2040 Essay Contest

A day in [y]our life  - OPEN CALL
Deadline: 2 May 2021

Illustration: Niels Blaesi
Illustration: Niels Blaesi

Our world is rapidly changing. We are surrounded by complexity, variability and uncertainty. This can be overwhelming, paralyzing, or perhaps exhilarating. No matter which, we need to make time to think about ?what might be?.

Depending on your age, remember a day 5, 10 or even 20 years ago. Where were you back then? What was your daily routine life like? How did you communicate with your friends? How long did a trip to New York take? Did you always carry your phone charger around with you? What would you find in your pocket? Did you read the news every hour?

What about today? What does your routine look like? What is in your pocket? How do you travel? Where do you go? What do you assume you can ‘normally’ do in your daily life? How likely is this going to change? What if it does?


We are now stepping
into a time machine
that catapults us straight
into the year 2040.

Illustration: Niels Blaesi
Illustration: Niels Blaesi

Describe a day in your life in 2040 using one of the following lenses and send us your text.

  1. You have the same age, are in the same place,
    doing the same thing but in 2040.
  2. You have aged almost 20 years,
    are in a different place doing something different.
  3. You got lost in the time machine
    and you are a person of your choice in the year 2040.

Share your Vision!

Send us your 2040 Essay and tell us what a day in your life in 2040 looks like.
Who are you? Where are you? What is your daily routine?
What excites you? What bores you? ...?

Formal requirements:
- You are somehow associated with ETH Zurich (student, professor, employee, alumni, ...)
- Somewhere in your text ETH Zurich should be mentioned
- Your text should not exceed 3`000 characters. (English or German)
- The deadline is 2 May 2021 at midnight. Send your text to the email address below.

And then?
The Strategic Foresight Hub (SFH) will preselect 5 to 8 essays. These will be published (anonymously if desired) on the SFH webpage to be rated by the ETH Community.
Among the prizes are SBB and Transa Vouchers or a dinner at the Blindekuh. The winning essays will be developed further, illustrated or transformed into an animated short-video.

Questions?
Please do not hesitate to reach out to us!

Good Luck!

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