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Protocols for TV Comedy with Steve Hely

Talk Steve Hely

Steve Hely discusses the hidden protocols and structural systems behind TV comedy writing and production. Hely explores how comedy writing, like college entrance essays and other forms of constrained writing, operates through invisible frameworks that produce seemingly organic entertainment, drawing parallels between the mechanics of TV production and the carefully engineered systems that audiences don't typically see.

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Geoff Manaugh discusses how burglars and other unauthorized users navigate and exploit urban environments, drawing parallels to how cities function as systems of protocols with gaps and exploits. Through his concept of 'Nakatomi space' (named after the building in Die Hard), Manaugh presents the city as a surface of navigable gaps and vulnerabilities rather than a centrally planned domain, offering an alternative framework to understanding urban space.

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In this issue of Protocolized, a Luminian protocolist named Selene describes life aboard a civilizational satellite where a grand game called the Mosaic—a glass boardgame designed to hold civilizational tensions in equilibrium—structures daily ceremonies and intellectual practice across eight circles of disciplinary expertise. The issue also announces a talk on Public Intelligence with Kevin Kelly and updates on the magazine's science fiction contest.

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Guest Talk with Daniel Bashir | A Survey of AI for the Protocol-Minded

Daniel Bashir, a machine learning engineer at AWS and host of the Gradient podcast, surveys the intersection of AI and protocols across multiple levels—from funding to ML engineering to research to regulation. He aims to introduce key technologies, conversations, and debates in AI while identifying current protocols that can be understood through a protocol-mindset lens.

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Daniel Bashir