We Need to Decentralize Scientific Research!
Possibly One of The Biggest Threats Our Culture Faces Today
The root of the problem is very simple. Scientists don't have the freedom to research as they like. The financial ability to pursue interesting powerful amazing topics unless it can get funding from people or organizations with a lot of money (attached to vested typically biased interests).
Unfortunately, that rules out just about any major research funding into things that would truly revolutionize society by dismantling the status quo!
This post started as a call to arms to design such platforms. However, when I was doing some preliminary research I found out that some already exist!
Experiment
About
Consano
Mission
USEED
About
Now What
Now my goal is to simply contribute to and raise awareness of these platforms, so they can grow to become a truly viable alternative for scientific research!
If anyone has a clever idea how pairing these with crypto technology would make them more effective, let's discuss it!
Does anyone know any other platforms besides the ones mentioned above?
More On The Significance of This Problem
Discussions between @alexander.alexis and I on:
Is Science Just Another Religion?: 21st Century Dogma, Faith in Science and the Cult of Objectivity
Also, something I read recently that builds the case for the problem.
So you wanted to be a scientist? Let me tell you what's happening in academia today! Created by @lys
These two articles are what sparked the idea to look this up.
Rieki
Dedicated to Word-Smithing High-Quality, Detailed, Original Content
I enjoyed this post, I agree with a lot of what you said here. When it comes to things labeled as "fringe" or even "pseudoscience" by the mainstream High priests of science, funding becomes even more difficult . One of my main motivations in coming onto the steemit platform was to be able to earn by blogging step by step, an electric car conversion by using a unique design with permanent magnets on the pistons. After learning I can only earn on the content for the first 7 days was discouraging though, and now looking into other things like using youtube and patreon combinations in all this too. But I will have to check out some of these resources you listed now to see if they could help in some way. Thanks again in raising the awareness in this, history has always shown the best advancements come out of peoples garages/ backyards, and not corporations.
Absolutely!!! That's awesome! Yes only the first week, however, you can launch them on here and still have them elsewhere. Look into lbry credits. They are launching a platform that I believe would be more conducive to long term. Or just tips on Reddit ;) I would be very interested in following you journey! When do you think you'll get the first information uploaded?
YES! I have been telling my fellow students and friends for weeks that science has to become decentralised. Its ridiculous that science is figuratively in the hands of corporations now! As a scientist you do not get funding if you do not research areas that corporations want you to research. Researching in universities allows for a bit more flexibility but then it also gives a lot less money. In the end its the rich that decide what is researched and not the people. By democratizing science it gives power back to the people to decide on what they want the scientific community to study. Love this post and love blockchain for the possibilities it can bring!
Perfect! What students do you have? What are you teaching? How can we leverage this to drive more traction to these sites and movement?
Exactly! Yes.
I study neuroscience/human biology. I am also a co-founder of an NGO called Global Education Movement (check it out on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GEMovement/) which aims to revolutionise education and make high quality education accessible to everyone. In GEM we believe education has become too institutionalised and it needs to be brought back to the people (i will write a post on this in the upcoming days). In general, i think any project in education/science which tries to bring power back to the people needs to involve academics who are fed up with the system (and trust me, there are many of them). Have you been working on anything regarding this? Or more of an idea you have been playing around with?
Yes!! Thank you! (For being part of a solution that is :) )
I look forward to your post! I checked out a bit of GEMovement, on facebook! I love it. Solid concept and it looks like it's gaining traction. I am following and can't wait to see it develop further.
I absolutely have been working on solving this issue for myself! My approach (one that I'm passionate about) of decentralizing science (and knowledge as a whole) is to create tools to better understand ourselves, for ourselves (so we don't need other institutions to tell us). That is my idea of true decentralization :)
I have been applying and developing alternative strategies for decision making and methods for us to better understand the world ourselves.
I just started a series on decision making. How I Learned To Make Decisions! A Framework For Decision Making to Decide a Better lIfe (Step 1)
It's one of the many tools I hope to share and better develop to help us better understand our world :) I would love some feedback if you have any, as these tools are open-source :)
This is essentially my purpose on Steem and my blog. To share methods that empower us!
Thanks for following us! And I will be following you too :)! and cant wait for the series on decision making to develop. And i am super happy to see that other people also see that science needs to be decentralised! to create tools to better understand ourselves, for ourselves (so we don't need other institutions to tell us). That is my idea of true decentralization I definitely agree!
Which people? The same people who vote this political system into existence? First people must be educated, then they can vote and decide on which research to fund etc. As it is, I worry that "giving the power to the people" will bring the same results as giving the power to another arbitrary group of rich people.
I agree that people need to be educated, however the system we have no fails at this. The gap in knowledge between common people and scientist has become increased drastically. Thats why people like Trump and Brexit happened, because common people feel that they are left behind by the elite that governs now and thus are easily influenced by populist ideologies. Its the fault of the educated that such a gap exists and it has to be fixed.
True. I myself didn't pursue an academic career because I didn't want to preach to like-minded individuals in Ivory Towers.
The only solution I see is "intellectuals" (whatever field they're in) going into the media, in whatever form. Ricky Gervais for instance studied philosophy and biology, and yet he's spreading his message to the masses. In ancient Greece there wasn't such a big divide between the people who "thought" and those who didn't. That's because the Greek theater was there to close that divide. The modern intellectuals have relinquished control of his omnipotent weapon to the demagogues, and they're paying for it now. That's partly because an intellectual is by his nature shy and withdrawn: not all scientists can suddenly go Bill Nye or Carl Sagal or Neil Degrasse Tyson on your ass! There's a lot to be done, but mostly I think religion is the first thing that needs to go away, because that's primarily (I think) the thing that keeps most people in one camp, closing their ears to whatever the other camp has to say. They don't want to listen to the educated, if educated = atheist.
I agree on most of your points. Especially on media bridging the gap between the "elite" and the people. Thats why I think steemit has such a potential, but its also dangerous because information on steemit is seen as valuable if the community likes it. But if you have a uneducated community = uneducated information being appreciated. And yes, most scientists are shy and withdrawn but they need to work on opening up towards people to bridge this gap!
Very well put.
Could you imagine the modern IRB reviewing a research grant proposal from Charles Darwin?
". . . so you want to sail around the world for three years, on an obsolete battleship, visiting deserted islands to just look at . . . birds?!"
"Well if you put it that way . . . "
"Absolutely not! Proposal rejected!"
Absolutely love it!! I would start a crowd-funding campaign for him :)
Although I have some differences in opinion from his findings or conclusions drawn from his findings they were never-the-less revolutionary and helped propel our understandings! So, he gets $20 from my pocket to fund his sailing adventure!
I guess in the framework of NeighborGood, major scientific discoveries like Darwin's can be funded with a system akin to the wandering monk/missionary paradigm of the early 2-3 century CE. The wandering scientist trades information and discovery in return for lodging, food, and other amenities.
It is quite surprising that Patricius (St. Patrick) travelled and lived in Ireland trading blessings and stories of a new god for tangible amenities. Modern materialist mind would categorically reject such trade, but our forebears seems to have had your 10 capital framework in operating their societies.
Absolutely! I love to see the connection to the various attributes of ON you're creating!
Darwin would get crowd funded and would have an extremely popular blog financing his travels :). In fact with blogging is where we see another stark example of any capital into financial capital. Being one can blog about just about anything and if it draws a crowd and is found valuable it can translate into financial capital. Honestly, on one hand, I love it and see the utility and value these instruments are creating. On another hand, I love the world where relationships are held together with favors unmet. Where every interaction isn't settled the moment it happens. When my neighbor loans me a tool, he has provided value in my life. I feel appreciation and gratitude for the gift and when he asks for something I gladly return the favor. This exchange was more heart-filled and enjoyable than a pure money (medium of exchange) interaction would have been.
I say we cut out the middle man:)
In a world envisioned by Charles Einstein, I think scientific research will shift dramatically in focus and interest. Modern scientific purpose is essentially to discover perspectives and technologies to maintain a centralized, bureaucratic state that consumes most of the citizen's energy: the fusion reactor research in France, NASA's astroid mining theories, AI development to collate and organize the near-infinite data being collected. Even block-chain technology is developed to enhance the efficiency of financial and legal transactions. The discontented hunger of a bureaucracy and her materially rich but spiritually poor citizens drive current scientific focus in search of more effective means of resource hoarding.
In a world of decentralized communities, content with minor luxuries, whose fundamental assumptions are of gratitude and gift cycling, modern scientific endeavors would seem purposeless and foreign. Why expend resources discovering exo-planets to colonize and astroids to mine, when man develops the ability to live in harmony within one locality, let alone one planet? With what purpose would an infinite power source of the fusion reactor serve in a world of resource contentment? How would a sophisticated data collating artificial intellect be utilized in a localized society of communal relationship?
I think in a ON paradigm, the science will be less technical/mechanical in focus and more observational. Observational research does not really require a centralized locus, as the scientists will be required to travel to different areas. I think the cost of scientific studies will decrease significantly because of the dramatic shift in man' perspective on his relationship with this planet and his purpose.
Yes!! Finally! Real, transparent and sincere research by the people for the people!
Science is to a large extent already "by the people", since anyone can be a scientist. You don't have to be ordained by God, or possess the celibate steeliness of a Catholic priest, or a monied parent, or come from a long lineage or aristocrats, etc. And as far as I'm aware, there is no worthy research that didn't come to the light eventually, or any worthy scientist who was ever successfully muzzled by other scientists. Yes, some scientists were given hell sometimes, but it's the same everywhere you look, like the arts, literature, etc. It seems to me that humans - not scientists specifically - are inherently resistant to change, and to ideas that challenge their held views.
Nope, you just have to get a PHD... A fundamentally similar process. Check out 'disciplined minds' who goes to great lengths to discuss this issue.
"And as far as I'm aware, there is no worthy research that didn't come to the light eventually, or any worthy scientist who was ever successfully muzzled by other scientists."
As far as you're aware? Or, do you believe that this doesn't happen on a regular basis. I can go through the minimal effort it will take to bring examples. But, I'm sure that you're not suggesting this.
I'm saying science (v) has been taken over by science (n) which engages as any large organization would through power, coercion and maintaining the status quo.
What I'm saying here is nothing to deal with change, or resistance to change. Etc.
With this post I'm detailing some solutions to funding as restricted access to money is probably the #1 method for our establishment to control science research. Sure, plenty of scientists may have bold, status-quo defying, revolutionary hypothesis they would like to research. But, can never do so because they don't have money...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srinivasa_Ramanujan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marjorie_Rice
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_amateur_mathematicians
You can literally be a housewife and publish in a respected journal. You can be an autodidact. All you have to do is prove that what you're saying is true. Your experiences with telepathy for instance are quite easy to prove, and don't really require much funding, besides buying sandwiches for people so they don't go hungry during the experiment.
So you're saying there are people who discovered the future equivalent of electricity, or who have cured cancer, but the establishment muzzles them? I know about fuel-alternatives or whatever, but I don't consider those successful attempts at muzzling, nor is it Science's fault, it's monied interests'.
That I agree with. Don't know how 'plenty' they are, but they sure do exist.
Again, I will read your other articles, it's just I'm kinda swamped at the moment!
Hahah no worries! Thanks for the info. Correcting me on words I didn't truly mean. Sure, you can get published I was simply referring to getting a Ph.D. (which is typically required if one is going to get any sort of funding). I mean, marge simpson got published remember ;)
Sure, there's plenty of cures for cancer... Hemp Oil is a good start ;)
"Your experiences with telepathy for instance are quite easy to prove, and don't really require much funding, besides buying sandwiches for people so they don't go hungry during the experiment."
Going to take a lot of sandwhichs, because it only works every now and again ;)
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Haha! Good to know my efforts are being valued ;)
Interesting links, thanks for sharing! This seems to be a step in the right direction. I upvoted and followed you.
You're welcome! I'm glad you found it helpful! We need to get this information out there and shift the power.
nice bro!
Thank you :)
This has been true for some time and its only been getting worse. However, if things get bad they're apt to change, so maybe we'll see financial centralization within the scientific community again.
Pretty good critique, thank you for posting.
You're welcome!
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Thanks for the feature! I have you on discord! It's a great place! Thank you :)
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Thank you :)