Existing Human Institutions
How humans coordinate in society
Scale BasisProtocolsstandards & coordinationPreferencesaggregated wantsRightsformal entitlements & adjudicationIncentivesstructured payoffsExpertisecredentialed epistemic authorityNormsbehavioral expectationsThick Commitmentsarticulated shared understanding
Dyadic2 parties
Handshake protocols & shared formats
Negotiation & bargaining
Mediation & fair dealing
Contracts & escrow
Mentorship & apprenticeship
Social conventions
Vows & covenants
Groupteams, clubs
Team protocols & workflows
Committee voting & prediction markets
Bylaws & grievance boards
Value-based care, bounties & risk-sharing pools
Peer review & quality circles
Team culture & unwritten rules
Community covenants & intentional communities
Communityorgs, cities
Technical standards bodies (W3C, IEEE)
Cooperatives, participatory budgets & local markets
Municipal codes & local courts
Commons governance, quotas & access pricing
Universities, licensing boards & professional associations
Professional codes of conduct
Mission-driven orgs
Nationalstates, nations
National standards agencies (NIST, DIN)
Elections and citizen assemblies
Constitutions, courts & judiciary
Spectrum auctions, cap-and-trade & tax policy
Regulatory agencies (FDA, BaFin)
Legal codes & regulatory norms
Substantive constitutions & founding value documents
Globaltransnational
ISO standards & internet protocols (TCP/IP, HTTP)
Social media recommender systems
Int'l law, treaties & tribunals
Consumer markets, labor income & multilateral trade rules
Expert panels & assessment bodies (IPCC, WHO)
Diplomatic protocols & soft-law norms
Religious orders & global faith traditions