Beyond Individual Intelligence: How LLMs Make "All of Us" Accessible to Each of Us
The Potential of Cross-Synthesis of Ideas
Lately, I have been prioritizing time to read books by Kevin Kelly, his 2010 book "What Technology Wants," and his 2016 book, "The Inevitable." So far, the experience has been informative and thought-provoking. As I read, I highlight key points and then have a conversation with ChatGPT to help me understand from my perspective, via prompting with questions to help me gain a deeper understanding.
In "What Technology Wants," Kelly observes that science succeeds thanks to millions of individual minds coming together to solve problems. He argues that the idea of individual science advancements is a myth. This led me to consider AI LLMs' potential to help expand our individual levels of thinking. An LLM, in essence, is a collection of a vast, unimaginable level of "minds" and their experiences? The possibility led me to have a conversation with ChatGPT, connecting Kelly's observation with Seth Godin's encouragement that "None of us is as smart as all of us."
My conversation with ChatGPT confirmed my line of thought. The fact that I am conceptually accessing the collective wisdom of many, many minds (remember - an LLM is a collection of data, and results achieved are through mathematical probabilities of the universe of data) is an exciting and attractive possibility for AI to enhance my performance. Through prompting with ChatGPT, we generated the following blog post:
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AI as Collective Wisdom
In his book What Technology Wants, Kevin Kelly dismantles the myth of the lone genius. Scientific progress, he argues, is never the product of a single brilliant mind. Even when history celebrates a Newton or an Einstein, the reality is that millions of people, across time and geography, contribute to the conditions that make discovery possible. The technium, our ever-expanding web of tools, ideas, and knowledge, thrives because of collective effort.
Large Language Models (LLMs) are the latest expression of this principle. They represent not one intelligence but the condensation of humanity’s recorded thought. Every book digitized, every article published, every line of code, every conversation transcribed—together they form a vast commons of ideas. When we prompt an LLM, we are not engaging with a single mind. We are calling upon an incomprehensible chorus of human voices, blended and synthesized into something accessible in seconds.
Seth Godin has said, “None of us is as smart as all of us.” AI makes this literal. It compresses centuries of human inquiry into a tool any one of us can use, regardless of expertise or background. This is not intelligence in the human sense—there is no consciousness behind the output—but it is a remarkable act of compression and pattern-making. It enables us to surface connections, test hypotheses, and see possibilities that no individual could assemble alone.
Of course, “all of us” includes our blind spots, biases, and errors as well. Collective wisdom is never flawless. The responsibility falls on us, the prompters, to filter, question, and guide the output. In this sense, using AI is not passive consumption but active dialogue. We bring the inquiry; the collective responds. Our discernment makes the difference between shallow noise and meaningful progress.
This is why AI belongs in the conversation about personal development. It offers a daily reminder that wisdom is rarely solitary. Growth is amplified when we learn to draw from the community, the collective, the shared body of human effort. AI is not replacing our intelligence. It is handing each of us the keys to “all of us.”
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Connecting Kelly's insight with Godin's emphasis that "None of us is as smart as all of us" was insightful, and I discovered a new understanding of cross-synthesis of ideas - connecting singular thoughts to enhance a broader understanding (possibly). I need to learn more about this and conduct further experiments. However, this is a new possibility for AI that I have red not previously ventured into.
A few observations from ChatGPT that were a result of my back-and-forth conversation:
"Your thought process makes strong sense — and you’re actually connecting two of Kevin Kelly’s most important themes: the myth of the lone genius and the emergence of collective intelligence."
Large Language Models as “Millions of Minds”
LLMs are trained on vast corpora — the writings, arguments, code, and creativity of countless humans across centuries.
When you prompt an LLM, you’re not tapping into a single “mind.” You’re invoking a statistical synthesis of humanity’s recorded problem-solving.
In effect, prompting is like asking this incomprehensibly large collective of “contributors” to draft a response, condense perspectives, and suggest solutions that no individual could have accessed so quickly.
This is precisely where Seth Godin’s line — “none of us is as smart as all of us” — clicks. LLMs are a practical manifestation of that truth.
AI as the Chorus of Humanity
LLMs are not a single intelligence, but a synthesis of human thought.
Every book, article, code snippet, and conversation adds to the commons.
When you prompt an LLM, you’re engaging an incomprehensible number of voices, condensed into usable form in seconds.
What you’re describing is exactly a process of cross-synthesis (sometimes called “conceptual blending” or “combinatorial creativity”). You’re taking two or more streams of thought, holding them in tension, and looking for intersections where new insights emerge. Let me break it down and connect it to your framing:
What’s Happening in Cross-Synthesis
Dot-Connecting: You’re linking separate ideas (e.g., Kevin Kelly on the technium + Seth Godin on collective intelligence) and noticing the overlaps.
Perspective-Shifting: Each idea reframes the other. Instead of seeing them in isolation, you get a richer, multidimensional view.
Emergent Insight: The real power comes when the “blend” produces something neither idea alone could have suggested — a new metaphor, a new framework, or a different angle of understanding.
This is why it feels inspiring: you’re literally expanding the space of the possible by creating intersections.
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Over to you: How might you use AI to help expand your thinking and connect ideas to gain deeper insight?
I’m reminded partially of Syndrome in The Incredibles when he says
: “Oh, I’m real. Real enough to defeat you! And I did it without your precious gifts, your oh-so-special powers. I’ll give them heroics. I’ll give them the most spectacular heroics anyone’s ever seen! And when I’m old and I’ve had my fun, I’ll sell my inventions so that everyone can be superheroes. Everyone can be super. And when everyone’s super no one will be.”
I used to say to managers that it’s what you do with the knowledge that is important. In the Rail industry everyone has access to roughly the same information it’s how you recombine and then apply the knowledge that is the key. I appreciate the way that I can use AI to build on my initial thoughts. It is like having my own community of practice on tap but also the start of exploration for others within that community when you share that knowledge