Polyplexus: Shape The Questions That Shape The Future

The Challenge: Increasing the Quantity and Quality of Breakthroughs

Scientific imagination is critical to our economy as well as our national security and defense. Research and development, as an expression of scientific imagination, is now a global and intensely competitive enterprise. This competition is heightened by digital and network disruptors that increase the speed and extend the borders of idea exchange affecting the nature and spread of threats and opportunities. Organizations fundamentally based on shaping the future need to leverage every possible advantage to succeed in this environment.

The Approach: Reshaping the Future of Science

Polyplexus is an online platform under development in DARPA's Gamifying the Search for Strategic Surprise (GS3) program. The goal of Polyplexus is to reshape today’s approaches to science by effectively and efficiently engaging cross-disciplinary researchers and research sponsors to dramatically accelerate the process of non-obvious hypothesis generation.

Polyplexus is a rigorous, collaborative platform driven by expert participants and evidence. Proven game and social practices spur participants – technical experts, researchers, research sponsors – to connect evidence across disciplines and generate new hypotheses.

In September 2018, DARPA kicked off the Polyplexus Pilot 2, opening the platform to scientists and engineers. The government’s ultimate intent is for Polyplexus to be open to all, but, given the nature and complexity of this pilot, the government requires a pool of expert science and technology researchers to interact with the platform and also act as platform testers. Pilot 2 participation is open to all scientists and engineers who want to engage in this online platform.

For more information visit:

[SoCalFreelance]

The Polyplexus site doesn't use HTTPS which means users credentials are sent in the clear

[timstoev]

I can't register :( it says that the registration was open till the end of may this year :((((.
Furthermore where is the risk assessment layer. The research strategy graph and the funding pools?

[Polyplexus]

Polyplexus is in pre-alpha. We’re working through features and questions with nearly 300 plexors.
The platform will be public in 2019. Follow us @polyplexors for status updates as we get ready for launch.
Or find us at Darpa 60, DARPA’s 60th anniversary symposium in September.

[harborned]

I like the idea in principle but as academics are often benchmarked on publications and specifically with a focus on journal publication - how do you prevent this scenario:

Team A micro pubs a result and starts working on the write up.

Team B sees the micro pub result and starts work on innovative “the work”++ and succeeds. They micro pub it and start their write up

Team A’s work is no longer the state of the art and is not publishable in a top tier journal/conference. They are now not rewarded in their university’s/institute’s KPIs as much as they would have been for the work, had they kept their result hidden until published in full.

Team A begins research on “the work++”++ and micro pubs... now team B also loses out and the cycle continues.

[JohnSmith-tdhd]

I just finished a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and it was delicious :)

[TheNewton]

Probably better to market it as wolfram-alpha for papers in tweetsized bites

[KerbosYT]

"It's like twitter for scientists"

This is why it's gonna fail hard, prepare for echo chambers.