In this episode of Trust Revolution, Shawn welcomes Dr. David Strayhorn, a neurologist, electrical engineer, and freedom technologist, for a deep dive into Web of Trust. Recorded at Bitcoin Park in Nashville, David shares his journey from clinical practice to building Brainstorm, a personal Web of Trust relay on Nostr, and GrapeRank, an algorithm reimagining trust curation. Together, they explore how decentralized systems can empower individuals to control their data and trust networks, challenging centralized gatekeepers and reshaping how we find truth in a skeptical world.

Dr. David Strayhorn is a board-certified neurologist specializing in epilepsy, with a background in electrical engineering. A decade-long contributor to freedom technology, he focuses on decentralized systems and Web of Trust protocols. His current project, Brainstorm, is a personal Web of Trust relay on Nostr, while GrapeRank is an extensible algorithm for contextual trust scores. Follow him on Nostr (@wds4@primal.net) or explore his GitHub (github.com/wds4) for insights into Concept Graph and Grapevine.

Quotes to Remember

• “Trust doesn’t live in any one place in the brain, just like there’s no single neuron in charge. It’s decentralized, like the systems we’re building.” — Dr. David Strayhorn


• “Web of Trust is about letting your community decide what trust means—not developers imposing categories.” — Dr. David Strayhorn


• “GrapeRank is PageRank for people: it uses any signal—follows, zaps, mutes—to calculate trust in context, not just importance.” — Dr. David Strayhorn

Resources & Links

• David Strayhorn’s GitHub: Dive into Concept Graph and Grapevine (github.com/wds4).


• Nostr Protocol: Learn about the platform powering Web of Trust (nostr.com).

Subscribe: https://podcast.trustrevolution.co

Music in this episode by More Ghost Than Man.