My problem with the X-Prize concept is the also the strength of the X-Prize concept -- the magnitude of the goal. For something like an "X-Prize for Everything

My problem with the X-Prize concept is the also the strength of the X-Prize concept -- the magnitude of the goal. For something like an "X-Prize for Everything" to be truly be a successful there have to be goals that are reachable at all size levels. So instead of just a grand goal, there could be smaller goals, that are published, have awards, and all of it should be open sourced/licensed. There was research on a wiki-like programming contest that I think demonstrates how important solving both the big and small aspects is, and one contest implementation to address both[1]. Because of the "winner take all" approach, I don't think it's a good way to solve grand goal challenges (i.e. it financially punishes losers). But something like a VCS that can show contributors to a winning solution. Or a crowdfunded site where even small goal challenges can be posted, this could obviously include micro-goal challenges of grand challenges (e.g., a team trying to win a "human cloning" contest could post a "human eye cloning" contest). [1] http://www.starchamber.com/gulley/pubs/tweaking/tweaking.html http://www.starchamber.com/gulley/pubs/tweaking/tweaking.htm...