Replenish, Re-Govern and Re-Wilding take the apocalyptic history of Earth and flip it into positive reimaginings. Using backcasting, hard science fiction and creative performance, we turn extinction into inspiration and build hopeful narratives for schools, communities and beyond.
--- # Replenish, Re-Govern, Re-Wilding We imagine this project as a way of reworking the Apocalypse Theme into something more constructive. The apocalypse theme usually draws on Earth’s deep history of mass extinction events – from meteor impacts to the Great Oxidation, from the Great Dying to other catastrophic shifts. We also imagine possible future apocalypses, relishing and exploring them through a backcasting methodology. This involves projecting forward into hard science fiction scenarios, then working backwards to the present to ask how we might avoid those outcomes and take steps toward more optimistic futures. While this theme is rich and engaging, it can also be troubling for some audiences. A focus on fear, doom scrolling and crisis can appeal to gothic communities but may alienate schools, parents or spiritually minded groups who want to avoid negativity. To address this, we imagine reframing the project around a positive narrative using the prefix “re-”: Replenish, Reboot, Re-Govern, Re-Wilding. These re-words acknowledge the negative but move the emphasis toward renewal and possibility. For instance, reboot suggests both the technical idea of restarting from backup and the creative play of imagining an alternative Earth. In practice, this means children and students begin by identifying a risk or concern, then exploring it through research and hard science fiction. They build Beats, Scenes, Episodes and Sagas in small Writers Rooms with mentors and advisers. Each group transforms an apocalyptic theme into a positive rebooted scenario, considering how governance, ecology and technology might evolve differently in a rebooted Earth. We imagine this work expressed through formats that are both practical and inspiring. One is the silent movie style: short AI-generated clips (often around 16 seconds) intercut with text prompts, performed with live musical accompaniment in schools or streamed across time zones. For example, a cohort of 114 students aged 17–18 could form 42 groups of three. Each group develops a theme, and these are combined into seven shorts, culminating in a festival screening with prizes for the best films. Another format is theatrical performance: blending live human dialogue with AI-generated cityscapes or technological visuals to create hybrid shows. A thematic variant might focus on food, framed as the “restaurant at the end of the universe”, where stories of agriculture, sustainability, genetic engineering and family traditions are reimagined. Across these approaches, the shared method remains backcasting hard science fiction into the present. This allows us to explore risks while celebrating resilience, using performance, film and narrative to make the future feel both wild and hopeful.
https://transcript.myth.garden/assets/reboot-positivity/Rebooting%20Postivity.wav Reboot Positivity
# Tidied Transcript
This project begins with the Apocalypse Theme, which is clear and strong. We draw on the full history of Earth’s catastrophic events – the tectonic shifts, meteor impacts, oxygenation events, and the great extinctions such as the Great Dying. We also look forward to possible future scenarios of apocalypse and explore them in detail. The methodology is to use hard science fiction: imagining negative futures, then positing alternative science-based futures that avoid those outcomes, and finally backcasting into the present to consider what steps we could take now to move toward those more optimistic directions. This combination of apocalypse and methodology makes the process engaging, fun and wild. However, there are drawbacks. Many people are cautious about negativity. They worry about the culture of doom scrolling, climate panic or fears around AI. A strong apocalypse narrative may appeal to gothic instincts but might not work for audiences that value positivity – spiritual groups, progressive communities or schools seeking to avoid fear. In particular, using apocalyptic themes with young children is controversial. While we might argue that scary stories are essential, schools today are reluctant to embrace them. So we explore whether the same project can be retold with a more positive surface narrative. This is where the “re-” framing comes in. We introduce words like Replenish, Reboot, Re-Govern and Re-Wilding. These keep space for the negative but turn the emphasis toward renewal. Reboot is especially useful because it links both to computing and to science fiction. We can imagine Earth rebooted from backup, opening a space for creative reimaginings of possible worlds. The stories, particularly when told by students, would begin with workshops to identify risks or issues they are concerned about. From there, they would develop hard science fiction responses, fork wiki pages, create Beats, Scenes, Episodes and Sagas, and finally perform them at the end of the school year. A particular focus could be Re-Govern – asking how governance might work in a rebooted Earth. This means rethinking peace, conflict, democracy, international relations and the resolution of global tensions. These scenarios would explore how humanity might do better in a rebooted version of the planet. To perform this, we propose a silent movie style. By this we mean a format that mixes moving images with text screens, accompanied by live or recorded music. AI-generated shorts of around 16 seconds could be combined with text prompts and musical scores. This can be performed live in schools or streamed across time zones. It ties neatly into other events such as screenings at “the restaurant at the end of the universe”, presenting short films with positive visions of the future. We imagine a large-scale example with 114 students aged 17–18. These students could be divided into 42 groups of three, each supported by mentors and advisers. Each group would explore one apocalyptic theme or area of concern. They would approach it in three ways: first, through factual research and science checked rigorously (the Marvin approach); second, through creative writing and script development (the backcasting methodology); and third, through technology and performance (turning scripts into theatre or AI-generated shorts). At the end of the year, the work would be showcased. For instance, 42 groups could produce seven films, each made by a cluster of six groups working together. These shorts would be screened in a festival, with prizes awarded in different categories. This festival model can grow year by year. One storyline is the reboot narrative described above. Another could be a play set in 2050, imagining how things might have improved. The human and conversational elements could be staged in live theatre, while AI visuals provide the backdrops of cities, technologies and environments. A third option is to build stories around the “restaurant at the end of the universe”. Here, food becomes the theme – from genetic engineering to sustainable farming to family traditions. The setting becomes a way of exploring food production, cultural memory and science fiction futures. These stories would again be built using the backcasting methodology, combining fact, creativity and performance. Each of these versions offers a positive storyline. They allow us to retain some of the humour, sadness and wildness of the apocalypse theme while reframing it as a hopeful, constructive exploration. By evolving these methods – in school projects, film festivals and theatre performances – we create a process where apocalyptic fears are not ignored but transformed into stories of renewal, governance and rewilding. This approach is flexible: one version can be run, or several explored in parallel, and each can evolve as communities and participants contribute.
# Assets
reboot-positivity
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