Paradigm Surface

Optional accelerators

• Version the era — If the shift is civilizational for your audience (e.g., a new “layer” of software), give it a numbered or named era so people can cite the transition without re-explaining history each time.
• One metaphor, bounded — A vivid ontology (what kind of thing is this system?) can compress a long argument—if you immediately list what the metaphor fails to capture, so critics engage productively.
• Historical analogy — “We are in the 1960s of X” (or your honest comparison) signals phase without pretending precision.

Anti-patterns

• Opening with definitions nobody asked for.
• Polished manifestos with no personal timestamp (“we all know that…”).
• Claiming inevitability without a single observable threshold event you can point to.
• Metaphors that smuggle inevitability or moral judgment—pair with limits every time.

Output shape

• One hook sentence (pain or paradox).
• One label for the shift.
• One paragraph mapping old mental model → new mental model.
• Optional: bullet inventory of the new programmable surface.