Article by Leya Mohsin: “…Successful moonshots involve both a clear what and a clear how. If you think about prior moonshot efforts, there are probably a select few that jump to mind: the Apollo Program, the Manhattan Project, and the Human Genome Project are the most notable efforts. What’s something these all have in common?: A “moon”, a goal that anyone can clearly define. This is a critical element of successful moonshots.
But other similar efforts have been tried before to less avail. As an example, consider the Human Brain Project. This project had a clear goal: to simulate the entire human brain on a computer. It concluded in 2023 after 10 years and €1 billion spent. The effort did lead to significant advances in neuroscience, but it failed to accomplish its stated goal. From the jump, scientists were highly critical of this initiative because they did not believe the requisite technology existed, or was even close to existing. In other words, the how was unclear.
This is common for many such initiatives. For example, when the Human Genome Project was launched, we did not have the technology capable of meeting the mission. The project was highly criticized by many in the research community because the traditional method of DNA sequencing could not possibly be scaled to meet the goal. They needed a new way to sequence DNA faster, with longer reads, and for less money. Therefore, the first goal was to drive investment in the development of technology that could answer the how question.
A successful moonshot is one where it’s clear that we are on the precipice of achieving a once-unimaginable goal, if only we make a significant investment toward that end. Think of the original moonshot: when JFK announced this initiative, we had seen a man orbit the Earth. And we knew that putting a man on the moon was challenging, but far from impossible – we just needed to devote the appropriate time, resources, and organization around that goal…(More)”.
