The other day, Gina and I were prepping to go to a business meeting here in Orlando. 

I found myself waiting for her and wondering about Millard Fillmore. Yes… that Millard Fillmore. The 13th President of the United States. 

I know, I know, my goofy lil’ ole’ brain sometimes has wacky questions like that! 

Millard Fillmore’s biggest claim to fame, according to most historians, is… well… being the 13th President of the United States. 

That’s about it! 

Why was I thinking about Fillmore? Honestly… who knows. 

My brain sometimes wanders through American history the way a dog runs through a park: joyfully, aimlessly, occasionally stopping to sniff something unexpected.

But that wandering turned into something powerful the other day.

In my Fillmore detour, I asked ??ChatGPT 5.1 (brand spankin’ new version) what the heck Fillmore did in office. 

I didn’t know and was wondering. 

And holy cow did it deliver!

ChatGPT told me that Fillmore served during the early 1850s, when the U.S. passed the Fugitive Slave Act.

This was the HORRENDOUS AND DESPICABLE law requiring citizens to return runaway enslaved people to their “owners.” 

This was a law so morally repugnant that even saying it in 2025 makes your stomach tighten.

I had a question:

How the heck could people possibly justify such a barbarous law like that?

Not “what did they believe” — that part is obvious.

But why did they believe it?

What was their thinking?

How did a society let something so horrifying become law?

So I did something you can now do anytime, on any day, in any moment of curiosity:

I asked ChatGPT …. and here’s where the magic happened.

Instead of yelling into the void, debating ghosts, or throwing my hands up in disbelief, I got a thoughtful, reasoned explanation of the worldviews at play then.

AI didn’t excuse anything.

It explained it.

And once you understand the why behind terrible ideas, you suddenly gain this weird superpower — empathy without endorsement. 

It can let you truly understand people you find morally repulsive—without forcing you to agree with them for one second.

Clarity without agreeing. 

Perspective without losing your moral compass.

It hit me that this is one of AI’s quiet superpowers — not the flashy “write my script” or “make my video” stuff (though I love those tools too and use them regularly).

This is the ability to sit down with a machine and have a calm, nuanced, non-emotional conversation about how other humans think, even when their thinking is wildly different from yours.

Now THAT can be a super power for you! 

Imagine if we humans actually did this more often.

Imagine if X (FormerlyTwitter) tried it.

Imagine if Congress tried it. (Okay, that one takes a stronger imagination…)

But seriously — what would happen if, before reacting, more of us paused long enough to say:

“Help me understand how the other side thinks.”
“Show me the logic they were using—even if I disagree with it.”
“Help me see the reasoning so I can respond thoughtfully, not reactively.”

AI can now do that.

AI DOES that now! 

You can bring any idea into the room — from Millard Fillmore to modern politics to your own family Thanksgiving debates — and say, “Walk me through what they believe and why.”

And boom: you get context, not chaos.
Understanding, not shouting.
Perspective, not polarization.

No, this won’t solve all human conflict.

But if it did, I’d be tickled pink! 

You may say I’m a dreamer — but I’m not the only one. (Thank you John Lennon) 

AI isn’t just a tool for content creation.

It’s a tool for understanding — and understanding each other is the soil where progress grows.

So here’s my challenge for you today:

Before dismissing someone’s opinion…
Before writing someone off…
Before assuming the worst…

Open ChatGPT or Perplexity or Grok or your LLM of choice and say:

“Explain how reasonable people could see it differently on this topic.”

Who knows — you might learn something.

You might soften.

You might get stronger.

You might see a new path.

And at the very least…
You’ll be one of the few who think about — or who even knows about — Millard Fillmore!

Use the “reasoning” abilities of today’s LLMs. 

Use that reasoning and conversation to learn more about controversial issues from the OTHER person’s point of view. 

This is 180 degrees out from an echo chamber. 

It will take some work and perseverance. 

But, it can help you do better in business and in life. 

It’s something we can do with AI that we couldn’t do with other tools just a few short years ago. 

Along these lines, here’s a video I put together you might enjoy. It’s about Comet from Perplexity which is another way to find out what others are thinking and doing. 

Try the research capabilities of Comet and you’ll enjoy it. 

https://youtu.be/ePqUOqeOUAI?si=-wWVp5cm_8MUYFwF 

Who knows, maybe you’ll make Millard Fillmore happy wherever he is now! 

To Your Success!

Terry
Terry@TerryBrock.com

P.S. Grab hold of this ability to use deep research and reasoning with the LLM of your choice. It can greatly improve your life to see tough conflicts from the other person’s point of view:

https://youtu.be/ePqUOqeOUAI?si=-wWVp5cm_8MUYFwF