Let's use steemit to advance science!
Knowledge, not bullets is what you need to stock up on if you really believe in a society based on the value of each individual.
Unfortunately, the current state of science is disappointing. While it isn't the case for "non-corporate" research such as particle physics. In many cases, especially where the results could have obvious immediate benefits for humanity; it has instead become distorted into little more than a corporate welfare system. Instead of using public resources to further the public good, the primary goal seems to be to remove knowledge and resources from the public domain at tax payer expense and place this knowledge under lock and key for a generation or more.
These companies do science that we are paying for, then they keep the raw data under wraps only to charge a fee to access it. While this situation appears to be improving in Europe; in the USA and in fact the rest of the world, the situation appears to be getting worse.
As I said in my previous posting they patent the resulting technology, forcing us to pay over and over again for access to the fruits of science we already paid for!
Then @luminousvisions blew my mind with his response.
"yes, you should dig deeper into this...
maybe next time they come to steemit to fund the research!"
It was like gasoline and a match went off in my mind!
I love doing science!
I want the quality of steemit content to increase.
I would very much like to see more real science on steemit.
The number one problem that researchers encounter is sourcing good data.
The number two problem that they encounter is funding.
The "Science in Anarchy" movement is about performing rigorous science using the power of the blockchain to collect and store data. Have a theory, want to test it? Want some help? This is your answer!
Here is a hypothesis I would like to test!
There is recent research indicating our microbiome, our immune system, and our psychological state all form a feedback loop.
The theory is that the immune system detects certain proteins entering the digestive tract as a threat and thus begins the immune cascade. Part of the immune cascade is the initiation of the inflammatory cycle. The inflammatory cycle is interpreted by the brain as general malaise, which then triggers the body to enter a state in which activity is greatly reduced. This state is similar to hibernation and it slows down the metabolism, prolonging the length of time that these proteins are active in the bloodstream. This reduced activity means that the subject will feel less motivated to prepare meals and will instead consume more processed foods, thus continuing the cycle.
If my hypothesis is correct, then taking an over the counter anti-inflammatory such as Tylenol, Ibuprofen or Naproxen Sodium at the onset of depression and/or switching up the diet to eliminate fatty and processed foods all together, should reduce the time spent in a state of malaise. All other things being equal, theoretically it ought to interrupt this cycle.
Here is how we test it.
Select a group you would like to be in. Each group is actually testing different things.
Now start a habit of keeping a daily journal here on steemit.
In your initial journal posting, please disclose age, weight, height, gender (for gender please use the nomenclature of genetic and identified, as in "XX Female", "XY Female" etc).
Regardless of which group you choose to be in...
You are to create a single blog posting about your day each and every day before bedtime.
This will be a daily introspective journal. Discuss the various social interactions you had throughout the day and most importantly how you felt about them as well as yourself. Imagine you are talking to friends, because that's what you are doing.
Detail everything you ate that day to the best of your abilities.
If you eat anything that came in a package, please take photographs of the wrapper and upload it along with your daily blog posting. This helps to gauge portion sizes and it also might shock you to find out how many empty wrappers you're photographing each day.
Except for group #2 this is not a diet, so it doesn't matter at all if you eat anything you want, just document it.
To help with the data filtering process we will be introducing the SAEGM tag system. SA for Science in Anarchy, E is the experiment number or name, G for group M for the group number. This experiment is designated SA1 and you will be in G0..G3
If you are in the control group, just do whatever you normally do, eat what you normally eat and don't change anything about your routine. Don't add anything, don't take anything away.
Please tag your post with SA1G0
If you are in test group #1, do what you normally do, eat what you normally eat. However if you feel any sort of ache or pain or just feel depressed, take an adult strength OTC anti-inflammatory according to the directions on the label. All that we ask is you use the same medicine and same dose each time and that you document it each time. Also let us know if you feel better or worse the following day.
Please tag your post with SA1G1
If you are in test group #2, do what you normally do activity wise, but change your diet. You need to remove any and all processed foods including sugary sweets and snacks as well as carbonated drinks like soda and avoid sugar replacements. If it comes in a package that nature didn't put it in, you aren't allowed to eat it. To the extent possible you should avoid caffeine as well. If you feel any symptoms of malaise, depression, aches or pains you need to ride it out, but increasing your water intake has been shown to help flush lactic acid from your muscle tissues so consider drinking extra water. Especially during the first two weeks.
Please tag your post with SA1G2
If you are in test group #3, same dietary advice as #2 but if you feel any sort of symptoms take an OTC anti-inflammatory as per group #1.
Please tag your post with SA1G3
This next part is critical for all groups.
We have to be able to rule out any sort of drug interactions.
This includes home recipes and herbal remedies. Nature is the world's most prolific drug dealer. You would be absolutely shocked to know the kinds of chemicals in even "pure herbs" you grew yourself at home. For our purposes, marijuana and tobacco are drugs. If you use them, please disclose as much detail as you can in your journal each day.
No matter which group you are in, please document alcohol use.
To be clear, if you are currently being treated for serious mental illness or other health conditions, no one is asking you to change anything and most certainly not asking you to stop taking your meds. In fact it would be best if you seek the advice of whoever is treating you before participating at all. We would love to know about the minutia of your diet and your day though, so you could still participate by choosing to be in the control group since the control group is just blogging about their day in depth with a detailed focus on what they eat and drink.
Additionally, no matter what group you are in, you can change at any time. If you happen to feel more depressed on one regime or another, please hop to a different group. The most important part is actually rigorous data collection, the more data points we can gather, the more inferences we can draw near the end. Thus if you decide to "group hop", then please make it clear you have hopped so we can collate and compile this data at the end of the study. The easiest way to indicate a hop is to change your hashtag to the correct group.
Initial collation will be handled by volunteers running Apache CTakes
Final results will be posted to Arxiv.org and an anonymized dataset will be made available on Freenet
To anyone participating, please comment below.
Make sure to state the group you are choosing to be in.
It is vital that you state this upfront even if your decision changes later.
Available Groups are
SA1G0 : Control
SA1G1 : Testgroup #1
SA1G2 : Testgroup #2
SA1G3 : Testgroup #3
The study will run for 30 days after the initial 24hr welcome period for this post.
SBD earned from this posting will be distributed to study participants.
Rewards will be per capita, per day, and paid at the end of the study, only to those who participate each and every day, from beginning until the end.
Final Note: Most people reading this are probably not going to feel comfortable with this level of disclosure for whatever reason. That's perfectly understandable.
If you want to support the project, please make sure to upvote this project so we can properly fund good data collection. Also regularly visit the journals of each participant, giving them your upvotes. You can also add the scienceinanarchy tag to your own experiments if you have a good idea for an experiment!