What a prototype can be

A prototype is a sketch of a possible thing.

A prototype can be an exploration: it materializes and hones intuition. It generates hypotheses. Its unboundedness is strength and danger.

A prototype can be an argument: it articulates a gap between the world as it is and as it could be.

An argument reframes the gap in ways that can’t be unseen. It makes its claims visceral and renders the contrast to the status quo unmistakable. It functions as an irritant; its existence provokes a response and makes change feel necessary.

An argument lives in an epistemic loop: it comes from and contributes to a lineage of ideas. It may teach us how to see the gap more clearly, or give us a perspective that outlives the prototype itself. Its death gets us to the next thing.

An argument is just sophisticated enough to make the case, nothing more.

Neither exploration nor argument are the thing.