Existing Human Institutions

Present21st-century platforms

Scale ↓→ Basis	Protocolsstandards & coordination	Preferencesaggregated wants	Rightsformal entitlements & adjudication	Incentivesstructured payoffs	Expertisecredentialed epistemic authority	Normsbehavioral expectations	Thick Commitmentsarticulated shared understanding
Dyadic2 parties	Oaths, seals & witnessed agreements; Notarial deeds & merchant forms; Digital signatures & shared data formats	Bargaining & market haggling; Merchant brokers & negotiated mandates; Online auctions & matching platforms	Mediation & third-party arbitration; Merchant courts; Small-claims courts & consumer redress; Online dispute resolution	Written contracts & deposits; Bills of exchange & escrow; Commercial insurance contracts; Platform escrow & reputation-backed exchangeAdded in this era: Smart contracts	Apprenticeship & mentorship; Guild mastery & journeyman progression; Professional certification; Remote mentoring & expert marketplaces	Reciprocity, hospitality & face-saving; Merchant honor & fair-dealing customs; NetiquetteAdded in this era: Platform conduct norms	Vows, kinship compacts & covenants; Marriage sacraments & sworn fealty; Property rights for married women
Groupteams, clubs	Council procedure & military drill; Guild rules & chapter procedure; Codified parliamentary procedure; Project management & quality systemsAdded in this era: Agile & distributed workflows	Council votes & consensus assemblies; Chapter and guild ballots; Committee voting under formal rules; Prediction markets	Guild bylaws & member hearings; Corporate and association charters; Labor grievance procedures; Workplace anti-discrimination processesAdded in this era: Platform moderation appeals	Bounties & shared spoils; Guild mutual-aid funds; Profit-sharing & cooperative dividends; Bug bounties & open-source reputationAdded in this era: Value-based care & outcome contracts	Elder and craft councils; Guild juries & master review; Scholarly peer review; Quality circles; Open-source code review	Honor codes & team custom; Guild and chapter customs; Shop-floor and professional norms; Organizational culture practice; Open-source contributor norms	Religious rules & sworn brotherhoods; Fraternal and mutual-society charters; Intentional-community covenants; Organizational mission statements; Open-source manifestos
Communityorgs, cities	City weights, measures & market rules; Guild product standards; Engineering standards bodies; IEEE technical standards; W3C web standards	Town assemblies & civic councils; Urban communes & town councils; Elected municipal councils; Participatory budgetingAdded in this era: Civic-tech participation platforms	City courts & municipal codes; Borough charters; Elected local government law; Public-health and zoning law; Fair-housing enforcement	Commons rules & seasonal quotas; Market dues, tolls & guild access; Municipal utility franchisesAdded in this era: Creative Commons and open-data licensing; Congestion and access pricing	Universities; Scientific academies; Professional licensing boards; Research universities & teaching hospitals; Open knowledge & online learning networks	Civic and religious conduct codes; Guild ethics codes; Modern professional ethics codes; Research ethics and informed consent; Online community codes of conduct	Civic religions & temple communities; Parishes, monasteries & charitable orders; Voluntary associations; Mission-driven nonprofits; Purpose-led online communities
Nationalstates, nations	Censuses, coinage & road systems; Royal chanceries & standardized writs; State postal systems; Professional civil service; National standards agencies; Digital-government interoperability	Popular assemblies; Estates, diets & early parliaments; Petitions & limited parliamentary elections; Constitutional representative elections; Mass suffrage & political parties; Modern citizens' assemblies	Codified law & public courts; Charters limiting rulers; Common-law and parliamentary rights; Written constitutions & independent judiciaries; Civil-rights and human-rights enforcement; Data protection & digital due process	Taxation, tribute & coinage; Customs duties & feudal levies; Central banks & funded public debt; Patent systems & national tariffs; Progressive taxation & social insurance; Welfare states & automatic stabilizers; Spectrum auctions & emissions trading	Scribal bureaucracy; Royal councils & university-trained officials; Statistical offices & scientific advisers; Independent regulatory commissions; Modern health, monetary & environmental agenciesAdded in this era: National AI safety institutes	Public legal codes; Common law & canon-law influence; State ordinances & administrative police; Constitutional rule-of-law norms; Administrative rulemaking; Anti-discrimination and rights-based regulationAdded in this era: Cybersecurity and AI-governance norms	Sacred kingship & founding myths; Coronation oaths & realm compacts; Social-contract and national-confession texts; Constitutional preambles & bills of rights; Public education & civic nation-building; Postwar social compacts
Globaltransnational	Long-distance trade measures & treaty forms; Lex mercatoria; Resident-diplomat protocol; International telegraph and postal unions; UN system & ISO standards; TCP/IP, DNS, HTTP & web standardsAdded in this era: International AI standards	Transregional religious councils; Diplomatic congresses; International public conferences; UN General AssemblyAdded in this era: Global social-media recommender systems	Treaty law & protections for envoys; Canon-law and merchant jurisdictions; Law of nations; Geneva and Hague humanitarian law; UN Charter, UDHR & regional rights courtsAdded in this era: International Criminal Court	Long-distance trade routes & customs; Merchant fairs & transregional credit; Chartered companies & colonial trade systems; Free-trade treaties & gold-standard coordination; Bretton Woods institutions & GATT; Digital markets & global supply-chain platformsAdded in this era: Global climate finance & carbon markets	Transregional scholarly and religious networks; Republic of Letters & scientific academies; International scientific congresses; WHO, expert treaty bodies & IPCC; Wikipedia, open science & global expert networks	Diplomatic immunity & treaty custom; Canon-law and just-war norms; Sovereignty, balance-of-power & diplomatic protocol; Hague and Geneva conventions; UN Charter, human-rights norms & soft law; Multistakeholder internet-governance normsAdded in this era: Responsible-AI norms	World religions & pilgrimage networks; Transnational religious orders; Anti-slave-trade treaties & international courts; Red Cross & organized internationalism; European integration & UNESCO; Open-source and global knowledge commonsAdded in this era: Global climate and civil-society networks