Peter H. Diamandis, Executive Chairman of the XPRIZE Foundation, stated that every inventor, scientist, and entrepreneur has thought their ideas were ridiculous until they actually tried and succeeded. He continued by saying that you might just be one ridiculous idea away from changing the world, so always give it a try.

The post did not provide a budget for experiments, success rates, or failure samples, but described "trying and succeeding" as a common path for inventors, scientists, and entrepreneurs. His public identity is that of a doctor, while also managing XPRIZE and working on healthspan extension. The same account previously referenced Arthur C. Clarke's three phases: first, calling it a ridiculous idea; then, saying it might work but isn't worth doing; and finally, after it succeeds, claiming they always knew it was a good idea.

The tool he uses to implement this is a prize, rather than completing prototypes himself. On May 16, 1994, he announced the XPRIZE with a $25,000 reward based on the 1927 Orteig Prize, which had spurred Charles Lindbergh's solo non-stop transatlantic flight. After funding from the Ansari family, the prize was set at $10 million, with the rules requiring a team to carry three people to an altitude of 100 kilometers and fly twice within two weeks. 26 teams competed, with Mojave Aerospace Ventures' SpaceShipOne winning, and the prize was awarded in October 2004.

Failure samples are also in his own records. Around 2010, he raised funds for an asteroid mining company, based on the premise that the U.S. and Luxembourg had allowed private ownership of extraterrestrial materials, claiming to have identified asteroids with potential values in the hundreds of trillions of dollars. Supporters included Larry Page, James Cameron, and Ross Perot. He later described this period as a struggle, rather than stating that ore had already been returned.

Healthspan is another ongoing prize. He wrote that he spent over four years raising $141 million, establishing a $101 million XPRIZE Healthspan, aiming to reverse functional loss caused by aging by at least 10 years, striving for over 20 years. At that time, over 250 teams had registered, and he expected that number to exceed 500 by the end of the year, estimating that success would attract over $2 billion in R&D towards this goal.

The buyers are families, foundations, and sponsors willing to fund the prize, while the sellers are competing teams that deliver vehicles or therapies according to the rules. This is a rules-driven capital mobilization, not an order for delivered products. Money flows from corporate R&D budgets to public prizes. Beneficiaries are platforms that can turn ridiculous goals into measurable metrics, while early teams that must fund entire laboratories without procurement contracts are under pressure.

Abundance360 is a membership program he harvested from 2013 to 2038, with over 600 members, and company sizes ranging from $10 million to $10 billion. In 2008, he co-founded Singularity University with Ray Kurzweil. In his structure, the first step is to sign up and fund, not to become a world authority first.

Source: Public Information