Introducing the Blygger Protocol
Blygger hackathon kicks off Nov 20
CultureTech
Protocolized.
Sci-fi, essays, and articles about the world's invisible infrastructure and strange rules.
Recent essays
30 of 39Protocols for Business 2026 Review: The Year of the Agent
Plus: 2027 Kick-Off, and how Product Management is about to be protocolized
Announcing PiBoWriMo 2026
You should write a protocol-themed book this November. Yes YOU.
Monster Speculation
Today we launch a new publication dedicated to strange rules fiction
Where the Stones Hold
A dark origin story for a nursery rhyme everyone knows, set in King John’s London on the eve of the Great Fire
Haikus to Fly By
The Past, Present and Future of the Terminal Aerodrome Forecast
Methods, Madness, Monsters and Magic in New Nature
Kicking off the Protocol Symposium 2026
Securing Stigmergic Systems
An update from our special interest group for Formal Protocol Theory: rogue agents and a PI Symposium Hackathon
The Ductus of Protocol Fiction
An update from our Protocol Fiction SIG takes us under the hood of the emerging genre
Trust by Protocol
How Estonia engineered legitimacy for its internet voting platform
The Dismantling
At its conclusion, Elizabeth Maher’s series paralleling American folklore simply disappears without a trace
Protocol Symposium 2026 Registration Open
Free and fully online, September 21-25.
Carousel Feeding in the Asteroid Midden // Livelock
For Egrol, the protagonist of Spencer Nitkey’s Thanatosis, a mind-expanding encounter with workers who have agency
How the Protocol Institute is Adopting AI
What building a research institute at 100% adoption actually looks like
Jamverse Jam Contest Closes Today
Less than 24 hours left to submit your entries
Floyd Haggerty’s Wild West Extravaganza Spectacular!
Or, Choreography and the Equine Genius, by Sundown, Principal Equine
The Crooked Timber of AI
The philosophical perils of conflating discoveries and inventions, and how to overcome them
Jamverse Live
A recording from Protocolized's live video
Thanatosis on the Central Mast // Liveness Check
We enter an intractable new world conjured by Spencer Nitkey and find a protagonist in search of perspective
A Visitor’s Guide to the Disposition
Forty Years of Observation. Forty Years of Being Right. Forty Years of Being Lied About.
Durable AI Adoption
Introducing the Durable AI Adoption guide, developed in our Special Interest Group for Business
The Character of Public Transit Systems
Kannen leads a tour of the world's public transit systems, revealing what they tell us about the cultures and trust dynamics of the cities they serve
Jamverse Jam
Announcing Protocolized’s fourth contest: we’re looking for artists and writers to extend and connect interoperable worlds
The Big Man
Elizabeth Maher's world-building series continues, reimagining American folklore from a protocolized perspective
Challenges: Trivial, Grand, and Whitehead
Introducing the Protocol Institute Challenges program
Maintaining Everything That Matters
Matthew McDowell-Sweet and Mike Travers discuss Stewart Brand’s recently-published book ‘Maintenance: Of Everything’
2026 Protocol Symposium: New Nature
Call for abstracts open, due June 14, 2026
Irrigation by Protocol: When Vineyards Delegate Decisions to Networks
When vineyards can speak through data, the question isn’t whether to listen but whether we still know how to read what the vines themselves are saying
The Overloaded Train
In this, our first crossover between two protocol fiction universes, Sachin Benny's Unified Eurasian Train Line passes through Spencer Nitkey's Zoothesia
Inventing New Nature
Defining the Protocol Institute's research mission