don't think they map. For example Luhmann is fundamentally maintaining a hierarchical reference system since note length is fixed. With digital infinitely long individual notes that aspect drops out. We use a graph database today, Luhmann was keeping a very limited relational system. Backlink tracking is fundamental to Luhmann, it is automated today so no tracking. Put that together and you get multiple overlapping subject hierarchies, for example MOCs and whiteboard with the same notes organized differently, Luhmann didn't allow for this. A computer can index 100k notes in a few seconds. Luhmann would have lost a month of full-time work redoing an index. Yes I think these systems are similar. Someone who gets Obsidian gets Logseq. But what is actually being done differs.
reply to u/JeffB1517 at https://old.reddit.com/r/Zettelkasten/comments/1ilvvnc/you_need_to_first_define_the_zettlekasten_methoda/mc0f8ip/
Explain your definition of hierarchical reference system. How is one note in his system higher, better, or more important than another? Where do you see hierarchies?
Infinitely long notes can easily be excerpted down to smaller sizes and filed, so that portion of your argument doesn't track.
Luhmann had what some call "hub notes" and the ability to remove cards and rearrange them to suit his compositional needs and later refile them. This directly emulates the similar ideas of MOCs, whiteboards, and mind maps. Victor Margolin's example quickly shows how this is done in practice.
If there weren't direct mappings, it should be impossible to copy & paste Luhmann's notes into Obsidian, Logseq, OneNote, Evernote, Excel, or even Wikipedia. This is not the case. You might get slightly different personal affordances out of these tools or perhaps better speed and in other cases even less speed or worse review patterns of your notes, but in ultimate form they are identical and will ultimately allow you to accomplish all of the same end results.
We might argue about efficiencies, affordances, or speed, but at the end of the day they're all still structurally similar.
Illustration by Beppe Giacobbe
