A few personal words

Translated from German – the German original is authoritative. Read the German original

I have always been curious. When I don't understand something, I try to find out how it works. Sometimes I get an answer, sometimes it only leads to more questions.

That is also how OpenMycoNet came about.

I had been looking into fungi, mycorrhizal networks and their electrical activity, and noticed how much is still unexplained. At some point the thought came up whether one could contribute something oneself to investigating these processes more closely.

I am not a scientist. I trained as a plumber, a steel fabricator and an upholsterer. Over the course of my life, however, I have also dealt with quite a few other things. Which field a question comes from doesn't really matter to me. What interests me is whether we can find a way to answer it.

So at OpenMycoNet I mainly take care of creating the technical basis that allows us to measure and investigate in the first place.

What I don't want to forget: each of us brings different experience and different knowledge. A mycologist sees things that escape me. In turn, my practical experience may make me notice something that someone else doesn't have on their radar. Nobody knows everything, and nobody is always right. Me included, of course.

We may have different ideas, make guesses and sometimes be thoroughly wrong. What matters to me is that we are willing to check our assumptions and to accept results, even when we don't like them.

And one more thing is important to me: I will not take credit for other people's knowledge or ideas as my own. If new insights emerge from our collaboration, it should remain clear who was involved and what contribution they made.

I also use AI, among other things in developing our BioComm measurement system and the data processing, and to better understand scientific questions. I do argue with these systems and question their answers. Because an AI can be wrong too. And sometimes remarkably convincingly.

I started OpenMycoNet. But what becomes of it does not depend on me alone. I hope for people who contribute their knowledge, ask questions, offer criticism and also disagree when they see something differently.

I am not out to confirm any particular idea about fungi or their networks. I want to find out what we can actually demonstrate.

Measure first. Then see which hypotheses stand up to the data.