Diana Deca joins Eternal Trusts as the Chief Strategy Officer – and Oracle

We asked Diana several questions about her onboarding and her plans in her new position as the CSO.

What would be your most preferred one-sentence description of what Eternal Trusts do?

A new way of stimulating groundbreaking research & open science using smart contracts and token technology.

When did you first learn about Eternal Trusts and what caught your attention?

I learned about it from another neuroscientist who joined and I realized this is both necessary and a great idea. There have already been many attempts coming from well-known entrepreneurs to fund specific scientific projects like mind uploading or curing aging or cancer, but no transparent or clear manner of funding and organizing the research has been created yet, apart from the typical start-up structure. So Eternal Trusts is the first platform to support funding and organizing scientific research via private investments.

In your new position as chief strategy officer, what do you see as the next step for the company?

I think the first step is creating a solid network of advisors, oracles and providers so that we can test our system with the tech investors that are looking for an easier way to invest in scientific research.

Eternal Trusts, as a hybrid intelligence platform, needs to attract and incentivize Oracles from different fields: fiduciary services, asset management, life extension, or charity. What would be the main reasons for such experts to join the platform? Are you yourself an Oracle for ET?

Yes, I did sign up as an Oracle for ET myself! Having had a major in Philosophy of Science, I have always liked to consider a bigger question and see the extent to which it can be answered, what the methods are, how long it might take, etc. I find it very rewarding to turn an idea that once seemed to belong in a sci-fi movie into reality. Indeed, I hope people from multiple fields will join me as an Oracle and I think that apart from the obvious advantage of being part of something extraordinary and changing the world, Oracles will also be paid immediately for their contributions should they come up with a good solution. That said, we will probably create a system for oracles to work together towards the best solution within the platform, and that will include the opinions of the providers, i.e. the scientists that will take on the task, the ET board of the DAO directors and other token holders. Eventually an AI will take over most of that work, as the ET network grows.

Among the many functions the Eternal Trusts project serves it can be considered a stimulus for the research community in developing new technologies. Would you agree with that statement?

Absolutely. Being in academic research myself, I feel there is a very strong need to incentivize talented scientists and thinkers to participate in a unified framework so that major scientific questions can be answered. Similarly, there is a very strong incentive for tech investors and major companies to invest in specific projects, but a clear and transparent path has been missing, so hopefully ET is going to help the two kinds of people connect more efficiently from now on.

What is the subject of your academic research and how is it related to Eternal Trusts?

I am a neurobiologist and throughout my PhD and postdoc I have been focusing on single neuron computation. Simply put, I am trying to understand how one neuron can integrate thousands of inputs and generate a single output, how it “decides” to do so. To do this, I have been using two photon imaging, electrophysiology and other techniques like VR in awake mice. A neuronal output can be responding to light and sounds, but somehow altogether our neurons create everything we are, including our memories, opinions and feelings. I think that if we can understand that computation we can potentially find the key to AI and mind uploading.

Understanding how the neuron works can take 50 years of continuous, well organized experimental research. And my ambition does not stop here, I would also like to build a neuroprosthetic that can record from all these neurons in the healthy human brain. Academic research cannot support such projects, but if enough innovators meet the right resources I think we can do this. And if we succeed, it will be a giant evolutionary leap for humankind.

Eternal Trusts consults with Carboncopies on scientific matters, and you are also an adviser in Carboncopies. What does Carboncopies do? And how do you see the strategic partnership between CC and ET?

Carboncopies is a company that supports scientists working on whole brain emulation (WBE). This topic is very close to my heart and I have been publishing on it for about 7 years now. For a long time, my dream has been to find realistic ways of making WBE happen. The partnership between Carboncopies and Eternal Trusts will hopefully, on the one hand, bring all the experience and expertise that Carboncopies has acquired over the years into Eternal Trusts, and, on the other hand, help WBE happen by bringing together investors and the scientists and advisors that are collectively capable of reconstructing and uploading an entire human brain.

Some believe mind uploading or whole brain emulation is one of the most inspiring goals that humanity can achieve. Would you agree with this? And would you say that Eternal Trusts can accelerate the progress of these technologies?

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