Skip to content

What Is Formal Protocol Theory

Article Venkatesh Rao
researcher practitioner
Open resource →

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.

Related resources

Article

Chore Protocols

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.

article editorial protocol

Daniel Kronovet

Article

Theorizing Protocolization I New

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.

article editorial protocol

Venkatesh Rao, Patrick Nast

Article

Brackish Strategy

This monthly note examines how conflict and competition are essential rather than avoidable elements of business strategy, critiquing the popularity of Blue Ocean Strategy's conflict-averse approach. Drawing from the first month of the Protocols for Business Special Interest Group, the author argues that successful corporate strategy requires embracing trade-offs, arguments, and tensions rather than seeking uncontested markets.

article editorial organizations

Timber Stinson-Schroff

Topics

article editorial protocol protocols theory