Eric Gilliam

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@eric_is_weird

I write operational histories of great 20th C. R&D orgs | BBN Fund Director @RenPhilanthropy. Fellow @GoodSciProject, Stanford '19.

Working to build more BBNs

Hyde Park, Chicago freaktakes.com Joined February 2017

2.8K Following 5.6K Followers 5.5K Posts

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Eric Gilliam @eric_is_weird Jan 16

BBNs built the ARPAnet and autonomous vehicles, but the R&D model went out of style. Could it still work today?

I spent 2025 focused on this experiment. First results are in: it’s working!

That’s why @janellehmtam and I are raising a fund to double down🧵freaktakes.com/p/the-bbn-fund

www.freaktakes.com The BBN Fund Building a “Convergent Research for BBNs”

Eric Gilliam @eric_is_weird 10h

I want to write some version of this multiple times a day, and usually choose not to. It's not worth arguing with such people.

Eric Gilliam @eric_is_weird 1d

"I subscribe to the great man theory of history."

- guy who's only read like six history books ever

Eric Gilliam @eric_is_weird 3d

Has anybody written a good breakdown of how these life sciences CROs for AI labs being launched (a) differ from each other and (b) differ from existing competitors?

I struggle to piece together how these orgs would make their own case, from their public comms.

Melinda B. Chu Verified account @MelindaBChu1 3d

Why would someone choose this CRO over another? They have no experience actually doing experiments and no way the cost is less.

People are supposed to pay $5000 or $10,000 for you to run an experiment for the first time in your life and we are supposed to trust the results.

It’s not faster and cheaper if the experiment wasn’t done correctly.
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Eric Gilliam @eric_is_weird 4d

A great opportunity accompanied by a stirring piece. IMO, scientific field-creation is not only one of the most heroic acts in science, but an act that most great minds are too risk-averse to dedicate their lives to. This is an exciting opportunity for great minds with courage.

David Lang Verified account @davidtlang 4d

BIG NEWS!

For the past few years, we've given scientists budgets so they can fund their peers with small, fast grants. Today, we're going bigger.

We're opening up a call to find and fund emerging "field builders"—people with the ambition and curiosity to kickstart a new field of science and technology. You'll get a budget of $70,000 to regrant (up to $10,000) out to projects and ideas and join a community of explorers.

Do you have an idea for a new field of science that *should* exist? Please apply!
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