The Kafka Index — Protocolized

Asparouhova develops an evaluative framework called the Kafka Index to identify structurally bad protocols through specific design failures: broken feedback loops, invisible outcomes, wrong metrics, and excessive complexity that trap participants. She identifies three archetypes of protocol failure—Kafka (participant trapped in incomprehensible maze), Bartleby (participant forced into costly participation with no alternatives), and a third unnamed type—each representing different ways protocols distribute power asymmetrically between system and user.

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Summer of Protocols