
Ask HN: What scientific/technical bounties with social impact would you support? - nemild
For a long while, I&#x27;ve been thinking of crowdfunding bounties for solving socially valuable science and engineering problems.<p>I&#x27;ve always been inspired by examples of this through history including:<p>- Longitude Rewards (17th century): https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Longitude_rewards<p>- Orteig Prize for Trans-Atlantic Flight (1920s): https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Orteig_Prize<p>- Fermat&#x27;s Last Theorem (1800s&#x2F;1908): https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Fermat%27s_Last_Theorem#Monetary_prizes<p>- Ansari X Prize (1996): https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Ansari_X_Prize<p>- DARPA Grand Challenge (2000s): https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;DARPA_Grand_Challenge<p>What specific problems would you want to donate a few dollars to see solved and that will work with prize amounts in the range $1k-$500k? What referees would you recommend to determine if the problem is &quot;solved&quot;?
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joeclark77
I'm interested in "off the grid" living, so I'd like to see some technologies
to support that. For example, some good solution to the Internet without
depending on expensive telecom companies (e.g. some kind of meshnet, or
perhaps land-line based grid that relies on personally-owned routers). Also,
can we make home electricity generation cheap and simple enough so that non-
experts can figure it out? How about home production of auto fuel, such as
ethanol or biodiesel, based on something you can grow in your backyard?

I'd be focused on cheapness, ease of setup, and ease of use with these
challenges. Making a windmill more efficient than oil, or ethanol more
efficient than gasoline, is not realistic and not necessary to the value
proposition of personal independence off the grid.

The vision I have is: being able to have electricity and water, Internet and
telephone, without having any monthly bills from utility companies.

I don't know how you'd set the parameters for a contest, or how you'd measure
when you've arrived. This kind of lifestyle may be (mostly) possible today,
but you'd have to have engineering skills and a lot of free time to make it
work.

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edimaudo
better medical drugs especially antibiotics

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nemild
Thanks! Which drugs are you thinking about? What goal do you think one could
achieve for a few hundred thousand in incentives?

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edimaudo
You may have seen something like this
[http://shanghaiist.com/2016/01/23/colistin_resistant_bacteri...](http://shanghaiist.com/2016/01/23/colistin_resistant_bacteria_nrc-1.php)
a few weeks back. Imagine if you can't have basic surgery because of that.
Nightmare scenario of course but still a major issue.

