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Protocol Pattern Language

Paper Drew Austin

This paper presents Pattern 03 of a Protocol Pattern Language for Urban Space, specifically addressing how regulatory frameworks can be redesigned to enable domestic retail and small businesses to operate from residential spaces. Austin argues that loosening residential business restrictions would formalize existing informal commerce while allowing communities to capture economic and social benefits of locally-grounded retail, using California's legalization of home kitchen operations as a concrete example.

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Paper

A Phenomenology of Protocols

Tay develops a phenomenological approach to understanding protocols as human-built systems, arguing that current protocols fail to nurture human flourishing because they were designed without centering human capacity for self-making, character cultivation, and wisdom. She contends that truly human-centered protocols must be reconstructed to be hospitable to human development rather than extractive of human attention and agency.

fiction foundations protocols

Janna Tay

Paper

Atoms, Institutes, Blockchains

Stark argues that atoms, institutions, and blockchains share a common property of 'hardness'—fixed, immutable points across time that enable coordination and make the future more predictable at scale. The paper traces how this concept of hardness has evolved from physical matter through social institutions to cryptographic protocols, positioning blockchain technology as a new substrate for creating the durable coordination points necessary for civilization.

blockchain foundations governance

Josh Stark

Paper

Dangerous Protocols

Asparouhova examines how protocols, while often celebrated as liberating alternatives to centralized platforms, function as mechanisms of control that constrain user freedom and choice in practice. The paper argues that protocols are not inherently emancipatory but rather represent a fundamental trade-off between managing complexity and maintaining autonomy.

governance protocols theory

Nadia Asparouhova