Niklas Luhmann, emphasizing his notion that the Zettelkasten is a communication partner, stressed that links between notes should point to something you might not have thought of on your own.
He talks about drawing on the rich network of ideas in the Zettelkasten to accomplish this. He also usese terms like accidental and serendiptiy.
The connections that already exist are, of course, selective. They do not fall into the limits of what is obvious, because we must close the gap between the one who takes note and the notes collection. If we are working toward the communication with the slip box, we must look for references which are unexpected. It is worthwhile to think of problems that connect disparate thoughts.
SOURCE: Niklas Luhmann, Communicating with Slip Boxes
SEE ALSO
Eva Thomas notes that links need to be meaningful in Understanding Zettelkasten — What does it mean to communicate with the slip-box
