Prototype

Prototype/Archetype

The nodal model combines these two concepts, since instances are based on prototypes, but the prototypes evolve over time from feedback from the instances "in the field". This is a tangled hierarchy where each is based on the other, but as with all such "paradoxes" found in such systems they are resolved by each direction of influence operating on a different scale of time - i.e. local instances maintain a dynamic real-time relationship with the global prototype which changes very slowly as the information from many instances is collated and assessed.