NOETH: Cardano for science in LATAM

1) Overview

Most casual PC users spend an average of 20% of their CPUs theoretical computing power. This is a result of the advancement of multicore, multithreading technology, where the bottlenecks in performance are mainly linked to the memory wall problem, not to the CPUs computing power. Many users have stalled and idle cores that play no role in their day-to-day work. A structural phenomenon that can be traced back to the CPU computing race, a race that has no reflection in the actual computing power spent by the general public.

But this computing power is an extremely valuable resource for the scientific community, and particularly to scientists who work in Latin America (LATAM). CPUs and GPUs increasing prices have a major impact on developing countries, where most scientists' purchasing power is limited by weak currencies and poor economies. A fact that is magnified by the sky-rocketing prices of these products that cryptocurrency mining aggravates.

This scenario implies a constant wasted potential on idle processors that could be gathered and capitalized by the scientific communities of developing countries. We work as scientists in Argentina, and that's why we propose to address this phenomenon through a specific protocol based on a token that rewards PC users in exchange for their idle computing power: the NOETH token.

Inspired by the work of Emmy Noether, renowned mathematician, the NOETH token incentivizes PC users to volunteer their idle processing power. This power is harnessed by The Noether Protocol and assigned without any cost to members of scientific communities in LATAM in accordance with a rigorous distribution algorithm. This process is free for its scientific beneficiaries, but adds real life value to the NOETH token.

The decentralized wealth created by the users and beneficiaries of the Noether Protocol fuels this value and, consequently, the NOETH token price.

2) Our team

The team behind The Noether Protocol includes argentinian physicists, mathematicians, computer scientists and experts in cryptocurrencies, as well as lawyers and software developers, to ensure a safe and serious experience, akin to those who identify themselves with the Cardano Ecosystem and its core values.

All the legal and institutional information regarding The Noether Protocol will be public. It aims to be an open source project with maximal transparency.

There are many anonymous projects in the crypto space. Some of them are trustworthy and justified, as the blockchain is a secure technology that bypasses obsolete regulations and bureaucracy. We acknowledge the protection of anonymity as an important fourth generation human right, alongside rights such as the right to digital identity and digital reputation.

But it's undeniable that many so-called developers take advantage of this revolution to create ponzi schemes and scam new (and sometimes experienced) investors. We understand the importance of accountability in endeavours such as this. In that spirit, the whole team behind the Noether Protocol will be public.

A detailed description of the leading team background can be found in section 10. 

3) How does it work?

In the first stage of the project, we aim to adapt the BOINC software to the crypto space. This software gathers CPU and GPU cycles on a computer to do scientific computing. It currently has over 5 million users. SETI@home, the project that analyzes radio signals to find signs of extraterrestrial intelligence, runs through BOINC.

We will build our protocol within the infrastructure of this proven open software. But there are key differences between most BOINC-based projects and The Noether Protocol.

In the first place, our protocol will offer a concrete reward, the NOETH token, that will encourage PC users to volunteer their processing power. And it will be easier to promote scientific projects on our platform due to its decentralized nature.

On the other hand, most projects built upon the BOINC open software originated in developed and rich countries, whose scientific communities do not have to face the same obstacles that scientists in third-world countries endure on a daily basis. This is a core feature in The Noether Protocol's identity.

In the second stage, we look forward to build from scratch our own infrastructure that achieves similar goals to those found in the BOINC software, but that -at the same time- is tailored to the specificities and idiosyncrasies of the crypto environment.

Finally, in the third stage of the project we expect to be able to fund a new and competitive cluster in LATAM exclusively dedicated to scientific communities of developing countries alongside their educational institutions and universities.

4) Why fund science in developing countries?

Most developing countries cannot afford significant scientific funding, for this is an area where results are not immediately shown. We live in countries where urgent matters tend to sideline fundamental necessities such as scientific research. This ends up causing a great asymmetry between the scientific talent of developing countries (mysteriously born in any remote corner of the world) and the resources available to take advantage of these exceptional professionals.

Many great scientists fail to fulfill their potential due to a lack of proper tools and resources. This is a real world problem. Let's remember that computing power is essential to scientific endeavors such as molecular biology, protein folding studies, oncological research, epidemiological simulations, etc.

If the blockchain applications become merely speculative projects without any real utility, we will be wasting this powerful technology. And we believe that science funding in developing countries is a project faithful to Cardano's core values: a serious ecosystem that aims to solve real problems, and not just a place of speculation. 

5) Tokenomics

The NOETH token has all the advantages of any cryptocurrency: decentralization, security and a revolutionary technology in terms of value exchange and storage. It's also censorship resistant, and this is decisive in the scientific field.

Additionally, our project is dealing with pre-existing value: the wasted processing power of idle cores in PCs. Redistributing this asset is a source of value in and of itself. The PC users do not necessarily have to be involved in any scientific community in particular, for they will be rewarded anyway in exchange for their idle processors.

The NOETH token will be minted and awarded to users who volunteer their PC processing power. The reward will be related to the amount of processing power lended by the user.

The BOINC client will compute how many theoretical tasks the user is clearing and how much computing power is being volunteered to the grid, and will award such a user a proportional amount of NOETH.

The token is distributed in epochs, and the amount of tokens minted in each epoch depends on the quantity of lending users. The distribution is in accordance with a weighted average of the time each user lends its processing power and a metric that is defined upon the processing power itself.

You can see a more detailed explanation of the math behind our project tokenomics in the .pdf "The math behind NOETH" attached to this presentation.

We cannot have a max supply, for once the last NOETH token is minted, there would be no incentive to sustain the grid. So, in order to protect the token's value, the quantity of tokens awarded will be controlled by a logarithmic-like function. That is: a function that grows without bounds, but its rate of growth tends to zero. The NOETH token will be deflationary, for this function will create not a theoretical max supply, but a practical one.

6) Why launch on Cardano?

Crypto's scene, nowadays, seems full of tokens and schemes trying to make a quick buck straight out of people's expectations. But in science there is no rush. Or rather, rush is counterproductive to the scientific task. And in a world dominated by speed, fuss and at times even irrationality, the value of Cardano's slow, conscientious and professional stride seems very important to us, first as investors and ADA holders, and today as developers of a dApp.

The Noether Protocol is a project built by scientists, inspired by scientists and most importantly: for scientists. So what better chain than Cardano to bring it to life? Cardano is the only project that, since its conception, has always put trusted science above quick and unstable results. Is the project that for many years had to carry the burden of this serious and professional decision in the midst of scams and pump and dump strategies.

7) Timeline and metrics of success

3 months: we'll complete our current senior technical team with talented junior developers that share our enthusiasm with high performance computing and science. We'll also deploy our project on social media and reach out to scientific centers in LATAM (such as CONICET –Argentina-, Fiocruz –Brasil-, etc.) to present our project and establish a collaborative relationship.

6 months: we expect to have a working beta of our platform in the Cardano dApp's ecosystem with at least 3 scientific projects of developing countries employing the grid's computing power for research.

12 months: we expect to have finished the first stage of the project within the BOINC infrastructure, and start to build our own in accordance with the parameters referenced in phase 3. 

 Estimated launch date (beta): August 2022.

8) Grid allocation and token utility

80% of the grid's processing power will be allocated for free in scientific projects within the best LATAM universities in the QS World University Rankings.

The NOETH token will be used to determine -through community polls- which scientific projects receive this free processing power. NOETH holders will vote in accordance with the amount of tokens they own.

The remaining 20% of the grid will be available for private purchase to sustain the server. This will give the token a practical utility, and NOETHs used for this purpose will be periodically burned to protect its price.

The price will most certainly be competitive when compared to alternatives like Amazon EC2 (with nodes that cost $0.24 per hour). BOINC is a secure platform that has proven itself many times already, so private purchasers would be encouraged to employ it.

NOETH holders will also vote on key aspects of the new infrastructure we aim to build once the BOINC server is up and running.

9) Funding requested

Period: 6 months (working beta) 

• 1 software system engineer: $12.5/hour * 40 hours/week * 24 weeks = $12.000

• 2 software developers: $6.25/hour * 40 hours/week * 24 weeks = $12.000

• 1 community manager and web developer/designer: $6.25/hour * 40 hours/week * 24 weeks hours = $6.000

Total = $30,000

Note: these are competitive salaries in Argentina, with more than reasonable purchasing power.

10) Team experience and background

• Benjamín Marcolongo: PhD student in physics. Expert in numerical computational problems involving machine learning, neural networks and dynamical systems. I majored in quantum mechanics and have developed an algorithm to compute bases of irreducible spherical tensor operators. Currently I am dedicated to modeling biological systems in the field of active matter.  https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-marcolongo-25365991/

• Héctor Peña Pollastri: PhD in pure Mathematics. Physicist. Professor at Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina - Facultad de Matemática, Astronomía y Física. Specialized knowledge in fields as Hopf algebras, representation theory, General relativity, Quantum Mechanics. With a background in data structures, discrete mathematics, graph theory, numerical simulations, and scientific programming in general. Most of these skills were acquired during my participation in several contests in competitive programming during my college years.
  https://www.linkedin.com/in/h%C3%A9ctor-mart%C3%ADn-pe%C3%B1a-pollastri-610200224/

• Raúl E. Sendín: Expert in Digital Marketing and Community Management from the National Technological University of Buenos Aires. Financial analyst. Crypto-trader. Investor. Specialist in the decentralized finance project "Cardano".
  https://www.linkedin.com/in/ra%C3%BAl-enrique-send%C3%ADn-a47995159/

• Horacio Baca Amenábar: Lawyer (third best GPA in my class) specialized in parliamentary procedure and Cyber Law. Staff officer and legislative coordinator. Published two books and several articles in  Law symposiums, magazines and political and tech related monthlies. Co-director of the digital magazine "Trama". PhD student in Constitutional Law.
  https://www.linkedin.com/in/horacio-a-baca-amen%C3%A1bar-537215198