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I've been twice and I really enjoyed myself. Tech, finance, and political people definitely don't make up close to the majority. You'd get sort of laughed at i

I've been twice and I really enjoyed myself. Tech, finance, and political people definitely don't make up close to the majority. You'd get sort of laughed at if you tried networking earnestly about like tech stocks or LLMs. Generally I don't prefer socializing with techie types from SF, the folks I met at Burning Man were nothing of the sort. It's mostly just adults who really like dressing up, building stuff, and staying up really late dancing and partying.

swaraj 17d ago
This is exactly the right answer for people asking about BM on hacker news. 100% agreed
jimmydddd 17d ago
How long did it take you to leave (get out) at the end? I've heard they often have massive backups in the exit line.
- radley 17d ago
  It depends what time you try to exodus. If you wait until the end, it's 50k+ people trying to leave a campground at the same time.
  - dmarcos 16d ago
    You can also stay an extra day. Help clean up and leave with zero traffic. I’ve done it myself.
varispeed 17d ago
Can you just smoke weed, enjoy the music and not talk to anybody? Is that sort of experience possible?
- hleszek 17d ago
  Sure, but you can do that at home too.
  - varispeed 17d ago
    Earth is home.
- radley 17d ago
  You can, but a big part of the marvel is in walking around (er, biking) and seeing the spectacle. If it's your first year, that's your job: be the audience.
- shawn_w 16d ago
  Smoking weed is iffy; lots of federal cops out here looking for it, since pot is still illegal on federal lands. Just chilling and doing your own thing is certainly doable.
- wnmurphy 16d ago
  Every sort of experience is possible. You could spend the entire week high as a kite, biking around and just looking at everything without talking to anyone, though the vast majority of the community are people you probably would enjoy interacting with. I find most burners thoughtful, compassionate, playful, caring, etc. What I suspect would happen is you'd start out this way ^, but then you'd gradually discover that the community is great and interactions with people are pretty fun actually. Part of the experience is the opportunity to get outside of your normal baseline personality if you want. You can be anyone for a week. Most people don't even want to talk about their lives off the playa. Culture changes on the weekend, when you get a lot of "partiers" just for the man and temple burn. There are a bit more irresponsible and inconsiderate people then, but not enough to ruin the overall community vibe.

swaraj 17d ago

This is exactly the right answer for people asking about BM on hacker news. 100% agreed

jimmydddd 17d ago

How long did it take you to leave (get out) at the end? I've heard they often have massive backups in the exit line.

radley 17d ago
It depends what time you try to exodus. If you wait until the end, it's 50k+ people trying to leave a campground at the same time.
- dmarcos 16d ago
  You can also stay an extra day. Help clean up and leave with zero traffic. I’ve done it myself.

varispeed 17d ago

Can you just smoke weed, enjoy the music and not talk to anybody? Is that sort of experience possible?

hleszek 17d ago
Sure, but you can do that at home too.
- varispeed 17d ago
  Earth is home.
radley 17d ago
You can, but a big part of the marvel is in walking around (er, biking) and seeing the spectacle. If it's your first year, that's your job: be the audience.
shawn_w 16d ago
Smoking weed is iffy; lots of federal cops out here looking for it, since pot is still illegal on federal lands. Just chilling and doing your own thing is certainly doable.
wnmurphy 16d ago
Every sort of experience is possible. You could spend the entire week high as a kite, biking around and just looking at everything without talking to anyone, though the vast majority of the community are people you probably would enjoy interacting with. I find most burners thoughtful, compassionate, playful, caring, etc. What I suspect would happen is you'd start out this way ^, but then you'd gradually discover that the community is great and interactions with people are pretty fun actually. Part of the experience is the opportunity to get outside of your normal baseline personality if you want. You can be anyone for a week. Most people don't even want to talk about their lives off the playa. Culture changes on the weekend, when you get a lot of "partiers" just for the man and temple burn. There are a bit more irresponsible and inconsiderate people then, but not enough to ruin the overall community vibe.