser University.

I designed Hookmark primarily for academics. It happens that solving the meta-access problem for academics also solves it for everyone else.

CogSci Apps Corp. is currently making a push to ensure that as many academics as possible use Hookmark. So I wrote the following web page: Hookmark for Academics. The following diagram sums it up:

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If you are an academic or anyone who works with many knowledge resources on a Mac, I invite you to consider using Hookmark.

Finding Your Digital Stuff Contextually: Solving the Meta-access Problem

  • Search finds information.
  • RAG retrieves information for AI. Contextual information retrieval retrieves information for you.
  • Contextual Information Retrieval retrieves information that is related to your current task and focus.

Read about the problem, how AI has compounded it, and how to solve it on Substack and LinkedIn.

Mental Perturbance in Landmark Publication in Cognitive Science and AI

I’m pleased to report that this paper has now been selected for inclusion in the 2026 four-volume reference work Artificial Intelligence: Critical Concepts in Cognitive Science—a collection intended to map the intellectual development of AI as a field contributing to cognitive science.

You can read about mental perturbance, that paper, and a more recent paper on the same topic here: Why You Can’t Stop Thinking About Them.

As part of the learning from stories project, I also briefly explored Repetition As a Cognitive Device in Stories and Song, arguing that repetition in art (story, song, etc.) functions because it resembles mental perturbance. And mental perturbance is fundamental to human cognition and emotion.

Updated BSBM+ a New Meditation for Strengthening Attention, Executive Control, and Emotional Regulation

Having published a wildly popular meditation for inducing sleep called the “cognitive shuffle,” On my substack, I’ve published a new iteration of my BSBM+ meditation. This multi-anchor meditation intersperses Andrew Huberman’s “physiological sigh” technique in a body scan during which one controls one’s breathing and recites a mantra. In the “+” phase, this meditation is optionally followed by an open monitoring or focused attention meditation.

Have a look and let me know what you think on social media.

How Cognitive Science Helps Design Better Software

Our software company is called CogSci Apps for a reason: our software is designed with cognitive science in mind. Following Donald Schön’s The Reflective Practitioner, we recognize that one cannot directly infer engineering (or psychotherapy) from science—but one can design better systems by using science as a guiding resource.

Continue reading How Cognitive Science Helps Design Better Software