Our main goal at DNN is to address fake and sensationalized news by holding everyone in the news dissemination process accountable. In order to cultivate accountability, we’re leveraging on blockchain technology and digital currencies to ensure transparency and incentivize active participation in the media landscape. In addition, we’re also counting on a team of professional and academic advisors for their infinite industry knowledge and insightful ideas.
As we continue to work towards our goals, we’re eager to share their wisdom with you. Join us every Thursday for an in-depth Q&A with one of our talented DNN advisors, and get to know some of the visionaries behind the DNN platform.
This week, we’re talking to Pietro Speroni d.F., a Geometry professor at the University of Chieti Pescara in Abruzzo, Italy. He holds a Ph.D. in bioinformatics, a master’s in evolutionary and adaptive systems, and a degree in mathematics.
Q: How did you first come across the Decentralized News Network, and what were your initial thoughts on the project?
A: I met Dondrey at the World Blockchain Forum in September 2017 where he was presenting the DNN project to participants. I was there trying to understand if there was space for me as an expert in Fair Decision Making systems inside the blockchain community, and when I heard about how they meant to use voting to distinguish fake news from factual news, I thought the idea sounded like an extremely interesting quest. The idea had just the right kind of complexity to make for a good challenge, and that awoke my scientific side. In the past, I have worked for a foundation that was involved in a process of fact checking. Plus, as a scientist, I am actively involved in the review process pertaining to scientific journals and conferences. It was a combination of both of these interests that made me wonder how it was possible to improve such system.
It was clear to me that the simple voting system that DNN was presenting was not adequate for this task, but it could be improved. Also, I found Dondrey and Samit were very receptive of guidance, with a great interest in learning. While the study of voting systems are a well defined area with more than 200 years of research behind it, I believed I could offer my expertise to the DNN project. It’s safe to say we immediately connected and have been working together since.
Q: Now that you’ve had some time to fundamentally understand the DNN platform and how it works, tell us about a platform feature that most excites you. Are you more excited for the blockchain component, or the article review process?
A: I am mostly interested in the governance system. In DNN, this system takes form via the review system. Basically, the DNN community must, for each new article, decide if it is acceptable by the platform standards. In other words, if it contains fake news or if it is all (for as much as can be checked) true. Of course there will be errors, but the process can always be improved upon as the community becomes more proficient.
Q: What is your specific area of influence on the DNN project?
A: I am designing the review process that should decide if news is fake or factually correct. We are also discussing the possibility for DNN to integrate some more formal decision making procedures (i.e. governance) that should let the community be more involved in the direction the project is going.
Q: What got you interested in blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies? What do you envision for the future of DNN and blockchain?
A: I’m really interested in the idea of fair participation in the democratic governance of communities. Blockchain technology represents a breakthrough in this area by permitting completely decentralized applications with no single point of failure.
This technology is opening up the possibility for DAOs (Distributed Autonomous Organizations) to be created, but each of these DAOs must integrate a governance system to navigate decisions. Such a system must also be equally distributed, to avoid leaving the governance in the hands of a few strong actors, whose presence (or sudden absence) could end up being a liability.
Think about how when the rumour of Vitalik Butterin’s death spread around the cyber world, and the value of Ethereum sank reactively. The community realized that without his guidance, the system was going to be defective. Nevertheless, the Ethereum foundation (guided by Vitalik) made some hard decisions, fracturing the community and leading to the eventual fork between ethereum and ethereum classic. This example suggests that the Ethereum community is in the hands of a few strong actors. However, a distributed organization should also be distributed in its governance model.
So, can we create a community with an integrated decision making system that is both fair and completely distributed? Where the best solution is adopted, and where solutions are not adopted depending on who wrote them, but because it is recognized as the best solution?
DNN is in this perfect position to spearhead this new movement. More to that point, the problem that DNN has to face (distinguishing between fake news and factual news) is difficult, but not impossible.
Q: Your area of research specializes in using algebra to understand complex systems, as well as in designing the rules of complex systems to obtain specific engagement behaviours. How do you believe your specific expertise will play into the evolution of technology, and more pointedly, into the global integration of blockchain technology?
A: Algebra is one of those topics that is extremely important, and yet no one realizes it. Blockchain technology is based upon cryptography, and algebra is the foundation to modern cryptography. In other words, you can’t really understand the blockchain unless you understand cryptography, and you can’t understand cryptography unless you understand the basics of algebra. So, the answer to that question is that blockchain technology is pushing several fields of research to expand beyond their previous limits.
For example, in complex systems you might have different processes that interact and sometimes it’s beneficial to keep those processes on different time scales. Understanding how the various processes interact, and when it is necessary to place them on different time scales, is part of the work I do at DNN.
On the other hand, I advise on voting structure and decision-making strategies, as I mentioned above. For more information on this subject, check out a talk I recently held in Amsterdam.
Q: You also have extensive research and practical experience in the development of voting systems, e-participation, and consensus building. How do you believe blockchain technology can contribute to the progress of these particular areas?
A: The interaction is and will be going both ways. Right now, the blockchain represents a tremendous opportunity for people in voting systems to apply their theories, but it is very difficult to change a voting system once it is in place. The reason for this issue is because, generally speaking, whoever benefits from the voting system will fight against changing the status quo.
But there is a great opportunity to be had when a new system is established. Right now, in the blockchain field, we are going through an explosion (somewhat similar to the Cambrian explosion) of cryptocurrencies. This explosion is generating a competition, prompting the creation of newer and better coins.
Soon, each of these coins will require a governance system. Research in voting systems and consensus building will thus be pushed to that next level as well. But there are a series of questions that still require an answer. For example, how will the e-participation field consider fully distributed systems? How do you set up a voting system in a community where everybody is anoymous or pseudo-anonymous? How can you encourage a community to reach a consensus, as to whether or not an article should be considered fake news? Addressing these types of questions will be part of my work at DNN.
Q: What do you believe is the best benefit of blockchain technology? How do you believe it’s changing the world? How do you see DNN fitting into this change?
A: When you look at history, you realize how incredible evolutionary changes have been. From villages, to empires, to the feudal system, and then to modern democracies. We are on the verge of another great change: the move toward distributed, autonomous organizations. Organizations which cannot be shut down, and are fully anonymous. This great change will permit organizations to be made up of individuals that cannot be coerced into doing something, meaning they will be able to act more in line with their internal compass.
Q: Offering insight and guidance, advisors are a crucial component to the success of any blockchain startup. In fact, mentors play an important role in the self development of human beings. With that being said, who is your role model, and or mentor, and why?
A: I’m a Taoist. I practice Taoist meditation, follow taoist philosophy, and my favourite philosopher is Chuang Tzu.
In particular, I resonate with the idea that the world is too complex for anybody to be able to say what is good or bad. We can at most, in a certain situation, determine if an action is good or bad, depending on the particular context. And when you consider two different people and their ethics, they might have many points in common, but will never be totally the same.
In other words, who am I to say if a specific action done by someone else is good or bad? For this reason, I try to develop technologies that are neutral, and to develop democratic systems that are fair.
I also have a strong aversion to belief systems, something that also comes from my taoist training, and in this regard, I appreciate the historic William Clifford (author of The Ethics of Belief). Clifford introduced to me the idea that accepting a belief without testing it out is tantamount to a crime in the sense that someone might pick up your belief and will harm themselves, or others, when crashing into reality.
About DNN
DNN (Decentralized News Network) is a news curation platform powered by the Ethereum blockchain. It’s our goal to encourage the dissemination of factual, unbiased political news by incentivizing accountability at all levels of the news consumption process. We’re news for the people, by the people.
Our DNN token presale is currently live. Contact presale@dnn.media to participate.
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