Constructing the Evil Twin of AI

Writer Protocol Foundations-style newsletter piece from the Special Interest Group in Formal Protocol Theory (SIGFPT) argues that formal protocol theory can serve as the "Evil Twin" of AI, the study of designing immovable objects. The author, co-host of SIGFPT, contrasts AI's qualities of intelligence, which makes everything fluid and contingent, and agency, which drives proactive change, with protocols that lock in commitments and restrict options. The piece cites blockchains' "code is law" design, Bitcoin's Proof of Work, and Ethereum's move to Proof of Stake as examples of this tension. The newsletter also reports that a Protocol Foundations Workshop in September drew 30+ participants and that a "tan paper" roadmap for the field is just getting started.