{"blyg":"0.3","id":"7ykhbwn2n2bbc5jdsb5cgq35et","kind":"thread","origin":"https://blyg.protocol-institute.org/","page":"t/7ykhbwn2n2bbc5jdsb5cgq35et/","author":{"name":"Editor","url":"https://blyg.protocol-institute.org/"},"created":"2026-09-13T17:42:09Z","updated":"2026-09-13T17:42:43Z","version":1,"content_md":"# We Need More Protocol Books\nWe need more PI affiliated people to write books about protocols. It's kinda weird that Galloway's 20+ year old book is still the main go-to reference point for people because it happens to be a book. There's another one broadly in that critical humanities camp, (As for Protocols). I think we have much broader and deeper material in our little scene, and it's not even close, but it's too atomized at essay level. Even the [Protocol Reader](https://protocolized.io/books/the-protocol-reader) is a collection of essays. So we need more people attempting book-level syntheses of our learnings. So far we've got one nearly out, by Nathan Schneider. A few others are working on book-length ideas (Kei Kreutler on memory, Timber Schroff on \"Images of Indirection\", Sarah Friend on personhood, Chenoe Hart on addressable sapces). But we need many more people attempting to write books from various angles, and in various broad vs. narrow ways. Not least because the fraction who actually finish will not be 100%. \n\nI've gone back and forth on this. At some level, I'm personally bored by the idea of a book and much more excited about clever AI-native ways of synthesizing and integrating the materials, like a multiplayer wiki thingie or this blyg model. But a book (ideally a dozen books) forces a certain level of hardness at higher unit size that makes the ideas travel better in certain media, since it's a costly signal. We should still do more frontier publishing experiments, but I'm thinking we do need books more than I thought. And with AI assistance, I think many more people are capable of writing one.\n\nSo... if you think you have a \"protocols book\" in you (with or without AI assistance), you'll have the full support of PI in writing it, for what it's worth, and I'll be personally available too, to support in any way I can.\n\nWe're thinking of doing a NaNoWriMo style book-writing month in November.\n\n-- Venkat","content_html":"

We Need More Protocol Books

\n

We need more PI affiliated people to write books about protocols. It's kinda weird that Galloway's 20+ year old book is still the main go-to reference point for people because it happens to be a book. There's another one broadly in that critical humanities camp, (As for Protocols). I think we have much broader and deeper material in our little scene, and it's not even close, but it's too atomized at essay level. Even the Protocol Reader is a collection of essays. So we need more people attempting book-level syntheses of our learnings. So far we've got one nearly out, by Nathan Schneider. A few others are working on book-length ideas (Kei Kreutler on memory, Timber Schroff on "Images of Indirection", Sarah Friend on personhood, Chenoe Hart on addressable sapces). But we need many more people attempting to write books from various angles, and in various broad vs. narrow ways. Not least because the fraction who actually finish will not be 100%.

\n

I've gone back and forth on this. At some level, I'm personally bored by the idea of a book and much more excited about clever AI-native ways of synthesizing and integrating the materials, like a multiplayer wiki thingie or this blyg model. But a book (ideally a dozen books) forces a certain level of hardness at higher unit size that makes the ideas travel better in certain media, since it's a costly signal. We should still do more frontier publishing experiments, but I'm thinking we do need books more than I thought. And with AI assistance, I think many more people are capable of writing one.

\n

So... if you think you have a "protocols book" in you (with or without AI assistance), you'll have the full support of PI in writing it, for what it's worth, and I'll be personally available too, to support in any way I can.

\n

We're thinking of doing a NaNoWriMo style book-writing month in November.

\n

-- Venkat

\n","content_hash":"sha256:6e6c2d0095d582937aab52a45adcf1df436ed813a7bc87a38d3ba3c026531d3a","media":[],"transclusions":[],"changelog":[{"version":1,"at":"2026-09-13T17:42:43Z","note":null}]}