VermilionGoldfish
Thanks a lot for your detailed comments. You may take a look at my just updated full preprint posted at OpenReview.net:
https://openreview.net/forum?id=E144GC5Vgw6
You may find many of your questions addressed in the 2nd section of the appendix. Here is a recap.
What is the point of the analogy to a capitalist economy? The basis of the analogy is that both systems are driven by cycles of innovation. However, there are fundamental differences between the tangible products of a capitalist economy and the much less tangible outcomes of research. These differences necessitate a complex peer review process for evaluating scientific progress, which is the central focus of this article. Nonetheless, addressing this unique peer review procedure requires considering potential issues associated with start-ups and monopolies that are common to both and that could impede innovation. The point is that capitalist economies have been more successful in dealing with these issues than scientific research, which is both unfortunate and inexplicable.
How can the scientific community do better than the governmental structure that is meant to prevent monopolies in a capitalist economy, which can often be corrupted? While it is true that the capitalist economy and its regulatory government are not flawless, they do have a democratic mechanism in place that promotes fair competition and fosters healthy innovation. In contrast, the scientific community can be perceived as more authoritarian than democratic, i.e., not even up at the level of the capitalist economies. As a result, unorthodox ideas in science often face gatekeeping barriers to recognition and acceptance.
The proposed system advocates the principles of democracy and diversity that can truly preserve the freshness and vitality of the driving force of innovation. Considering the rigorous nature of scientific research, there is good reason to believe that a properly implemented system could significantly enhance the self-regulating structure within the scientific research community, making it more robust.
In scientific research, ideas embodied in preprints, publications, and proposals can be considered the ``products''. But are there more tangible products in science, comparable to the marketable goods produced in the economy? In the realm of basic science research, ideas are undoubtedly the most important output, and the proposed review system is particularly well-suited for evaluating such results. On the contrary, when it comes to research focused on applications and technology, more tangible products emerge, some of which even lead to the creation of start-up companies in the capitalist economy. We argue that applied research progresses more effectively than basic research, precisely because of the existence of such tangible products. The real challenges lie in basic science research, where progress seems to be increasingly stagnant, and cases of meaningless work or fraud have become all too common.
Simple rating systems like what FQXi has done are flawed and easy to game upon. Fortunately, the proposed system has built-in measures to counteract such attempts. In particular, the credit rewarding process is dynamic and can be continuously fine-tuned, rendering any gaming efforts ultimately ineffective. In addition, with the aid of advanced machine learning techniques, we can further enhance the system's performance and robustness as we accumulate a larger dataset of statistical information.
