Tim Beiko, who runs the core protocol meetings for Ethereum, teams up with writer and consultant Venkatesh Rao to discuss their “Summer of Protocols” research program. This initiative brought together 33 researchers with a wide range of expertise to investigate protocols across several domains.

Join us for an in-depth exploration of protocols: understanding what they are, their importance, why they can go wrong, and much more!

Important Links:

Show Notes:

Why We Should Care About Protocols
Protocols, Narratives & World-Building
The Three Preconditions of a Protocol
"Civilization progresses by increasing the number of actions we can do without thinking about them.”
When Protocols Go Wrong
More Protocols = Less Agency?
Workplace Safety & Protocol Complexity
How to Build Good Protocols; Building Protocol Literacy
Why Aren’t More People Talking About Protocols?
How to Encourage Protocols-First Thinking
Protocols Have Long Timelines
Protocols in Fiction
Protocol Hunting In Silico
Determinism, Open Environments & Evolution
How to Hack Protocols
Agility Isn’t Always the Answer
Memory: The Most Valuable Asset in a Civilization
Next Steps & How to Learn More
MORE!

Books & Essays Mentioned:

The God Problem: How a Godless Cosmos Creates; by Howard Bloom
Hope Runners of Gridlock; by Simon de la Rouviere
High Rise; by J.G Ballard
The Drowned World; by J.G Ballard
The Drought; by J.G Ballard
A Burglar's Guide to the City; by Geoff Manaugh
The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering; by Frederick Brooks
In the Beginning Was the Command Line; by Neal Stephenson
Slow Ideas; by Atul Gawande
Nakatomi Space; by Geoff Manaugh
Base Layers And Functional Escape Velocity; by Vitalik Buterin

Venkatesh Rao & Tim Beiko — The Summer of Protocols

Infinite Loops