Peter Diamandis, CEO of the , wants to use our competitive instincts to make the world a better place. After handing out $10 million to the first private team to achieve suborbital space flight, he鈥檚 extended his X-prize concept into earthly realms such as automotive engineering, genomics and health care. And while he still sends billionaires to the International Space Station as managing director of the firm , he鈥檚 lately teamed up with futurist Ray Kurzweil to create the , where young entrepreneurs are trained to think about global issues. Ivan Semeniuk spoke with Diamandis about his ongoing ventures on and above the planet.
Why do you think prizes work?
First, as humans, we鈥檙e genetically predisposed to compete; we do it in sports and in business. That鈥檚 what encourages us to take risks, which drives breakthroughs. Secondly, if you鈥檙e going to try to do something on your own that鈥檚 considered audacious or outlandish and you fail, people say, 鈥淟ook at that stupid idiot who tried that crazy thing.鈥� However, if a third party puts up, as an objective, a very difficult goal, which you attempt but fail to achieve, then it鈥檚, 鈥淕ood try old chap, too bad you didn鈥檛 make it.鈥� The psychology of the prize changes the way society views you as a risk taker.
Advertisement
How do you scale up a prize into something that鈥檚 useful to society?
When we design a prize, it鈥檚 really important that the prize deliver a team and technology to a point where a business can then take off. It鈥檚 of zero interest to me to have a competition where the result ends up in a record book or on a museum shelf. For us, success means there鈥檚 an industry launched on the heels of a very visible achievement.
The Ansari X-prize was intended to launch a space tourism industry. As Apollo fades into history, are you worried that interest in space is diminishing?
I think I鈥檓 glad to see Apollo recede into the past because we鈥檝e hung our hats on the Apollo legacy for far too long. It鈥檚 important to get people to relate to space in an exciting way today. I think that means making space a personal experience, not a third-hand experience. The other thing we need is to have the first 鈥淣etscape鈥� event 鈥� the first company that makes a lot of money at it. That will bring in capital, and capital will fuel additional risk-taking that will drive us forward.
Speaking of risk, your business offers parabolic airplane flights for 鈥榮pace tourists鈥� who want to experience freefall 鈥� including Stephen Hawking in 2007. What was it like to put Stephen Hawking in zero g?
From the beginning, I thought it was going to be a great opportunity and that everyone would love it. Then I had people come to me and say, 鈥淵ou鈥檙e crazy. You鈥檙e going to kill Stephen Hawking and you鈥檙e going to destroy your company.鈥� But when we did it, we planned it well, it was extraordinarily easy and it was really fulfilling. After the 11 years we worked to get the company operational, that was the payoff.
When is Peter Diamandis going to space?
That鈥檚 my question. When the suborbital flights go, I will hop on one of the first of those. I can afford the $100,000 for that. As for the $40 million to go to orbit 鈥� as soon as I can afford that, I鈥檒l go 鈥� but I can鈥檛 yet.
Meanwhile, you鈥檝e now set up a . How can you improve health care with a prize?
I was honestly dubious at first. You can鈥檛 change what you can鈥檛 measure and in health care, there is no real measurement of a community鈥檚 health. If you say a community is healthy, how do you know that? So we鈥檝e created something called a community health index, which includes things like how many missed days of work, how many hospitalisations, how many deaths 鈥� concrete, objective measurements. What we鈥檙e inviting teams to do is demonstrate how they would improve a 10,000-person community health index by 50 per cent or more over a three-year period.
You鈥檝e also started the Singularity University. How is it different from a conventional graduate school experience?
Instead of focusing on a particular DNA sequence or ion channel or piece of computer code, we take you way out of your depth so that you鈥檙e looking at global issues. You鈥檒l be exposed to many other disciplines. You learn about AI and robotics and nanotech and human-machine interface. We ran our first class this summer and out of that class the students started six different companies, so it鈥檚 a real hotbed of entrepreneurship and big-picture thinking.
What do you hope to achieve with SU?
My hope is to create a network of people who are focused on the world鈥檚 problems and equip them to make transformational change. I want to spawn a new generation of young entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds that can approach these problems in ways that traditional institutional groups are not. Ultimately, while the X Prize Foundation sets the objective goals, I鈥檓 hoping that the Singularity University will generate the teams to compete for them.
Have you come across any problems that are not amenable to being solved with a prize challenge?
One of the fundamental problems on the planet is inequality. I haven鈥檛 figured out a prize for that one yet.
