I'm not sure this is what we really need, considering that the HN hive mind is pretty smart and that anyway big name authors are already upvoted just because of their names often.
I'd welcome a system that finds items it thinks I'd find interesting and brings them to my attention. the occasional false positive will mean that I see things I otherwise might ignore, and I would get the chance to upvote things I think deserve it.
The fact that there are so many people doing or thinking about something similar shows that there is a need. Or at least a want.