40 ms·
Hasn’t this been validated for hundreds of years? The Story of Longitude is a great read. Harrison spent decades working on the problem. https://en.m.wikiped
by melling 9y ago
Hasn’t this been validated for hundreds of years? The Story of Longitude is a great read. Harrison spent decades working on the problem.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longitude_(book) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longitude_(book)
The Spirit of St. Louis crossing the Atlantic was for a prize, and I believe an inspiration for the current X-Prize.
I don’t think we need “grand challenges” but simply challenges, to help get us to successive breakthroughs.
I’ve thrown this out before, but a Kickstarter for these “challenges“, with well-defined goals might help accelerate technological progress.
- jacquesm 9y agoCapitalism is a huge motivator by itself. Come out ahead of the competition and reap the benefits, it's a permanent contest. It's not without its downsides (externalization) but it definitely seems to move the needle.
- melling 9y agoyes, but that doesn’t mean it’s the best solution for all problems. Investors/founders want to have their exit strategy. We get a lot of “uber of”, etc, for example. http://som.yale.edu/peter-thiel-yale-we-wanted-flying-cars-instead-we-got-140-characters http://som.yale.edu/peter-thiel-yale-we-wanted-flying-cars-i... The goal might not be a marketable solution but a step in the desired direction. I don’t know the limits of this type of prize but it’s worth pursuing: https://www.xprize.org/about https://www.xprize.org/about
- chiefalchemist 9y agoI think some (e.g., Koch Bros) would argue that we don't really have capitalism. That (too often?) Uncle Sam steps in and unbalances the market, often in favor of current winners. A contest, equally open to all, certainly feels like an appropriate proxy.