Dear Paradigm community,
2021 was a year like no other. When we started out, we were looking forward to a great year of internal growth and ongoing decent research. Despite the difficulties we faced in 2020, with the strong development based on our team’s enthusiasm that Paradigm has seen over the last years, in 2021 we were well on track to achieving all the long-term goals we had set out in our strategy.
Having a strategy is one thing. Being able to execute it, especially in times of pandemic and great unpredictability is something bigger. I’m pleased that Paradigm’s native strategy to conduct and spread quality research and analysis continues to be an effective framework to hold ourselves to a higher standard and chart our path forward. Last year, we made meaningful progress in it.
Ultimately, the basis of Paradigm’s success is our people. In 2021, we nearly doubled our team of researchers. Besides a couple of crypto analysts and experienced journalists, with one passionate DAO enthusiast, we excitedly welcomed green tech and sustainability specialists, one more space technology explorer, a genetics scientist, a nanotechnology researcher, and a quantum physicist, who kindly helped us to broaden our horizons with the new themes for exploration and funding possibilities. It is really great to have them on board!
The greatly scaled team helped us and our readers to be up-to-date with comprehensive research and all the important and extraordinary science and technology news that appeared during the year. Needless to say, 2021 has lots of them.
We ended 2020 watching the Boston Dynamics robots do choreography. Robotics and AI achievements in 2021 were continuously transforming the world we know — and helping us understand the worlds we don’t. Whether it was a bipedal walking robot that can fly, slackline, and skateboard or a 3D-printed soft robotic hand that can play Nintendo.
What’s more, 2021 has marked a year of the development of the Covid-19 vaccines. CRISPR gene editing was injected into the blood. The most comprehensive 3D map of the human brain was published. Researchers used a BCI to enable a paralyzed man to produce words and sentences by decoding signals from electrodes in the speech areas of his brain. In 2021 neuroscientists even managed to translate birds’ brain activity into songs.
On top of that, Neuralink revealed a macaque with chips embedded on each side of its brain, playing a mind-controlled version of Pong. Elon Musk said Neuralink would start implanting its brain chips in humans next year. Also, Humanode, our novel in-house project, is in the process of creating and implementing neurosignature as one of the most reliable biometric modalities. Helping with research and watching Humanode’s marvelous success is always a great pleasure for all Paradigm team members. And it is just the beginning.
Last year was the year of the billionaire space race. Moreover, several missions arrived at Mars, the Juno spacecraft performed its only flyby of Jupiter’s moon, and astronomers reported a new class of habitable exoplanets. The James Webb Space Telescope, the largest and most powerful space telescope ever, was developed and launched in December.
In November, IBM launched its 127-qubit Eagle, the most powerful quantum processor yet. Later, the first 256-qubit quantum computer was announced by scientists funded by DARPA.
2021 has been anticipated by climate and green technology scientists, as both the Cop26 conference and the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report appeared. However, the unexpected aspects of nature have provided the reality check of climate risk and sustainability in 2021.
In terms of crypto and blockchain, 2021 has witnessed Bitcoin ATH, NFTs explosion, and DAO boom. The United States approved the first-ever Bitcoin ETF, and El Salvador adopted Bitcoin as legal tender. Bitcoin Taproot upgrade took place, as well as Ethereum’s ongoing transition to a Proof-of-Stake. IBC launched completing the Cosmos whitepaper. With parachains live on Polkadot, the heterogeneous network launch is also officially complete according to its original vision and design.
Here is just a pinch of news, not to list everything. Last year, science and tech developed at an unprecedented rate, and I’m glad that Paradigm was on the front line to spread the light of knowledge.
In closing, I would like to express my deep gratitude to Paradigm’s beautiful minds and to thank all of you Paradigm community members, for your interest and support, and every little thing you do to make Paradigm an unsurpassed project to work for! In 2022, we will continue to deliver top-notch research with even more passion. Also, we have a bunch of great news to announce in the coming weeks, including the launch of the Paradigm portal, participation in several events, meeting you in person, and accelerating our outreach efforts.
Tech enthusiasts and science lovers, we couldn’t do this without you. So thank you for being a part of Paradigm’s journey!
Sincerely yours,
Sasha Shilina
Chief Research Officer at Paradigm
