Welcome to the Mastermind Season 7 Submission Thread! If you wish to participate in this season, please respond to the following writing challenge prompt.
Helpful Timeline for this Writing Challenge
Present (2024-2100) > Future (2100-2500) > Far-Future (2500-)
Writing Challenge
Imagine it is the year 2495 (the future) and that civilization has somehow invented a new device that allows anyone to retrieve information from the future before the year 2500 (before the far future). Although this new device always accurately predicts the exact details about any event in time, it can only tell users what exactly will happen before the year 2500. A spy technician sent from the far-future is tasked with secretly correcting the code in the device by the year 2500 so then it may continue to function properly until humanity’s extinction. Your challenge is to write a 2000-word classified-style document written from the perspective of the people in the far future who employed the spy, clearly outlining the benefits and impacts of continuing the programming of the device and why it is ultimately decided that the device must remain until humanity’s extinction despite the apparent chaotic, emotional, and existential crises that people face when using the device in the future (2100-2500). Provide compelling case studies that stand for and against the usage of the device.
Once you have completed the challenge, please reply to this submission thread. In your reply, you must (1) attach your submission file and (2) write a 200-300-word writer’s comment about your submission.
Replies to THIS thread will close on Saturday September 14th 2024 at 11:59 pm EST.
Please keep in mind that the judge(s) will assign grades based on the following marking criteria:
Communication /20
Creativity /20
Total /40
Communication:
For example, how well does the submission follow conventions of spelling, grammar, and structure? Are all formatting points followed?
Creativity:
For example, how interesting are the ideas? How well are they executed?
Please give the judge(s) at least two weeks after the deadline to grade each submission and return the scores accompanied with constructive feedback.
At the end of the competition, we will contact you via email from info@mastermindbp.com if you are eligible to receive a prize. We will not use any other email address to give out the prizes.
All prizes come in the form of PayPal donations so you need to have an email that is connected to a PayPal account to receive the award(s).
The submission(s) with the highest number of points will win the 1st place $100 USD prize. The submission(s) with the second and third-highest number of points will receive a $50 USD prize each.
Good luck, have fun, and let your creativity flow!
I’m not a fan of time travel because there are always plot holes. We can make all kinds of justifications but in the end, we always come back to “Well, it’s fiction.”
Here, I chose the year 22,024, way into the far-far future, because I set it right before our extinction, and I hate the idea of us going extinct in the near future. This also makes it logical for me to talk about the past extensively without feeling like the Secretary of Defense should know the history of these things already.
I also find the “the universe is not kind to those who don’t belong” concept important because with multiple timelines, we can mess with existing ones without going back to the past.
I’m also very happy with the idea that the project didn’t start out as an attempt to predict the future, but just a simulation to test out the effectiveness of policies, which is something I could see we’re doing.
Trying to figure out how Mr. Humbracker can get access to the workstations is fun. I keep thinking I’m writing myself into a corner.
Here’s my submission:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/15kJKaxJX3z8gJsNyqv9WXGR7APap2Tfh_V87tARGdOM/edit
That was challenging. I don’t like the theme of time travel because it creates a lot of traps: one thing could critically impact the whole previously written piece. I completely got lost in time and understand that the dates in my story didn’t fit. And it turned out that 2000 words was not enough for me to explore all the aspects (like the motivation of the main character), so I had to sacrifice some of it.
despite the challenge, I included a small piece of narration and plot in my story (in addition to the document/report element). I just couldn’t resist doing that. I didn’t want to describe a simple machine that allows you to see the future. Instead, my story is more about the actions that define this very future. Can we as a species use such a powerful device to make the future better, something like that? I suppose it didn’t quite fit the challenge’s prompt, but I had fun writing it. And hope you’ll have fun reading it.
here is my submission: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iVqFwDzcT69ZUoHNTYphlDwGl1CyieeLtxsoneY19Lg/edit?usp=sharing
This submission was written by Kardashiana7 (me).
This submission is about the benefits of using the XT-2495, which is designed to gaze into the future, and the negative effects of allowing the device to be in the wrong hands. Initially, the XT-2495 could only tell the future up to 2500. Now, the device can tell the future until the end of humanity.
The takeaway I hope for the reader to obtain is that relying on powerful devices like this should be taken with a grain of salt (that is, met with some scepticism). The reason for this is because any important projects such as allowing the XT-2495 to be used, will need the benefits and costs weighed up. There are five case studies that outline the advantages and disadvantages of using the XT-2495, complete with the benefits of certain people using it (see Case Studies 1, 2 and 5), and the negative effects of the device being used by the wrong people (see Case Studies 3 and 4).
I would also like to provide a trigger warning for the reader, as I will be mentioning things like child abuse and scams, both of which are about police reports that happened as a result of the XT-2495’s usage. However, if child abuse and scams are overly upsetting to the reader, I suggest that they give this submission a skip. Submission Link here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bMVbYjRultS2i5ojkHzMyZI2AFUuHrkc4_d8uaNNAXg/edit