> you think Red doesn't build robots when Darpa doesn't have prizes? I assume Red is some dude who builds robots. I apologize for not knowing who you're referr

> you think Red doesn't build robots when Darpa doesn't have prizes? I assume Red is some dude who builds robots. I apologize for not knowing who you're referring to. But anyway! I'll assume he's a Darpa grand challenge winner and some awesome robotics dude. I don't think he would have gained as much as he has, technologically, without the competition that most certainly wanted to win the Darpa challenge. These competitions don't change the dominant players in the game; what they do is move the margin, and force the dominant players to be that much better, because they want to remain dominant. My theory is that $1 million -> prestige -> more entrants in DGC -> better tech than would have been created otherwise. Thoughts?