Thread by @punk6529

1/ On Eyes On Earth and Citizen Science

First, you MUST go watch this remarkable piece of art by @MattScobel that joined 6529 Museum Permanent Collection

It is a 24 hour view of all satellites circling the earth

foundation.app/@scobel/~/95439

2/ Second, read about the process of putting this together

mattscobel.com/eyes-on-earth

Hundreds of hours of work went into compiling the data, modeling it, trouble-shooting it and so on.

3/ What do I see here?

I see the beginnings of a new funding model, not just for art, but for collectively funded citizen science.

This particular NFT is as much science as it is art, not far off from the type of work that might receive a research grant or be a thesis.

4/ I am glad that:
a) this work exists in the world
b) it exists in a format that it is free for anyone to view
c) there is a mechanism to reward @MattScobel economically for such great work
d) this mechanism provides me with an incentive to buy it

5/ In theory, this all could have been done without an NFT, but I think in practice it is impossible.

I had no idea that I wanted to support this until I saw it.

@MattScobel had no idea that I existed.

How would we have found each other?

6/ And if we had found each other, what would we have done?

Written a research proposal? Negotiate a whole bunch of annoying terms?

And what would I have received? My name on the paper?

7/ Instead the NFT did the matchmaking work here.

The intangible output got embedded into an NFT.

That allowed it to use the full NFTs rails for promoting, purchasing, financializing, displaying NFTs.

I do not need to negotiate a bespoke agreement. I just buy the NFT

8/ To the nitpicking lawyers out there who are saying "but what did you buy?"

What I bought is what we always buy in NFTs - intangible goods like identity and provenance.

I'm proud to be associated with this work, just like I'm proud to own a Fidenza.

9/ There are endless ways this can be extended to collectively fund citizen science, both prospectively and retrospectively.

I would love to see more ideas along this line, including where appropriate releasing the underlying data, models and so on into the public domain.

10/ As discussed before, NFTs are not just a transport layer for art.

They are a transport layer for intangibles and intangibles are both:

a) a huge and growing part of any modern economy
and
b) the apex objects of society

11/ So again congratulations @MattScobel on this innovative work.

Thanks @cathsimard_ who retweeted this into my sights (the amount of innovation in / around @cathsimard_ is 👀)

And I'm putting down a marker.

There will be a rebirth of citizen science fueled by NFTs

12/ Or to put it differently:

LFG Science!!! 🚀🚀🚀

13/ Adding @MattScobel's response thread to this thread. It is awesome and you should read it all.

https://twitter.com/MattScobel/status/1448494475072847878

14/ Closing this thread here.

For more threads about NFTs, go here:

https://twitter.com/punk6529/status/1429399888786333697