Building the Future of Ideas: An Internet Stock Market for Beliefs

Hey there! I'd love to share something my folks taught me when I was just a kid. Whenever I faced a decision, they encouraged me to make a list of reasons to agree or disagree with an idea. Looking back, it seems like this simple method laid the foundation for an exciting idea: what if we could collect all such lists ever made on the Internet and organize them on a single platform?

This concept became clearer as I delved into the world of stock market investing. The beauty of investing lies not just in the act of buying or selling shares but in the conviction behind these actions. When you put your money on a stock, you're essentially betting on an idea, a belief in the company's future success. This parallel between investing and belief system is fascinating, don't you think?

Imagine if we could create a 'stock market of ideas,' where people could invest in concepts and beliefs as they do in companies. This wouldn't just be a game-changer for scientific advancement, dispute resolution, or politics. It would motivate us to believe in "smarter" things, to question why we hold certain beliefs and whether they're worth "investing" in.

And just like in the stock market, where companies are evaluated and ranked, we could develop algorithms to assign a weighted rank to ideas. These rankings could be based on several factors, like the number of reasons to agree or disagree, and the certainty of the evaluator about the validity of their reasons.

Of course, there's always the risk of such a system being manipulated, just like any financial market. But if we design the platform to encourage not just the exchange of ideas but also in-depth research and discussion, we can mitigate these risks. We can make it a place where data supporting or discounting a position is readily available and easily accessible.

In the past, I've tried to put these ideas into action. I created a website where I outlined categories for people to submit their ideas. The site is no longer active, but thanks to the Wayback Machine, you can check out its architecture and an example of online debate that I proposed.

Now, I'm working on a new and improved platform at Group Intel and you can check out our project on GitHub. I'm excited about the potential of this idea and I'd love to hear your thoughts. Let's revolutionize the way we debate and invest in the power of our beliefs together.