Launching the $10,000 Existential Hope Meme Prize
Metaphors and short explanations have a large influence on how we think. But most of our common reference points lean dystopian: P(doom), the paperclip maximizer, Black Mirror, Brave New World, 1984, the list goes on. Where are the equally compelling ones for positive futures; abundant clean energy, infinite knowledge, no infectious disease, no poverty, solved aging, effective global coordination?
There has been some valuable recent work on this, such as the Better Futures series by Will MacAskill and Fin Moorhouse, which explores how to think more seriously about positive trajectories. Still, there’s a lot of space left for cultural references that can stick as easily as the dystopian ones.
As one small step toward filling this gap, we are launching the Existential Hope Meme Prize offering $10,000 for the best meme that conveys a hopeful vision of the future.
This project was first suggested at Vision Weekend Europe 2024. Much thanks to Ben Cumming and Jan Kulveit for this idea.
Details and submissions here: existentialhope.com/existential-hope-meme-prize
We’d appreciate your help spreading the word, and of course, if you make memes yourself we’d love to see your submissions!
Have you read The Bottom Line by Eliezer Yudkowsky? This price (and the existential hope project) might not be rational.
-- Jurassic Park (1993)
Hi, here’s my feedback, hope it helps.
Memes are powerful and it’s a good thing to recognise that. It could also help people access positive ideas. However, $10,000 seems to be a lot for this. I would think that $1000 would be enough.
Another worry I have is that I am not sure anybody got a good track record at trying to force a specific meme. I feel like they tend to emerge in an unpredictable way. The examples you gave took a lot of time to spread in culture (maybe less so for the P(Doom) one?). But maybe I am wrong.
Also, how do we balance things to promote a message that doesn’t result in something like e/acc?
Another note: your website doesn’t fit correctly the width of the screen on mobile.