BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:researchseminars.org CALSCALE:GREGORIAN X-WR-CALNAME:researchseminars.org BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Gideon Lichfield\, Ruthanna Emrys\, Liz Barry\, Val Elefante (Meta gov) DTSTART:20260422T160000Z DTEND:20260422T170000Z DTSTAMP:20260417T110528Z UID:Metagov/285 DESCRIPTION:Title: Protopian Prize Fiction Contest Launch\nby Gideon Lichfield\, Ruthan na Emrys\, Liz Barry\, Val Elefante (Metagov) as part of Metagovernance Se minar\n\nInteractive livestream: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89433841305?pwd =lIX1rkSiVfqDd7hwwTUppQS8kDmbno.1\n\nAbstract\nThis will be the official l aunch of the The Protopian Prize Fiction Contest!\n\n​The Protopian Priz e is a fiction contest inviting writers\, storytellers\, and dreamers to s hare their vision of people working toward liberatory futures\, meeting ob stacles\, and making real change. “Protopian”—a word coined by Kevin Kelly\, one of our contest's judges—means an achievable\, optimistic fu ture characterized by continuous\, incremental progress rather than revolu tionary leaps or a static\, perfect state. Protopian stories imagine a fut ure that is neither flawless nor catastrophic\, but instead workably bette r than today. It’s about plausible progress rather than perfection or co llapse.\n\nIn 2026\, our inaugural year\, we will present prizes in two ca tegories: 1) Public AI Prize and 2) Democratic Futures Prize.\n\n• Publi c AI Prize is a call for writers to submit their original short fiction th at helps imagine a positive future for humanity that foregrounds the poten tial of Public AI—and actionable steps to get us there. We're looking fo r stories that explore questions like: How can we restructure AI developme nt and deployment to serve rather than exploit human creativity? How can A I systems support human adaptability and climate resilience rather than en abling surveillance and control? What laws\, institutions\, or incentives are needed to ensure AI is used to augment human capabilities instead of t aking away human jobs?\n\n\n• Democratic Futures Prize is a call for wri ters to submit their original short fiction that helps imagine a positive future for humanity that foregrounds the potential of collective self-gove rnance —and actionable steps to get us there. We're looking for stories that explore questions like: How can new technologies enable greater colle ctive participation in governance? What needs to happen to give society as a whole\, rather than a few powerful players\, the deciding voice on what kinds of new technologies get developed and how they’re used? What new rights do we need to articulate and protect in the face of new surveillanc e and control tools?\n\n​On this seminar\, we will be introducing the co ntest and hearing from stewards including Ruthanna Emrys (sci fi writer)\, Gideon Lichfield (journalist)\, and Liz Barry (democracy technologist) as well as potential guest speakers from a prestigious science fiction and f antasy literary awards and magazine! We hope you'll join us.\n LOCATION:https://researchseminars.org/talk/Metagov/285/ URL:https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89433841305?pwd=lIX1rkSiVfqDd7hwwTUppQS8kDmb no.1 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR