The procedure that is currently employed to allocate time on telescopes is
horribly onerous on those unfortunate astronomers who serve on the committees
that administer the process, and is in danger of complete collapse as the
number of applications steadily increases. Here, an alternative is presented,
whereby the task is distributed around the astronomical community, with a
suitable mechanism design established to steer the outcome toward awarding this
precious resource to those projects where there is a consensus across the
community that the science is most exciting and innovative.Comment: 9 pages, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Geophysic