Proposal from Andrius Kulikauskas of Minciu Sodas to Stephen Wolfram of Wolfram Science to organize a culture of investigation, at the heart of which is "A New Kind of Science".

Purposes

• Expand the NKS ("A New Kind of Science") community.
• Provide a global online social networking system which extends beyond the official Wolfram Science websites.
• Encourage local activity (such as Math Circles and BarCamps).
• Open opportunities to NKSers for education and employment.
• Reach out to engage other intellectual communities.
• Offer leadership for a culture of investigation, at the heart of which is "A New Kind of Science".

Values

• Encourage a culture of investigation where we look to all aspects of our lives as sources of inspiration for our investigations.
• Champion computational exploration as fostering our minds for "A New Kind of Science" that expands our horizons for exploration, just as mathematics fosters our minds for traditional science.
• Cherish complexity in all its instances, look for its origins in the simplest situations, try to break down the complex in terms of the simple, but also respect complexity on its own terms.
• Help investigators, computational explorers:
• find questions that interest them;
• grow closer by sharing questions, solutions, ideas;
• make step-by-step progress in their research;
• publish their progress in explorations (such as Mathematica demonstrations) that delight, enlighten, inspire and instruct;
• share their explorations in the Public Domain so that all might build further on them;
• share their delight and appreciation so there is an abundance of esteem and encouragement;
• find their niche where they excel.
• Allow a variety of schools of thought to thrive as sources of truth in harmony with each other.

Strategy

• Focus on champions of self-learning.
• Reach out to high school teachers, especially in mathematics.
• Identify local clusters, build support within regions.
• Organize a global network with a shared culture of independent thinkers.
• Encourage people to think about the questions that they don't know the answer to, but wish to answer.
• Help them make progress on their questions through step-by-step research projects which they publish as explorations.
• Embolden large groups of people to work together by taking on big challenges.

Budget

$200,000 total for 2 years of work. Increments of $50,000, paid in advance.

Additionally, a total of 200 copies of the Student version of Mathematica, the relevant modules for work on specific challenges, and grid computing time for difficult computations.

Acknowledgement of the Minciu Sodas laboratory as an academic institution for self-learners so that those who contribute demonstrations in the Public Domain are allowed to purchase the Student version of Mathematica.

Participation, as described below, by "A New Kind of Science" leaders who work for Wolfram Research or Wolfram Science.

Minciu Sodas Team

Social Network Leader ($25,000 per year) AndriusKulikauskas will lead the team, organize the global network, and take responsibility for all deliverables, including a culture of investigation, a data format for publishing research projects, a distributed social networking system, a bold research program, an outreach to other intellectual communities, a pursuit of partners for additional resources and related business opportunities, a strategy for encouraging investigators and promoting "A New Kind of Science". Andrius Kulikauskas is sole proprietor of Minciu Sodas, and is a dual citizen and taxpayer of Lithuania and the United States of America.

Challenge Leaders (5 x $5,000 per year) will lead five challenges such as discovering:

• economics tools, macro and micro, for microbusiness in the developing world
• data tools for designing self-reliant villages and neighborhoods
• a conceptual framework for sharing all human insight
• an answer to the P vs. NP problem
• beauty in mathematics and the world
• a strategy for stewardship of our planet's ecosystems
• a cure for cancer, AIDS or tropical diseases
• a unified theory for understanding gravity and quantum mechanics

Investigator Coaches (25 x $1,000 per year) will be champions of self-learning, who might be high school teachers, home school leaders, traveling self-learners. They will nurture a local hub, teach others Mathematica and NKS, lead research and learning in small groups, and mentor investigators.

Investigators (125 x $200 per year) will do a research project and publish it, and exemplify our culture of investigation. Priority will be given to NKS projects.

Note that the dollar sums include expenses and transfer fees, and that various tasks, such as website development, will be distributed amongst participants. The money distributed to the Investigators, Coaches and even the Challenge Leaders may be variously considered as budgets for covering their research expenses, especially if they are in the US and Europe, or as authorship payments, especially for participants in the developing world. The flow of money will be publicly documented.

Wolfram Science Team

Members of the Minciu Sodas team will work closely and publicly with members of the Wolfram Science "A New Kind of Science" team in order to encourage effective contacts inside and outside Wolfram Science. The Minciu Sodas team will provide social networking venues (including blogs) and coaching for online leadership and for NKSers to stay in touch.

1 Social Networking Leader (such as Michael Schreiber) will work with Andrius Kulikauskas to think through the direction and values of the culture of investigation and the role of "A New Kind of Science" within that culture.

5 Challenge Leaders (such as the leaders of the summer camp) will make clear what NKS and Mathematica tools are available for each challenge, respond to needs for new tools, and clarify the nature of NKS and the role of Wolfram Science's leadership. They will also provide inspiration for tackling the Challenge problems.

25 Advisors (summer camp leaders and alumni) will work with the Investigator Coaches to answer questions they may have about Mathematica and "A New Kind of Science".

125 Mentors (summer camp alumni and NKS enthusiasts, as available) will work with Investigators to advise them on research projects of mutual interest.

Deliverables

Expanded leadership opportunities within the NKS world and beyond it:

• A blog or other venue for Stephen Wolfram's leadership.
• Social networking presence for dozens of NKS leaders.
• System for responding to hundreds of new people and including them and encouraging their work.
• Dozens of local bases for investigating together, and learning NKS and Mathematica, which might be linked to local universities.
• Networking for NKS educational and employment opportunities at colleges, high schools and industry.
• Leaders of challenges that embolden thousands of people.

• Data format for explorations so that research of all kinds is published in meaningful steps.
• Distributed social networking system that is well organized, but distinct from the official Wolfram Science websites.
• Links with a wide variety of intellectual communities and their endeavors.
• Ways to post open problems, requests for help, solutions, and independent projects.
• Tags and comments on explorations, including the deep concepts they illustrate, so they might be strung together into courses.
• Support network for investigation, NKS and Mathematica, especially among high school teachers.

• Explorations as an alternative to academic papers.
• Portfolios of explorations as an alternative to degrees and certificates.
• Hubs for learning in small groups organized around independent thinkers.
• Visits by traveling self-learners.
• Voluntary system for rating and fostering hubs and their leaders.
• Increasing freedom of teachers and learners to design their own curricula.

• Opportunities for synergy with leaders of other movements, networks and cultures.
• Investigation and discussion of the relevance of NKS ideas for social organization in general.

We make this special proposal to Stephen Wolfram because he is an outstanding independent thinker who champions our values.

Comments

Thank you to Michael Schreiber for helpful comments!

July 8, 2008, SamwelKongere: This is where I belong; social investigations for culture, a cure for HIV/Aids, cancer and ECO SYSTEMS. I would prefer to lead at one point, and with time, we have to address our own problems. I mean own African problems through ecosystems by joining to move to start a Kenyan Chapter for Shelters without boundaries, Sustainable local tourism, Agriculture and Improvement of local foods.

July 3, 2008, ShannonClark: Andrius, A quick note - the language you use in this proposal is far, far better than I have seen in previous proposals - "Social network leader", "Challenge Leader", "Coaches" etc which I think helps to capture the spirit far better and, at least for me, has more resonance.

A few comments/additional suggestions.

1. Perhaps not all expenditures are the same. i.e. the social network leader and probably the challenge leaders could get payment for work they do, this being in the form of direct payments for work so paid as a consulting project (and in some cases might be paid to someone's company on their behalf etc) and reported as taxable income etc.

2. However at the investigator coach and investigator level you might want to phrase the payments not as direct payments for work (which in the case of the $1000 payments may hit the threshhold to be reportable income etc, would recommend serious advice re the $200 payments which might also) but rather perhaps phrase it as a "budget" for investigation related expenses (which as noted already might include either a free or deeply discounted copy of related software, perhaps related books etc). This might still require some paperwork but might also make it easier for many people to engage. i.e. take a High School teacher - for any number of reasons he or she might have problems taking outside paid work (union regulations etc) but a grant for supplies etc would almost always be very welcome (and a model that at the school level is not uncommon at all). Plus psychcologically it wouldn't then feel like something that you back into an hourly rate (which for $200 or $1000 even/year likely works out to something very very low) rather it feels like being given additional resources to pursue something important.

In short it would also then mentally be associated directly with the project - and in many cases would likely require some degree of creativity as to how to best apply that budget. I would require people to submit some documentation and some advance planning on how they will spend the money - as this could be a helpful exercise in many cases - but I also wouldn't get too formal and definitely would suggest being fairly flexible (for some people quartly payments might work well, for others they might have specific expenses in mind that might suggest one payment that year)

And a final suggestion, I would include in your budget a small amount (10% or less) set aside for the costs of administering and managing the project. Not the payments to you Andrius for your social network leader role, but a budget for expenses such as:

• a tax accountant to file quarterly taxes
• legal advice on the right structure via which to make payments
• engaging a service to handle the withholding of required payments (employer's portion of social security for example etc)
• expenses such as accounting software
• other project related expenses for you and the challenge leaders (so

My main point is that at all levels it is not just valid but perhaps also more compelling for all parties to treat expenses (especially for good and to a lesser degree information/services) as expenses. Almost all tax systems full expect this - there is a distinction drawn between paying for business expenses and paying for someone's time (salary, consulting work etc). And why make it hard for people (and in some cases why expose what really are expense reimbursements to various taxes)?

So my suggestions for future proposals (or revisions of this one):

1. KEEP this language - it is some of the best you have ever used.

2. At the lower payment levels consider phrasing the payments as budgets vs. payments for work as this may help focus people, give them freedom to spend money on a project, etc

3. ADD to your figures a budget for the organization as a whole's expenses (and yes this might include your travels) not as ongoing seperate submissions to the client but as a line item in the proposal. My initial instinct would say this amount perhaps should be $20k +/- a bit (and if you can't submit a larger budget this might suggest a few less investigators but I think that is in fact a wise move as done well this will help all aspects of the project be more successful.

Expenses would include:

• legal & tax & accounting costs
• some travel for the social network leader, perhaps for the challenge

• computing resources for the social network leader + other project related expenses
• perhaps an expenses budget (possibly seperate from the $5000 amount) for the challenge leaders so they can apply that budget as they see fit for their given challenge - perhaps for computing resources, perhaps for travel, perhaps for communication costs for their challenge project team etc - communication and web costs for the project (i.e. server hosting, the social network leader's cell/skype budget etc)

Shannon

p.s. great catching up while you were here in SF

July 4, 2008, KevinParcell Andrius, As others have pointed out, emergence might be explained by hidden assumptions, especially the unrecognized interaction of components with environment. Thus, when we have the subjective experience of witnessing the spontaneous appearance of complexity then we are alerted to the possibility of hidden assumptions, which are treasures, and it is interesting to suppose that we might fully catalogue the components of some system and still see emergence and so have a peek at something that might lie beyond human comprehension, perhaps momentarily, perhaps irrevocably, perhaps even discover a rule. My study of relativity led me to Minkowski diagrams as an illustration, because plotting the intersections of different frames in 4d space-time fails to recognize that the paper on which it is plotted is an absolute space, violating the premise, or, in other words, the systems are intersecting in a "place" that the rules say doesn't exist. Well, where else could they intersect but some place? But if we have no absolute space then the answer is that they wouldn't intersect: "space" is a useful tool for describing subjective experience (distance between) but mustn't be confused with reality. So here is an example of something - the Universe itself - to look at that has no environment, at least if looked at correctly (as I see it), but mistaking the subjective experience of space for objective reality has generated an endlessly complex and incorrect description. Strip away the hidden assumption of place and the simple if difficult truth emerges, or, as you put it, complexity is a local lie.

I've applied this approach of identifying the hidden assumptions to 4 of the 8 challenges you mention - gravity/quantum, the self-reliant villages, the economic tools in the developing world, the stewardship - and shared my thinking at http://homepage.mac.com/forever.net, with the later 3 in one paper, and used the same approach on another page there about nicotine addiction. I continue to think about those things, but my active pursuit is application to the problem of human intuition, which i describe as the science of future knowledge. Is this way of knowing an example of emergence, and if so does it illustrate that our minds are working productively with assumptions that we don't consciously recognize, or does it illustrate something miraculous, such as spontaneous appearance of complexity, in this case our knowledge mirroring/modeling/sculpting/projecting reality perhaps, or is this sometimes a facility to access future knowledge, and if so then what are the components that activate it? I'm focusing on weather and have had some progress in predicting storms before they emerge. Interestingly, the National Weather Service has adopted my suggestion that they employ satellite maps rather than just plain text to illustrate the locations of developing systems at their Hurricane Prediction Center website. This seems to have simplified their communication with the public by providing a clear context for discussion. My own experience suggests that the data is a lie - a localization - the whole picture tells the tale.

Which brings me to my question. You mention a challenge to discover a model for sharing human intuitions. Do you mean a social network focusing on the problems of intuition and emergence?

happy 4th Kevin

July 7, 2008 Walter Bender. Ask him to define complexity.

AboutThisPage

• ProposalLeader=AndriusKulikauskas
• ProposalSummary=Inviting StephenWolfram of ANewKindOfScience to fund work on organizing an investigatory commons of demonstrations that can be used for investigations.
• ProposalStatus=Writing...