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Beyond Szabo Scaling - by Venkatesh Rao - Contraptions

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A question has been nagging at me over the last week or two, as I’ve been heads down preparing to run the week-long Protocol Symposium: What exactly is the problem we’re trying to solve? (where we is the several-hundred-strong emerging protocols scene the event is for). While I’m more willing than most to spend multiple years nerding out over an idea for its own sake (and protocols present endlessly interesting nerd-out dimensions), I’m not enough of a philosopher to ignore real-world relevance indefinitely. Plus the Summer of Protocols is not just a self-indulgent idea startup (which is how I view my writing life for instance), but a program that runs on Other People’s Money™ that comes with expectations of broader societal value eventually emerging. I’ve been running the program for 3 years now, and it’s achieved a certain precarious maturity and research-zeitgeist fit (RZF). So it’s time to ask the question: What exactly is the problem we’re trying to solve? And since it’s an open,

Beyond Szabo Scaling Miniaturization and orchestration of human capabilities with AI and protocols Venkatesh Rao Sep 11, 2025 47 8 17 Share A question has been nagging at me over the last week or two, as I’ve been heads down preparing to run the week-long Protocol Symposium : What exactly is the problem we’re trying to solve? (where we is the several-hundred-strong emerging protocols scene the event is for). While I’m more willing than most to spend multiple years nerding out over an idea for its own sake (and protocols present endlessly interesting nerd-out dimensions), I’m not enough of a ph

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