[AMA] We are Dutch (top Gridcoin solo miner) and Vortac (Gridcoin and Steemit whale). Gridcoin is a cryptocurrency mined through scientific research instead of POW. Ask us (almost) anything.
I (Dutch) am a brain researcher with my own lab, where many times our work has hit roadblocks due to a lack of compute power being available to solve our models. Looking at all the compute power being effectively wasted by POW coins such as Bitcoin, I am hoping more miners will direct their attention towards Gridcoin. Since I started mining Gridcoin, I have been paid to help break a WWII Enigma message, analyse new drug treatments, and am currently searching for undiscovered pulsars near the galactic core with Einstein@home.
@vortac is a long-time BOINC enthusiast and early Gridcoin investor and miner. Being an early adopter, he was in time to invest in other cryptos such as STEEM as well, so you have probably noticed him curating the Gridcoin tag with his large upvotes. Vortac continues to mine GRC on his custom mining rigs, also searching for pulsars with Einstein@home. In fact, he has already found a new pulsar in late 2011.
We would like to invite you to ask us anything about Gridcoin, BOINC, getting started, mining, investing, troubleshooting or (almost) anything else you are interested in.
As a newbie to the whole cryptocurrency/blockchain world, but an old BOINCer, I'm finding it fascinating that there are so many interesting people in these communities (Steem and Gridcoin).
Up until a short time ago I was of the opinion, like so many others, that the cryptocurrency world was dominated by crooks doing illicit deals and laundering money.
How wrong I was, I've since discovered.
Thank you for opening my eyes and restoring my faith in humankind.
There will always be those who use technology for selfish personal gain but so far in my cyber travels, within these communities, I have found so much concern for the environment and humaity as a whole that it has been a very pleasant surprise.
Keep up the great work and keep both Gridcoin and Steemit ethical, transparent and forward thinking.
Realistically speaking, at the top of the big coins it probably is all about the bottom line, no matter the costs. Fortunately, like you have found there are a lot more genuinely great people with good intentions everywhere else in the ecosystem.
Thank you for the insight and the kind words. I enjoyed reading that.
My first set of questions are for @Vortac.
Firstly, a word of thanks:
I am aware that you support Gridcoin content in general but nevertheless I would like to thank you personally for your upvotes on my articles - you have really helped keep me motivated to continue to use steem as a platform to share content on. Thank you.
My questions:
Steemit
What do you look for in content to curate - additionally do you read through it all or do you get a general feel and work with that? What would stop you from curating content? You have a large following; what would you consider resteeming? Do you have contact with other Steemit whales, and if so, do you have suggestions for Gridcoin writers on ways to spread their content further and / or claim more reward?
Gridcoin
Would you be open to doing an extensive interview in the New Year?
Thanks @geebell, those are some interesting questions!
Basically, I am still upvoting almost any Gridcoin related content, but I am aware it won't be possible much longer, because we are growing rapidly (Gridcoin, Steemit and whole crypto in general). I read every Gridcoin related article and usually resteem those which I find particularly interesting and well-written, or authors which I believe deserve more attention. I have very little contact with other Steemit whales and only a terrible lack of free time would stop me from curating content/using Steemit.
Regarding the success on Steemit, my advice has always been - join the Bitshares community too. A few well written articles about Bitshares, Steem or Graphene in general can increase your reputation and your number of followers dramatically. After that, your Gridcoin articles will also have more 'weight', so to speak. Graphene is the underlying technology here, so when in Rome, do as the Romans do :)
I like the interview idea, you can contact me on Slack for details.
Thank you for your reply. Since it was brought up in your answer I have one followup question.
Regarding Sharedropping (the possible future move to a new codebase for Gridcoin) what do you personally think would be a good move for Gridcoin: to Graphene, a new Bitcoin codebase or should further options still be explored?
I wish I could provide a thoughtful answer, but I am not a developer and my opinion changes on that almost every day. The most accurate answer is probably: I don't know. From a Gridcoin fan perspective, I guess the best solution is the one we can deploy soonest.
My second set of questions are aimed at @Dutch.
Again, I start with a word of thanks:
Beginning Gridcoin can be a bit of a challenge. I'm thankful of the articles you had written and were writing when I started. Also thank you for the times you clarified things and shared your opinions with me in Slack.
My Questions
Steemit
You have a decently powerful account which, impressively, seems to have been built nearly entirely though writing articles - well done! (What was it about the Physical / Commemorative Coin articles that made them so extremely popular?) Do you have advice to other Gridcoin writers? How often do you curate? I'm under the impression that sometimes for a few weeks at a time you do not visit Steemit; would you be willing to delegate your Steem Power to another Gridcoiner, other than Vortac (for decentralization reasons), for the periods that you are away?
Gridcoin
You've already indicated your willingness to do an extensive interview. Regarding your lab, would you be willing to write a "setup tour" of it in an article with images at some point? I think that could be fun. As a university researcher, assuming you did not know about BOINC or Gridcoin, what would you like to hear in a proposition regarding running BOINC on the university's computers (research or otherwise)? What would you NOT want to hear about that would make you less accepting toward it?
Thank you @dutch and @vortac for everything you do, for science and otherwise! My questions are for @dutch.
What are your thoughts on the overall grant process?
In your experience, who/what are the main grant providers?
Specifically, do you see privatization in your field and research?
Have you ever had to sign an NDA with a university, corporation, or business?
You've said:
So do grants go out only, mostly, or equally for applied sciences? Or can foundational/basic science still be funded?
Who owns the results of your research?
What if during the research you discover something unrelated? Who owns this discovery? How do you present it to the world? Or are you obligated to present it to the grant provider?
Do you think Gridcoin presents a path of funding for research in the future?
Sorry for the wall! Lots of questions, so little time. = )
How conscious would a brain be when running in a simulation? How soon until I can upload my brain to a decentralised blockchain?
Semi-serious question obviously but brains are pretty fascinating and we are still learning thing about them all the time. Keep up the good work @dutch
Entirely not conscious in this case. My research does not focus on consciousness, or the ability of the brain to learn or make decisions. We just simulate how the machinery, if you will, that makes up the brain deteriorates due to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's or dementia. The aim is to understand the mechanism of decay, so that a pharmaceutical giant can develop a drug to counteract the effect.
IBM's Watson, on the other hand, I wouldn't be so sure. =)
You're totally right, of course - most aspects of the brain are still very poorly understood. Some extra compute wouldn't go amiss though. We are working on setting up a BOINC project for our lab.
I, as one of the oldest Gridcoin community members, will contribute once you are up and running!!
We might be able to find a solution to that ever present worry as one gets older , neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's or dementia ..
How far away are you from getting the project up and running?
Courtesy of @joshoeah
That's fantastic! Of course, we would have to get whitelisted first.
The project is actually already up and running internally. The problem is that our simulation type (stepping through time and space) does not lend itself well to distributed computing. This is because it is hard to chop the work into many small units. I am working to minimise the error associated with this compute method to acceptable levels, while also keeping compute time as short as possible.
@dutch, @vortac is Gridcoin the only coin you "mine"? Or are there other projects you support with cpu cycles.
Just like Vortac, I only 'mine' Gridcoin with all my hardware. I have no interest in supporting the POW coins that most people mine. What 'we' have created in Bitcoin is an environmental disaster of increasingly insane proportions.
Ignoring the existence of ASICs, if we could point all the POW mining power of other coins to research, even for just a year, we would make massive advances in a number of scientific fields including medicine. This is why I cannot support POW coins.
I mine only Gridcoin and I intend to keep it that way. PoW mining does not interest me.
EDIT: Dutch explained it from a scientist's perspective ^^^. Now, I am not a scientist, but I agree with him 100%.
Thanks to both of you. That's what I expected :D
sadly i do not have any questions left.. but it is nice to see you around again @dutch.
I hope you are well!
Kind regards
Jan
Good to see you too man! I have been way to busy with my research for the last few months, but I hope to have some more time to spend with you guys over the Christmas period.
@Dutch : What kinda brain research do you conduct? I'm personally interested since I have tinnitus from a barotrauma from clearing my ears too hard 10 years ago. The wound has been healed I'm told but the brain still simulates a ringing trauma tone.. seems to be a gatekeeper loop/ phantom pain. Very nasty disease and still waiting for a possible cure since TRT/ignoring is only occasional help.
@Vortac : my Steemit/Gridcoin hero, I aspire to be you someday! :-)
Thanks! Be wary of crypto-heroes though :)
Will do!
I personally do research into neurodegenerative diseases that afflict the elderly, primarily focused on Alzheimer and dementia, with some Parkinson's applications. That being said, my work is very closely related to tinnitus research, and most conferences I have presented at have had a significant tinnitus research presence. It's just not my specialisation.
There are a lot of novel treatments being developed and currently undergoing animal testing. I would expect more mainstream treatment options for specific types of tinnitus within the next decade.
Wonderful news @dutch, I too have tinnitus but as you'll know there's not much that one can do about it at this time. Just have to live with it ..
Courtesy of @joshoeah
Indeed... If it had an off switch for a few hours a day i'd be so happy.
So, @m3rcos1ty and @gregan, there is this thing going around in the field at the moment after it was popularised by Reddit, and there is proof of it working on a subset of people during brain scans.
I would be interested to know if it helps for you.
No effect, or a minimal one at that. Gonna take another try when it spikes, it's not that heavy at the moment.
Too true ..
Funny thing is I don't really notice it as much when I'm in my home lab and the servers are 'humming'.
I'd say it's the background noise and the fact that I'm normally concentrating so much.
Otherwise the silence is deafening!!
@dutch I'm gonna try your suggestion when I'm out of here soon and will tell you if there was any relief ..
Running water is great too, you can also download a white noise app for the phone to mask it a bit.
I'm glad to hear it! (And I don't mean the tinnitus!)
@dutch It's great to have a scientist taking charge and being a big proponent of Gridcoin. As a person who always wanted to be a scientist but never had the chance it's also great for me to be able to participate in science.
Question: What do your fellow co-workers and other people in the field think of Gridcoin/Boinc? Have you ever discussed the projects and what you are doing with them?
@vortac Thanks for being such a great guy and giving us so many upvotes in the Gridcoin community and helping to grow the coin.
Question: What content aren't you seeing that you would like to see more of on Steem or other platforms? What do you think is most helpful to grow the coin in the long run?
Hi atlantictech, thank you for the questions! I think it is important more scientists and researchers support BOINC and GRC, as in the end it propels our work.
They love it and think the idea is fantastic. The statistician in our office actually works part time for a crypto exchange doing marketing, so we are all pretty clued up on crypto. All my coworkers see POW as detrimental to society and the planet in the long run.
Do you mean the BOINC projects? Sure! I currently have the hardware on Einstein@home because we all think it is the most interesting, despite being the least efficient for earning GRC. Advancing science is the goal here. As a side note, we get a lot of interns and they always leave as converts to spread the word of BOINC and GRC. =)
Awesome! Great to hear that they are into it. I was more hoping that the more researchers and institutions that use distributed computing and make it become more mainstream will also bring more focus onto Gridcoin coming not only from crypto enthusiasts but also making more news articles focus on the advances it has helped create.
It looks like Steemit probably needs more simple, everyday content to become fully mainstream. I think it's got plenty of quality content right now, more than I can read in any case, but mainstream users probably don't want to read about crypto all day long.
Most helpful thing for the growth of any coin is of course demand. How to actually create demand is a more complex question - apparently, the prevailing solution is to inflate ANY demand you might actually have and multiply it with hype, PR and marketing. In the long run things will probably change though.
This is what I was thinking. It appears that steemit is focused more on Crypto and the majority of the posters here are really into it which can be intimidating for new comers.
I have posted some other basic content, some about Travel and some about electronics. Both have received far fewer upvotes and engagement than my Gridcoin content. I feel like a fundamental shift will have to happen in order for Steemit to become a viable platform in the future and maintain growth outside the crypto space.
Yes, it's very difficult to get any attention while posting about non-crypto things or even outside your usual crypto-community. However, when you build up your reputation (and wallet), you can generally get upvotes on broader scope of subjects. That can take time though.
Fundamental shift is happening, thousands and thousands of people are getting into crypto every day and investing into their favorite altcoin. Where to blog about it and find community who will support you, even financially (through upvotes)? Steemit is becoming an obvious answer to that.
Regarding running @Dutch's lab:
Do you receive grant money to fund your research? I understand that you yourself pay the power bill for your lab? Does grant money supplement this payment and if so, how do you draw the distinction between power drawn for research versus power drawn for BOINC / Gridcoin?
For sure! So they way grant money works in my field of work is like this:
Provided you do those things, you can go on holiday with the grant money and that is perfectly acceptable. In fact, we have a lot of interns from overseas come through the lab, and we often take them on a lab sponsored trip at the end of their stay so they get to see some of the country.
So, to return to your question: Yes, I pay the power bill from my grant money, and I cannot distinguish general power use from BOINC power use, even if I wanted to.
The ultimate goal with GRC is to get our model running with a high degree of accuracy on our own BOINC server. I will then use my GRC to rain on participants to encourage people to run our work units. If we get a large enough number of computers participating, we can simulate much larger portions of the brain than we currently even consider attempting to investigate.
We're waiting for that day to come.
I better make it onto the whitelist. =P