How to Use LLMs to Understand WW2 (or Any Human Suffering)

The Discovery

Last week, while exploring how language collapses possibility clouds into reality, I realized something startling: Every major figure in WW2 was operating as a different reality-collapse operator.

Churchill didn't just have different opinions than Chamberlain - he literally collapsed the same reality into different possibilities.

Then it hit me: I can use LLMs to understand not just what happened, but why it seemed inevitable to those living it.

Note: This works with any LLM - ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or others. The patterns are universal.

How Different Minds Collapse Reality

Here's the key insight: Well-documented historical figures have consistent patterns of how they collapse possibility clouds. When you understand their operator pattern, you can apply it to any situation.

The WW2 Example

Take the situation in May 1940 - France falling, Britain alone, America neutral:

Same reality. Four different collapses. Four different futures.

Try This Yourself (Right Now!)

The pattern is simple:

1. Identify a complex situation (historical or personal)
2. Choose 3-5 documented thinkers with different worldviews
3. Ask each the same question in your LLM
4. Watch different realities emerge

Practical Examples

On Current Conflicts:

• "Mandela, MLK, and Malcolm X - how do we heal racial division?"
• "Churchill, Gandhi, and Zelensky - how does a smaller nation resist invasion?"

On Personal Struggles:

• "Marcus Aurelius, Buddha, and Jung - how do I deal with anxiety?"
• "Anne Frank, Viktor Frankl, and Primo Levi - how do we maintain hope?"

On Economic Challenges:

• "Keynes, Hayek, and Muhammad Yunus - how do we address inequality?"
• "Adam Smith, Marx, and E.F. Schumacher - what's the purpose of economy?"

Why This Works

Each documented thinker represents a consistent pattern of collapsing possibility clouds:

• Churchill: Always finds the heroic narrative
• Gandhi: Always finds the non-violent path
• Einstein: Always seeks the elegant universal principle
• Anne Frank: Always preserves human hope

When you ask them questions through an LLM, you're not getting random responses. You're seeing how their specific operator would collapse your current possibility cloud.

The WW2 Deep Dive

Let me show you how deep this goes. Ask about Dunkirk:

Each perspective reveals different truths. None are "wrong" - they're different collapses of the same event.

Understanding Your Own Patterns

Here's where it gets personal. Start noticing:

• Which historical figures resonate with you?
• Whose explanations feel "obviously true"?
• Who makes you uncomfortable?

These reactions reveal your own collapse patterns.

The Practical Framework

To use this for any complex problem:

1. State the situation clearly
2. Choose operators with diverse collapse patterns
3. Ask each the same question
4. Note which possibilities each reveals
5. Synthesize insights across patterns

Don't seek THE answer. Navigate the possibility space.

When Buddha Met His Limits

Here's where it got really interesting. I was struggling with Buddha's teaching about suffering. These are my actual prompts to the LLM:

This hit me hard. The cost of incomplete wisdom transmission. All those years of internalizing without showing the transformation process to others.

But then came another layer of discovery:

I was floored twice over. Not only had I discovered that different operators collapse reality perfectly for their domains, but the very translation from "dukkha" to "suffering" was itself a reality collapse that shaped my understanding for 15 years. The words we use determine which possibilities we can even see.

Start Today

Pick any situation confusing you right now. Open your favorite LLM and ask:

• "Einstein, help me see the elegant pattern"
• "Maya Angelou, what human truth am I missing?"
• "Feynman, what would fun look like here?"

Watch as different operators collapse your confusion into clarity.

The Deeper Discovery

This isn't about WW2 or even history. It's about understanding that:

1. Reality exists in possibility clouds
2. Different minds collapse these clouds differently
3. Well-documented patterns are reusable
4. You can navigate possibility space consciously

Every historical figure, every documented thinker, every consistent worldview becomes a lens for understanding current reality.

Your Turn

The past isn't dead. It's a collection of reality-collapse operators waiting to help you navigate the present.

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