Understanding traditional science (TradSci) and its limitations
Conventional science, or TradSci, represents the methodical search for knowledge via theory, experimentation and observation.
Conventional science follows a centralized approach in which major publishers and institutions have disproportionate control over research. This leads to several drawbacks. Innovation is often slowed down due to competition and the scarcity of funding.
Potential breakthroughs could be hampered, for instance, if grants are denied to promising early-stage initiatives. The lengthy and biased publishing process in high-impact journals might impede the timely exchange of knowledge. It could take years for a study to be published, which would hinder the capacity of the larger community to expand on those discoveries.
Furthermore, paywalls placed on published research create barriers to access, especially for independent researchers and the public. This system may hinder cooperation and ultimately reduce the potential influence of scientific advancements. The tens of thousands of dollars undermine the idea that science should serve the public interest it can cost to publish a paper.
There are open-access preprint services like ArXiv, but they don’t provide article-level tracking, identity verification or quality control. SciHub provides unauthorized access; hence, there is a need for an official, easily accessible science platform. Web3 provides the resources needed to create a system that ensures data integrity and encourages participation.
Decentralized science as an alternative approach to existing scientific system
Decentralized Science (DeSci), within the framework of Web3, is a paradigm shift in scientific research characterized by four fundamental principles: incentives, transparency, decentralization and cooperation.
The shift from centralized institutions, where a small number of entities control the majority of the power, to distributed networks, where participants share the majority of the authority, is known as decentralization. This change lessens the power of gatekeepers and increases inclusivity by democratizing access to resources and decision-making.
DeSci places a strong emphasis on transparency, supporting free and open access to methodology, data and conclusions. DeSci fosters an environment of openness and accountability by encouraging transparency, which makes scientific research more reproducible and trustworthy.
Collaboration lies at the heart of DeSci, which uses dispersed networks to enable cross-border, censorship-resistant cooperation. DeSci promotes a diversity of viewpoints, the sharing of expertise and group problem-solving by dismantling institutional and geographic boundaries.
Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) and tokens, which compensate researchers for their efforts, are the driving forces behind DeSci’s incentives. These rewards match the interests of the person with the group’s objectives of enhancing knowledge, creativity and societal influence. DeSci promotes involvement, creativity and the preservation of the scientific method by including financial incentives.
How DeSci works
DeSci harnesses blockchain for secure data storage, DAOs for decentralized decision-making, and tokenization for incentivizing research contributions and controlling intellectual property.
Due to its immutable and decentralized structure, blockchain technology ensures safe and secure data storage. Blockchain data is resistant to tampering and single points of failure since it is dispersed among several nodes in a network. An ordered sequence of linked data blocks is produced by each block in the chain having a cryptographic hash of the preceding block. Adding a block to the chain ensures the integrity and security of the data because it is computationally impossible to change any earlier blocks without the approval of the majority of the network.
DAOs are essential components of DeSci, enabling transparent and decentralized finance allocation and project governance. DAOs allow stakeholders to manage resources and make decisions collaboratively without the need for centralized intermediaries. They achieve this by using smart contracts on blockchain networks. Members of a DAO can use programmable governance mechanisms to impose rules, propose and vote on research plans and allocate cash for certain projects.
In DeSci, tokens and intellectual property nonfungible tokens (IP-NFTs) are essential for encouraging involvement and claiming ownership of research results. IP-NFTs allow researchers to tokenize their intellectual property (e.g., papers, data sets, patents) on the blockchain. Tokens can be used to align incentives within decentralized research communities, compensate researchers for their contributions and encourage collaboration.
With IP-NFTs, academics can award themselves ownership rights that can be exchanged or licensed on blockchain platforms by tokenizing their intellectual property, including papers, databases and patents. This encourages innovation and information sharing within the DeSci ecosystem by incentivizing researchers to share their work publicly while maintaining ownership and control over their intellectual property.
Benefits of DeSci
DeSci fosters innovation and teamwork, democratizes access to scientific knowledge and builds a more inclusive and egalitarian research environment.
Firstly, it encourages inclusivity by lowering entrance barriers, enabling scientists from many locations and backgrounds to take part in and contribute to scientific projects. In addition, by providing open access to data, methods and results, DeSci fosters trust and openness while promoting reproducibility and peer review.
Furthermore, it promotes international cooperation by allowing researchers to collaborate in a decentralized, censorship-resistant way that speeds up innovation and problem-solving. DeSci also presents innovative incentive systems, including as tokens and DAOs, which ensure equitable pay for researchers and encourage involvement.
IP-NFTs let researchers retain control over their intellectual property, potentially monetizing their work and incentivizing open sharing. Moreover, DeSci could remove paywalls and democratize access to research data and findings, promoting broader knowledge exchange.
In the world of DeSci, trust and verifiable credentials are paramount. Soulbound tokens, as nontransferable markers of achievement, provide a powerful tool for researchers to demonstrate their expertise and trustworthiness within the community.
Challenges concerned with DeSci
DeSci faces challenges in ensuring data security, efficient DAO governance, blockchain scalability, navigating legal gray areas and promoting inclusivity if it aims to transform research as intended.
A huge challenge exists in ensuring data security and integrity on decentralized networks since bad actors could try to alter or tamper with research data. Moreover, reaching an agreement in DAOs can be difficult, necessitating the management of competing interests and choices through efficient governance structures.
In addition, scalability is still a problem since large-scale research projects’ high transaction and data volumes may be too much for blockchain networks to manage. Widespread adoption is further hampered by legal issues and regulatory uncertainty related to data ownership and intellectual property rights.
Furthermore, overcoming the digital gap and ensuring that researchers from all geographical and socioeconomic backgrounds have fair access to DeSci tools and resources is critical. Overcoming these obstacles will take creative thinking, teamwork and constant adjustment to the changing decentralized technology landscape.