Maybe you ought to read something contrary. I suggest Alfie Kohn's Punished by Rewards which is pretty scathing on the whole topic of extrinsic motivation, citing plenty of research in evidence. A drawback is that it's pretty old, the research is from the 1980's.
Thanks, this reduced my unjustified enthusiasm. I wonder if more specific prizes (such as a reflective decision theory prize) would do a better job of attracting effort and shifting perception.
FWIW, personally, I think that sensibly-designed prizes are a great way to pay for getting things done. I note that SIAI has tried some prizes - including one last year.
Interesting. Do you know they make a decent spectacle of awarding that prize? Publicity (pre and post prize) seems to be a key element to effective prizes.
Because of my interest in reducing LessWrong's public goods problem, I've been reading about prizes. Prizes seem like they could be very useful for shifting the perception of the scientific and mathematical public on the importance of existential risk.
Prizes have a couple of attractive properties