Existing Human Institutions

How human coordination infrastructure accumulated over time

Scale ↓→ Basis	Protocolsstandards & coordination	Preferencesaggregated wants	Rightsformal entitlements & adjudication	Incentivesstructured payoffs	Expertisecredentialed epistemic authority	Normsbehavioral expectations	Thick 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
Methodsdesign practices	Protocol designStandards developmentInteroperability testing	Electoral system designAuction designPreference elicitationDeliberative process design	Constitutional designDispute system designLegislative draftingComparative institutional analysis	Mechanism designMarket designMatching market designMetrology	Accreditation	Regulatory designLegislative drafting	Values articulation methodsHermeneuticsCase canon designAlignment writing