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November 09, 2016, 08:52:35 PM |
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The Scientific Revolution: The Future of Science Funding
The Age of Reason (aka “the Enlightenment”) happened in the 18th century. The Industrial Revolution followed about 100 years later. We’re on the verge of the Scientific Revolution. For the 1st time in history we’ve got the chance to permanently change how science is funded. This is critical because it gives control to the public and/or scientists, and dramatically speeds up the process. Let’s make science a democracy, not a dictatorship.
1. Control of Science
♣ By supporting this crowdfunding science model, you pay for it, so you control it. No biased research from shady funding agencies. No conflict of interest. No agenda.
2. Empower the Scientist!
♣ Let the experts determine what needs studying, not the government or companies that will make a profit off the findings.
♣ Scientists doing important, wide-reaching topics can raise huge sums of money and quickly. Like Peter Diamandis said, “want to make a billion $$, solve a billion person problem”.
♣ Scientists interested in studying niche topics (that have 0% chance of getting traditional funding) can perform their research through direct support from their target community. With crowdfunding, the people pay for the types of studies THEY (not government committees) actually want! This limitation is a huge reason why things like REAL health care prevention research is decades behind.
3. Make Science Exponentially Faster
How scientific funding really works:
♣ Spend 3-5 years building name and lab reputation, surviving off small or mostly internal grants (i.e., awarded by University to help scientist get started)
♣ Spend ~8-12 months working on grant application
♣ October-December: Produce preliminary data
♣ Jan-Feb: Write the grant
♣ March: Process university “grant office” paperwork
♣ April: Submit grant
♣ August: Hear back about if grant got funded or not
♣ Which is actually HIGHLY unlikely because:
1. The scientist is not doing diabetes, obesity, aging, etc. research
2. One of the reviewers may reject it because it conflicts or challenges their research (which would cost them funding in the future)
3. The scientist is not >50 years old.
1. <2% 5% of NIH RO1 grants are awarded to people younger than 35 years old, which is down from ~21% in 1980 (4)
♣ September: In the unlikely event the grant is funded, wait 2-6 weeks for $ to be released
The New Model: Experiment.com/MuscleScience
♣ Develop idea
♣ Write a few hundred words and make a blog post (2 weeks)
♣ Run fundraising campaign (21-45 days)
♣ Get check (2 days after campaign finished)
♣ Funds come directly from community to the scientist
How You Can Help
Whether you believe in our current study or not, your support today lets myself (personally), my colleagues and University, and the entire scientific world know you are ready for revolution. The new model is here, and it’s viable, but we all need to be in this together. Whether it’s $5 or $5,000, every last dollar helps. Current contributors include gym owners, performance and health coaches, professional athletes, UFC fighters, college students, scientists/researchers, entrepreneurs, podcast hosts, medical professionals (physicians, physical therapists, nurses), and even large health facilities like the Ash Center. The majority of contributors, though, are ordinary people. The more people that contribute, the more pressure we put on the system. But we’ve got less than 7 DAYS to make it happen. If we don’t reach complete funding, we get nothing; meaning we’ll be forced to abandon the project, because we refuse to support the current funding model.
Our Bitcoin address is:1MLT6VhsDnZyWtowiKH2oDswVs4tqgqAJ5
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