This essay introduces protocolization as a planetary phenomenon where progress occurs through invisibility and the expansion of computational systems, establishing qualitative frameworks before Part II develops formal theoretical apparatus. The authors present this work from the Special Interest Group in Formal Protocol Theory (SIGFPT) as an invitation to collectively theorize how protocols structure contemporary life at planetary scale.
Venkatesh Rao introduces SIGFPT (Special Interest Group in Formal Protocol Theory), a working group meeting biweekly to develop rigorous mathematical and logical foundations for protocol studies. The group aims to formalize protocol analysis—moving from intuitive understanding of everyday protocols like handshakes to formal descriptions that mathematicians and logicians can rigorously examine.
Venkatesh Rao
This issue explores chores as a fundamentally under-theorized domain and proposes protocols as a solution to the persistent coordination failures that plague communal living arrangements. The editorial argues that while anarchist approaches fail in practice due to human inconsistency, protocolized systems can provide the structural support needed to sustain cooperative maintenance without relying on fallible human operators or institutions.
Daniel Kronovet
This article continues a theoretical investigation into protocolization as a planetary transformation of technologically-mediated behaviors into coordination infrastructure, arguing that protocols operate invisibly across technical, institutional, and social domains at multiple scales. The authors seek to develop formal models and generalizable features of protocols that can be reliably applied across diverse contexts, addressing the methodological challenge of locating and theorizing protocolization despite its ubiquity and invisibility.
Venkatesh Rao, Patrick Nast