The Implication Extender: If True, What Else Follows?
Extend any claim to its logical consequences — explore what else must be true, what predictions follow, and what questions the claim raises.
Why Implications Matter More Than Facts
Most readers stop at comprehension. They understand what a text says, maybe even what it implies. But the most powerful readers take one more step: they ask what follows.
An implications prompt for reading trains you to extend any claim to its logical consequences. If a researcher says remote work increases productivity by 13%, what does that mean for office real estate? For commuter economies? For how we design cities? The claim itself is one data point. The implications are where insight lives.
This is the difference between reading for information and reading for understanding. Information tells you what is. Implications tell you what matters — and what might happen next.
The Prompt: How It Works
PR014 takes a single claim and unpacks it along four dimensions:
Logical Consequences: If the claim is true, what else must be true? This is the tightest form of implication — conclusions that follow directly without additional assumptions.
Related Topics: Claims don’t exist in isolation. Every assertion connects to adjacent domains. What does a claim about healthcare costs suggest about education funding, immigration policy, or retirement planning?
Predictions: If a claim is true now, what should we expect to see in the future? Predictions turn passive reading into active hypothesis-building.
Questions Raised: The best reading generates questions, not just answers. What gaps, assumptions, or conflicts does the claim surface?
Chain this prompt with the Inference Excavator for maximum depth. First extract what’s implied (PR011), then extend the most interesting inference to its logical consequences (PR014).
Claim: “Ocean temperatures have risen 1.5°C in the past decade, accelerating beyond previous models.”
Logical consequences: Marine ecosystems under more pressure than conservation plans assume. Previous climate projections may be systematically underestimating warming.
Related topics: Insurance pricing for coastal properties, agricultural planning, species migration patterns.
Predictions: Expect revised climate models within 2-3 years. Coral reef conservation timelines will need shortening.
Questions raised: What’s causing the acceleration — feedback loop or one-time correction? Are other climate indicators similarly ahead of models?
Continue exploring the Inference pillar or return to the AI for Reading hub.
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365 articles with expert analysis train you to trace claims to their consequences — the skill that turns passive reading into active thinking.
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You’ve learned to extend implications. Next, build mental frameworks, resolve contradictions, and synthesize themes across sources.
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