The problem students face: They're told the stakes are too high for playfulness. Be serious, anxious, responsible about climate/AI/democracy. That seriousness can just feel paralyzing. They become passive receivers of apocalypse narratives. It is not fair to drop this existential weight on the next generations' shoulders!
What Douglas offers instead: Bureaucratic apocalypse as the real enemy. Not evil villains - systems following procedure. Vogons with proper paperwork. No voice, no participation in your own demolition. This is what actual apocalypse looks like: not malice, just process. Students recognize this immediately in their own lives.
Absurdity as clear-sightedness, not escape. The Vogons really are demolishing Earth AND it's completely ridiculous. Both true. Humor doesn't diminish tragedy - it makes tragedy bearable enough to think about. You can see what's actually happening instead of what should be happening.
Companionship over lonely heroism. Camus gives you Sisyphus alone with his boulder, accepting meaninglessness. Beckett gives you Vladimir and Estragon waiting for a Godot who never comes. Douglas gives you Ford with a towel and tea, Trillian's competence, shared laughter at the ridiculous. The apocalypse becomes social, navigable. Find other hoopy froods who see it too.
Scale shifts as thinking tool. Your house is the planet is the universe. Students can use this: what's your domestic moment that's actually civilization-ending? Design the reveal for your apocalypse. Operating systems matter. Magrathea designed worlds, including Earth.
Slartibartfast won an award for Norway's fjords. This isn't metaphor - Douglas is asking: who designs the systems we live in? What happens when you can see the designers? When Earth is revealed as commissioned computation, not natural home, everything shifts.
You can't actually reboot. Earth rebuilt badly. The experiment contaminated. Five minutes from completion when destroyed. Prevention vs reconstruction - a genuinely difficult question.
The reframe: You're not writing dystopia or cli-fi. You're doing humorous eschatology. The question isn't how to avoid dread but what you DO with it: make something, notice absurdity, find companions, bring your towel.