>> If this knowledge is valuable, the best way to show a support for it is hiring somebody to work full time on this problem. Best for whom? I'm not sure it's

>> If this knowledge is valuable, the best way to show a support for it is hiring somebody to work full time on this problem. Best for whom? I'm not sure it's best for the employer since they then live or die based on the abilities, insight and inspiration of that one employee. Equally, I'm not sure it's best for the employee who becomes singularly focused on that one problem to the exclusion of all others. If they want to diverge down an alternate path for a bit they (likely) cannot. Of course in one sense work-for-prize is not efficient. We may as well argue that FOSS programing is not efficient. But FOSS exists not because of effeciency, but because it allows people to scratch an itch (usually unpaid.) Prizes allow specific goals to be prioritised within that community. Say, for example, an expert at ocean currents notices a prize for decoding a historical text. Sounds like a fun hobby. Figures out that it contains tide tables. Employment is clearly a good thing. Scanning in old archives could easily be done by an employee. But there's a place in the world for more than just formal employment. The existence of prizes does not negate employment. Rather it might attract folk into a "hobby" of sorts.