A very interesting article, but I think your model of a mental frame which you define as the biased and limited way in which information is perceived or understood. is a bit malformed as information isn't really perceived, it is processed at a higher level than perception. Integrated sensation or Perception is the lowest level of awareness humans have with the least amount of variability among members of the species. There is not often much debate about perception, such as the building on a certain block is brown vs. green. Or the shape that something you see is a bicycle vs. a car. etc. Perception is in fact the most objective faculty we have - our direct connection to the real world.

Now to say that our prior thinking can change our perception, I disagree. I think that people can actively evade perceptions they have by trying hard to ignore them, especially those perceptions that indicate that an idea held by the perceiver is incorrect in spite of the emotional need of the perceiver to continue to hold the incorrect idea.

You say that As far as you can tell, that frame is reality. Clearly, a mental model is not reality, it is a model of reality. If your theory were true, we probably couldn't even participate on this forum as our differently modeled realities wouldn't allow a common language that so relies on commonalities of perception and concept formation.

But I agree with your actual point that it is important to associate with people who share similar views about the world, people who have a similar sense of life. It can be very destructive to a person's view of what is possible in the world if everyone they spend time with is pessimistic and skeptical.

When I was in Architecture school, all of my professors tried to convince us students that there were no new ideas, everything had been done. That nothing great was created/designed/invented by individuals, it was all thanks to groups. That the heroic in architecture was impossible and undesirable. That Wright's Falling water was banal, just a bunch of concrete plates stacked up above each other. All of this foolishness was washed away when I worked for Paul Rudolph in NYC who single handedly was designing some of the most beautiful and heroic buildings I had ever seen. The experience saved my world view of what is possible.

So my advice is to find the very best in whatever your field, and learn from it. If you aren't able to do a startup on your own yet, find a startup that is the most innovative with the best ideas, and learn from them. Don't let the pessimists get you down, but stay grounded and realistic about the possibilities. Too much optimism can be a bad thing as well, but keep in mind that great things are achievable.