From: jonwill (jonwill@erols.com)
Date: Thu May 27 1999 - 08:56:35 MDT
Brian Atkins wrote:
> I was reading this over at Edge:
>
> http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/prize/prize_index.html
>
> regarding the usefulness of giving away prizes for certain
> science and/or tech advances. It seems to me that in general
> this is a good idea, although as discussed on the site there
> are certain limitations. I'd be curious if this has come up
> on the list before, and what the consensus (if any) was.
>
> So what if there was a site, say scitechprizes.org, where
> anyone could go and make donations using their credit card
> to a prize of their choice? Would this be worth setting up
> to get us moving even faster to the maybe-Singularity?
>
> Lemme know what you think, because I have to decide eventually
> whether or not to pay for the domain :-)
Is your idea to set up an informational site with links to current prizes that
accept donations, or to establish prize categories and accept donations for
these new prizes? If it is the later, you need to legally establish non-profit
status which involves time and expense.
If you are going to undertake the effort and expense, you should determine what
is the most effective method for achieving your desired results. One who finds a
science and/or tech advance has a good chance of getting funding to further
pursue said efforts from venture capitalists or businesses interested in the
technology. Therefore, the prize may be superfluous at that point. It may be
more beneficial to accept donations for funding promising research efforts that
would not be done because of a lack of funds. Just some things to consider.
Cheers,
Jon
http://www.erols.com/jonwill/organizations.htm
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