Solstice 2014 - Kickstarter and Megameetup

Summary:

We’re running another Winter Solstice kickstarter—this is to fund the venue, musicians, food, drink and decorations for a big event in NYC on December 20th, as well as to record more music and print a larger run of the Solstice Book of Traditions.

There will also be a Rationality Megameetup the following Sunday. (More generally, people are welcome to come to Highgarden and spend the night starting on Friday—although we request that people register their presence via this form so we don’t run out of space)

I’d also like to raise additional money so I can focus full time for the next couple months on helping other communities run their own version of the event, tailored to meet their particular needs while still feeling like part of a cohesive, broader movement—and giving the attendees a genuinely powerful experience.

The Beginning

Four years ago, twenty NYC rationalists gathered in a room to celebrate the Winter Solstice. We sang songs and told stories about things that seemed very important to us. The precariousness of human life. The thousands of years of labor and curiosity that led us from a dangerous stone age to the modern world. The potential to create something even better, if humanity can get our act together and survive long enough.

One of the most important ideas we honored was the importance of facing truths, even when they are uncomfortable or make us feel silly or are outright terrifying. Over the evening, we gradually extinguished candles, acknowledging harsher and harsher elements of reality.

Until we sat in absolute darkness—aware that humanity is flawed, and alone, in an unforgivingly neutral universe.

But also aware that we sit beside people who care deeply about truth, and about our future. Aware that across the world, people are working to give humanity a bright tomorrow, and that we have the power to help. Aware that across history, people have looked impossible situations in the face, and through ingenuity and persperation, made the impossible happen.

That seemed worth celebrating.

The Story So Far

As it turned out, this resonated with people outside the rationality community. When we ran the event again in 2012, non-religious but non-Less Wrong attended the event and told me they found it very moving. In 2013, we pushed it much larger—I ran a kickstarter campaign to fund a big event in NYC.

A hundred and fifty people from various communities attended. From Less Wrong in particular, we had groups from Boston, San Francisco, North Carolina, Ottawa, and Ohio among other places. The following day was one of the largest East Coast Megameetups.

Meanwhile, in the Bay Area, several people put together an event that gathered around 80 attendees. In Boston and Vancouever and Leipzig Germany, people ran smaller events. This is shaping up to take root as a legitimate holiday, celebrating human history and our potential future.

This year, we want to do that all again. I also want to dedicate more time to helping other people run their events. Getting people to start celebrating a new holiday is a tricky feat. I’ve learned a lot about how to go about that and want to help others run polished events that feel connecting and inspirational.

So, what’s happening, and how can you help?

The Big Solstice itself will be Saturday, December 20th at 7:00 PM. To fund it, we’re aiming to raise $7500 on kickstarter. This is enough to fund the aforementioned venue, food, drink, live musicians, record new music, and print a larger run of the Solstice Book of Traditions. It’ll also pay some expenses for the Megameetup. Please consider contributing to the kickstarter.

If you’d like to host your own Solstice (either a large or a private one) and would like advice, please contact me at raemon777@gmail.com and we’ll work something out.

There will also be Solstices (of varying sizes) run by Less Wrong / EA folk held in the Bay Area, Seattle, Boston and Leipzig. (There will probably be a larger but non-LW-centered Solstice in Los Angeles and Boston as well).
- If you’d like to be involved with the Seattle solstice, contact Jai at jai@seattlesecularsolstice.com. If you

In NYC, there will be a Rationality and EA Megameetup running from Friday, Dec 19th through Sunday evening.
- Friday night and Saturday morning: Arrival, Settling
- Saturday at 2PM − 4:30PM: Unconference (20 minute talks, workshops or discussions)
- Saturday at 7PM: Big Solstice
- Sunday at Noon: Unconference 2
- Sunday at 2PM: Strategic New Years Resolution Planning
- Sunday at 3PM: Discussion of creating private ritual for individual communities
If you’re interested in coming to the Megameetup, please fill out this form saying how many people you’re bringing, whether you’re interested in giving a talk, and whether you’re bringing a vehicle, so we can plan adequately. (We have lots of crash space, but not infinite bedding, so bringing sleeping bags or blankets would be helpful)

Effective Altruism?

Now, at Less Wrong we like to talk about how to spend money effectively, so I should be clear about a few things. I’m raising non-trivial money for this, but this should be coming out of people’s Warm Fuzzies Budgets, not their Effective Altruism budgets. This is a big, end of the year community feel-good festival.

That said, I do think this is an especially important form of Warm Fuzzies. I’ve had EA-type folk come to me and tell me the Solstice inspired them to work harder, make life changes, or that it gave them an emotional booster charge to keep going even when things were hard. I hope, eventually, to have this measurable in some fashion such that I can point to it and say “yes, this was important, and EA folk should definitely consider it important.”

But I’m not especially betting on that, and there are some failure modes where the Solstice ends up cannibalizing more resources that could have went towards direct impact. So, please consider that this may be especially valuable entertainment, that pushes culture in a direction where EA ideas can go more mainstream and gives hardcore EAs a motivational boost. But I encourage you to support it with dollars that wouldn’t have gone towards direct Effective Altruism.