Burning Man festival holds the secret to America’s tech prowess
‘One year, I remember arriving in a car with a friend- an engineer from Google who removed all his clothes and religiously walked into the teeming crowds’
Burning Man began on Sunday and continues through this weekend in the Black Rock desert north of Reno, Nevada. It is “a temporary metropolis dedicated to community, art, self-expression and self-reliance,” with mutant vehicles straight out of Mad Max- and lots of naked people.
I took part in Burning Man in its early days through the 90s, when it was less of a festival than a counter culture gathering where you might achieve your personal epiphany in the desert with like-minded people. It used to be a wonderful festival, but has now turned into a desert version of Coachella. Most original “Burners” no longer go and have defected to smaller, more intimate versions that are still unique. When Justin Bieber shows up, you know the event is officially uncool.
Nonetheless, Burning Man is key to the creative psyche of the tech industry. In its formative years Silicon Valley’s tech industry, Google’s founders and employees were heavily influenced by the festival’s idiosyncratic and corporate free blend of counter culture, individualism, social collaboration and egalitarianism.
One year, I remember arriving in a car with a friend- an engineer from Google who removed all his clothes and religiously walked into the teeming crowds. A week later we rendezvoused back at the car and he blithely remarked: “Wow, one week naked. That was cool.” Drugs, art, music and orgy tents encourage Burners to push boundaries, just as tech start-ups defy cultural norms and disintermediate laws.
Maybe Chinese government officials should attend Burning Man to see what tech used to be inspired by. Because China is shaping, almost weaponising the tech industry in important areas like artificial intelligence (AI) for national strategic superiority. It will become a struggle for power itself.