Tips for using sources
Two of the criteria on which essays are graded are “knowledge of The Precipice” and “originality of ideas.” The first requires you to use a specific source, The Precipice, while the second requires you to use other sources, including your ideas. Here are some tips for how you can use these sources well:
The Precipice
Make sure you read the entire book. (You can skip the appendices, although you are welcome to read them if you’d like.) Once you are done, you should be familiar with concepts such as existential risk, long-term future, AGI, and the long reflection.
Choose a topic for your essay that will allow you to demonstrate an understanding of ideas from the book. For example, for the 13-18 age bracket, if you pick “anti-gravity shoes” as your transformative technology, you’ll probably have a hard time discussing ideas related to existential risk, while if you choose something like “gene-editing technology,” you’ll be able to discuss those ideas more naturally.
Discuss concepts from the book that are related to your essay. Your discussion should indicate to the graders that you (1) understand what the concept means and (2) how the concept relates to your essay topic.
Keep in mind that there might be multiple ideas from the book that are relevant to your essay. You won’t have enough space to discuss all of them, but you should try to discuss the most relevant ones.
External ideas
Incorporate external ideas into your essay. Your thoughts are one form of external ideas, and references to external sources (e.g., other books, newspaper articles, research papers, websites) are another. Use both.
For example, you may use external sources that you’ve come across during your coursework.
When you refer to external sources, provide citations. You may provide citations in any format that you are comfortable with. (As Judge Richard Posner said, “no serious reader pays attention to citation format; all the reader cares about is that the citation enable him or her to find the cited material.”) Citations are not included in the word count, so you should cite generously. Citations can be in-text or included as footnotes or endnotes.
You should also cite unusual sources that you might not cite for a school essay. Did a tweet make you think? A TikTok? A conversation with ChatGPT? Add it to the citations. We are curious about how entrants get inspired.
Draw connections between external ideas and ideas from the book. These ideas might agree with each other, expand upon each other, or disagree with each other. In all cases, your analysis should demonstrate an understanding of how the ideas relate to each other.
If you have already submitted an essay, but want to edit it, you can resubmit your essay. Just check off the “I am resubmitting this essay” box on the entry form.
