Is a large chunk of capital like Musk's better dispersed in smaller quantities to many individuals or in larger quantities to a few? Fewer larger grants might attract more qualified people; more smaller grants get more people involved and allow more leads to be followed.

This distinction may be less sharp than it seems. The recipient of a very large grant tends to develop a process of deciding how to use it that looks very much like another grant-awarding process. In effect, a really large grant subcontracts the work of disbursement. That's not necessarily a bad thing or a good thing, but it is a thing that happens.