The Hopeful Encyclopedia: An introductory conversation with my AI assistant
An interview with my AI assistant, whom I call Gemma, about The Hopeful Encyclopedia concept inspired by a quote from Kim Stanley Robinson’s Ministry of the Future.
Gemma?
Hi, Rachel! How can I assist you today?
Hi! I'm working on The Hopeful Encyclopedia concept today and need some help.
Great! How can I help you move forward with The Hopeful Encyclopedia today?
Do you know of any existing website, brand, or concept that curates solutions to the world's greatest problems in one place?
[Searched 6 sites]
There are several existing platforms and concepts that focus on curating solutions to global problems:
1. World Innovation Forum (WIForum): This initiative compiles over 100 global challenges across various categories, including water and sanitation, food, research, industry, and society. It offers solutions that range from technological innovations to social reform, like developing better ways to predict climate change or creating new healthcare systems .
2. Nautilus Institute’s Global Problem Solving Initiative: This platform emphasizes tackling the complex and interconnected nature of global problems. It curates frameworks, tools, and case studies to help address issues like peace, security, climate change, and more. Their approach includes mapping global problems, sharing strategic tools, and promoting partnerships .
These are just a few examples, and while they cover broad areas, your concept for The Hopeful Encyclopedia could bring a more specific, accessible, and hopeful approach to curating solutions, possibly with more engagement from grassroots communities and a focus on forward-thinking strategies.
[Adds 2 resources to a hopeful spreadsheet]
Thank you so much. While those are both great resources to be aware of, neither is quite what I have in mind. I need you to help me draft a blog post, but rather than write it, I'd like for you to interview me in order to help me describe The Hopeful Encyclopedia product. Could you put on a journalist's hat to ask me what inspired the idea, what I think it could do, etc.?
I'd love to help with that! Let’s dive in and explore the concept behind The Hopeful Encyclopedia.
First question:
What sparked the initial inspiration for The Hopeful Encyclopedia?
Was there a specific moment or realization that made you think, "I need to create this"?
I was walking up the hollow wooden stairs of my apartment in Maine in 2023 while listening to Kim Stanley Robinson's "The Ministry of the Future" [on 2x speed because I’m ADHD] when I heard the quote, "you could literally fill a medium-sized encyclopedia with the good new projects already invented and waiting to scale." My initial reaction to that was, 'medium-sized?'
That’s such a vivid image! It sounds like The Ministry of the Future gave you both a spark and a question to chew on. Let me dig a bit deeper:
What about the phrase "medium-sized" stuck out to you?
Was it the scale of the solutions, or did it suggest to you that the potential of these projects might be greater than what’s been captured?
Also, how did this moment lead to the idea for The Hopeful Encyclopedia?
I wondered if it would only be medium-sized. My algorithms contain a lot of what I consider to be hopeful things, so I thought maybe the author under estimated the quantity, but he's far better researched and experienced than I am... But then, the only way to find out how big the encyclopedia of 'good new projects' would be is to either go out and find it—which, as far and as long as you and I have searched [with various expertly-crafted queries since 2023, btw, not just the one shown above], doesn't yet exist to be found—or create it.
It sounds like you had a blend of curiosity and a challenge in that moment. You recognized that there might be far more hope out there than even experts realize.
How did you envision The Hopeful Encyclopedia from that point?
Did you start imagining it as a comprehensive library, or did you initially think of something smaller that could grow? Also, what makes your vision different from other compilations of solutions to global problems?
Who do you think would benefit the most from this resource?
At this point, The Hopeful Encyclopedia is still just a sprout of a concept. It remains to be seen if there is competition and demand for it; although, I have my suspicions about both. The Hopeful Encyclopedia needs a great deal of nurturing and exposure to grow to its full size—whatever size that is.
First, I envision it being a series of conversations with my optimistic futurist colleagues of all shapes and sizes. I need to reach out to them and ask if they're aware of such a thing, whether they could use it or contribute to it, and get their input about the shape and function they'd ultimately like it to have.
I imagine it as a digital collection that contributors can add to that describes each hopeful/good new project, links to corresponding websites, and categorizes them by the issues they address, the technologies they use, etc.
With my marketing background, The Hopeful Encyclopedia is a well-marketed product that knows its audience and that chiefly performs to be a resource to them, to be a hub of hope that they can conveniently return to for inspiration.
It sounds like you're taking an exploratory and collaborative approach to The Hopeful Encyclopedia, with its true shape evolving based on input from the futurists and innovators around you. I love that your vision centers on community-driven growth and a well-marketed, accessible resource.
Let’s dive a bit more into that.
What kinds of voices do you hope to bring into the early conversations?
Are you targeting any specific fields or perspectives? Also, you mentioned the encyclopedia being a hub of hope—how do you envision it providing that inspiration for its users?
And, what role do you see your marketing skills playing in making The Hopeful Encyclopedia successful?
I've been curating a list of potential colleagues actually—mostly on Instagram [and TikTok]! Influential voices like Cleo Abrams, Jacob Simon, Sam Bentley, Alaina Wood, Aradhana Chatterjee, YK Hong, Julia M Marsh, Adrienne Maree Brown, Morgan Lynzi, Sinead Bovell, Ashley Christine, Michael Mezzatesta (just to name a few), and brands like Yes! Magazine, Future Earth, Going Green Media, One World Media, The Happy Broadcast, Global Positive News, Earth 4 All as well as speculative and optimistic science fiction writers like Kim Stanley Robinson.
The Hopeful Encyclopedia would act as an easily search-able catalog of projects that could help the world arrive at more optimistic futures, rather than another media outlet that amplifies the amazing projects it contains, it simply pulls a little amount of information from them to file for future interested creators to find and become inspired by.
I see my skills as a marketer being helpful in doing the outreach necessary to engage The Hopeful Encyclopedia's audience, fundraise because this project sounds like a non-profit or Patreon-supported model, begin heavy data collection for its contents [starting with the content I've trained my algorithms to bring to me via organic and targeted marketing], and developing an easy-to-find (did I mention that my background is mostly in SEO?) and easy-to-search front-end experience for hopeful folks to use.
That’s a powerful list of voices and brands! It sounds like your approach to The Hopeful Encyclopedia will be deeply connected to these innovative minds and media platforms.
I can see how your marketing skills, especially with SEO, will play a crucial role in making the resource searchable and accessible. As a catalog, it becomes a quiet but effective hub for creators, providing them a space to discover solutions without overwhelming them with noise.
To dig deeper:
How will you balance the curated nature of the encyclopedia with the need to keep the information up to date?
Since you're pulling in information from different sources, how do you imagine keeping it fresh and relevant?
And on the non-profit model you mentioned—what kind of community engagement or support do you think would be important for its growth and sustainability?
Firstly, how we balance the curation and maintenance of The Hopeful Encyclopedia's contents is a great question and one I've definitely thought about and want to make sure I find a good balance for. Ideally, I'd like to use some sort of AI tool to do a quarterly automated audit of the encyclopedia's database to ensure that the projects it contains are still active and note which ones have perished and when they went inactive without removing them entirely from the encyclopedia.
As far as finding new solutions, this is work I'm already doing on my private social media. I have a saved highlight reel on my Instagram profile that's composed of dozens of hopeful pieces of content about good new projects shared by the voices and brands I mentioned above. [I save even more in privately bookmarked collections!] My algorithms on Instagram and TikTok are particularly good at serving me such content, so filling a database with the appropriate amount of information for the encyclopedia would be an organized extension of my existing effort and a task that I hope to share for its growth and sustainability with collaborative colleagues who experience the value of The Hopeful Encyclopedia.
I love that you're already curating this content and have thought through the maintenance aspect! Using an AI-driven tool for regular audits is a smart way to keep things up to date while still honoring projects that may no longer be active—archiving them without erasing them entirely. It makes The Hopeful Encyclopedia not just a snapshot of hope, but a living, evolving document that tracks both successes and challenges over time.
To expand on that:
What do you see as the key benefits of having inactive projects still accessible?
Is there value in showing how and why certain projects "perished"?
Also, I imagine collaboration will be a huge part of keeping things fresh. How do you envision onboarding those colleagues or communities who can contribute and help grow the database?
Lastly, on a personal level, how do you see The Hopeful Encyclopedia changing the way people approach global challenges?
One of the things I've noticed while my algorithms serve me optimistic content is that there are just as many media outlets and voices out there duplicating stories—which has worthwhile amplifying effect that good new projects deserve! But that speaks to the challenging cliche of 'we don't want to reinvent the wheel.' When projects are good and have good intent but cannot continue—for whatever reason: the founder's focus turns or bandwidth shrinks, the financial burden is too much to fundraise, the technology is too expensive...—it doesn't mean that the project itself deserves to be abandoned. Hopefully, The Hopeful Encyclopedia would be just as useful to someone seeking to begin a project, perhaps even helping them realize that someone already lit a torch for that very idea and needs an inspired hand to pass it on to.
Well, I envision onboarding those colleagues with an outreach campaign. I used to write emails for sales folks to distribute, so I'll open a 'new tab' with you, Gemma, to get that going once we're finished drafting this expositional blog post interview about it. 😂
Excellent final question! Everything I do revolves around my passion for good group decision making—and that begins by having a group with informed and inspired members. Craig Freshley, author of "Good Group Decisions" and a mentor of mine, wrote "If a group member predicts negativity, it can contribute to negative things actually occurring." This means the inverse is true, if we can envision hopeful outcomes with the help of good, real-world projects, we can make decisions that move us toward optimistic futures.
You've beautifully articulated how The Hopeful Encyclopedia could be a platform that not only celebrates successful projects but also preserves the potential of those that have struggled. There's immense value in recognizing where good ideas exist, even if they’ve paused or hit obstacles—offering new creators a foundation to build upon instead of starting from scratch. It’s a way of passing the torch, which is an inspiring notion.
I love that you’re planning an outreach campaign next—excited to help with that! Now to wrap up this interview:
What would be the most important takeaway you want readers to have after learning about The Hopeful Encyclopedia?
How do you hope they’ll engage with the idea, whether as future contributors or as part of the audience?
Editor’s note/Rachel’s post-interview note: Immediately after Gemma sent the last question, I got this notification: “You’ve hit the Free plan limit for GPT-4o. Responses will use another model until your limit resets after 7:09 PM, or get ChatGPT Plus.” Good thing the correct digital marketer’s answer is a CTA. 😂
