What Is Decentralized Science (DeSci)?
This article aims to conceptualize the characteristics of science within the context of distributed ledger technology and blockchain-mediated digital transformation. It introduces an open alternative to the current scientific system—Decentralized Science (DeSci). This new movement among scientists and enthusiasts stands for transparency, open-access scientific research, and publicly funded, crowdsourced peer review in the crypto space. It aims to increase social participation and collaboration across the science field. In this article, we distinguish and analyze the major issues within the modern scientific system and outline the boundless opportunities presented by DeSci.
Traditional Science (TradSci) Limitations
Traditional science (TradSci) methodically seeks knowledge through theory, experimentation, and observation. This conservative field has many problems that have slowed its progress over decades. We have identified six main issues: research funding, peer reviews and research publications, intellectual property ownership, access to research and awareness, reproducibility and replicability of research findings, and communication and collaboration among researchers.
TradSci follows a centralized approach, where major publishers and institutions disproportionately control research. This leads to several drawbacks. Innovation often slows due to competition and a lack of funding.
For example, potential breakthroughs may be hindered if promising early-stage projects are denied grants. The lengthy and biased publishing process of high-impact journals can hinder the timely communication of knowledge. A study might take years to publish, which hampers the broader community’s ability to expand on these findings.
The current opaque model of scientific funding is highly susceptible to biases and self-interest of funding review panels. Traditionally, a small group of trusted individuals scores applications, interviews candidates, and then awards funds to a small portion of them. This not only creates bottlenecks but also sometimes results in years-long waits between applying for and receiving funding. Funding often expires after about three years, pushing scientists away from long-term projects.
Additionally, paywalls set up for published research create barriers to access, particularly for independent researchers and the public. This system can hinder collaboration and ultimately reduce the potential impact of scientific advancement. Tens of thousands of dollars undermine the principle that science should serve the public interest, as publishing papers can be costly.
What Is Decentralized Science (DeSci)?
The emergence of decentralized science effectively addresses these shortcomings. DeSci aims to create an ecosystem where scientists are motivated to conduct and share their research openly and transparently, gain recognition for their work, enable easy access to research for anyone, contribute to research, and attract more talent into the field.
Decentralized science (DeSci) applies decentralized technology to the scientific method, fundamentally transforming traditional science (TradSci). DeSci does not rely on centralized institutions and intermediaries but instead utilizes decentralized means to create and disseminate knowledge. Essentially, DeSci’s goal is to expand access to scientific data, foster a more transparent peer review process, and encourage international cooperation among researchers. Leveraging blockchain technology, DeSci ensures the integrity and immutability of scientific records while eliminating barriers to entry.
Moreover, DeSci strongly emphasizes transparency, supporting free and open access to methods, data, and conclusions. DeSci fosters an open and accountable environment by encouraging transparency, thus making scientific research more reproducible and credible.
Collaboration is central to DeSci, utilizing distributed networks to achieve cross-border, censorship-resistant collaboration. DeSci promotes diversity of perspectives, sharing of expertise, and collective problem-solving by removing institutional and geographical boundaries.
Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) and tokens compensate researchers for their efforts, driving the incentive mechanisms behind DeSci. These rewards align individual interests with the collective goals of enhancing knowledge, creativity, and social impact. DeSci promotes participation, creativity, and the preservation of scientific methods through economic incentives.
How Decentralized Science (DeSci) Works
DeSci leverages blockchain for secure data storage, utilizes decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) for decentralized decision-making, and employs tokenization to incentivize research contributions and manage intellectual property rights.
Thanks to its immutable and decentralized structure, blockchain technology ensures secure and reliable data storage. Blockchain data is resistant to tampering and single points of failure as it is distributed across multiple nodes in the network. Each block in the blockchain contains the cryptographic hash of the previous block, creating a linked sequence of data blocks. Adding blocks to the chain ensures data integrity and security, as it is computationally infeasible to alter any earlier blocks without the majority of the network's approval.
DAOs are a crucial component of DeSci, enabling transparent and decentralized funding distribution and project governance. DAOs allow stakeholders to manage resources and make collaborative decisions without centralized intermediaries, by utilizing smart contracts on the blockchain network. DAO members can use programmable governance mechanisms to implement rules, propose and vote on research initiatives, and allocate funds to certain projects.
In DeSci, tokens and intellectual property non-fungible tokens (IP-NFTs) are vital for encouraging participation and asserting ownership of research outcomes. IP-NFTs allow researchers to tokenize their intellectual property, such as papers, datasets, and patents, on the blockchain. Tokens are used to coordinate incentives within the decentralized research community, compensate researchers for their contributions, and encourage collaboration.
With IP-NFTs, scholars can tag their intellectual property—including papers, databases, and patents—granting themselves ownership that can be traded or licensed on blockchain platforms. This encourages innovation and information sharing within the DeSci ecosystem by motivating researchers to openly share their work while maintaining ownership and control over their intellectual property.
Potential Projects In The Decentralized Science (DeSci) Sector
Data Lake
Data Lake facilitates the advancement of research and the improvement of treatments. This project is developing blockchain tools to connect patients willing to donate their medical data with researchers who need this data.
Token: LAKE
Aimedis
Aimedis enables patients to manage their medical records, interact with healthcare professionals, and access telemedicine services. Aimedis' DataXChange feature facilitates seamless data sharing among healthcare providers.
Token: AIMX
OriginTrail
The cryptocurrency OriginTrail is a significant project aimed at providing transparent, verifiable, and secure supply chain management solutions. As an open-source network based on blockchain technology, OriginTrail strives to provide traceability and transparency for global supply chains.
Token: TRAC
Rejuve AI
Rejuve.AI aims to create an open, transparent, and seamless ecosystem for research and development in the AI field. By using the project's token, researchers, developers, and professionals can easily share data, collaborate, and create AI projects at scale. This model effectively lowers the barriers to entry in AI programming, data analysis, and machine learning, thus opening up new possibilities and opportunities.
Token: RJV
Conclusion
Decentralized science holds the promise to transform the scientific landscape, fostering collaboration and accelerating the pace of scientific discovery. By utilizing decentralized technology, DeSci can democratize knowledge acquisition, enhance transparency, and drive innovation across various research fields.
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