Democratization of science through its decentralization is leading to a revolution in the way scientific research is conducted which will revolutionize every field of scientific exploration.
Scientists can use blockchain tools such as smart contracts and tokens to improve collaboration in scientific endeavors between different groups conducting research. This so-called decentralized science direction, or DeSci for short, combines blockchain and Web3 technologies to streamline the conduct of scientific research.
The primary goal of DeSci is broader participation and funding with a constructive approach to scientific challenges, as well as democratizing the review process for research results.
DeSci can also create standards for storing research results. While in blockchains created for financial purposes, such as Bitcoin, transactions are verified by a network of miners, research results can also be verified by participants in blockchain networks created for science.
Decentralization of science
Blockchain-based review ecosystems can be transparent and can lend credibility to research conducted even by different groups of participants. Researchers can, for example, receive a share or "reward" for participation by encouraging the broader community to participate in research or peer review.
Essentially, decentralizing science enables the development of platforms that allow more people to work with what Dr. Benjamin Bratton calls the "source code of matter" at a fundamental level. Democratizing science through decentralized science would allow for a new kind of interface layer for the modern scientific revolution. The way to do this is to decentralize access to scientific research - in short, to allow all scientists to join in, to observe, and to be able to give reviews.
We have seen this happen with computers, and we believe it can happen in the scientific field as well. At the beginning of the computer revolution, working with software was difficult. Very few understood the rarefied technologies that became more intuitive and simplified over time - through various levels of abstraction - and therefore allowed more people to become valuable contributors. Some of the technologies that have made this possible include Javascript and helpful packages developed to streamline coding. At a lower level of abstraction, there is technology like WordPress that allows people who don't understand software or coding to set up their website.
Blockchain technology in the service of science
Blockchain technology (tokens, NFTs, metaverse) can positively impact the economics of a platform in a way that democratizes access to scientific collaboration. When you think of platforms, you usually think of Uber or Airbnb, which are world-changing projects in their own right. But platform economics is something that is a very new field of research and is really pushing game theory as an academic discipline forward. This process started with Bitcoin (BTC) and has since been supported only by Ethereum (ETH) and dozens, if not hundreds, of other blockchains.
Historically, online platforms and applications have tended to be the central axis in the value creation process. The more often they are used, the more value the platform builder derives from it. Blockchain enables a more equitable arrangement where the more people participate in a platform and the more people bring value to the platform, the more all stakeholders benefit from the platform.
Decentralized learning (DeSci) is different from an IP or platform where the more it is used, the more the platform benefits and the more value is consolidated.
With DeSci, the people who generate value - researchers, scientists, citizen scientists, etc. - get value corresponding to the value of their contribution; i.e., the more often it is used by other researchers and scientists, etc., the more value all users receive.
The impact this can have on basic scientific, mathematical, and other research can be extremely important. DeSci creates new ways to contribute and collaborate that were not possible until blockchain technology came along. If you have knowledge or understanding of a particular topic that is valuable internally and as a component of a larger project (you may not even know what that project is), someone else can benefit from your contribution, and you can be recognized for it and earn specific money depending on the size of your contribution.
NFTs will play a big role in the future of the metaverse, as they are the means by which scientific findings can be securely disseminated. Universities are already using NFTs like the University of California, Berkeley, which auctioned off an NFT tied to documents relating to the world of Nobel Prize winning cancer researcher James Allison for over $50,000.
The U.S. Space Force, a branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, has begun selling a series of NFTs containing augmented reality images of satellites and space iconography. Nebula Genomics biology pioneer George Church plans to sell NFTs of Church's genome.
Church is a geneticist at Harvard University in Cambridge and helped launch the Human Genome Project. There are a growing number of use cases for NFT in science and more are sure to follow.
Blockchain enables a unique focus focused on discovery, indexing, and value computation. There is potential that DeSci organizations now need to bring in to improve the scientific process.
This should result in an incredible explosion in the advancement of research and thus humanity.