Ghosts in Machines!
Issue #29: Writing contest, talks start in one hour at 7am PDT.
In this editorial issue: Previews of and links to today’s livestreams on Protocol Town Hall, our second science fiction contest, an invitation to apply to our Review Board, and an update on the Summer of Protocols SIG track.
Protocol Town Halls
Join us today, June 25th, at 7am PDT and 10am PDT for two livestreams.
First up, for our science fiction scenesters and technologists: a short writing class with Consulting Editor for Protocolized, Stanley Chen. Also joining is Sam Chua, who will present a trailer for Southbeast Asia, a procedurally generated film created by attendees of our Khlongs and Subaks workshop on decentralized AI x blockchains earlier this year. Stanley and Sam will be joined by Venkatesh and Timber to discuss protocol fiction in a panel-style discussion.
This talk will also introduce our new sci-fi writing contest – more on that below – and hopefully provide some tips and inspiration for it.
STARTING IN ONE HOUR at 7AM PDT 👇
Second,
will kick off her memory research Special Interest Group (SIG) live at 10am PDT. This has been highly requested and we’ve already seen an influx of interesting people to the SoP Discord.In 2023, as a participant in the first Summer of Protocols, Kei published an impactful essay titled Artificial Memory and Orienting Infinity. Since then, she’s launched Inner Library, a consultancy for organizational design, memory, and strategy. For more information about the reading group, see this document.
STARTING IN 4 HOURS at 10AM PDT 👇
Enter our Protocol Fiction Contest
After an exciting first contest, we have been itching to launch another one. You can explore the winners of the Terminological Twists here, along with some select publications from that contest’s shortlist.
Our latest contest page is now live – and you can get a jump on the competition at this morning’s town hall (or catch up on bonus context with the recording). The theme is Ghosts in Machines!
The idea of this contest is to imagine many futures full of distributed AI, connected through protocols of all sorts, including current real protocols in development such as MCP and A2A, blockchain protocols, existing mature protocols, and of course, entirely speculative new protocols.
We’ve provided thorough guidelines, the details of which you should read before entering. At a high level, we want you to:
Imagine a digitally haunted future
Think beyond robots and centralized AIs
Keep it realistic
Evoke a planetarity
Transcend utopian/dystopian
Get ready to write! Full instructions below.
Ghosts in Machines
Welcome to our second protocol science fiction story contest: Ghosts in Machines! Our first contest, Terminological Twists, was a great success — you can read the winning and finalist stories at this page.
Towards a Protocolized Review Board
In preparation for Ghosts and Machines and in anticipation for future contests and anthologies, we invite you to apply to our protocol fiction review board, which will help steer this publication. We are open to seasoned writers, avid readers, casual lurkers, and professional sci-fi literary theorists alike – a variety of perspectives will be valuable.
As a member of the Review Board, you would participate in voting processes to award and select stories for contests and, potentially, other projects. This group is both an opportunity to exercise your taste and prototype towards a guild-like operating model for this publication. Sound interesting? Apply now in 5 minutes.
State of the SIGs
As of this afternoon, the first batch of three protocol special interest groups will have kicked off. There is one on formal protocol theory, one on memory research, and one on management of tension fields. Each SIG meets every two weeks in the #sig-voice-channel on Discord to study and discuss some readings or exercises. The schedule is:
Formal Protocol Theory: Fridays at 10am US Pacific Time (next call is June 27).
Memory Research: Thursdays at 7:30am US Pacific Time (next call is June 26).
Spannungsfelds: Mondays at 10am US Pacific Time (next call is June 30).
People expressed interest in some other ones, such as decentralized AI, protocols and postmodernism, and protocol ethnography. We’ve earmarked these as potential SIGs if a qualified lead wants to take one on. In the meantime, they all make good discussion topics for the Discord – we encourage you to explore what a study group focused on one of these topics might look like.
For more information, including recordings of the kickoff talks, visit the SIG page on the Summer of Protocols website.