Milliongenerations:How can there be most happiness?

Prize question

Milliongenerations plans to organize a 10.000 Euro (or USD) prize question asking submissions on the question "How can there be most happiness?". Putting the question out in a public way hopes to help draw attention to the existence of future generations. Plus, there is a chance that there will be new ideas. Obviously, there might be some focussing on individual happiness, and others debating ideal society. The requirement of "most", and linking the prize to it, should open the view to whatever people come up with.

Concrete plans:

• Website with details of question
  • including review and evaluation formats, however no hints on ways to interpret the question.
  • Criterion is for success is that reflections could achieve "more happiness"
  • people are free to interpret the question in whatever way they see.
  • Limit size, should be about 5.000 - 15.000 words with a max 250 word abstract and a 160 letter slogan
  • explain procedure
• Establish response email address & organize processing
• Announcement of just question, prize, deadline (e.g. +2 months) and link to more information in some well read publication with intellectual audience, e.g. an ad in The Economist, and/or philosophical journals/circles. Also include call for people interested in reviewing.
• Screen reviewers (submit CV, demonstrate some form of relevant ability, sign confidentiality statement)
• Participants submit via email
• Require participants to name one or two knowledgeable & independent people (include CV, references or similar) who are willing to review one or two submissions
• Require participants to review two or three themselves.
• After submission deadline, screen for formal checks and send out randomly selected (not own) submissions to named reviewers and participants and ask for return until + 4 weeks
  • Review to check for
    • originality / if found & documented plagiarism, no further evaluation
    • own summary and judgement of concept, argument, stringency, benefit
    • rating according to perception of reviewer: order the reviewed submissions according to how much happiness the proposal could lead to
• Evaluate only submissions where serious reviews were returned timely
• Make submissions with reviews available on a closed site
• Allow anyone to register (& promise confidentiality)
  • Let them rank entries they read in a relative order according to how much happiness they bring
  • Stop ranking process after some weeks
  • Screen for odd choices, reduce weight of reviewers if strange patterns occur or where the submissions rated were not read
• Award points to submissions on the lists: 0 points for last (or only) selected, 1 for second last, 2 for third last etc., the more points the more reviewed
• Create shortlist from those submissions collecting the most points
• Have jury to judge & explain their choice on shortlist
• Pay out price to author of winning submission
• Make a selection of submissions and publish them, along with reviews (can be hardcopy, selling to journals or sponsored site)
• If publication can be made profitable, distribute 30% of (after-tax) profits from such publication to the authors of published pieces, 40% to all reviewers and keep the rest for further actions of milliongenerations