Protocols regulate many of our interactions, but they can do better than that. Protocols can replace our dysfunctional institutions, abusive platforms, and unreliable leaders. Some protocols are already doing so. Crypto protocols like Bitcoin and Ethereum are threatening the power of banks; social media protocols like ActivityPub and ATprotocol are moving tens of millions of users away from the algorithmic atrocities of social media platforms, and AI protocols like MCP and A2A are promising to complement LLM competition with cooperation.
The practitioners of Team Syntegrity know what can be achieved with a good protocol. But the work of Stafford Beer can bring more to the development of better protocols. The VSM can already be seen as a protocol for managing the flow of variety within a system. The VSM can help reveal the pathological autopoiesis of platforms and give insights on how to replace them with protocols. Some of these protocols can reuse and extend the patterns and principles of Team Syntegrity. And, importantly, the effectiveness and viability of any protocol can be assessed using the balance between autonomy and cohesion.
To improve the way we deal with commons and coordination, we need better governance. And that is the domain of cybernetics. However, unlike the primary tool of cybernetics, models, protocols spread widely and become woven into the fabric of society. While models help to diagnose and design, protocols operationalise the needed regulation. And good protocols do that without creating power asymmetries and reducing the agency of the participants.
If protocols can change the world, the first step is to increase protocol literacy and attract more efforts into engineering better protocols.
https://kvistgaard.github.io/slides/protocols/metaphorum-2025/
