Answers to common questions

A deliberation tool where ten historical thinkers — grounded in their own public-domain works — answer your question in their own voice with a clear stance, and the session closes with a single Opinion of the Council.

No. There is nothing to sign up for and no key to bring. Open the chamber, name your subject, and start.

Aristotle, Sun Tzu, Mary Wollstonecraft, Frederick Douglass, John Maynard Keynes, Niccolò Machiavelli, Adam Smith, Voltaire, Sigmund Freud, and Isaac Newton. You choose which of them are seated for any question.

No. Every response is an AI interpretation of published ideas, not a quotation and not the person. Their original works are free to read at Project Gutenberg.

You name the subject, choose the kind of advice you need, seat your thinkers, and ask your question. Press Start deliberation and each voice answers with a stance, followed by the Opinion of the Council.

It is a short label summarising where that voice lands — for example supportive, cautionary, or dissenting — so you can scan the shape of the disagreement before reading in full.

Yes. Use the second box to add new facts, corrections, or a follow-up question — typed, dictated, or attached as documents — then press Re-deliberate and the same table reconsiders.

No. It is a synthesis of the voices at the table, written to help you weigh the question. It is not a verdict and it does not bind you.

Word, PDF, Excel, PowerPoint, RTF, Outlook email (.eml), Markdown, and plain text. The readable text is extracted in your browser and passed to the council with your question.

Press the microphone beside the subject bar or a question box, speak, and stop. The recording is transcribed and dropped into the field so you can read and edit it before sending.

Markdown, Word (.docx), PowerPoint (.pptx), and Excel (.xlsx). Files are named from your subject line, and each one carries the human-judgment disclaimer and the Marcus Aurelius Institute rights notice.

No. Exports list the documents considered by name rather than reprinting their contents, so the record stays readable and your source material stays with you.

No. There is no account and no database. The conversation lives only in your browser tab — refreshing or closing it starts fresh — so download anything you want to keep.

The council is instructed to refuse content covered by the Trust and Safety framework — self-harm, violence, illegal activity, exploitation, and harassment — and to point to real help where a situation calls for it.

No. Every session and every export carries a human-judgment disclaimer. The Council of Wisdom™ is a decision-support tool, not a replacement for legal, medical, financial, or other professional advice.

Council of Wisdom™ and The Marcus Aurelius Institute™ are trademarks of Keith David Whalen, and the concept, method, deliberation flow and interface are his intellectual property. Patent pending.