Harmony without loss of Variety; Variety without loss of Harmony.
The Unreasonable Sufficiency of Protocols Web
The Unreasonable Sufficiency of Protocols Venkatesh Rao, Tim Beiko, Danny Ryan, Josh Stark, Trent Van Epps, and Bastian Aue 1. Introduction Complex coordination problems have an air of doomed intractability about them. We speak in fatalistic terms of economics being a “dismal” science, of sociological phenomena being dominated by the
KOI-net Protocol Specification Draft v1.0
The KOI-net protocol defines the standard communication patterns and coordination norms needed to establish and maintain Knowledge Organization Infrastructure (KOI) networks. KOI networks are heterogeneous compositions of KOI nodes, each of which is capable of autonomously inputting, processing, and outputting knowledge. The behavior of each node and configuration of each network can vary greatly; therefore, the protocol is designed to be a simple, flexible, and interoperable foundation for future projects to build on. The protocol only governs communication between nodes, not how they operate internally. As a result we consider KOI-nets to be fractal-like, in that a network of nodes may act like a single node when viewed from outside.
Dangerous Protocols - Summer of Protocols
Protocols are frequently touted as the liberating alternative to walled technological gardens, but the historical purpose of protocols has always been to simplify decision-making and reduce human agency. How do we reconcile these two narratives? I explore the dangerous side of protocols, and how their ability to drive coordination means they also have
Theorizing Protocolization II: Atomic Protocol Questions
Solving real coordination problems to discover the formal laws of protocols.
Decentralized Syndication — The Missing Internet Protocol
The Internet is decentralized by design. It came into being not at once, but in parts. New protocols were added on top of previous ones…
Willow - Protocols for an uncertain future (FOSDEM'26)
Centralised systems were designed with the best of intentions, but were turned against us anyway. And peer-to-peer systems will be exactly the same. How do we make the next generation of protocols ...
We need network societies, not network states — The Collective Intelligence Project
Balaji Srinivasan's The Network State posits a choice between reaction and stasis. A brighter future does not await through network states, but through network societies.
Technology is Society Made Durable
Is it possible to devise a set of concepts that could replace the technology/society divide? This set of new concepts - association and substitution - might help to rephrase some of the traditional questions of social order and especially that of the durability of domination of power. However, instead of using different tools to analyse power and weakness, it is argued that power and domination are simply different values of variables that should be studied in their whole range. By reconstructing networks it is argued that a full description of power and domination may be obtained.
Network of Knowledge | The Paper Pilot
The Paper Pilot's digital garden of thoughts on philosophy, politics, and sociology
Protocols, Not Platforms: A Technological Approach to Free Speech
What is clear is that there is no simple solution to these challenges, and most of the ones that are normally presented tend not to deal with the reality of the problems or to understand the technical and societal challenges that likely make them impossible.
Protocol: How Control Exists after Decentralization
How Control Exists after DecentralizationIs the Internet a vast arena of unrestricted communication and freely exchanged information or a regulated, highly
Protocol Reader - Summer of Protocols
The Protocol Reader The Protocol Reader is an 358-page book (currently only available as an epub) comprising 26 foundational essays by 31 authors from the Summer of Protocols program, carefully edited and sequenced to introduce you to the fascinating new discipline of Protocol Studies. It can serve as
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A substrate for decentralized cognition, grounded in reflexive directed hypergraphs, machine-native encoding, and federated knowledge.
Protocols, Not Platforms: A Technological Approach to Free Speech
So I finally finished reading this and while I agree with the recommendation, I’m a little wary of some of the context it’s rooted in ideologically and I’m wondering if others have thoughts on these things. Equality in the marketplace I think the main problem with the text is that it relies heavily on the idea of “marketplace of ideas,” leaning heavily on the idea that protocols are actually good for markets specifically because they make competition more perfect (because there’s better knowled...
