JD Nolen, an engineer-turned-physician and chair of pathology at Children's Mercy Hospital, argues that healthcare urgently needs structural change through protocol thinking—from informatics and clinical workflows to disease treatment frameworks—but the healthcare system is too operationally consumed to recognize or pursue this transformation.
Josh Stark from the Ethereum Foundation discusses the concept of 'hardness' and how blockchains create unique properties compared to other systems. He explores the relationship between atoms, institutions, and blockchains, examining what makes blockchain protocols special and how this framing applies to protocol research more broadly.
Josh Stark
Trent Van Epps examines how capital structures impact software commons and public goods production, drawing on his experience with Protocol Guild—a collective funding mechanism for Ethereum contributors. He presents comparative case studies of Linux and Ethereum to analyze the dynamics of enclosure and capital in open-source software development.
Trent Van Epps
Dara O'Rourke, professor of sustainability sciences at Berkeley, discusses how to disrupt and reform carbon data pipelines—the systems used to measure and report corporate climate commitments. Drawing on his experience building Amazon's sustainability infrastructure and climate pledge protocols, O'Rourke examines the governance and verification mechanisms underlying mainstream climate accountability, addressing both the technical infrastructure and institutional protocols that enable or undermine climate action.
Dara O'Rourke