World-renowned university MIT has announced a $250,000 (£205,000) cash prize for someone who demonstrates an “extraordinary example of disobedience”.
It’s not just about breaking the law though, your misdemeanour must be an example of ethical disobedience that benefits society as a whole.
Although it all sounds pretty topical, with what feels like weekly protests since Donald Trump got into office, the college actually came up with the idea last July.
Announcing the $250K Media Lab #Disobedience Award: Nominate a person/group engaged in disobedience for public good! https://t.co/N4AjvVM0Vq pic.twitter.com/c8c9BFrMrd
— MIT Media Lab (@medialab) March 7, 2017
Director of the MIT Media Lab, Joi Ito, said at the time the award could go to a person or group who’d shown disobedience in “the fields of scientific research, civil rights, freedom of speech, human rights and the freedom to innovate”.The department cites disobedient figures of the past such as Galileo, Martin Luther King Jr and Mark Felt, who supplied information to the journalists who unearthed the Watergate scandal.Weirdly, the cash is coming from billionaire entrepreneur Reid Hoffman, who co-founded LinkedIn, which as social media networks go, is not particularly rule-breaking.You can nominate someone for the prize here.
