Higher-effort summer solstice: What if we used AI (i.e., Angel Island)?

post by Rachel Shu (wearsshoes) · 2024-06-25T01:35:54.064Z · LW · GW · 9 comments

Contents

  Motivation
  Part 1. Smolstice
  Part 2. Swolestice
  Gathering interest
None
9 comments

As the title probably already indicates, this post contains community content rather than rationality content. Alternate, sillier version of this post here.

Motivation

I've been a co-organizer of the Bay Area Rationalist Summer Solstice for the past few years, and I've been thinking about how to make it a more meaningful and engaging experience, like what we have with Winter Solstice. The last few Summer Solstices, which I'd describe as mostly being big picnics, have been fun, but fairly low-effort, low-significance, and I think that's a missed opportunity.

Here's a few things that I'd like more of in Summer Solstice, non-exhaustive:

1. A sense of a temporary alternate world created around a shared purpose.
2. Time to connect with people and have deeper conversations.
3. Longer, more immersive collective experiences and thoughtfully designed rituals.
4. Thematic resonance with rationalist goals and community projects.
5. Ability to host the whole community, including children.

I have an idea for next year's Summer Solstice, which I think would get at fulfilling some of these goals. There's an island, Angel Island, in the middle of San Francisco Bay which is reasonably easy to get to, can accommodate lots of people, and has a bunch of qualities which would get at the goals above.

I've visited. It's naturally transporting, feels like a world into itself. I've done substantial research and think it's feasible to run Summer Solstice there. I'm posting this idea for discussion instead of running ahead with the planning for the following reasons:

1. As already suggested it requires a lot higher commitment from attendees. Travel is about 75 minutes (from and to downtown Berkeley) each way, including a ferry ride, and the ability to come and go is dictated by the ferry schedule. (Edit: The ferry runs every hour until 5:20pm, then we’d specially charter 7:20 and 9:20 pm departures. A small charter boat of maybe 8-10 capacity could also operate on demand between ferry trips with half hour round trips, reducing the wait time).
2. It requires a lot higher commitment from organizers. The coordination, preparation, and logistics needs are similar in degree to those of winter solstice, and the communication needs are even more involved.
3. I'm actually looking for someone else to take lead for next year. I've done it at least one year too many by tradition, and I also suffer winter depression, affecting some of the critical months of planning for a project of this scale. I'm kind of worried that putting forth too specific a vision makes it hard to pass on ownership, but the idea is pretty cool and has a lot of flex room, so here goes.

Here's the idea so far:

Part 1. Smolstice

This would be a 2-night campout on Angel Island from Friday to Sunday for likely 60-100 people (depending on how many camping spots we can compete to reserve). This gives people the chance to go in deep. Camping spots are spread out, some for larger subgroups, some for smaller subgroups. Each subgroup can have its own theme or project. Stag hunts may be held. Clandestine initiations may be held. The island holds its own secrets.

Staying both nights means spending an entire day outdoors on the island, sunrise to sunset. The perfect solstice observance. Resyncing to the rhythm of the sun. The chance to use an entire day thoughtfully. Oh, also, two nights of s'more's, what more could a human want?

The island also is a great camping spot for children (Boy Scout and school groups constitute a large percentage of reservations). There's a lot of kids in the community now, and this would be a chance to teach skills that involve teamwork or decisionmaking under uncertainty, like orienteering and building structures. Even just being able to plan the trip themselves is a level of autonomy that reliably excites kids.

Just this much would satisfy 4.5/5 of the solstice goals outlined above. But it couldn't be a chance to gather the entire regional community. Thus:

Part 2. Swolestice

Everyone else, up to 400 people, would catch the ferry to the island on Saturday for the main picnic and celebration. The ferry usually only runs daylight hours, but we'd be able to charter a special ferry to get everyone that's not camping Saturday night off the island after sunset. I actually looked into this for this year but didn't put all the pieces together.

We'd have the run of the island, although not exclusive. Imagine possibilities for the day: you could run a huge orienteering course, send everyone on a scavenger hunt, turn Capture the Flag into a huge MOBA-style game, organize a LARP. Plenty of space to hide away with someone you've really clicked with for the first time.

In the evening the island will be exclusively for attendees. Participatory rituals of arbitrary scale are possible. Winter Solstice has a natural theme of how we get through dark and hard times. Summer Solstice has a natural theme too: to know what we can accomplish when we are our brightest, most energized selves, to celebrate what is worth celebrating in the human spirit, to take in excess exuberant energy and store it for darker days ahead. Unlike winter solstice, the community doesn't have a ceremony that really represents all of this yet. Here's a chance to design one and hold it in a unique setting. ◾

Gathering interest

I want to get a sense of how much interest there is in this idea, both from potential attendees and potential organizers. Would you be up for the extra travel and time commitment? And, if you're interested in helping to organize, would you be willing to put in the extra effort to make this happen?

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