1 Introduction

Gnosis (γνῶσις) is a spaced repetition system that enhances memory retention through active recall. It employs a Q&A format, where each note consists of a question, answer, and explanation. Notes are reviewed at optimally spaced intervals based on the user’s success or failure to recall the answer. Key benefits arise from writing out answers when reviewing notes, fostering deeper understanding and improved memory retention.

Gnosis algorithm is highly adjustable, allowing users to set specific values not just for note decks but for tags as well. Gnosis’ adjustability allows users to fine-tune settings not only for entire note collections but also for specific tagged topics, thereby creating a personalized learning environment for each topic. Read more on Gnosis Algorithm

2 Adding notes

Creating notes for gnosis can be done interactively with:

‘M-x gnosis-add-note’

Or from within ‘gnosis-dashboard’

3 Note Types

Each note is a thema consisting of the following components:

• Keimenon; The main text or question.
• Hypothesis; Assumptions/hints for the text to guide to the right answer
  • For example this is used as hints for cloze type or as choices in MCQs
• Answer; The correct response or solution to the keimenon.
• Parathema; expansion of keimenon, that can include links to e.g org-gnosis topics or even files, serving as a way to link org-gnosis topics to current thema.

Optionally, you can use also add tags for each note.

Notes/themas can have multiple hypotheses and answers (depending on their type), separated by ‘gnosis-export-separator’, which defaults to ‘"\n-"’ (a new line followed by a dash).

• Cloze
• MCQ

* Thema                      :pharmacology:antimicrobials:penicillin:
:PROPERTIES:
:GNOSIS_ID: NEW
:GNOSIS_TYPE: cloze
:END:
** Keimenon 
What is the treatment for Actinomyces infection?

Penicillin

** Hypothesis 
- drug type

** Answer 
- Penicillin

** Parathema 
Sulfonamides → Nocardia
Actinomyces → [[id:680ca944-8ee9-4513-92d6-25696ee01f48][Penicillin]] 
(treatment is a SNAP)

* Thema                      :pharmacology:antimicrobials:penicillin:
:PROPERTIES:
:GNOSIS_ID: NEW
:GNOSIS_TYPE: cloze
:END:
** Keimenon 
{c1:Cyproheptadine::drug name} is a(n) {c2:5-HT2} receptor antagonist used to treat {c2:serotonin syndrome}

** Hypothesis 
- 

** Answer 
- 

** Parathema 

* Thema                                                            :clinical:
:PROPERTIES:
:GNOSIS_ID: NEW
:GNOSIS_TYPE: mcq
:END:
** Keimenon
A 60-year-old man comes to the physician with chills, nausea, and
diffuse muscle aches for 3 days. His niece had similar symptoms 2
weeks ago and H3N2 influenza strain was isolated from her respiratory
secretions. He received his influenza vaccination 2 months ago. His
temperature is 38.5°C. A rapid influenza test is
positive. Which of the following mechanisms best explains this
patient's infection despite vaccination?

** Hypothesis
- Random point mutations within viral genome
- Complementing with functional viral proteins
- Exchange of viral genes between chromosomes
- Reassortment of viral RNA segments
- Acquisition of viral surface proteins

** Answer
- Random point mutations within viral genome

** Parathema
Random point mutations within the viral genome are responsible for
antigenic drift, which creates a new virus strain.

4 Linking gnosis notes to org-gnosis content

org-gnosis is the note taking module of gnosis

• You can create notes using ‘M-x org-gnosis-find’, to link them to a gnosis thema use ‘M-x org-gnosis-insert’ to insert a link of said topic, either on the keimenon or parathema.
• You can review gnosis questions that are linked to a topic by using ‘M-x gnosis-review-topic’.

5 Customization

• Typos | String Comparison

(setf gnosis-string-difference 1)

6 Gnosis Algorithm

Each gnosis note has a gnosis score, which is a list of 3 values, (gnosis-plus gnosis-minus gnosis-synolon/total). Gnosis-synolon is what is used to determine the next interval upon a successful recall, gnosis-plus is added to gnosis-synolon upon a successful recall as well, gnosis-minus is subtracted from gnosis-synolon upon failing to recall a note’s answer.

Gnosis has 2 special events, one is anagnosis ανάγνωση and lethe λήθη.

• Anagnosis Event
• Proto

(setq gnosis-algorithm-interval '(0 1 2 30))

7 Editing notes

• Currently there are 2 ways for editing notes:
  • You can edit a note after review by pressing e
  • Open ‘gnosis-dashboard’ with ‘M-x gnosis-dashboard’, find the note you want to edit and press e

8 Sync between devices

Gnosis uses git to maintain data integrity and facilitate synchronization across devices.

You will need to configure your remote manually.

Example:

cd ~/.emacs.d/gnosis # default location for gnosis, no-littering is ~/.emacs.d/var/gnosis
git init # After completing your first review session, a git repo should have been initialized automatically.
git remote add origin <remote_url>
git push --set-upstream origin master

You can interactively use ‘gnosis-vc-push’ & ‘gnosis-vc-pull’. As the name suggests, they rely on ‘vc’ to work properly.

Depending on your setup, ‘vc’ might require an external package for the ssh passphrase dialog, such as x11-ssh-askpass.

To automatically push changes after a review session, add this to your configuration:

(setf gnosis-vc-auto-push t)
(gnosis-vc-pull) ;; Run vc-pull for gnosis on startup

9 Interactions with other software

• emacs-no-littering

(setq gnosis-dir (no-littering-expand-var-file-name "gnosis/"))

10 Contributing

Thank you for considering contributing back to gnosis. You can contribute by submitting a pull request on the codeberg mirror repository, or directly sending me patch via email.

• How to create a patch

$ git clone https://git.thanosapollo.com/gnosis.git && cd gnosis
$ emacs something
$ git add something
$ git commit -m "Fix something"
$ git format-patch HEAD^1
0001-Fix-something.patch