The Three Solstices of 2024
I somehow went to three rationalist solstices again this year, although this time I kinda stumbled into it. Quick thoughts, in order of quickness.
New York Solstice
I am coming to consider this the “Orthodox Rationalist Solstice.” The first rationalist solstice celebration was in New York, but that’s not why I think of this as the orthodox one. Rather, this is the one that seems to change the least from year to year. There is a comfort in this familiarity, much like the comfort of knowing that a Christian Orthodox Christmas Mass will always be the same, year after year, decade after decade, and the celebration your grandmother went to when she was a child is the same one your grandchildren will go to once they are born.1
This is not to say they’re literally identical, like the Christmas Mass. Songs are swapped in or out, or a new one shows up, every year. The speeches aren’t exactly the same each time. But in terms of theme, format, pacing, emotional temperament… the aesthetic feel of it… it’s remarkably stable. I like that there’s a place like this in the rationalist community, my impression is that religious rituals are supposed to be nigh unchanging over time. I mainly bring this up to contrast it with the Bay Area Solstice.
Bay Area Solstice
In contrast to New York, the Bay Area Solstice changes every year. Each year the solstice is created from the ground-up by a different person & team. This lead person has a sense of something the community needs and an idea of how that need can be addressed via shared catharsis. They dedicate hundreds of hours to creating a bespoke community ritual combining a narrative arc with music in a way that fits within the solstice framework and incorporates many rationalist touchstones and traditional songs. However there are new songs introduced specifically to address the need being fulfilled each year, and the choice of which traditional songs to use and where they’ll appear has a significant impact. Notably, even the way that some of the songs are sung can change quite a bit at the director’s discretion. It’s a quite a feat!
The Bay Area Solstice also has significant production value. This isn’t an ad hoc celebration by rationality fans anymore, it’s a polished production akin to a TED event with music. It’s legitimately impressive, and that makes it a good public-facing event. I suspect at least part of the Unitarian Universalist vibes are due to the knowledge it’ll be seen by others. Like, we mostly don’t care, because we’re singing with tears in our eyes about curing death and aging and expanding across the stars… but also, this is the least socially-offensive way that could possible be done. No one hates Mister Rogers, and the Unitarian Universalists are the Mister Rogers of religion. If we’re gonna be heartfelt and emotional and celebrate our culture in a public manner, this is a great way to do it.
This year Ozy led the Solstice with the burning conviction that we needed a solstice for The Common Man. (Note: this is my interpretation only, and may not represent Ozy’s actual views) That made it a very meaningful Solstice to me.2 I feel like there’s not much I can directly contribute to the core quests of rationalism. A Solstice directly addressing the people at large that says yes, actually every little contribution matters, we don’t all have to dedicate our lives to failing to be Yudkowsky or von Neumann or Musk, is incredibly important for me.
I think Ozy is right that it’s important to the community too, as we’ve grown from a tiny core of internet weirdos to a larger movement of memetically-aligned but ability-diverse folks and families. Yes, we need our heroes and our veneration of Heroic Responsibility. But at this point we also really need some space for the common man in all this, because there’s a fair number of us now. Ozy took the Heroic Responsibility to address this via the 2024 Solstice.
Personally, I think it was a huge success. Absolutely delivered on all counts. I’m grateful and thankful to Ozy for all the work and the excellent execution!
Secret Goth Solstice
So this was a surprise. The day after the Bay Area Solstice, my friend Matt Fisher whipped up something he called TESCREAL Solstice3. What did he want?
Something with the aesthetics of religion. Not the boring real religions that have church potlucks and youth pastors and electronics-recycling events. Something that felt like what we think of as a religion. Those of us who want to live as if the truth is true. And who were brought up on Tolkien and D&D and Star Wars. If the things believers say about God are actually true, people would live drastically differently. A “real” religion would have serious Gnostic Mysteries vibes. That’s what he was hoping to recreate. Pageantry and aesthetics oozing from all the pores.
With only eight hours lead time and $0, this crazy motherfucker put together the best aesthetic experience I’ve had in a solstice so far, and I’ve gone to six prior ones. A run-down of the aesthetics:
We all wore snuggies which come with hoods for a cool robe-like effect that stayed on the right side of “we’re playing.”
We lined up silently, then ascended a winding staircase to an attic while Matt rang a gong over and over.
The attic was fully dark when we entered & seated ourselves, the lighting used for the ceremony was warm, low, and behind the speaker.
The attic had two old chairs that were used to frame the speaker to great effect.
Everyone was asked to participate in some way, and fully half the attendees also participated as speakers, reading passages that were meaningful to them and on-theme.
Between each reading the gong was sounded
Everyone was silent the entire time except the speaker
The readings came in three sections, and between each section the light was turned off and we hummed a low note in unison.
There was no music, no references, no jokes.
In the end we descended the stairs single file to the ringing of the gong, again.
The reading selection was all deep rationalist lore4. Most were highly abridged, so they could be read in five minutes or less. The abridging wasn’t great, in at least two cases I don’t think the reading would make sense to someone who wasn’t already very familiar with the source. But… that’s kinda the point. This is a ceremony for the deeply read-in folks. We already know all these posts, or at least their core messages. The reading was to remind us of them, to re-invoke the feelings we had upon first reading them. This is not a public facing event. This is not to inform or educate. This is only to remind and reaffirm.
The speakers stayed serious. The delivery of (part of) Howl was done with much fire and passion, and stirred the heart. There weren’t any jokes and winks, like in the regular rationalist solstice celebrations. There were no sing-alongs. We played it straight, and we did it all while knowing we’re LARPing gnostic mystery rites.
It was fantastic. It really drove into my awareness how much aesthetics matter to me. The real Rationalist Solstice is fun and meaningful, beautiful to watch, unites the community every year, and I’ve never managed to get out of one without crying at some point. The goth solstice was an improv play we calvin-balled on the spot. And the goth solstice felt real and true and spoke to the part of my soul that exists before thoughts or language. Because at heart I want to be fighting orcs with Legolas and crawling through caves and chanting around candlelight with Gandalf. My goth heart sings when we do this. I don’t know why. I think “why” doesn’t matter.
Such an event could never be public, it would always have to be invite-only and small, it looks too weird to everyone else. But it’s what I want. It’s surprising how much aesthetics overwhelmed substance in this realm. I will go to every Rationalist Solstice for as long as they continue, and I hope I have opportunities to contribute in the future ones as well! But Rationalist Solstice is, for me, the reasonable job in the suburbs with a doting wife and 2.2 kids. Goth Solstice is the childhood tomboy friend that would never be tied down, drifts in and out of town, and yet we still sneak away to kiss under the bleachers a few times a year when the wife is visiting her extended family. I love Rationalist Solstice… but I’m excited for TESCREAL Solstice. My heart is all aflutter for next year’s crazy goth improv.5 :)
I don’t actually know if this is true, or even truth-adjacent! I’m entirely making this up, so if this is false please imagine whatever religion actually has this tradition and insert them instead. Judaism maybe?
Also I had a small role, volunteering to read one of the speeches between songs. I was thrilled and honored to be able to participate in some way. :) However my feelings about this solstice are separate from that and would be unchanged even if I hadn’t been involved.
He’s reclaiming the word
The list of the readings:
Machinic Desire, Moloch (abridged Howl), I See Dead Kids, The Magnitude of His Own Folly, The Fable of the Dragon-Tyrant Part 1, That Alien Message part 1, Is there a black ball in the urn of possible inventions?, Dragon-Tyrant Part 2, That Alien Message Part 2, Dragon-Tyrant Part 3, The Goddess Of Everything Else Part 1, Letter from Utopia Part 1, The Goddess Of Everything Else Part 2 , Letter from Utopia Part 2, Pale Blue Dot
If there even will be one?? Who knows!