I'm going to give $20,000 to whomever most improves my Google Project 10^100 ideas (but only if one wins).

I'm an admirer of, and contributor to, the Google Project 10^100 Contest. For its 10th anniversary, Google's offering 10 million dollars to fund ideas to make the world a better place, which it will select from among public submissions. I managed to submit 2 entries, called "Goodvertising" and "Pay-What-You-Want Health Insurance" (see below).

I like the contest so much that I'm replicating it in miniature. At the bottom of this post I've pasted my contest entries, and added an online suggestion box to the right. If you can think of ways of improving either idea, please add them to the suggestion box by clicking on the yellow button. *If* one of my ideas wins the Google Project 10^100 contest, I will give $20,000 to the three contributors who made the suggestions that most improve that idea. $10,000 for 1st place, $6000 for 2nd place, $4000 for 3rd place. I will decide the winners, based on my own subjective criteria, but I will consider carefully the feedback that various suggestions get in the suggestion box, and will favor those ideas that are popular among users. I'll draw the prize money from my own funds, *not* Google's (note that the winners of Google's contest will not receive prize money; Google just funds their ideas, so I will end up $20,000 poorer). To avoid ethical stickiness, I won't award the prize to anyone I know personally. You can add suggestions until the day the Google Contest is over, and, in the event that one of my submissions wins the Google contest, I'll announce the winner of my contest, and contact him/her via email (you'll be required to input your email before your suggestion can be posted).

As an addendum, at the moment there's no easy way to find information about other Project 10^100 project entries. I therefore created this wiki for collecting links to the various Google entries from around the web. Please add to it if you know where to find descriptions of specific contest entries.

Nick Bentley, CEO
Scientific Click Advertising


Entry #1: Goodvertising

What one sentence best describes your idea?
Goodvertising- a self-growing mechanism to change manufacturing practices and purchasing habits for the greater good.

Describe your idea in more depth
Consumers buy the wrong things in the wrong amounts to the detriment of all, and one reason is that marketing actively encourages irrational choices. Goodvertising is a system for fighting that. Think of it as the crowdsourcing of ethics in marketing. It’ll consist of a nonprofit marketing firm and a website. On the site, users will debate about which products (and services) are truly valuable to individuals and society. Anyone may participate. Debate will focus on not only the products’ benefits, but often ignored costs, like environmental and opportunity costs. There will be a democratic system for valuing the costs and benefits of each product. For each of the products that the website’s users deem best overall, the marketing firm will contact the manufacturers and offer marketing services for those products, at discounted rates, and with a heavy emphasis on commission-based marketing, to minimize the manufacturers’ risk. Manufacturers will accept the offer because only then will they be able to display the website’s “Seal of Approval” on their product. The site’s users can also help convince manufacturers to employ the firm's services by signing petitions and contacting manufacturers directly. In addition, users may commit to buy only those products deemed acceptable by the website’s community, increasing its power over manufacturers. Profits will be used to help the community grow in size and visibility, which will further increase the community’s power. Profits might also be used to create “Badvertising” campaigns to dissuade consumers from purchasing those products that the community deems most harmful. Note that the online community needn’t be large for the system to function and that users will have a special impetus to participate in that their choices will directly guide the real-world actions of the marketing firm.

What problem or issue does your idea address?
Why do we buy so much stuff that doesn't do us good, and even hurts us through external and opportunity costs? One key factor is that markets don't just respond to demand, they create it through marketing. In so doing, they obscure the true costs of products to individuals and society. Marketers like me are not in the business of being honest. We are paid to be biased. This is the moral hazard of marketing, and it is central to why unwise consumerism happens. Worse, nobody is paid to present alternative viewpoints. The marketplace is like a trial wherein each product is a defendant and only the defense (marketing) may speak. The debt crisis is an example of the price we pay for this lopsided system- misleading lending practices contributed strongly to the proliferation of bad mortgages. This same dynamic is built into everything that happens in the marketplace.

If your idea were to become a reality, who would benefit most and how?
Site users, who will better understand the costs and benefits of the things they buy, and will influence the marketplace in a way they could not previously. Any consumer exposed to Goodvertising’s ads, who makes wiser choices as a result. Vendors who offer products and services that are actually good for the world, after all of their costs are taken into account. Companies who use the site to better understand what conscientious consumers want and how to design high-value products for them. Anyone who suffers the consequences of unwise consumption, either directly, or indirectly through things like the environmental or debt crises. This includes everyone on Earth.

What are the initial steps required to get this idea off the ground?
First, my (or another) advertising firm will set up a non-profit arm to run the project. Second, we’ll build a small team of social networking experts and web developers to create the website. The site must be able to self-police, for example, in order to minimize the influence of shills. Third, we’ll populate the site with initial users who will create a healthy online culture. Debate will ensue. The nonprofit firm will negotiate deals to create advertising campaigns for the best (and possibly worst) products. Then it will advertise and grow.

Describe the optimal outcome should your idea be selected and successfully implemented. How would you measure it?
The community will grow so strong that manufacturers will try to make products to satisfy it and will avoid making products that the community would reject. All the world’s products will receive Goodvertising ratings, high Goodvertising ratings will be included on product labels, and consumers will view with suspicion any product that doesn’t display its rating. Consumers will become more rational and selective about what they buy. For-profit marketing firms will adopt Goodvertising practices. Private debt will decrease, savings will increase, and environmental damage will ebb. Initially, we’ll measure the community’s success by its size and activity online. Later, we’ll measure the influence of Goodvertising ratings on sales. Finally, we’ll do research to assess the influence of Goodvertising on manufacturing choices (how to quantify that influence remains an open question).



Entry #2: Pay-What-You-Want Health Insurance

What one sentence best describes your idea?
Pay-What-You-Want Health Insurance (I know, not a sentence).

Describe your idea in more depth.
A health insurance company that doesn’t have fixed premiums. Instead, each enrollee decides when and how much to pay. When the enrollee gets sick, the amount that the insurance company pays is prorated by the amount that the enrollee has paid in so far. The company would also offer clear guidance to enrollees about how much to pay in. So that enrollees can trust the company, the company would have three additional features: it would be a non-profit, its financial information would be available to all on the web in an easy-to-understand format, and no employee will make more than a fixed pay ceiling, which would be fairly low (we want to attract employees who see the enterprise as more important than a paycheck). These requirements are open to debate. I’d happily accept any arrangement that would make the fundamental idea work. Optionally, the model could also be adjusted so that the poorest enrollees get relatively more for their dollar.

What problem or issue does your idea address?
Too many people lack health insurance. Pay-what-you-want health insurance would at least allow everyone some level of coverage.

If your idea were to become a reality, who would benefit most and how?
People who don’t have any health insurance would benefit most, by having health insurance.

What are the initial steps required to get this idea off the ground?
I’d find a health insurance company that’s willing to offer my service, and try to convince them to do it, ideally as a non-profit. If I couldn’t do that, I’d find a retired health insurance executive to partner with me, and start a new non-profit company from scratch.

Describe the optimal outcome should your idea be selected and successfully implemented. How would you measure it?
The whole world would switch to this model, and everyone would be insured to one extent or another.