Articles - Social Protocols

What Is a Social Protocol? 2024-12-10

by Jonathan Warden

Introduction The rules that determine what gets attention on social platforms are often called “algorithms,” but algorithms are only part of the story. Another way to understand social platforms is as social protocols, or sets of formal and informal rules that groups use to allocate their collective attention.

Deliberative Consensus Protocols 2024-04-05

by Jonathan Warden

Introduction: Scalable Group Decision-Making A deliberative consensus protocol is a process that online groups can use to make decisions. It’s designed to produce good decisions that are fair and manifest the collective intelligence of the group.

Human Alignment Technology 2023-06-02

by Felix Dietze

Human alignment, the process of establishing shared understanding among individuals, is crucial for effective collaboration and organization. It is essential for civilizations to flourish.

What Deserves Our Attention? 2023-05-01

by Jonathan Warden

Every online community has rules that determine how the attention of the community is directed. For example in an online forum, the most up-voted posts may be shown on at the top of the page.

The Law of Attention 2021-09-13

by Jonathan Warden

In this article, I argue that we can apply game theory to explain and control the behaviors that dominate in an online community. Not only can game theory explain why misinformation and abuse are so common in social platforms, it can be used to design social platforms that will be filled with honest, informed, civil, and behavior.

Truthtelling Games 2021-09-12

by Jonathan Warden

In this article, I will use game theory to explain why, under certain conditions, otherwise dishonest Internet people will behave with scrupulous honesty, and how social platforms can be intentionally engineered to create these conditions.

Give Truth the Advantage 2021-09-08

by Jonathan Warden

Everyone knows that the infamous social media algorithms promote the spread of false and misleading information on the Internet. But could they be engineered to do the opposite?

The Deliberative Poll 2020-11-08

by Jonathan Warden

A deliberative poll measures the informed opinion of a group of people who have participated in a discussion about the topic of the poll. This essay introduces a method for integrating deliberative polling into online discussions in social platforms, in order to discover the informed opinion of a group.