The Theme The Three Laws of Robotics Can’t Save Us January 22, 2018 By Caveat Magister Isaac Asimov made some very interesting thought experiments about Artificial Intelligence and the world it creates in I, Robot. But ...Read More
The Theme What if Kafka Was a Cyberpunk? (The Connection Between AI and Bureaucracy) January 16, 2018 By Caveat Magister At the time Kafka wrote his infamous novels about human beings struggling to make sense of a world full of ...Read More
The Theme What Is It We Think Humans Can Do That Robots Can’t? January 8, 2018 By Caveat Magister If this essay were a classic sci-fi script, then by the end the computer I’m writing it on would experience ...Read More
The Theme Why We Get the Robot Overlords We Deserve January 3, 2018 By Caveat Magister Many months ago, while still developing this year’s theme, Larry Harvey began receiving a series of robocalls in which an ...Read More
Serious Stuff, Spirituality The Parable of the Gift December 21, 2017 By Caveat Magister The only thing I ever get for Christmas is depressed, but that doesn’t mean we can’t talk about giving. For ...Read More
Serious Stuff Frontiers of Decommodification: Video Games, Micro-transactions, and Authenticity December 11, 2017 By Caveat Magister I’m not familiar with any serious schools of thought suggesting that Burning Man has much in common with video games. ...Read More
Serious Stuff You Got Your Rules in My Freedom! You Got Your Freedom in My Rules! November 21, 2017 By Caveat Magister I’d like to take a moment and pretend that Thanksgiving is the perfect time to talk about something that I ...Read More
Serious Stuff This is Not the Utopia You’re Looking For October 10, 2017 By Caveat Magister “Transformational experiences” are bullshit, and Burning Man doesn’t change a damn thing. I’ve spent the other posts in this series ...Read More
Serious Stuff Why Am I Still Here? The Ties That Bind Us to Black Rock City September 21, 2017 By Caveat Magister Back when I was only four Black Rock Cities in, I’d overhear people who were in their 15th, 16th, year ...Read More
Serious Stuff, The Ten Principles What If, after 10 Years of Really Trying, I Still Suck at a Principle? September 15, 2017 By Caveat Magister It’s time to admit the truth: I suck at Radical Self-Reliance. It’s really bad. I went to my first Regional ...Read More