Who The Brain Initiative is picking

The Brain Initiative has been the talk of my “tribe” (i.e., cognitive neuroscience researchers). Right now the field has the tools and technology to make rapid breakthroughs. A large influx of funds has the potential to catalyze those breakthroughs. 

However the funds are primarily targeted at large organizations, which makes less sense in today’s world where resources are increasingly available to smaller organizations. Smaller organization are more likely to push the edges. Smaller organizations are also more likely to fail (hand-in-hand with pushing the edges is the potential for failure). The problem is failure looks bad for funding. The point of funding should not be to pick guaranteed “winners.” It should be the chance to great work.

The Brain Initiative should think more Silicon Valley, less Detroit.