"Here is the ideal: we pay people for the time/effort/resources to create"
This could only work for ideas that are obvious. For instance, it's obvious that a more efficient solar cell would be great, so we could create a prize for that.
But could the public have pre-funded the telephone? No, because they hadn't thought of it. The most notable inventions are the ones that nobody saw coming, and hence, couldn't have commissioned.
This could only work for ideas that are obvious. For instance, it's obvious that a more efficient solar cell would be great, so we could create a prize for that.
But could the public have pre-funded the telephone? No, because they hadn't thought of it. The most notable inventions are the ones that nobody saw coming, and hence, couldn't have commissioned.