We imagine developing a collaborative narrative project called the Hitchhiker’s Guide to Extinction, aiming to blend Biodiversity, Extinction, and Democracy with storytelling.
https://transcript.myth.garden/assets/hitchhiker-media/Guide%20to%20Apocolypse.wav Hitchhiker Apocolypse
# Summary
The concept includes writing Hard Science Fiction stories exploring apocalyptic scenarios, and partnering with groups like H2G2 writers and university students from Ohio and UCL. One focus is to visualise Earth’s destruction in various ways (meteor strikes, nuclear war, atmospheric collapse), using AI-generated videos triggered by student-created scripts and scientific research. Outputs include a detailed story, AI-generated videos, and wikis on both scientific research and creative storytelling. We also imagine building layers to this narrative, including a time-travel direction that zooms into specific extinct or endangered species, inspired by Douglas Adams’ Last Chance to See. This angle presents closer, more personal portraits of extinction, possibly incorporating Playback Theatre techniques to dramatise the final moments of species or cultures like the Neanderthals or Mohicans. These narratives can be turned into performances or interactive experiences that integrate local history, ecology and community engagement with creative expression. In bringing this all together, we plan a culminating event inspired by the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, featuring local dinners where short films are screened and performances held. The project ends with three layers of visualisation: a geo-spinning globe showing Earth’s transformation, interactive visual novels zooming into specific stories, and global AI-rendered video narratives. The structure encourages phased development from student projects in November through to international collaboration and advanced interactive media by the following year. This multi-level creative framework underpins the Hitchhikers.Earth initiative, combining artistry, science and digital tools to re-imagine extinction and resilience.
# Assets
hitchhiker-media
hitchhiker-media
> 🌍 Laughing Through the End: A Wild Blend of Sci-Fi, Education, and AI to Unpack Extinction & Democracy Want to reimagine the apocalypse with style, science, and satire? Dive into the "Hitchhiker's Guide to Extinction" — a collaborative effort blending hard science fiction, AI-powered visualisations, drama, and dinner theatre to address themes of biodiversity, extinction, and democracy. Blast off into creative storytelling that’s as thoughtful as it is hilarious. #ExtinctionArt #AITheatre #SciFiEducation --- ## The Hitchhiker's Guide to Extinction: A Visionary Education & Storytelling Project The concept outlined in this audio note revolves around the creation of a collaborative educational and creative project entitled “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Extinction”. Playing on Douglas Adams’ famous satire, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, this initiative seeks to blend science, drama, education, and technology to create vivid narratives about the apocalypse — in all its tragic, comedic, and speculative dimensions. ### Core Themes and Collaborators The project fuses three essential themes: 1. **Biodiversity** 2. **Extinction** 3. **Democracy**, especially as "political biodiversity" These topics are explored through storytelling and research with participants drawn from diverse educational communities, including: - University College London students (Environmental Science, Theatre & Drama) - Ohio-based students - Members of the H2G2 writing community (originally the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy online guide) - Art for Futures Lab Film School (Berlin, Potsdam) ### What the Project Looks Like The approach includes a multidisciplinary, three-part structure to build and present visionary apocalypse narratives: #### 1. **Hard Science Fiction Research** - Research realistic extinction scenarios such as: - Asteroid impact events - Thermonuclear war - Atmospheric collapse - Investigate scientific data on real extinction events, like the one that wiped out the dinosaurs. - Collaborate with organisations such as NASA and open science initiatives. #### 2. **Collaborative Scriptwriting and AI Prompt Design** - Students co-write themed narratives describing different types of apocalypse. - These become polished prompt scripts for AI video tools (like Zora) to animate. - Scripts are both imaginative and grounded in scientific possibility, formatted for use in AI-assisted video generation. #### 3. **AI Visualisation and Short Films** - AI-generated videos show Earth being destroyed in different ways, drawing on popular dystopian motifs (e.g., meteors, aliens, nuclear war). - Each visualisation is detailed and unique, reflecting particular research and storytelling prompts. - Films will be presented as part of a performance event and shared online. ### Three Interconnected Teams Each production comprises three expert groups: - **Technical Visualisation Crew**: Focused on mastering AI video rendering, editing, and transitions. - **Science Research Group**: Investigates and compiles apocalyptic scenarios and extinction events. - **Scriptwriting & Prompt Development Team**: Writes vivid scene-setting stories for use in visual generation. These groups interweave their outputs to build comprehensive, scientifically inspired, creatively anchored thought-experiments in visual form. --- ## Visualising Extinction ### A TEDx-Style Framework for AI and Education There are three levels of visualisation being planned: 1. **Globe Visualisation**: - Create interactive 3D globes textured with historical or speculative data. - Explore past extinction events like the Great Oxygenation Event, Snowball Earth, or even future Martian colonisation. - Display tectonics, atmospheric simulations, and environmental change. 2. **Zoom-in Graphic Novel Interface**: - Inspired by documentaries, this visualisation lets the viewer select a point on an interactive globe and dive into localised extinction stories. - Think: a poetic drama of tidal waves overtaking dinosaur ecosystems based on researched data. - Embeds a UX-led, hypertext storytelling format. 3. **AI-Generated Videos**: - These are cinematic or stylised clips showing entire Earth-wide extinction narratives. - These act as “scene-setters” for school performances and community events. --- ## Storytelling Branches & Apocalypse Alternatives Beyond full-planet doom, the project proposes narrative "zoom-ins" on: - Histories of specific extinct species - De-extinction science (resurrecting extinct species) - Time-travel journeys (e.g., to save a dying animal or observe loss) Inspired by Douglas Adams’ "Last Chance to See", participants could build micro-narratives about: - Re-discovered "extinct" species - Stories told from the perspective of the last member of a species - The final days of forgotten human cultures (e.g. Neanderthals, or riffing on tales like The Last of the Mohicans) The aim is to "zoom in" from global apocalyptic events to individual stories of extinction and resistance — all told through the lens of drama, performance, and interactive theatre. --- ## The Restaurant at the End of the Universe — A Real Dinner Party! Borrowing from Adams’ fictional dining spectacle, the campaign culminates in community-driven, immersive events: distributed "Restaurants at the End of the Universe" dinner parties. - **42 Locations**, across regional clusters of 6–7 schools, each showcasing 6 or 7 short apocalypse films. - **Live Performance**: Students act out scenes while serving food, scripted like a futuristic banquet. - **Visual Exhibitions**: Screening AI-generated apocalyptic films - **Community Engagement**: Parents, local chefs, and restaurants participate in themed food nights with sci-fi settings. The tone can vary — whimsical, serious, politically charged, or reimagined in formats such as hip-hop theatre. The event is flexible and easily adapted for different cultures and communities. --- ## Implementation Timeline & Events The project is envisaged as a two-stage narrative arc each year: - **November 5th (Bonfire Night)**: “Dark” celebration of extinction narratives — fun, gloomy, and thought-provoking. - **July 4th**: “Hopeful” stage — design responses and future pathways unveiled, recognising the need for better global governance. Year One culminates in: - First soft launch on November 5th - School and university project showcase by July - Further development and polish for the next cycle --- ## Values and Vision Though dystopian in flavour, the ultimate objective isn't doom but imagination, participation, and recovery. Using extinction as both metaphor and reality, the project taps into deep ecological and political themes while embracing the playfulness of sci-fi satire. It’s about empowering communities — from schools to universities — to combine hard science, artistic expression, and technological innovation. It allows us to look at real problems through fictional and speculative lenses while remaining anchored in citizen science and democratic engagement. --- ## Final Thoughts: Hitchhikers.Earth and the Open Future All of this will feed into an open, cooperative, and creative platform named **Hitchhikers.Earth** — combining: - Student-led research wikis - Video documentation - AI prompts - Interactive maps - Visualisations and games By building a modular framework integrating hypertext notebooks, AI tools, and community performance, "The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Extinction" becomes more than a project — it becomes an open template for addressing global crises through radical imagination. --- ### Recommended Further Reading - Hard Science Fiction - Interactive storytelling - Educational theatre - AI art generators - Citizen science - Extinction event - Great Dying - De-extinction - Boal Theatre / Theatre of the Oppressed --- Let’s tell better stories about the end… so we might just imagine a better future.
# See also - Hitchhiker Media