Prof. Gideon Samid, PhD, PE, who obtained his degrees at the Technion — Israel Institute of Technology where he learned his craft serving the state of Israel, working at the Pentagon, Exxon, NASA, Sac, Presearch etc., is a scientist and an engineer committed to render technology useful and helpful for society at large, all the while mindful of the lurking abuse avenues to be monitored. Believing that innovation is the modern ‘religion’, Gideon developed the Universal Theory of Innovation, and applied it to developing mathematical and networking products (e.g. digital money) that serve as a rational foundation for collaboration even among mutually apprehensive partners. Gideon designed BiPSA — knowledge representation that recognizes uncertainty over aggregate binary data; and is a follower of Von Neumann in various applications of randomness as a reference point for quantification of knowledge, protection of privacy, and as the foundation for the new era of cryptography. He feels strongly that randomness is the veil behind which lies the unknown, and hence our interest. Gideon is currently with the department of electrical engineering and computer science at Case Western Reserve University, and is the CTO for BitMint.

Gideon Samid is one of the few people who shares an almost identical vision of what spawned the IOTA project in the first place in terms of enabling a new kind of ‘on demand economy’ as well as security and economy of the Internet-of-Things. This is cause for a lot of optimism for what he can bring to the IOTA project. His particular interest and expertise in applying randomness fits perfectly with IOTA co-founder math Professor Serguei Popov who has specialized in randomness his entire career, so we believe the synergy between these two will open up new territory for IOTA’s plans.

Gideon on joining IOTA:

Some 2000 years ago in Greece a critical mass of wisdom exploded with the idea we today call democracy — shifting power from the ‘elite’, to the community at large; trusting the many, not the few. We still have not figured out how to run a democracy very well but we keep trying. Today we gradually realize that a mathematical construct called network is the right way to immunize society from the abuse of a minority of power grabbers. Judging by the long road of democracy, we have a lot to discover, build and refine before the idea of a network is fully impactful for the benefit of society. IOTA is one promising avenue in this expected long journey. I wish to lend my shoulder to push that wagon towards its exciting adventure in this unchartered territory.

We are confident the IOTA community will give him a warm welcome and we look forward to fruitful collaboration.