On December 19th, 6pm, New York City will have its Secular Solstice celebration. From the evening of December 18th to the morning of the 21st, NYC will host the East Coast Rationalist Megameetup. Both events will be at the HI NYC Hostel at 891 Amsterdam Avenue, NY. You can buy tickets here; after you pay, you'll be taken to the registration form.
What's Solstice?
Solstice is a celebration of humankind's long arc towards civilization and also a somber night of reflection on the dangers facing that civilization. We join our voices together and sing about both the triumphs and the looming disasters. You can find Secular Solstices in many cities around the world, but the first of its kind was started here in New York City and the skyscrapers around us are still as powerful a symbol as the snow that falls on New York's streets. Join rationalists from across North America and sometimes even further for the oldest rationalist tradition.
And what's the megameetup?
It's been more than a decade since New York City began hosting aspiring rationalists near and far for a long weekend of swapping jokes, trading techniques, and staying up the correctly calibrated too late past their bedtimes. Over a hundred people come, all in one way or another joined by a desire to make better decisions and be less wrong. (Or just argue about their favourite Harry Potter fanfic and leave behind inscrutable scrawled math on scrap paper.) The megameetup is timed to coincide with Secular Solstice, creating a mixing pot of people for whom it's their very first time at a rationalist event and people who've been around since the most important blog on the scene was Overcoming Bias.
In addition to sleeping space (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights) for those from out of town, we'll have:
- Rationality practice games, both tested and experimental
- Lightning talks on all manner of subjects
- Lunch and dinner on Saturday, lunch on Sunday
- Secular Solstice afterparty on Saturday night
- A lot of interesting people to talk to- hopefully including you!
- Watch this space for more additions
We hope to see you there!
-Skyler