Sep 28, 2026 · 26 min
Future Vision XPRIZE bets on hopeful science fiction
Why We Gave Away $3,500,000.00 for Someone to Build the Next Star Trek | Moonshots Live
The competition tests whether optimistic stories can shape technological ambition as powerfully as dystopian warnings do.
- 1The Future Vision XPRIZE uses science-fiction storytelling to imagine cooperation between humanity and technology.
- 2Judges connect Star Trek, film, art, and imagination to the values guiding scientific and technological progress.
- 3The Gifted wins the $3.5 million prize, with Nobody Dies on Mars finishing runner-up among five finalists.
Don't miss
The Gifted wins the Future Vision XPRIZE after its filmmaker explains making the film independently, including the editing and sound mix.
The brief
Peter Diamandis introduces the Future Vision XPRIZE as an experiment in hopeful storytelling, arguing that visions of humans and technology working together deserve more cultural space.
Rod Roddenberry, Mira Lane, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Neal Stephenson discuss the stories that shaped their ideas about technology, space, consciousness, and humanity’s future.
The panel links art and science through examples including Van Gogh, scientific hypotheses, and Star Trek, asking whether imagination can move innovation before evidence catches up.
Five finalists present contrasting visions of the future: The Gifted, Nobody Dies on Mars, The Thorn Protocol, Senti, and Slingshot.
The awards place Slingshot fifth, Senti fourth, The Thorn Protocol third, Nobody Dies on Mars second, and The Gifted first; its filmmaker describes making the winner independently.
What was said on this episode
3 statements · 2 positive · 1 neutral
Movies and television shows shape viewers’ mindsets.
“the movies and TV shows we watch shape our mindset”
Listen at 2:47
The Future Vision project will create a new generation of positive-minded people.
“we're going to create a new generation”
Listen at 3:20
AI models should be trained on positive visions of the future.
“we need to align. We need to feed these models visions of the future that are positive”
Listen at 4:44
Statements are attributed to the speaker as said on the episode and reflect their view at the time, not PodLume's. They are not advice.
Featuring
Gene Roddenberry
The Twilight ZoneBooks & mentions
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