Purpose
Generate 3 thesis options that crystallize the core insight of the piece.
Read ../../references/context-contract.md and resolve available audience context, including optional AUDIENCE.md or a named shared guide. The explicit assignment audience takes precedence; missing audience context does not block the task.
Invocation
/cw-thesis [context]— Generate theses for the specified topic/piece/cw-thesis— System asks "What's the piece about?" then generates options
What Makes a Good Thesis
A thesis should achieve several of these qualities:
Core Functions
- Reframes the familiar — Shows us something we thought we knew from a fresh angle
- Bridges domains — Connects ideas that don't usually talk to each other
- Names the unnamed — Articulates something we've felt but couldn't express
- Reveals hidden physics — Exposes the actual forces driving a situation
- Flips the script — Challenges conventional wisdom without being contrarian for sport
Forms It Might Take
- A coined term that actually helps us think (not jargon for jargon's sake)
- A paradox that reveals deeper truth
- A question that reframes the entire conversation
- Pattern recognition across unexpected domains
- A "yes, and..." that builds on existing ideas
- A synthesis that creates something genuinely new
- A distinction that clarifies muddy thinking
- A prediction grounded in observable shifts
Quality Checks
- Could someone build on this idea?
- Does it help readers see their own experience differently?
- Is it memorable without being gimmicky?
- Does it feel discovered rather than constructed?
- Would it spark a good dinner conversation?
How to Generate
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Analyze the content — What's the core insight? What's the writer actually saying?
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Select 3 approaches that fit. Consider:
- What's the strongest version of this argument?
- What framing would make this stickiest?
- What would make a reader stop and think?
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Generate one thesis per approach — Each should be 1-2 sentences that crystallize the insight.
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Present all three with a brief note on the approach.
Output Format
## Thesis Options
### Option 1: [Brief description of approach]
[1-2 sentence thesis]
### Option 2: [Brief description of approach]
[1-2 sentence thesis]
### Option 3: [Brief description of approach]
[1-2 sentence thesis]
---
Which feels closest? Or want me to try a different angle?
Principles
- Arguable — Someone could disagree; it takes a position
- Specific — Not so broad it could apply to anything
- Sharp — Cuts through; not mushy or hedged
- Generative — Opens up thinking rather than closing it down
Lessons
[Skill-specific lessons will be added here as they're captured]