Recapping DeSci London 2024

Our key takeaways and what to watch.

Erin (stripes) and Veronica (Asterisk pink) on the Women’s Health Panel during DeSci London 2024.

Hi all —

Both Erin and Veronica were in attendance at this year’s DeSci London conference. It was a whirlwind two days filled with exciting updates. We have some juicy take aways for you, but first we need your help!

We’re rolling out Season One of the “I Am Not An Asterisk” series in this newsletter later this month. This is the chance for you to tell your story. Why does women’s health matter to you? How has a lack of funding or support effected you? What does being an “asterisk” mean to you? Please click below to share your story (anonymous possible) by April 15. Thanks!

Now to London! Erin opened the conference alongside Dr. Jocelynn Pearl with a “State of DeSci” presentation that was a massive highlight. She also:

• Co-led the opening Intro to Science keynote

• Moderated the WhyDAO panel 

• On the DeSci x Women's Health panel (which Veronica was on)

• Ran the MuseMatrix Workshop

Here are Erin’s key takeaways from the weekend:

• Coordination is key to successfully advancing science and through DeSci mechanisms we can coordinate more effectively. 

• AI's ability for accelerating science is dependent on the reliability and trust of the system which blockchain and decentralization enable. 

• Beyond bioDAOs there is exciting progress in DeSci across synthetic biology, space science, and coordinated network design. 

Veronica was on the Women’s Health panel as well as the Why DAO panel to discuss why a DAO structure is the best way to move DeSci projects forward. Here are her key takeaways:

Books

• “Read, Write, Own” by Chris Dixon

• “Working in Public” by Nadia Eghbal

• “Ageless: The Art of Getting Older without Getting Old” by Andrew Steele

• “The Longevity Imperative” by Andrew J Scott

Notes

• “Scientists can be thought of a creator class.” — Jocelynn Pearl

• Even if blockchain disappears, the shift in values and thinking in science will remain.

• DeSci is exciting because it lowers the barriers to participation in science.

• Brian Magierski of CerebrumDAO questions if the “valley of death” exists (or is it a problem of translating impact)

• DAOs accelerate science via collectivization (open source, sharing, replicating) — it also allows new voices (like you!) to enter the space

• ValleyDAO says, “Incentives in science are broken: they focus on discovery and publication, not review and updating existing IP.”

• Chris Hill at DeSci Labs says, “DeSci is a call to explore the vastness of metascience coordination space.”

All in all, it was a great weekend! Veronica will be at BananaConf/DeSciNordics in Tallinn, Estonia next month.