I’ve been thinking about Lego from the perspective of “all models are false; all frameworks and protocols are provisional”:
- Protocols can appear more limited and constraining initially than they are in practice.
- Human creativity and curiosity can overcome perceived limitations in protocols by identifying and accessing overlooked degrees of freedom, wiggle room, and other latent potential. What looks fixed from one perspective may prove an “enabling constraint” when approached from a fresh perspective or different scale.
- The possibility space of many protocols only fully emerges over time as new generations of designers, builders, and users test boundaries, shift perspectives and uncover new affordances. Lego creations once considered implausible are now possible by reimagining structural capabilities.
Looking ahead to the prospect of AI-mediated communities, the gradual timeline for exploring possibility spaces in protocols is likely to be accelerated. Instead of spanning generations, I anticipate AI and automation will be able to rapidly test boundaries, shift scales, and generate ideas for human consideration within a matter of years or even months. The implications are fascinating given that protocols are perpetually provisional. Their possibility spaces will be revealed not through the slow march of time, but through stretching of their seams by both human ingenuity and automation.