I'm making it practical to put complex knowledge into a form that both people & computers can understand.

– “To easily plant complex ideas into computers.”
 

For example biological systems are really complex (e.g. cancer, ecosystems). So biologists need computation to analyze these systems holistically (e.g. 'if component A changes like this, then B to Z will react like that'). And for that, first of all the existing knowledge needs to be encoded into some computation-ready form. This knowledge needs to be extracted from scientific literature, manually, by people. (Because computers cannot do that reliably).

But current tools for encoding knowlege into computable forms are cumbersome. They are either not flexible enough, or not intuitive to use at all. Essentially, it is not doable to capture full, detailed holistic views of biological systems, so that computers could reason over it.

Therefore I created VSM: an exceptionally intuitive method, for capturing any type of knowledge, on any topic, with any required level of contextualization. This is a revolutionary new technology. In one interface, one can capture diverse, complex scientific knowledge with full context details, into a precise, computable, easily-readable form. See How to easily plant complex ideas into computers and A bold vision for computable scientific knowledge.

But scientific funding prefers to award only 'the creation of new knowledge' – even though that only ends up as unstructured text, locked up in tens of millions of research papers, where it is not 'queryable from'. So government funders do not prioritize the vital task of making scientific findings computationally accessible. Still, the question of how to best create+support+optimize new technology for capturing digital knowledge efficiently, is very valid research as well... and even a basic principle of computer science.

This is why I need your funding. I've written too many high-scoring, yet fruitless grant applications. Now I am without funding, since end 2019.

Your funding will go to open-source code, research of software design and its use, and community outreach. In particular: 1) further evolution and maintenance of core software modules; 2) new software modules that many other researchers are waiting for; 3) applications in particular domains, as a learning exercise for developing a broadly usable software ecosystem.

Why I create

VSM must exist in this world. It can have a profound impact on large-scale knowledge management in science, and beyond. Therefore I already prototyped, user-tested, refined, refactored, applied, described, and publicized VSM, during years of on-and-off funding, including now.

Why you want to fund my work

• Because the quality of your future health may depend on it
  Biology’s multiscale nature (molecules to ecosystems) makes disturbances on one level (genes, bacteria, pollution) affect all others. So VSM's unparalleled ability to capture actionable knowledge on all levels may form a necessary foundation for controlling all disease.
• Because VSM must grow
  A lot of coding is needed to apply VSM to many more biological research areas where complex knowledge needs to be managed in a computable form.
• Because VSM must be connected
  VSM's strength is human-oriented knowledge-capture. This must be connected more deeply to existing, computer-oriented technologies that are strong in knowledge-processing (both logical reasoning, and machine learning).
• Because VSM must be embedded
  Only VSM is fit to be the engine of an interdisciplinary, open platform where scientists can collect all scientific findings in a computable form.

  Imagine a site like Wikipedia, but where each page corresponds to a scientific publication, and shows all its new findings in a form that is both human- and computer-understandable.
  This would be like a giant digital brain, that integrates the vast archives of humanity's research knowledge.

• Because you may want to partner up?
  We look for new partnerships and funding for this broadly applicable tool. Additional use-cases will also serve as inspiration to mature and fulfill VSM's potential for global applicability.
• Because it's the socially responsible / right thing to do!
  For many modern projects that depend on handling computable knowlege, VSM will make work a lot easier & more efficient; as it is the first truly high-level language for digitally encoding any idea. Also, it forms the basis for automated reasoning assistance over large-scale, real-world knowledge; i.e. a digital brain to address society's most challenging problems (like cancer, brain, environment, climate, finance, security).