A Use Case for Crypto: Decentralized Science (DeSci)

Excuse bad formatting, this is a direct c/p of the html of the original piece. – First seen on Startup Pirate. In this piece we take a deep dive into a movement that came to light out of the recent hype cycle of crypto and has the potential to advance science and positively impact millions of people around the world — Decentralized Science, or DeSci. We discuss some of the problems that science faces today and how the DeSci movement promises to build a world in which scientific progress is a collaborative and transparent process.

On feedback

Asking for feedback ≠ receiving good feedback. You can ask for all the feedback you want — lots of people do — but if your non-verbal communication is not in agreement with your words, then the feedback you’ll get will just be performative. On minor, non-“risky” issues. You can, of course, say you’ve checked the box, you’ve asked for feedback and you got some. But if your people don’t feel safe, if they don’t feel they can be honest with you, the feedback you receive will be largely useless.

Nominal years of experience != actual XP

Nominal years of experience != actual XP gained. Many established co’s fail to grasp this. XP does not accumulate linearly. How much XP you gain depends on your capacity for introspection, your feedback loops, the mentorship & coaching you receive. Qualifying experience by number of years is a failed measure. Sure, including nominal years of experience as a requirement for a job role can be a good filtering mechanism, allowing a co to streamline their recruiting by not having to go through actually inexperienced candidates, saving $$ and time.

Overcoming local maxima in knowledge work

On his Athletes and musicians pursue virtuosity in fundamental skills much more rigorously than knowledge workers do piece from his working notes, Andy Matuschak writes: “Knowledge work rarely involves deliberate practice. […] Core practices in knowledge work are often ad-hoc, and knowledge workers generally don’t seem to pursue a serious program of improving in those core skills. I suspect that this is in large part because the possibility of improvement isn’t salient.

Notes on Zero To One by Peter Thiel

Vertical progress aka 0 to 1 = technology (creating something new) Horizontal progress aka 1 to n = globalization (taking something already working to new places) “What important truth do very few people agree with you on?” “How much of what you know about business is shaped by mistaken reactions to past mistakes? “What valuable company is nobody building?” Creating value is not enough - a company has to be able to capture that value.