Using publicvotes.org as an example of collective intelligence

ideas amplified through inter-connectivity

I did an experiment using publicvotes.org, a platform for immutable public voting, powered by ‪‎ethereum‬. PublicVotes is a simple proof-of-concept, built by Dominik Schiener as part of his research for a decentralized wikipedia.

I wanted to make a proof-of-concept for how immutable voting, ethereum and P2P tech could be used for collective intelligence and P2P science, particularly when it comes to scientific disputes, and I used geology as a case study.

Expansion tectonics and plate tectonics both model earth accurately. The problem with plate tectonics is that it might fit the data, but it’s a ridiculous model.

Compare it to Ptolemys epicircles. Ptolemy accurately modeled the data we had about the solar system, but it was a ridiculous model. There’s a story from some time back then about how some king or pope or something apparently said, about Ptolemys model, that “If I had been God I would have thought of something a lot more simple”.

And as we know, god did. The heliocentric model eventually re-claimed a dominant position in the sphere of ideas, and ended all confusion.

I’m looking forward to seeing plate tectonics go the same way Ptolemys epicircles did, and I did a little experiment to illustrate how we could make that happen.

PublicVotes.org is a public voting system, powered by ethereum. The results are immutable, you can be sure that no one has manipulated the voting process. The dApp is just an early example of how ethereum could be used for voting, and lacks most advanced features.

What I did was to put up a poll.

I assumed that publicvotes.org would have a very niche audience, with lots of creative people. I have no idea who has answered the poll, but its plausible that its people who are are pretty into science and so on.

I put up a poll limit of 7 days,

and here are the results 7 days later,

I did not share this experiment with anyone, not even friends or family. I have no relation nor any connection to anyone who voted. I voted once on day 7 with a few hours left of the poll, because I was curious to see the results. I voted yes, obviously.

This was an example of how consensus platforms can be used to crowd-source scientific authority, and how we can use the web to “find the others”.