Above is the video I made after a short conversation with AI, teasing out a more concrete idea or concept based on signals I have been seeing in my horizon scanning. Noice how I navigate the conversation using the AI to really explore my own thinking, rather than have it tell me what to think.
This prompt is a great example: “Not just scale how we operate, scale our persona, our personal operation, our personal navigation in the world to another person, like ancestrally connected to people who aren't even part of our ancestry, is really fascinating to me.” I felt the AI was missing the core of my meaning, and in my attempts to clarify, I actually made a new connection I had not previously considered. The line “like ancestrally connected to people who aren't even part of our ancestry” was a new connection. I loved how it sparked more personal exploration. This was a colorful sentence for my imagination. Hope this helps you navigate the world better and use your curiosity to discover more of your own thinking.
Universities as libraries of mental engines
One idea from the video above keeps pulling me back. If AI lets us scale a mental ontology, then the way a person thinks becomes something that can be shared, not just what they know.
Universities are libraries of brilliant mental engines.
Every great professor carries a way of seeing the world, built over decades of work. Today that engine reaches the few students who sit in their room. Imagine if universities treated those minds as assets and licensed them: a student anywhere could learn to navigate a problem the way a brilliant thinker does, in conversation, at their own pace.
It goes beyond the professors on campus today. A university could keep the minds of its most famous alumni, so the way they thought stays part of the school long after they leave. Or it could purchase and license great minds, the way Netflix buys the rights to great content, and build a catalog of thinkers that students learn to think alongside.
Universities seem like the logical containers for holding this kind of mental IP. And that becomes the pull to go to a school: we have the best minds, not just of our time, but of all time.
That is what scaling a mental ontology could mean at the scale of an institution. Not replacing the people who think, but letting their way of thinking reach further than it ever could before.
Mark
Does this sentence or topic make sense? Scaling, scaling your mental ontology.
Chat GPT 5.2
It’s a bit abstract, but it can make sense in the right context. "Mental ontology" typically refers to the categories and structures you use to understand the world. "Scaling" here likely means expanding or making that framework more complex or robust. If your audience is familiar with philosophical or cognitive terminology, it could work! If not, you might need to ground it in more familiar language.
Mark
“So the idea behind this is talking about how AI allows us to scale our mental ontology at a rate that's never been possible. And that's the benefit that it's being able to take my way of operating in the world and allow it to not just branch into a company, but branch into an individual's life at a scale that's never been known.”
Chat GPT
Framed that way, it’s definitely compelling. You’re essentially saying AI helps expand how we think and categorize the world, both at a personal level and at scale in organizations. It might help to clarify what you mean by “mental ontology” when speaking to broader audiences—maybe something like “our mental models or how we understand possibilities.” But the core concept—AI amplifying our ability to scale how we operate—definitely resonates.
Mark
“Not just scale how we operate, scale our persona, our personal operation, our personal navigation in the world to another person, like ancestrally connected to people who aren't even part of our ancestry, is really fascinating to me.”
Chat GPT
Ah, I see. That’s a fascinating idea! You’re essentially talking about AI enabling us to transmit not just knowledge but ways of being—scaling how we navigate reality across contexts and even to others far removed from us. You’re tapping into this idea of legacy, but not just in a genealogical sense—more like passing down entire mental models or frameworks of living. If you clarify that human connection element, it’ll make your point even more powerful.
Mark
“But isn't that the essence of understanding and knowledge and learning, is that you're passing on to someone else understanding? Like, my thinking can then be transmitted to someone else's mind?”
Chat GPT
Exactly—that’s a beautiful core of learning. Whether it’s through stories, teaching, or now AI-enabled scaling, it’s all about transferring frameworks of thinking. What’s intriguing here is you’re pushing the boundaries—suggesting that AI might let us scale that understanding in ways that previously required personal interaction or time. But at its heart, yes—knowledge is that timeless human legacy of passing the torch of understanding.
Mark
“I think part of what I've been really looking into lately is experiential futures and how do I help people experience ideas that they can feel and think that were unthinkable or unfeelable.”
Chat CPT
That’s a powerful goal. When you create experiential futures, you’re essentially designing situations or artifacts that immerse people in possible worlds. It’s one thing to tell someone about a future—they might grasp it intellectually. But when they step inside it—whether through art, immersive environments, or interactive prompts—they feel it in their gut. That emotional, visceral connection can make ideas that seemed too abstract suddenly real—and that can inspire action.
