The Brain Trust at Economy Monitor
creating Research on human trust and trustless systems (AI, blockchain & POST-QUANTUM CRYPTO)
We study trust.
And we created this society to share the discovery process with our Brain Trust.
Trust is fundamental to the human experience, yet it is little understood. But AI, web analytics, and blockchain technology have come to change that. For the first time in history, we have real-time data to map how attention flows, and understand how people actually assess risk and commit resources. And with AI we can augment our intelligence, to understand complex socio-technical systems. This is a full departure from the prevailing economic theories, which were developed using biased experiments conducted on small groups of privileged university students, incomplete and delayed macroeconomic data, or theoretical models which are completely dissociated from reality. There's no reason why economics and the social sciences have to be called "soft" anymore; there is no such thing as hard and soft sciences, a scientist should always operate in the realm of facts and quantitative evidence, otherwise, he is only a commentator -no matter if he holds a PhD, or a Nobel Prize.
The advent of the crypto economy is both a driver of, and, a consequence from, this paradigm shift; a message in a bottle, the timestamp in the bitcoin's blockchain genesis block is a testament to that: "The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks".
So, we are at this point when people distrust the financial sector, the media, and the politicians. But what can we learn now that we have this new powerful scientific arsenal? Can trust be rebuilt?
Members of this Brain Trust have access to the process and data behind-the-scenes of our own scientific research and popular science publications. They also have the opportunity to suggest areas of research and to be featured as contributors (Please note: information is provided for educational purposes, this is not legal or financial advice). The themes covered include:
Crypto-economy: In a market fueled and manipulated by hype, what are the real drivers of price and volatility in cryptocurrencies (i.e bitcoin) and blockchain tokens (e.g ethereum-compatible tokens)? Where are the quant funds, the macro funds, and the institutional money placing their trust and bets?
Blockchain & Trust-asymmetry: As the frictions are reduced in the medium-of-exchange function of money, how will people and institutions profit?
Journalism & data economy: In an age of misinformation, disinformation, and propaganda, how fact-based journalism uses scientific literacy to regain trust and win the fake news wars?
Political economy & decentralization: As decentralized campaign finance comes of age, people vote with their attention and digital wallets -but only if they trust. In a world of bots, do people really care about an officials' humanity?
Law & blockchain: Smart/computable contracts are changing the scope of the profession. But in the same way as people will still value their personal doctor even if cognitive computing brings automated diagnosis, not all clients will fire their lawyer as blockchains take over. What is the value of a trusted advisor in a trustless economy?
Accounting & blockchain: Distributed-shared ledgers and blockchains are fundamentally accounting systems. How will the accounting and actuary professions deal with the transition to a single version of the truth and the above-average risks of embedded AI and post-quantum cryptography?
Impact Investment: As investors become aware of their responsibilities and new opportunities, how will the sell-side use trust to drive value?
Funds & decentralization: Soon technology will allow everyone to be her own bank and her own investment manager. We reverse-engineer how hedge funds and private equity funds operate, to find what's their secret sauce. If trust will shift to the technology, the community, and the individual, why should people pay a trust premium anymore?
We look forward to our journey together.
...a group of "like minded aspiring artisans and tradesmen who hoped to improve themselves while they improved their community." -Benjamin Franklin, when conceiving the idea of a club and subscription library