One structure, any subject
Diderot's encyclopedia organised knowledge into articles. The ModernEncyclopedia organises it into prompts — twelve of them, the same for every subject, each turning your own AI into a different kind of teacher.
Why prompts, not articles
An encyclopedia article is a finished answer. That made sense when the reader had only the page in front of them. But everyone now carries a capable AI, and a static answer wastes it. A prompt is different: it is an instruction to think with. Paste one into Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini and the model becomes a tutor, an examiner, a sparring partner — pitched at your level, responsive to your questions, available at any hour.
So this encyclopedia doesn't hand you the answers. It hands you the questions, and the structure to pursue them.
The four levels
Every prompt takes a level, so the same subject can meet you where you are:
- Beginner — plain language, no assumed background, curiosity first.
- GCSE — the shape of the subject, exam-aware, roughly ages 14–16.
- A-Level — depth, argument and independent thinking, roughly 16–18.
- Degree — full university rigour, the frontier, and the open questions. This is the point worth dwelling on: the same free prompts take you all the way to degree-level depth — no fees, no entry requirements, no gatekeeping. Just your curiosity and an AI.
The twelve prompts
Run them in order for a complete course, or reach for whichever fits the moment.
Your first contact with your subject: a hook, the core idea in plain terms, why it matters, a worked example, the common misconceptions, and where to go next.
A structured, week-by-week course in your subject built around the hours you actually have, with spaced-repetition consolidation weeks and real sources.
The essential figures, works and turning points in your subject — what every serious student should know, and the handful to begin with.
The load-bearing terms of your subject, each with a plain definition, a deeper gloss, an example, and the misunderstanding to avoid.
Turns your AI into a Socratic interlocutor for your subject: one question at a time, steelmanning your view before challenging it, never simply handing you the answer. The flagship.
The live controversies in your subject, with both sides steelmanned so evenly you cannot tell which one your AI favours.
Authentic UK-style questions in your subject, marked against a realistic scheme with honest examiner feedback and a model answer.
Where your subject shows up in the real world — concrete cases from the everyday to the cutting edge, including the ones you would not expect.
The current edge of your subject: open questions, recent advances and what is contested — with your AI searching for the latest where it can, and flagging its cutoff where it cannot.
The bridges between your subject and other fields — seeing it as part of a web of knowledge rather than an island.
A curated media diet for your subject: real books, courses, podcasts and documentaries only — no invented titles — in the ideal order.
A mixed-format self-test in your subject that adapts as you go and ends with an honest diagnosis of what to study next.
How to use them
- Open any AI. A model with extended thinking gives the richest answers, but any capable chatbot works.
- Paste the whole prompt as your first message. The model takes on the role and begins.
- Stay in the driver's seat. Answer its questions, push for more depth, disagree with it. The prompts are designed to make you do the thinking.
- Move between prompts. Orientation to get your bearings, Socratic to go deep, Exam to test yourself, Reading to go further.
- Try it out loud. Short, quick-fire prompts like the Socratic tutor work beautifully in an assistant's voice mode — learn hands-free on a walk or a long journey.