Talk

Protocols are Systems: Implications for a Grand Unified Protocol Modeling Theory. Given at Protocol Symposium 2026 on September 24, 2026, in response to the Protocol Institute’s Grand Challenge 55.

• Slides (PDF, 21 slides)

Since the talk, the statement of the shared arrow has been sharpened. Slide 11 drew it between things. The proved statement is between the parts of a definition. See Chapter 1 of the blueprint.

Slide 4 paraphrases two of its three definitions. The sources read:

• Rao, Beiko, Ryan, Stark, Van Epps, and Aue (2023), p. 3: “A protocol is a relatively simple and codified set of behaviors that, when adopted by a sufficient number of participants (human and/or artificial) in a situation, reliably leads to good-enough outcomes for all.”
• Tay (2023, printed 2024), p. 3: “a protocol is a set of explicit or implicit rules or procedures intended to govern, guide, or influence behaviour in a way that allows the emergence or construction of coordinated behavior.”