be an ideological master
The relationship of mutual intellectual inspiration seems more crucial now than ever before, and will likely become even more important in the future. I aspire to find great intellectual mentors and to mentor worthy disciples myself. As the very definition of "intellectual" suggests, mentors can become disciples and disciples can become mentors.
To understand what it means to be "ideological," let's first examine the definition of "ideology" - which refers to "thoughts or views formed in one's mind." Therefore, being "ideological" means being deeply influenced by certain thoughts or ways of thinking, and centering one's thoughts and actions around them. From this perspective, an intellectual mentor is someone who not only transmits specific ideas but also conveys the thought processes and procedures that led to those ideas. Through this, disciples weave new ways of thinking with their own, refining novel forms of thoughts and cognitive approaches, which they can then pass on to others.
Humanity stands at a historical inflection point in terms of intellectual growth through AI technology, which has learned through human language. AI has comprehensively learned the knowledge that humanity has accumulated over tens of thousands of years through language. As a result, the time needed for humans to learn new concepts, encounter new thoughts, ask questions, and grow intellectually has accelerated exponentially. Historically, humans could maintain competitive advantages (moats) for long periods (at least several generations) by possessing certain knowledge and teachings under the name of "know-how." However, merely possessing one or two pieces of useful knowledge can no longer sustain a person's value. I believe that only those who think and question can enjoy the moat of this new era. In other words, only those who deeply contemplate "what they want and what they desire" across multiple levels can climb up this moat alongside exponentially growing technology.
From this perspective, we need to find mentors who encourage us to empty our preset frameworks and question their validity from a fundamental level, rather than those who simply pass on skills and knowledge as know-how. Isn't it true that technology can find predetermined answers and their fastest solutions thousands of times faster than humans?
Unless technology evolves in a destructive direction, as Peter Thiel mentioned when founding Palantir, technology will inevitably develop toward interaction with humans. This means we shouldn't expect definitive answers from technology, but rather actively engage with it to find solutions. We cannot and should not simply tell technology to "solve global warming." After all, couldn't the fastest solution to global warming be eliminating all oxygen on Earth? We need proactive, thinking humans who can articulate specifically what they want - humans who actively think, act, and search for answers. The center of the technological age will still be human beings, but not all humans - rather, those who think. This is why we must seek intellectual mentors and nurture intellectual disciples.