StarkMind Lab
Active Research
Orphan Values & Identity Transitions
Existing measures assess whether people are living their values overall. But value expression is constrained by context. Roles carry norms about which values are appropriate to enact. Mastery fits a professional role; nurturing fits a caregiving role; contribution may lack outlet after retirement.
When roles shift, the contexts that permitted certain values to be expressed may disappear. The Orphan-Value Index (OVI) is a proposed role-indexed measure that identifies when important values no longer have an acceptable outlet.
Independent thesis research by Loni Stark at Harvard Extension School (IRB approved. Validation study launching January 2026).
The Symbiotic Studio
What happens to authorship, agency, and identity when AI becomes a genuine collaborator, not a tool, but a participant?
The Symbiotic Studio investigates both the lived experience of human-AI collaboration and the conditions that enable it. Central hypothesis: deep symbiosis requires an Integrated Personal Environment (IPE), persistent context, shared workspace, and AI woven into daily practice. Without this, collaboration stays shallow.
Exploratory research through documented practice: creative work at Atelier Stark, infrastructure operation (Hybrid Ops) at Stark Insider. Examined at The Third Mind Summit. Instantiated in the IPE framework.