Summer of Protocols runs biweekly Special Interest Groups (SIGs) on topics including memory, formal protocol theory, protocols for business, and protocol fiction, open to public participation on Discord. SIG leads periodically publish articles documenting their groups' discussions and outputs, with archives organized by theme.
Topics
Registration is now open for the 2026 Protocol Symposium (Sept 21-25), a free virtual event capped at 100 participants with a theme exploring 'New Nature'—the planet-scale technological layer governed by AI and protocols. The event features a main single-track program plus five separate workshops designed to prepare attendees to engage with emerging technologies at tactical and doctrinal levels.
Venkatesh Rao
The Protocol Institute is building itself around AI adoption, using bots like C3PO and Humboldt to handle research discovery and organizational tasks rather than traditional human-led infrastructure. The organization's approach treats AI tool proliferation as a generative process, allowing practical patterns to emerge through experimentation rather than top-down design.
Timber Stinson-Schroff
Venkatesh Rao introduces the Protocol Institute Challenges program, designed to catalyze fresh research efforts around protocol science problems by moving beyond repackaged thinking and cosmetic applications. The program aims to develop practitioners who think natively in protocols rather than superficially applying protocol concepts to existing problems.
Venkatesh Rao