[extropy-chat] what other "X-prizes" have been started ?

Jef Allbright jef at jefallbright.net
Tue Sep 20 04:10:50 UTC 2005


Some prizes for inovation mentioned at 

http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0030288

See below.

- Jef
X Prize Cup 

A prospective annual award for space-travel innovations from the X Prize 
Foundation, to replace its Ansari X Prize, whose $10 million purse for 
flying a private vehicle at least twice into space and back again within a 
fortnight went to US aviator Burt Rutan in October 2004. The award follows a 
long line of aviation prizes that go back to and beyond Charles Lindbergh's 
historic solo flight across the Atlantic in *Spirit of St. Louis* in 1927, 
which won him $25,000 from New York hotelier Raymond Orteig.
M Prize 

An ongoing challenge that consists of two awards: a Longevity Prize for the 
oldest *Mus musculus* (currently standing at 1,819 days), and a Rejuvenation 
Prize for the best late-onset intervention (based on the rejuvenated mouse's 
age at death, currently standing at 1,356 days). Awards come from a fund, 
currently valued at around $1.3 million, to which anyone may contribute. A 
leading sponsor is "The 300"—modelled on the 300 Spartans who crucially 
delayed the invasion of Greece by hordes of Persians in 480 B.C.—whose 
members pledge regular contributions to the fund and whose names will be 
etched in history (as those of the Spartans were engraved on a stone tablet 
in Sparta).
Loebner Prize for Turing Test 

British mathematician Alan Turing postulated, in 1950, that a "thinking" 
computer could produce responses to fool an interrogator that it was human; 
the prize, created by New Jersey industrialist Hugh Loebner in 1990, keeps 
the Turing Test a live challenge. Loebner has pledged $100,000 (plus a gold 
medal) for the first computer whose responses are indistinguishable from a 
human's. In the meantime, an annual prize of $3,000 (plus a bronze medal) 
goes to the most human computer that year. In 2005, according to Loebner, 
the award of $25,000 (plus a silver medal) looks likely to be won for the 
first time.
Longitude Prize 

This prize was established in 1714 by the British government to determine 
longitude at sea. Instead of relying on astronomical sightings, watchmaker 
John Harrison built a precision clock to keep the time of a home port (of 
known longitude). Denied the £20,000 prize by assessors (wary that astronomy 
had been bypassed), Harrison petitioned King George III to circumvent them 
and to persuade Parliament to award him directly. Harrison was finally 
rewarded in 1773, 12 years late and 45 years after he began work on his 
"marine chronometer". He died on his birthday in 1776, at the age of 83.
Moon Regolith Oxygen Challenge 

Just this year, NASA announced a deadline stretching into 2008 for its third 
Centennial Challenge competition, the Moon Regolith Oxygen Challenge, to 
extract breathable oxygen from simulated lunar soil, and is dangling a purse 
of $250,000 in front of likely duellists.
 



On 9/19/05, Reason <reason at longevitymeme.org> wrote:
> 
> 
> --> Russell Wallace
> 
> >>On 9/20/05, Reason <reason at longevitymeme.org> wrote:
> >>The Methuselah Mouse Prize - now the Mprize - is doing well. See:
> >>
> >>http://www.mprize.org/
> >
> >That looks good except that it doesn't seem to disallow calorie
> >restriction? (CR is an easy way to prolong life in animals, but
> ><understatement of the month> it has been extensively tried in
> >humans </understatement of the month> and does little or nothing
> >to prolong lifespan - unsurprisingly when you think about it -
> >so won't that short-circuit the prize?)
> 
> >From the guidelines page:
> 
> http://www.mprize.org/index.php?pagename=structure
> 
> ----
> The goal of capturing the imagination of the public is best achieved by a
> very simple prize structure, in which money is awarded simply to the
> producer of the world's oldest ever mouse. This should be restricted to 
> the
> species used in virtually all laboratory work, Mus musculus, but no other
> restrictions should be placed on the way in which the mouse's lifespan is
> extended, except for ones that fail to maintain its cognitive and/or
> physical well-being.
> ----
> 
> You can calorie restrict all you like providing the mice remain in a state
> of well-being and you follow the other organizational rules - the current
> Rejuvenation Prize holder used CR. See:
> 
> http://www.mprize.org/index.php?pagename=recordholders
> 
> The prize seeks to have no say over how scientists achieve the end goal;
> this maximises inventiveness.
> 
>
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