When we speak of a Hitchhiker, we are talking of an individual and the spirit they embody, while **Hitchhikers** is a shorthand for the project we are engaged in. In our context, it's both a metaphor and a living, breathing project. It refers to a kind of nomadism—not merely physical, but philosophical and communal. Yet, unlike traditional projects, organisations or clearly defined ventures, describing Hitchhikers isn't straightforward.
At its core, this project is about cultivating an ecosystem - a flourishing network of individuals and projects that embody diverse ways of being. These participants work together, yet each may have their own interpretation of what it means to be a hitchhiker and what the collective project entails. These voices don’t always agree. And that’s the point—this plurality is our strength.
Despite this diversity, there are threads that bind us. A shared spirit. A sense of purpose. There’s a biological metaphor here—an allegiance to life’s diversity, its natural rhythm of growth, decay, and evolution. It’s a commitment to dynamic, flourishing cultures. A reverence for the past and for everything that has struggled to be alive. But also, an unflinching acceptance that nothing stays still. Life, to remain vital, must evolve. To try to freeze change is, in many ways, to court death.
Of course, not all change should be rapid. There’s wisdom in pace. Some things need to move slowly, others more quickly, depending on what helps life thrive. Yet, if we are to navigate the accelerating changes around us—economic, technological, environmental—we must develop the capacity to move fluidly. Faster, even, than we may be comfortable with, if that's what life demands. That requires not only external, technical adaptation, but internal change too: in our institutions, in how we think, in how we govern.
When the world sprints, so must we—not to keep up for the sake of speed, but so that we might eventually slow it down, where and when it's necessary. But slowing a cheetah, or halting a runaway train, is impossible if we cannot first match its pace or jump on board. Hitchhikers, then, is the collective response to this challenge. It’s both the sum of its parts—the individuals who call themselves hitchhikers—and a larger mutual society. It’s an evolving community where real-world guidance is central. We write guides. We support the people building those guides. We develop the tools and technologies that bring guidance to others—wherever they may be.
And yes, the name is a deliberate nod to Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. We draw from that rich universe—not out of nostalgia, but because of what it represents. Humour, curiosity, playfulness, imagination. That irreverent questioning spirit that shaped not only the books but also the original online community around H2G2 (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy website) informs who we are.
We are not trying to recreate that world, nor ossify it in digital amber. The world has changed since then—profoundly. New ideas, technologies, and crises have emerged. We face a global context barely believable even if fortold in thee fictional world Douglas Adams created. Artificial intelligence. Climate collapse. A fragmented internet. A tangled web of overlapping crises - what some call the polycrisis or the metacrisis.
In this landscape, we aim to engage a new generation. To invite them to explore and co-create something grounded in those original values but reimagined for our time. We're not recreating. We’re rewilding - allowing this idea, this project, this way of guiding and storytelling, to grow anew. To take root in new forms, adapted for the challenges - and the possibilities - of today.
So while the focus remains on real-world guidance, how we write those guides, how we build the platforms around them, and whom we write them for… that may look entirely different. And that's exactly the point.