Conversation

Feels like obsession with network effects is a web2 hangover. Protocol effects are a superset. Eg: picking a convention (left or right) for a side of the road to drive on, and letting a traffic rules/norms culture emerge around it is a protocol effect.
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A protocol effect is the confinement of future evolution and emergence to a well-behaved and tractable (for humans and computers) subspace of a larger design space. A network effect is a specific kind of protocol effect that features > O(n^2) growth of a characteristic graph.
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Supervenience... Total determination by the substrate. Networks depend on protocols, yes, but total determination? Would seem to leave no room for the physical nodes.
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Really? Seems a bit obvious, but IP stack stinks of counterexample to my nose. But for sure, no network without protocol. (Though Brexiteers may wish it were not so.)
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