What is Burning Man? (Burning Man post part 1)
"It's like Dr. Seuss wrote Mad Max" - TT on Burning Man
I was asked this a lot before the event. I'm now in a much better position to answer. My take:
There are certainly other aspects that shape the experience. Much effort is spent surviving in the desert under changing and possibly harsh conditions. There is also the goal to leave no trace. I think this is a good goal -- while it is impossible for us to have no environmental impact, the attempt to leave no trash behind is both achievable and instructive. Simply collecting and hauling out one's trash is a big lesson on how much packaging we go through everyday. It also gives some accountability to each person to address their impact.
I was asked this a lot before the event. I'm now in a much better position to answer. My take:
- a social experiment in creating a community
- connected through taking care of each other
- connected through sharing: An article on the gift economy.
- embracing the transitory
- people making the most of their vacation: there is a drive to meet new people and explore instead of doing the things you can do the rest of the year
- accepting chance into one's life: you coordinate and plan ahead of time, but once there you don't pay much attention to the clock, can't call people on your cell phone, and don't really know what cool things you will discover
- one week of mind-blowing instead of one year of can-see-everything
- a chance to sample the creativity of tens of thousands of people
- building cool things: art or just camp infrastructure. A big change from my normal coding life.
- lawsuit-free: people accepting the risks they are taking
- participation: the whole community makes the experience cool; it is not about the masses consuming the product of the few.
- non-commercial: in the "real world" logos are everywhere; at Burning Man, they are discouraged
- freedom: though with responsibility. Some of this is just a change in expectations: if you have a strange idea or impulse, you are much more likely to try it at Burning Man, and find people to help you.
There are certainly other aspects that shape the experience. Much effort is spent surviving in the desert under changing and possibly harsh conditions. There is also the goal to leave no trace. I think this is a good goal -- while it is impossible for us to have no environmental impact, the attempt to leave no trash behind is both achievable and instructive. Simply collecting and hauling out one's trash is a big lesson on how much packaging we go through everyday. It also gives some accountability to each person to address their impact.