Infinite Loops Venkatesh Rao & Tim Beiko — The Summer of Protocols
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Nov 30, 2023 
Tim Beiko, who runs Ethereum's core protocol meetings, teams up with writer Venkatesh Rao to discuss their 'Summer of Protocols' research program. They explore the importance of protocols, workplace safety, the consequences of ignoring hand hygiene in medicine, evolution of protocols and cultural adaptation, urban protocols, the importance of state and memory in technological systems, and the social side of blockchains.
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Protocols as First-Class Citizens
- Protocols are not easily comparable to existing organizational structures like companies or countries.
- They represent a distinct way of organizing human activity.
The Gig Economy: A Protocol-Based System
- The gig economy demonstrates the power of protocols, enabling individuals to work outside traditional organizations.
- Interacting protocols, like Zoom and payment apps, facilitate this new form of labor organization.
Protocols as Narrative Substrates
- Protocols go beyond narratives and world-building by establishing the underlying rules for interaction and story development.
- The Dark Forest game and the SCP augmented reality game illustrate how protocols create foundations for emergent narratives.