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Intro to Protocol Studies: Argument Engineering for Dummies

TalkProtocol Institute
Intro to Protocol Studies: Argument Engineering for Dummies

A Summer of Protocols instructor delivers an introductory lecture framing protocols as 'engineered arguments' that manage ongoing tensions between agents rather than solve problems outright, walking through core vocabulary like strata, loci, Whitehead advance, the Kafka index, protocolization debt, and hardened commons. He illustrates these concepts with case studies including Jiordi Rosales and Nathalia Scherer's work on prescribed-burn approval in Sonoma County, Celeste LeCompte and Danielle Butler's research on urban flood classification protocols, and examples like the LEAP peanut-allergy program and Texas grid privatization versus California's automated demand response.

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