# Key Points from Transhumanist IRC Discussion

• Researchers discussed non-invasive approaches to triggering neural plasticity, with one participant sharing a diagram (http://pbrd.co/1t690kX) and reporting personal experimentation with valproate that resulted in lung inflammation side effects.

• The conversation referenced scientific literature on critical period plasticity (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15603744), with participants using a paperbot tool to retrieve multiple papers, including research on LINGO-1 antagonists for multiple sclerosis treatment.

• A substantive debate occurred about open-source licensing strategies versus proprietary approaches, with participants disagreeing about whether open-source models can be financially viable while protecting intellectual property.

• Participants discussed the challenges of applying open-source principles to biotech and chemistry contexts, with concerns about large companies like Pfizer or Genentech potentially exploiting ideas without compensation.

• A developer from Ginkgo Bioworks mentioned efforts to promote open-source strategies within their company, at least for software tools, while acknowledging biological components present unique challenges for open-sourcing.

• Several participants criticized custom licensing approaches, arguing that without legal expertise, creating custom licenses is risky given the complexity of copyright and licensing laws.

• The discussion included technical challenges with Ruby on Rails development, particularly its "magical" nature where variables and methods appear without clear imports, creating difficulties for debugging and customization.