Terminological Twists Challenge
Thank you! Winning stories are live.
The theme was Terminological Twists and contestants were asked to take an existing, protocol-related technical concept as a title then reverse engineer it into a compelling science fiction story. Competition was fierce, with a tidy fifty submissions in the short period of the contest. Protocol fiction is a fresh subgenre of sci-fi, with systems and rules almost as protagonists in their own right. Each entry raised the bar – you can see why by diving into the three first place stories, and a selection of issues featuring stories from the Terminological Twists shortlist:
1st Place
Noise Ordinance
In this issue: The first place story of the Terminological Twists protocol fiction contest! Plus, Argument Engineering for Dummies, a meetup in Los Angeles, another SoP25 spotlight, a new webpage for the teaching fellows, and highlights from Discord.
2nd Place
The 40-Hour Work Week
In this issue: The second place story from Terminological Twists explores a shifting new world. Also: Tune in to streamlined version of a recent corporate talk on protocol thinking at 10am, meet another SoP25 teaching fellow, and pique your curiosity with some hard tech coverage.
3rd Place
DHCP
In this issue: The 3rd place story of the Terminological Twists contest – and a list of honorable mentions. Plus, an invitation to the SoP25 kickoff and research server, and another teaching fellow spotlight.
There were also shortlisted stories, some of which have since been published:
Also shortlisted, but not yet published:
Read-Only by Alexandre See
Fine Print by Griffin Stinson-Schroff
CHORUS PROTOPIA by Garance Solaires
The Proof of Europans-off-Jupiter’s Stake by Simon de la Rouviere
Proof of Personhood by Jordan Olmstead
