The importance of Decentralized Science in the era of hyperchange
Advancing basic science and human knowledge
We are living in the era of hyperchange, the amount of new contents released into the internet is more than what one person can consume in a lifetime: millions of videos premiered on video platforms and thousands of apps released into the app stores per day. Unfortunately, the pace of scientific discovery is not happening at the same rate as output of web contents. There's a relatively unknown sector in Web3 that is gradually trying to change that and advance science with the power of the blockchain: it's called Decentralized Science or DeSci. There are several ways in which science can benefit from the power of Web3.
From the encyclopedia of Brittanica, "science involves the pursuit of knowledge covering general truths or the operations of fundamental laws." The scientific method that is employed in numerous science subjects, is one method that allows for the discovery of new knowledge or findings through formulating hypothesis, conducting experiments, measuring the results, and writing reports about the conclusions. Typically, in scientific publishing, due to the misaligned incentives, scientists will not publish their own "failed experiments." This actually results in wasted effort and "knowledge" that might be replicated by other scientists in vain. Web3 can help to mitigate this problem by providing an alternative platform where scientists can save their failed experiments and record each steps of their experiments on the blockchain. In addition, replication is an indispensable characteristic of the scientific method, by being able to replicate other scientists' findings, they can discover ground truths.
In traditional science, funding is hard to come by because of the strenuous process required to apply for grants, and it will usually involve having lots of connections. Scientists spend 1/3 to half of their time writing grants. Furthermore, the funding process is very opaque and not transparent at all. For instance, in some countries, science funding will be granted for research projects that are intended to have direct societal relevance. However, the serendipitous nature of discovery coupled with the fact that some invention/result from a study may not be put to practice use immediately are well-recognized by the scientific community. This is what some may call basic science research. Web3 is known for having an effective and transparent way for fundraising since decisions and votes can be recorded on the blockchain. One of the most popular ways is sales of intellectual property NFT's or scientific arts that can be used to raise funding for organizations. Since science is also considered a public good because it benefits humanity, Web3 public-good funding models, such as retroactive funding (rewarding research that was carried out in the past) or quadratic funding can be used to fund research activities.
In the era of hyperchange, traditional schooling will become accelerated for ambitious learners. The traditional way to become a recognized scientist is to go through a traditional four-year program to get a bachelor's degree, followed by a five-year doctoral program before being able to make scientific discovery. Similar to how Web3 companies work, DeSci also emphasizes the distributed yet coordinated effort of people collaborating together, regardless of their background. Thanks to the numerous DAO's that are self-organized and have specific governance, more people can participate in the scientific discovery process to discover cure for hair loss (HairDAO), precision health (CureDAO), longevity research (VitaDAO), research psychedelics (PsyDAO), and various others.
Overall, I think Web3 has a net-positive benefit on science for society by empowering researchers through innovative funding, decentralized repository of scientific knowledge, and rewards for collaboration. Some day, DeSci may be the next Web3 trend to onboard future generations into science through the power of the blockchain.