@devonzuegel I came across your blog serendipitously and was impressed with some of the nifty tools you've implemented as well as the workflow you seem to have worked out vis-a-vis your website and miscellaneous tools. Thanks for sharing it all!

The idea of Instanote is intriguing to me, though I've been using MS OneNote instead of Evernote, which I've sampled several times. In addition to InstaPaper's API, I've previously used IFTTT.com to port over highlights. I've also been experimenting around with using http://hypothes.is (and their API) lately for notes/highlights as it seems to have a more scholarly bent among the highlight/note tools out there. You might find it interesting.

Given the way you use your website(s) for both identity and knowledge gathering (and owning your own data), I feel compelled to mention a group of hackers working in loose (but very open and very collaborative) concert at http://indieweb.org. You might find some of the tools and ideas over there interesting/useful.

Also given the terrific overlap in books we're reading/read, I might recommend physicist Sean Carroll's relatively new book The Big Picture (particularly part 4 on Complexity) which had some overlap on topics like Schelling's model of segregation as they relate to complexity and spontaneous organization which you may find interesting.