Don’t squander Peter Diamandis’ time with glass-half-full or half-empty evaluations. The relentless entrepreneur who states “the finest approach to foresee the future is to construct it yourself” is likely to topple those glasses as he strides past.
“I firmly hold that every challenge is solvable; it’s simply a matter of assembling the right individuals, technology, and funding to focus on them,” remarks the X Prize creator as he transitions from one meeting to another at his Playa Vista, California, office. “An entrepreneur is more empowered than ever in history to realize their aspirations. The gravest issues in the world also represent the largest market potential. You can tackle challenges related to energy, water, healthcare, and education, make a positive impact, and potentially become a billionaire in the process.”
No one can label Diamandis as a small-time thinker. His optimism was shared in his 2012 publication, Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think, released by Free Press.
As the child of Greek immigrants, Diamandis was never able to live out his childhood vision of journeying to the moon alongside Apollo astronauts. Nevertheless, he is leaving quite a significant legacy.
At 51, Diamandis chairs the X Prize Foundation, a nonprofit entity that orchestrates public competitions designed to stimulate technological innovations for solving specific global challenges, and Singularity University, which unites forward-thinking minds in pursuit of solutions to humanity’s monumental issues. He has also embarked on founding over 15 enterprises since his academic years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Sitting within the tranquil surroundings of the X Prize Foundation’s headquarters, Diamandis’ chairman-sized office resembles a modestly curated space culture museum. Various model rockets vie for attention alongside Star Trek memorabilia—including a prominently displayed autographed photo of Diamandis with Star Trek star William Shatner—X Prize medallions, and framed accomplishments from his various ventures. He even has a gumball machine shaped like a rocket.
Among his endeavors, Diamandis co-founded and manages Space Adventures, which in 2001 organized the flight for the world’s inaugural space tourist, Dennis Tito. He is also the CEO and co-founder of Zero Gravity Corp., a private space entertainment and tourism firm offering clients the experience of Zero-G “weightlessness” without leaving the atmosphere, and he is actively involved in the Rocket Racing League, which aims to utilize rocket-powered aircraft for racing on a designated air “racetrack.”
Whether captivating a TED audience or persuading America’s top intellects and corporate financial supporters to invest in ambitious projects, the dynamic Diamandis is straightforward, concentrated, and gazing upward—to the possible, to the future, to the stars. Engaging audiences in person or via conferences, he radiates restlessness—his hands, much like his thoughts, are in continuous motion.
In his book Abundance, Diamandis teamed up with science writer Steven Kotler to explore how advancing technologies are poised to enable humanity to achieve greater advancements in the next two decades than in the past 200 years. While recognizing the multitude of obstacles that exist, they argue that these advancements will empower the world to accommodate those who have remained barred from opportunity.
Diamandis’ concept of abundance isn’t centered on crafting a life of luxury for the global population but rather on how technology is making once-scarce resources—such as electricity, water, and healthcare—accessible to 3 billion people who were previously disconnected from essential services around the world, creating “lives of possibilities.”
“Most individuals resist any form of change,” Diamandis notes. “We prefer waking up each day knowing that the world remains unchanged from the previous night. However, the pace of change and innovation is accelerating exponentially as more individuals connect and share ideas, both in person and online. As we expand from 2 billion to 5 billion connected individuals within the next eight years, we will have an influx of new minds entering the arena.”
For instance, Diamandis highlights that in Africa, mobile phone usage is rapidly increasing, jumping from low single-digit percentages in 2000 to a forecasted 70 percent next year. This surge implies that vast numbers of undereducated people will gain access to the improved communication and Internet knowledge that cellphones can provide. “A Masai warrior with a cellphone possesses better mobile capabilities than the president did 25 years ago,” he frequently states.
Looking Ahead
Diamandis attributes his initial inspiration to his father, who grew up on the Greek island of Lesbos and eventually became a successful physician in New York. “His life journey, from having very little to becoming a physician in New York, felt as significant to me as going from my childhood home in Long Island to the moon,” he reflects.
The moon—and the original Star Trek series—captivated the imagination of a 9-year-old Diamandis. For years, he dreamed of walking on the moon and contributing to humanity’s colonization of space. He even achieved first place in an eighth-grade model rocket design contest. Yet, while his aspirations soared into space, his parents encouraged him to become a physician. True to his tenacious spirit, he pursued both paths, earning a bachelor’s in molecular genetics, a master’s in aerospace engineering from MIT, and his medical degree from Harvard Medical School (although he has never practiced medicine).
During this time, his impatience and frustration transformed him from a mere dreamer into an active doer.
“Many dreamers anticipate things occurring,” he explains. “But there comes a moment when you realize that you must initiate change. For me, that awakening came at MIT in the field of space exploration when I understood that many of the objectives in space were not being achieved on their own, leading me to ponder who would take action and when. I was fortunate to achieve early successes that motivated me to pursue greater and more audacious goals.”
In 1980, while still enrolled at MIT, he co-founded the Students for Exploration and Development of Space, which is now the world’s largest pro-space student organization.
“I learned immensely from [British science fiction author and visionary] Arthur C. Clarke, whom I had the honor of meeting. Throughout his career, he united individuals worldwide who were keen on space and fostered a community that imagined what life in space could be like,” he shares.
Living Large—and a Touch Crazy
Taking on “ambitious, audacious projects and pushing myself to actualize them, whether they are monumental challenges or new companies linked to those challenges” is where Diamandis draws his inspiration today.
“I have two significant ‘sandboxes’ where I get to experiment. One is the X Prize, and the other is Singularity University. Both allow me to engage in my favorite endeavors, tackling daunting challenges and creating enterprises that can positively impact a billion lives. Thus, the X Prize focuses on establishing audacious goals, while SU inspires entrepreneurial ventures that tackle those bold aspirations.”
Diamandis is best known for launching the $10 million Ansari X Prize for private space flight. The foundation has since expanded into five thematic sectors: exploration, life sciences, energy and the environment, education, and global development.
In 2008, he co-founded the Silicon Valley-based Singularity University with futurist and National Medal of Technology laureate Ray Kurzweil. Its campus at Moffett Federal Airfield, formerly a Navy facility now operated jointly as a civil-military airport under the auspices of NASA Ames Research Center, is still evolving. Its inspiration stems from Kurzweil’s idea that significant technological advancements will contribute to staggering improvements in human longevity.
“Peter is infectious,” claims New Hampshire inventor Dean Kamen, holder of over 440 patents and a collaborator with both entities. “I believe he understands his own eccentricity [laughing]. He thrives on that edge, which I find compelling and can relate to. I might share his craziness in some aspects.”
Diamandis regards Kamen’s Slingshot water purification system as a prime illustration of SU’s mission. Described by Diamandis as “about the size of a refrigerator in a dorm room,” Slingshot is undergoing testing by Coca-Cola with the aim of aiding the estimated 1.1 billion people globally lacking access to clean water. For his part, Kamen, a member of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, states that he was drawn to SU by the concept of engaging in “big thoughts with others who are unafraid to discuss ambitious or outrageous ideas.”
“Engaging with Peter and the remarkable team he has assembled at X Prize and Singularity is both stimulating and necessary for me,” Kamen acknowledges. “Much of what we discuss might not come to fruition, and in hindsight, could be viewed as naïve. However, if even a handful of these audacious ideas materialize, or lead to other outcomes not originally considered, the entire venture will prove extremely worthwhile.”
A Meeting of Minds
In both enterprises, Diamandis has attracted a star-studded roster of supporters, faculty, trustees, consultants, and brainstorming participants, including Google’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Bill and Melinda Gates, Qualcomm Inc. Chairman Paul Jacobs, filmmaker James Cameron, The Huffington Post co-founder Arianna Huffington, Indian billionaire Ratan Tata, human genome pioneer Craig Venter, and Tesla Motors’ Elon Musk. High-profile entities such as Google, Cisco, Shell, Progressive Insurance, NASA, and various U.S. government departments have partnered with the foundation on incentivized innovation projects.
In the end, attracting corporate engagement hinges on identifying key individuals with decision-making power and motivating them, Diamandis explains. “Larry and Sergey at Google were drawn to the X Prize mainly because they found it exciting and believed it would inspire scientists and engineers. They also recognized the secondary advantages it could yield for the company. With Paul Jacobs at Qualcomm, we had a lunch conversation about a tricorder X Prize, and he grasped the concept immediately. We shook hands and he said, ‘Let’s make it a reality.’”
The resulting $10 million Qualcomm Tricorder X Prize is named after the fictional device used by Star Trek doctors to scan and diagnose patients non-invasively. The goal of the contest is to create a mobile device capable of assessing vital signs, analyzing blood, and diagnosing a wide range of conditions and diseases, aiming for a healthcare tool that can be utilized in regions with limited access to physicians.
“The encouraging news is we do have remarkable technologies at our disposal like wireless sensors, cloud computing, lab-on-a-chip systems, and digital imaging,” states Diamandis. “Our objective is to transform healthcare, providing it directly in the palm of your hand.”
Singularity University’s 10-week graduate program, seven-day executive program, and Visioneering conferences aid aspiring entrepreneurs and leaders in recognizing growth opportunities and disruptive impacts of rapidly advancing technologies and understanding how these pivotal fields influence their careers, companies, and industries. The brainstorming sessions at Singularity have become legendary among attendees.
“It’s incredible to witness participants jump from a few facts or logical premises to some monumental implications that can sometimes seem wildly unrealistic,” Kamen observes. “At times, I think wow, that defies the laws of physics—but that makes it intriguing. Some ideas you must dismiss entirely, while others warrant further exploration.”
This is all part of Diamandis’ grand vision. “I have grown increasingly optimistic about the capacity of people worldwide to execute extraordinary initiatives outside conventional avenues,” he asserts. “I no longer seek breakthroughs from large nations or corporations. There’s genuine worth in ambitious thinking. Assembling a team with unconventional, intelligent members significantly alters the outcome.”
Aiming for the Stars
While detractors of targeted incentive competitions claim that singular, condensed research funding will yield a higher success rate compared to initiatives like the X Prize, Kamen insists they are overlooking the essential point.
“Peter’s methodology may indeed fail, statistically resulting in more failures than if approached through conventional means,” Kamen observes. “However, the measure of success is not the number of failures; rather, the few successes that emerge will hold such tremendous value and impact that no one will pay attention to the failures.”
While Diamandis often states that his life is divided into various “sandboxes,” Kamen notes that they all share a unified and vibrant purpose.
“The fact that Peter is willing to expose his reputation and resources, striving to swing for the fences even if he strikes out, instead of opting for a more cautious approach, sets him apart,” he points out. “The X Prize encourages others to adopt that same perspective. Singularity attracts individuals who share similar sentiments, who are frustrated by the conventional pace of advancement and are prepared to take bigger risks for greater impact.”
Diamandis expresses extreme dissatisfaction with governmental bureaucracies, political hindrances, the sluggish pace of political systems, and the ineffectiveness of traditional philanthropy.
“My overarching aim is to inspire philanthropists to think ambitiously and boldly, to recognize that they can allocate their resources more effectively than ever and tackle the world’s challenges,” he declares. “I’m keen on making philanthropy significantly more efficient, leveraged, and focused on addressing our planet’s pressing issues. That encapsulates what the X Prize stands for.”
A dynamic speaker, Diamandis has taken his message across the globe. Clad in his signature dark jeans and shoes—occasionally complemented by a dark blazer and untucked dress shirt, contingent on the audience—he strides across stages, proclaiming that “the day before something becomes a breakthrough, it is a crazy idea, something beyond most people’s imagination, an insane concept that very few would dare to attempt.”
“If you’re not prepared to take risks that might fail, you’re settling for incremental progress,” he asserts. “You’ll achieve small, safe advancements. When pursuing something audacious and transformative, you must be ready to experience notable failures. Where do major corporations or governmental organizations undertake initiatives with high risks of failure? That’s quite rare.”
Embracing the Unconventional
Diamandis delights in having “a wealth of crazy ideas” each week. “For instance, my asteroid mining venture, Planetary Resources [focused on extracting minerals in space], is a colossal, audacious idea,” he explains. “Ideally, we’ll break that idea into a series of smaller, less-extreme concepts that are attainable, and we’ll achieve more successes than failures.”
Diamandis acknowledges that few of his concepts stem from idle daydreaming. Instead, he derives his ideas from engaging conversations, whether through reading books or interacting with people. The impetus for the X Prize arose from his reading of The Spirit of St. Louis by Charles Lindbergh, published in 1953 by Charles Scribner’s Sons, and the $25,000 Orteig Prize that motivated Lindbergh to accomplish the first nonstop flight from New York to Paris. Meanwhile, Singularity U emerged from reading Kurzweil’s The Singularity Is Near, released in 2005 by Viking Press.
He attempted to pitch his X Prize concept (with “X” representing the unknown benefactor) for six years without success until he came across a 2002 article featuring telecom entrepreneur Anousheh Ansari expressing her desire to travel to space. Diamandis quickly set up a meeting and captured the interest of the Ansari family (Anousheh, her husband Hamid, and brother Amir) and their tech empire. Like Diamandis, Anousheh had long dreamt of space travel since her childhood spent in Iran.
Sitting there listening to him, Anousheh Ansari reflected in The Huffington Post in 2009 that “what captivated us about Peter was his passion, because ultimately, we understood that only such intense passion would enable him to persevere through the enormous challenges ahead.” Five years earlier, the Ansari X Prize awarded its prize for the first reusable private spacecraft to successfully carry individuals into space at an altitude of 100 kilometers twice within two weeks. In 2006, she became the fourth private citizen to reach space aboard a Russian Soyuz mission to the International Space Station.
“Peter consistently seeks the one area where something can be achieved that urgently needs doing, where few are willing to tread, and he knows he can bring it to fruition,” Robert Zubrin, chairman of the Mars Society, a nonprofit space advocacy organization, told Forbes in 2012. “And he makes it happen.”
Diamandis remains committed to expanding his horizons and addressing more diverse challenges. He points out that the world characterized by “linear thinking in the past” has vanished, disrupted by technological innovations that are reshaping the world and compelling us to adapt.
“On the X Prize front, I’m curious about whether we can establish an X Prize for earthquake prediction,” he mentions. “I’m also contemplating an autonomous car X Prize, aimed at achieving the first self-driving vehicle capable of nonstop travel from New York to Los Angeles. We are exploring X Prizes focused on poverty alleviation and reinventing the storage industry.”
He diligently seeks out a burgeoning cohort of affluent individuals eager to create lasting legacies, aiming to align their aspirations with meaningful causes. These “mega-billion X Prizes,” targeting achievements such as missions to Mars or asteroid mining, echo his foundational ambition to aim for the moon.
That 9-year-old dreamer of space still resides within Diamandis, despite his terrestrial existence.
“I believe he [9-year-old Peter] would be proud of what I [today’s Peter] am accomplishing,” Diamandis shares. “But I also suspect he would be perplexed as to why I haven’t made it to the moon yet.”
