Moves
Reusable patterns for moving beyond the first obvious answer. Each move is a candidate handle; the proof decides whether it survives.
All moves
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AI as Comparison Surface
Use AI outputs as material to compare, contest, and judge — not as final answers to copy.
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Captured Judgment
Surface the founder's or expert's tacit buyer judgment, and turn it into a lens, phrase, or workflow that other people can use.
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Default Language as Evidence
Treat the first obvious phrasing as evidence of the pattern currently organising thought, rather than as final thought.
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Diagnosis Before Explanation
Before you explain a concept, name what the learner, founder, or reader is currently doing wrong. Explanation is the second move, not the first.
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Different, Correct, Useful
A three-gate test. The move must be different enough to escape the default, correct enough to survive reality, and useful enough to change what someone can see, say, decide, build, or do.
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Grammar as Meaning
Treat grammar choices — sentence shape, phrase position, voice — as meaning-making moves, not as correction marks.
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Read to Enter Another Mind
Treat reading as temporary apprenticeship to another mind's attention, not as information intake.
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Reader's Camera
A sentence is a placement of the reader's attention. Choose what the reader sees, in what order, and at what distance.
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Typical → Less Typical → What Changed?
A pattern for showing the difference between a default answer and a sharper alternative, along with what specifically changed.
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Write to Recover Your Own
Use writing to surface what you currently half-know, so you can move beyond the first obvious answer.
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Wrong Binary → Third Option
Notice when a question is framed as two opposing choices, and look for the third option that escapes the false dilemma.