Vitalik Buterin on Decentralized Science, Aging, AI and Scientific Progress

Today we have a special one! In this episode, we have Vitalik Buterin as a guest, interviewed by Vincent Weisser.  They discuss the intersection of science and cryptocurrency, focusing on the concept of "decentralized science."  Vitalik explains how decentralized technologies, such as cryptocurrency, can improve science and the institutions of science by allowing for more diverse funding and collaboration among people. He also mentions specific tools, such as quadratic funding and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), that can be used to fund and structure scientific projects.   He also highlights his current project, "Balvi", which is focused on addressing the COVID-19 situation and is funded by cryptocurrency. He also mentions the challenges of scaling up quickly and how this can be a good approach for established donors and talks about the use of technology such as DeSci and reputation systems to help solve the problem of determining who is trustworthy.    There is undoubtedly much more to be found in this episode and we hope you enjoy this conversation between Vitalik Buterin and Vincent Weisser. Make sure to skip between the timestamps below to find your favorite topics and learn more about the discussed topics through all the linked resources below. ____  Some of the resources discussed.  - Vitaliks blog: https://vitalik.ca/ - Vitaliks twitter: https://twitter.com/vitalikButerin - Decentralized Science Explainer https://ethereum.org/en/desci/ - Ending Aging book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ending_Aging- Science DAOs like: http://vitadao.com/ - Some of the projects he supported https://cryptorelief.in/, https://impetusgrants.org/, https://www.sens.org/, https://arcinstitute.org/ - Balvi (Pandemic Prevention): https://twitter.com/VitalikButerin/status/1522017142320685057 - Quadratic Payments by Vitalik: https://vitalik.ca/general/2019/12/07/quadratic.html - DeSoc Paper by Puja, Glen and Vitalik: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4105763 - Progress: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/07/we-need-new-science-progress/594946/ - Network States: https://vitalik.ca/general/2022/07/13/networkstates.html - RadicalxChange: https://www.radicalxchange.org/ - The most important century https://www.cold-takes.com/most-important-century/ - Curveballs: pandemics, existential, risks from nuclear, ai, bio, wars - Recommend reading: https://80000hours.org/ - DeSoc x DeSci by Puja: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUzwSPmP4nY ____   Timestamps:   00:00 - 00:37 Intro 00:37 - 06:36 Vitalik's definition of DeSci and what he is most excited about.   06:36 - 09:32 Improvements to retroactive or quadratic funding. 09:32 - 11:30 Vitalik on DeSoc in the context of science (Decentralized Society).   11:30 - 12:51 What to build at the intersection of DeSci and DeSoc?   12:51 - 13:46 Which areas of Science is Vitalik most excited about? 13:46 - 17:17 How the Shiba Inu tokens actually funded Covid research. 17:17 - 22:40 Why crypto is such an excellent funding method. 22:40 - 31:00 Which learnings did he incorporate into other projects like "Balvi"? 31:00 - 38:33 What's holding back scientific progress, and what is he most excited about?   38:33 - 44:37 The most important century ever? Vitalik on AI progress, Singularity, and existential risks.   44:37 - 46:47 What to build in the DeSci space? 46:47 - Vitalik's content recommendations in the science space. ___   Let's connect:   Website: https://bit.ly/3d6nh2CTwitter: https://twitter.com/Molecule_dao Discord: https://discord.com/invite/moleculedao