Decentralized Science: 101
It's time you learned about Blockchain's Killer Use Case
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Hi everyone 🥁!
This is a Deep Dive long in the making. One of the most enduring processes— the Scientific Method— is being reimagined. I spoke to the visionaries behind this new-era Renaissance. Here is the beat on “Decentralized Science.”
Drum roll please 🎶…
Pete
Why is Science using blockchain a big deal?
The world awaits an “aha” moment when everyone “gets” why Blockchain (Web 3) matters. When email arrived, everyone “got” why Web 2 mattered. After hearing “You’ve Got Mail!” there were no longer skeptics. We have not seen anything close to a killer use case in Web 3 (sorry crypto).
Until now. Blockchain’s killer use case has arrived: Decentralized Science, or “DeSci.” While Decentralized Finance (“DeFi”) reduces dependency on centralized banks (i.e. the Federal Reserve), DeSci reduces dependency on centralized guardians of science (i.e. the National Institutes of Health). This recasts the scientific method.
“Walls” or tendencies to keep valuable findings “private” are natural in Market Economies. For 400+ years, scientists have devised tools such as academic journals to break down these barriers. With blockchain, this old “Open Science” movement has new tech that widens science’s aperture in productive, innovative, amazing ways.
Removing walls opens doors to the word’s enduring, intractable health problems. DeSci communities are committed to meaningful scientific inquiries: from women’s reproductive health to eliminating cancer, living longer lives, exploring psychedelic therapeutics, precision health, even hair-loss, and so much more.
Cool, but what exactly is DeSci?
“I stand on the shoulders of Giants” - Sir Isaac Newton
Decentralized Science (“DeSci”) uses blockchain tech to catalyze improvements in the scientific method. For starters, it minimizes science’s greatest shortcomings: Secrecy and Hierarchy (which tend to slow progress):
Secrecy: Isaac Newton changed our understanding in the 1700s of gravity, stars, and a lot more. But even Newton— one of the most influential scientists ever—notoriously concealed his findings using “anagrams.” Science indeed “stands on the shoulders of Giants” but sensibilities that “I must keep these insights private'' (i.e. for commercialization, fame, etc.) constrain progress.
Hierarchy (+Bias): Gregor Mendel was the “Father of Modern Genetics”— but his breakthrough discoveries were mostly ignored in his lifetime, as he came from an atypical background (was a monk!). On the other hand, Charles Darwin, the “Father of Evolution” was revered in his time, as he had the perceived pedigree of scientific excellence (was Cambridge-educated!). Academic credentials may correlate with— but do not dictate— scientific outcomes (anesthesia and penicillin were accidental discoveries!). DeSci overcomes this with tech.
Put simply, DeSci evolves the scientific method using novel blockchain applications (DAOs, NFTs, Smart Contracts, etc).
How does DeSci change the Scientific Method?
I spoke to founders, builders, and community members who are hard-at-work to build this next frontier of Science. In their words:
Observation: Opening up new questions to drive research.
In the words of André Chagwedera, co-founder of Fleming Protocol: “With DeSci, decisions around what is researched and funded are distributed beyond centralized corporations, corporations which typically have a narrow set of interests that don't always align with broader society.”
Research: Funding underfunded topics.
TradSci limits what scientific inquiries we fund in the first place. Laura Minquini of AthenaDAO explains, “Even though half of the world are women, past budgets for NIH to study women’s health have been less than 10%.” DeSci increases funding vehicles for otherwise-ignored areas.
Hypothesis: Incentivizing collaboration in tentative explorations.
Weavechain co-founder Omar EINaggar emphasizes how tokens can solve coordination problems: “tokenomics boil down to divining the optimal incentive structures for groups of people to collaborate in generating network effects.”
Testing: Changing how we experiment.
In the words of a very sophisticated anon biotech investor, “Scientists are often technologists, and technologists have huge blindspots.” DeSci can unlock new perspectives on experiment methodologies.
Analyze data: Breaking silos.
As Weavechain puts it, “[DeSci] researchers are doubling down on the idea that with FAIR data their work will be standardized, structured, and prepared for composability with other projects from day 1.”
Report conclusions: Discovering undiscovered scientists.
A a rising molecular biologist put it: “Publication in Science is a huge problem.. publications are how people determine your worth for employment/grants by and large. In DeSci, the format determines what the best research is in a more democratic fashion.”
Case Studies: DeSci in action
Case Study #1: A community called “AthenaDAO”
Let’s get concrete with a Case Study, AthenaDAO, a virtual organization AKA “DAO” focused on women’s reproductive health and drug development. In the words of Laura Minquini, a founder of AthenaDAO:
“In DeSci there are platforms working on IP innovation, some DAOs are attempting to bridge ‘the valley of death’ (traditionally thought of as the gap between academic research and industrial commercialization), others are trying to democratize ownership. When it comes to reproductive health, we just need more funding to do basic science.
While there are great research institutions, venture funds focused on femtech, and women’s communities, the value AthenaDAO can provide is as a collaborative structure that brings together researchers, funders, and community members…You do not have to be a PhD, a venture capitalist, or an MD to be an active participant and effect change.
The role AthenaDAO intends to play is to provide women with a community that provides education, access to experts, and the latest in evidence based science. And eventually tools that women could opt-in like making use of their data, or a registry for biobanking, for fertility and ovarian aging research…
Please join the AthenaDAO’s Discord, or sign up to our newsletter to be notified of the whitepaper, whitelist, and publishing of the Reproductive Health Report.” Keep an eye out too for the Reproductive Health Report coming in 12/2022!
Case Study #2: A scientist named Dr. Jocelynn Pearl
DeSci’s evangelists illuminate the space’s potential. Consider one of DeSci’s greatest luminaries, Dr. Jocelynn Pearl.
Dr. Pearl is exemplary of a new era of scientists— deeply curious how Web 3 “can be applied to optimize the scientific field.” A PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology from University of Washington, Dr. Pearl is passionate about gene editing and rare disease. While she has a remarkable “TradSci” track record (i.e. published by some of the iconic outlets Nature, Science, etc). Dr. Pearl sees avenues for DeSci to alleviate “issues with the traditional academic system through new incentive structures.”
Dr. Pearl embodies DeSci, in spirit and practice. She participates in a community (LabDAO), launched an NFT project to fund research (UltraRare) and actively and altruistically builds community in the space (i.e. created a DeSci Wiki here, and this map of the entire landscape):
Case Study #3: NFTs for Content Storage
PlantGang is “Putting Nature On-Chain” — literally creating a virtual herbarium in the metaverse using 3D models and NFTs. In the words of one of their Discord members PlantBoi, “I am currently out in Costa Rica at a research station in the rainforest trekking, scouting, and collecting metadata for specimens before they’re modeled in 3D to produce our scientific 3D model NFTs!” Here’s an example:
Case Study #4: Smart contracts for Decentralized Reviews / Publishers
There are also efforts to help “break the walls” that publishers can create in science For example, The Longevity Decentralized Review “provides funding for researchers to review each others work.” Decentralized reviews can use smart contracts to simplify an otherwise cumbersome process. See Towards a Decentralized Process for Scientific Publication and Peer Review using Blockchain and IPFS .
Case Study #5: Protocols for Decentralized Data Storage
Big Tech’s revenue models rely on your data. Even though a researcher might learn a lot studying data generated by an Apple Watch or FitBit, those insights are out-of-reach “secrets” kept in centralized databases. Data economy protocols change this: they enable access to public and private data sets (i.e. Weavechain, Fleming Protocol, Ocean Protocol and others).
So— there’s a lot of use cases. What are the drawbacks?
What’s the investment landscape?
There have been two recent notable transactions: In June 2022, Molecule Protocol raised $12.7M Seed round from traditional and crypto-native funds.
"Many of us are tired of hearing about NFT monkeys selling for millions. Molecule is using the NFT framework for something truly important: helping incredible scientific research transition from the lab bench to the benefit of all. - Seth Bannon, Founding Partner at Fifty Years.
Also this summer, Pfizer announced intentions to invest $500K in Vita DAO, in which Pfizer received $VITA tokens and governance rights. According to Pfizer:
We see VitaDAO pioneering a potentially transformative model for executing science…the Decentralized Science (DeSci) movement also represents a nascent opportunity to transform the traditional business of science via the convergence of cutting-edge science, business, law, and tech.
a16z seems to be hovering around the space with an eye towards investment, publishing some thought pieces.
Still, we are early innings. But the game has started.
How to win the hearts of the skeptics?
DeSci still has a way to go before convincing mainstream science. A bright biotech investor (kept anonymous here) says of their skepticism:
“My skepticism come from two places: (1) disbelief that extreme centralization is necessarily better (why not just new centralized bodies like Arc and Broad, (2) Belief that it all boils down to a new mode for financing and deep down people want to be early in a new way of financing because it makes them money.”
There is a point: there are new breed scientific collectives (i.e. Broad Institute)– none leveraging blockchain. However, these groups still largely tap into the same talent pools. Winning skeptics will require demonstrating DeSci can unleash more capital and brainpower, and showing that DeSci is complementary— not replacing— TradSci.
DeSci is Blockchain’s Killer User Case
In 2008, Satoshi dreamed of a moment like this. Internet collaboration without “inherent weakness” of third-party approval. The point: blockchain’s first killer use case may disrupt the NIH before it disrupts the FED.
*these thoughts are my own / not any affiliations!
Thanks for the write up. Just the tip of the iceberg. Little known that OpSci kick-started the DeSci movement in 2020. Innovation bubbles up from the builders working under the hood to the influencers that communicate it to the rest of the world. Keep your eye on this space if you want to be ahead of the curve on identity, reputation, zk, and research automation
https://pulse.opsci.io/provable-and-computable-identity-for-future-proof-scientific-workflows-b020cdea11e3