Thread by @SamoBurja

HTTP is the operating protocol for the web. Politeness is one of many operating protocols for social interactions.

Like HTTP, politeness can be documented and taught. Disregard the protocol, and bad things happen.

samoburja.com/social-technol…

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Although it sounds similar, “social technology” does not mean social *media* technology, like Facebook or Reddit.

The Reddit software and servers are material technologies. But Reddit’s use of human moderators is a social technology.

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Social and material technologies often act symbiotically, but they are functionally distinct.

As I have argued before, the difference between a curious invention and a broadly adopted technology is the right feat of social engineering:

palladiummag.com/2020/05/28/how…

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In fact “social engineering” is a lot closer to what we mean by social technology.

We might say that social technologies are the results of successful social engineering: deliberate and specific designs for how humans should behave and interact to achieve some goal.

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We take many critical social technologies for granted: currency, law, government, and much more.

These things are not properly material technologies. They are also not natural. They were born from concerted human agency acting to achieve a certain goal.

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This artificial origin is why we analogize them to technology, rather than calling them “social norms”, or taking a broader anthropological approach.

At one time, these things did not exist. Someone invented them and implemented them. And they were novel at the time.

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Social technologies proceduralize behavior, reducing coordination costs by making it possible to expect and plan around routine behaviors from others.

Imagine if you couldn’t reliably expect people to follow through on contracts, or, say, show up to meetings fully clothed.

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While useful at an individual level, social technologies make it possible for large-scale coordinated action at the institutional and societal levels.

Institutions and societies cannot function only on the organic social consensus of a small group.

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Law is another example of a social technology. It can be used to regulate disputes, define responsibilities, and set expectations of proceduralized bureaucratic action.

Different legal systems can promote very different behaviors and, in turn, reshape society.

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Another example: Diplomacy. Heads of state do not just meet up at a bar to hash out disputes and treaties.

The apparatus of diplomatic protocol based on codified rules and long-running customs allows leaders from different cultures to meet on mutually intelligible ground.

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Credentials are a good example. These artificial markings allow people to identify experts or sort people into appropriate classes immediately, without having to do their own research.

A college degree allows you to get a job where you otherwise wouldn’t have been hired.

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An encyclopedia could be devoted to the kinds of social technologies that humanity has invented at one point or another.

Rituals, awards, marriage, magic, marketing, and much more could be described as social technology: deliberate practices designed to achieve a goal.

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For more essays in this series read the new Great Founder Theory document!

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https://twitter.com/SamoBurja/status/1322225349766324225