Tech Elites Aren’t Ruining Burning Man. They Get Their Hands Dirty, Too

Tech Elites Aren’t Ruining Burning Man. They Get Their Hands Dirty, Too(techcrunch.com)

13 points by josealicarte 11 years ago | 9 comments

devindotcom 11 years ago |

Well, you can't ruin something that's already ruined - that is to say, Burning Man hasn't been Burning Man for a long time. I don't mean that in a cynical or superior way, just in a realistic one - it's become a very different thing from what it was even ten years ago, let alone twenty. What was once anti-establishment has become established, and an iconoclastic anti-brand has become the most powerful brand of its kind. It's a triumph in a way; it means it struck a chord and, as Josh says, it's a net positive. But the changes have rewrought Burning Man into a Burning Man theme park. The lunatics have surrendered the asylum. It's okay to mourn that, but it's a bit late to be pointing fingers. If you don't like it, start something new. That's how things like Burning Man happen in the first place.

georgemcbay 11 years ago | |

Yeah.

I've never even been to Burning Man, but this is a completely predictable result for anything that reaches any level of popularity.

No system made up of people can scale and maintain its original identity, whether it is a IRL event like Burning Man or a website like reddit or Hacker News. People who were there before some new group will always define an easily identifiable scapegoat group of those who are ruining the thing, but really it is just a numbers game. The more people you add, the less easily identifiable shared culture there can be, the more regulations have to be put into place and the more that community loses what the original members saw as its identity.

I believe this is an immutable, unsolvable problem short of (as devindotcom suggests) breaking off and starting a new new thing that replaces the old new thing (and obviously this is only a temporary solution that will have to be iterated again if the new new thing becomes popular).

andkon 11 years ago |

"Look at all the cool things we build and bring to Burning Man - no way we're ruining it!" is pretty much the exact same argument as "gentrification has resulted in far better brunch options in this area, no way we're ruining it!"

That being said, I thought this piece was super awesome for the insight into why tech folks go: it's a great way to show off and build something cool. Probably, folks are motivated by the same reasons my engineer friends back in Saskatchewan build progressively wackier campers to take to Craven Country Jamboree: a little to flex their hacker muscles, a little to blow off steam, a little to fly their freak flags and see who clicks with them. And that's nice. But it's worth noticing that so many pieces of Burner lore are now dependent on being subsidized by really rich folks. If we're being honest about how the economy of Burning Man works, it's becoming less an example of extreme self-reliance and more an example of of extreme patronage on behalf of the really rich.

And in itself, patronage isn't bad at all. It's great! But why doesn't this attitude extend to life back in the city? Why is Burning Man the one place that a rich person can help other folks out? Why is Mark Benioff the one dude who seems to give substantial amounts of money to people in the place he lives?

tptacek 11 years ago |

An outsider's perspective:

Burning Man : Silicon Valley :: Gathering of the Juggalos : Rest of America.

droopyEyelids 11 years ago | |

Is the joke based on the idea that Juggalos are the dregs of society, and the dregs of Silicon Valley go to Burning Man?

Or do you mean it's a camping and music event for Silicon Valley?

(a further-outside-era perspective)

euroclydon 11 years ago | | |

Let's put it in English: Burning Man is to Silicon Valley as a gathering of Juggalos is to the rest of America. He probably means there aren't a whole lot of influences that can be detected in either direction in either of those relationships, he's surprised at the line: "In the end, Burning Man has likely influenced the tech industry’s culture much more than the other way around."

tdicola 11 years ago | |

So what beverage do SV burners prefer to be doused in at Burning Man, grass-fed butter and coconut oil infused coffee?