WEBVTT - How Burning Man Works 0:00:01.280 --> 0:00:04.720 Welcome to Stuff you should know from house stuff Works 0:00:04.760 --> 0:00:13.640 dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh 0:00:13.800 --> 0:00:20.200 Crowhart Clark. There's Charles W. Chuck Cloud. Right, you gotta 0:00:20.239 --> 0:00:24.240 pass me the conk so I can speak. Okay, thanks, 0:00:25.200 --> 0:00:28.319 Now I have the conk. Go ahead, I almost spoke, 0:00:29.080 --> 0:00:31.360 all right. Here, here's the con I almost spoke without 0:00:31.360 --> 0:00:34.000 a conk. Here's the conk. Okay, thanks. We can do 0:00:34.080 --> 0:00:36.400 that the whole time, and we need like a circle 0:00:36.440 --> 0:00:38.440 of people to turn around and shout what we're saying 0:00:38.479 --> 0:00:41.480 that everybody else you can't hear. Would you or would 0:00:41.479 --> 0:00:46.480 you not ever attend Burning Man? No? No, I mean 0:00:46.479 --> 0:00:48.520 it sounds awesome, and like, I think it's pretty cool 0:00:48.560 --> 0:00:51.400 that the people who go there having a good time. 0:00:51.440 --> 0:00:55.080 But man, not for me either. I don't. I don't. Yeah, 0:00:55.160 --> 0:00:57.480 I like looking at pictures. Yeah, it seems like a 0:00:57.520 --> 0:00:59.800 fun time. It seems like it would be a really 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:07.200 need experience, but actually going in in reality. Now, thanks 0:01:07.240 --> 0:01:08.920 for begetting that out of the way. I was just curious. 0:01:09.760 --> 0:01:11.840 I'll use one of my father's old lines, I wouldn't 0:01:11.840 --> 0:01:13.480 go to Burning Man if it was in my backyard. 0:01:14.280 --> 0:01:16.520 Oh really? He well, not Burning Man, but he that 0:01:16.640 --> 0:01:19.480 used to be I wouldn't see I wouldn't see so 0:01:19.560 --> 0:01:21.959 and so play if they're in my backyard. So but 0:01:22.040 --> 0:01:25.679 that's almost like like you despise that. It sounds like 0:01:25.760 --> 0:01:27.720 you wouldn't go to Burning Man just because. Oh no, 0:01:27.760 --> 0:01:29.800 I don't despise it. I was just kidding, right, it's 0:01:30.040 --> 0:01:32.600 you know, it's a very interesting thing and I'm excited 0:01:32.600 --> 0:01:35.400 to talk about it. Well, let's talk about it, Chuck. 0:01:35.840 --> 0:01:37.920 If you have been living under a rock for the 0:01:37.920 --> 0:01:42.600 past like fifteen or so years, since it's become a thing, um, 0:01:42.760 --> 0:01:45.760 we'll tell you what Burning Man is. It's a week 0:01:45.800 --> 0:01:48.800 long festival. It's held out in the desert, the Black 0:01:48.880 --> 0:01:52.600 Rock Desert in Nevada. Black Rock City. They create and 0:01:52.680 --> 0:01:55.320 their very own city, right, and it is like a 0:01:55.520 --> 0:01:59.160 planned city out in the desert. It's a small city. 0:01:59.560 --> 0:02:02.680 It's meant to be temporary because, as we'll see, everything 0:02:03.080 --> 0:02:05.640 that isn't taken down at Burning Man ends up burning 0:02:06.720 --> 0:02:11.160 and carried out. Right, everything that's not taken down it 0:02:11.280 --> 0:02:13.560 is burned. And that that's one of the tenants. We'll 0:02:13.560 --> 0:02:16.040 get to the tenants. Oh yeah, the principles, right, yeah, 0:02:16.040 --> 0:02:18.680 the prince of the ten principles. But just like if 0:02:18.760 --> 0:02:22.160 you are a burner, that's what they're called, and you 0:02:22.240 --> 0:02:24.560 go to Burning Man and you're just there for the week, 0:02:24.720 --> 0:02:28.800 the festival, the fun um, and you get there, there's 0:02:28.840 --> 0:02:31.600 a city, and you leave and there's a city, And 0:02:31.639 --> 0:02:33.880 if you went a month on either side, there would 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:37.760 be nothing there because there's a group of volunteers who 0:02:37.800 --> 0:02:40.440 works as part of the Burning Man festival who go 0:02:40.480 --> 0:02:42.560 and build the city and then take it down. Because 0:02:42.560 --> 0:02:44.519 it's what you're saying. One of the tenants, one of 0:02:44.560 --> 0:02:47.640 the ten principles is leave no trace. That's right. So 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:51.760 when they leave, there's allegedly not a trace that they 0:02:51.800 --> 0:02:53.880 were ever there. I want to test that in this 0:02:54.000 --> 0:02:58.240 ancient lake bed in Arroyo. Yeah. It's uh. It is 0:02:58.400 --> 0:03:03.640 August September three this year, and this year's art theme 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:07.480 of an art theme every year is a cargo cult. Yeah, 0:03:07.520 --> 0:03:10.440 which is pretty interesting. I think so. UM two thousand ten, 0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:14.680 its Metropolis two thousand nine was evolution before that American Dream, 0:03:15.040 --> 0:03:17.680 Hope and Fear the Green Man. They just have different 0:03:17.760 --> 0:03:20.960 art themes and Um. One of the things you can 0:03:20.960 --> 0:03:26.160 do there as a burner is build, uh, either create 0:03:26.200 --> 0:03:30.120 your own theme. UM group and experience like a camp, 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:33.400 like a group, Yeah, like a theme camp, which can 0:03:33.440 --> 0:03:35.680 be anything. I mean, did you look at some of 0:03:35.680 --> 0:03:38.920 the theme camps. It's all over the map. Or and 0:03:39.200 --> 0:03:43.040 or create your own big public work of art that 0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:46.320 is under that main theme. And while you're out there, 0:03:46.360 --> 0:03:48.320 you're gonna need a place to live. And a lot 0:03:48.360 --> 0:03:51.880 of people make art out of that. I mean really 0:03:51.880 --> 0:03:56.560 cool stuff, right, Like I'm not easily impressed. But when 0:03:56.560 --> 0:03:59.440 we look at some of these Burning Man um I 0:03:59.480 --> 0:04:03.080 want to say phibits, but art pieces, and it's just 0:04:03.600 --> 0:04:08.080 mind blowing how involved these things are that these people 0:04:08.120 --> 0:04:10.920 carry in and a symbol from all over the world. Yeah, 0:04:10.920 --> 0:04:12.680 and like you said, the theme that's that's given out 0:04:12.680 --> 0:04:14.880 a cheer is meant to kind of unite all these 0:04:15.440 --> 0:04:20.159 pieces of art into something some common thread. Yet, but 0:04:20.200 --> 0:04:21.800 I'm sure you can just do whatever you want. It 0:04:21.880 --> 0:04:25.200 is Burning Man. After it's very strict. If you show 0:04:25.279 --> 0:04:28.240 up with any art that doesn't fall within the prescribed guidelines, 0:04:28.320 --> 0:04:31.800 they will turn you away. No, And you make that 0:04:31.920 --> 0:04:36.280 joke because Burning Man is very much known for its 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:39.560 anything goes atmosphere. It wasn't until two thousand and four 0:04:39.960 --> 0:04:44.280 that there were ten principles that became official. Um, and 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:48.240 this thing started in nine I think six. Yeah, let's 0:04:48.240 --> 0:04:53.039 get let's go back, let's go way back. San Francisco. 0:04:53.240 --> 0:04:57.280 At was it Baker Beach? Um, a group of friends 0:04:57.440 --> 0:05:00.760 burned in eight foot tall man made out of wood 0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:05.239 as an effigy. Um. The founder and the first dude 0:05:05.400 --> 0:05:10.839 to do that was what was his name, Harvey Milk. No, 0:05:11.760 --> 0:05:15.400 his name was Larry Harvey. Larry Harvey was close. He 0:05:15.640 --> 0:05:18.320 supposedly got the idea from this other friend of his, 0:05:18.480 --> 0:05:21.320 this woman who had burned things in effigy on that 0:05:21.360 --> 0:05:24.760 beach before. Um. I think that's where he supposedly got 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:26.599 the idea. It was not from the movie The Wicker Man. 0:05:26.640 --> 0:05:29.280 He said, Yeah, a lot of people made that comparison. 0:05:29.320 --> 0:05:32.120 And he's like, no, you guys are way off. And 0:05:32.120 --> 0:05:35.040 they're like, and have you seen the dreamwork? Yeah? Exactly, Yeah, 0:05:35.080 --> 0:05:38.760 the original was pretty neat. Yeah, bizarre. Um. So they 0:05:38.800 --> 0:05:42.159 burned this eight foot tall man and uh come of 0:05:42.160 --> 0:05:44.719 through a little party. And then the next year that 0:05:44.800 --> 0:05:47.440 became a larger man, and a few more people and 0:05:47.480 --> 0:05:52.479 a few more until ah, it became so large that 0:05:52.800 --> 0:05:56.000 San Francisco said, you can't be burning things that large 0:05:56.000 --> 0:05:58.880 on this beach. They said, fine, we'll go take it 0:05:58.880 --> 0:06:02.160 to the high desert. Well, apparently Larry Harvey was like, fine, 0:06:02.200 --> 0:06:03.920 we won't burn it, but we're gonna Can we keep 0:06:03.960 --> 0:06:06.520 this thing up? And and uh, this is the year 0:06:06.560 --> 0:06:10.679 that like people showed up because the San Francisco Cacophony Society, 0:06:10.720 --> 0:06:13.000 which grew out of the Suicide Club, which is pretty 0:06:13.040 --> 0:06:15.320 cool in and of itself, put it in the newsletter 0:06:15.360 --> 0:06:16.919 that this thing was going on. So a bunch of 0:06:16.920 --> 0:06:20.359 people showed up. Larry Harvey said that, um, okay, we 0:06:20.400 --> 0:06:22.039 won't burn this thing, but we're gonna leave it up 0:06:22.080 --> 0:06:24.159 and we'll just take it down. And everybody's like, whoa, no, 0:06:24.360 --> 0:06:27.960 we gotta burn it. So at the end of that one, 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:30.200 they disassembled it and decided that they would go burn 0:06:30.240 --> 0:06:32.960 it in the desert. That's right. And I looked to 0:06:33.000 --> 0:06:38.560 see if there was an original symbol symbolic uh, you know, 0:06:38.680 --> 0:06:41.960 moved behind this, and I don't think there was other 0:06:42.000 --> 0:06:44.719 than he just called it an act of radical self expression, 0:06:44.960 --> 0:06:47.440 which I don't think it represented anything. That's one of 0:06:47.440 --> 0:06:51.280 the tenants the principles, that's right, But it wasn't like 0:06:51.400 --> 0:06:54.320 he's the man keeping us down and we're burning him, 0:06:54.400 --> 0:06:57.560 right exactly, although it definitely has become that in a 0:06:57.600 --> 0:06:59.680 lot of sense, not necessarily the Burning Man, but other 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:06.880 stuff that's burned at Burning Man. UM. That was right, Uh, yeah, 0:07:07.080 --> 0:07:10.160 started in eighty six and then nine when I think 0:07:10.200 --> 0:07:13.560 they moved desert. Yeah, they went to burn it at 0:07:13.600 --> 0:07:15.720 the end of eighty nine to end the festival. In 0:07:15.800 --> 0:07:18.160 eighty nine and the ninety the whole thing began and 0:07:18.280 --> 0:07:22.320 ended in the desert, and Um it became very much 0:07:22.400 --> 0:07:28.200 this thing where it's a there are very few rules, 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:31.840 no laws. Some people refer to it as a temporary 0:07:31.880 --> 0:07:36.920 autonomous zone. Basically it is a little town, like we've said, 0:07:37.480 --> 0:07:40.840 that is just totally left alone by the authorities. The 0:07:40.840 --> 0:07:43.720 the org, which is the group that runs the Burning 0:07:43.720 --> 0:07:47.240 Man festival. UM deals with the Bureau of Land Management, 0:07:47.240 --> 0:07:50.320 and the BLM is like, okay, you guys, just don't 0:07:50.400 --> 0:07:52.240 mess this place up, and we'll let you do, and 0:07:52.240 --> 0:07:55.320 we're gonna leave you alone. And they're left alone and 0:07:55.360 --> 0:07:59.880 everybody goes in. They form UM this social experiment, which 0:07:59.880 --> 0:08:04.080 is a a a city, a place, a group of 0:08:04.160 --> 0:08:10.320 culture without consumerism or commodification. Yeah, no consumerism, no buying 0:08:10.360 --> 0:08:15.360 and selling of things. No. Uh, I mean it's not 0:08:15.400 --> 0:08:18.680 a music festival. Although there is music there, like lots 0:08:18.680 --> 0:08:20.880 of like DJ parties and stuff, but it's not like 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:24.880 Lollapaloosa or something or fall. There's nobody who's supposed to 0:08:24.920 --> 0:08:28.720 be making money off of this, Yeah, for profit. The 0:08:28.840 --> 0:08:33.080 only thing that really costs money is ice. Yeah, and 0:08:33.120 --> 0:08:36.280 a few other things. But there supposedly is no cash 0:08:36.320 --> 0:08:40.280 transactions between burners. Right, well, hold on before we go 0:08:40.320 --> 0:08:42.200 any further, Chuck, It seems like it's a good time 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:52.320 for a message. CNN presenting Morgan Spurlock Inside Man, a 0:08:52.360 --> 0:08:59.079 new original series, Sunday Night, ten Eastern and Pacific on CNN. So, uh, okay, 0:08:59.160 --> 0:09:02.439 where were we? We were in the desert. This thing 0:09:02.559 --> 0:09:05.679 is growing from and if you look at year by year, 0:09:05.679 --> 0:09:09.040 it's like eight hundred, than two thousand, than four thousand, 0:09:09.200 --> 0:09:11.719 than six, than ten, then fifteen, and it literally just 0:09:11.800 --> 0:09:13.920 kind of crept up like that up to the point 0:09:13.960 --> 0:09:16.439 now where I believe they're actually capping it at fifty 0:09:16.559 --> 0:09:19.640 and they're selling tickets and it's now selling out. Yeah. 0:09:20.080 --> 0:09:21.840 The first time it ever sold out was in two 0:09:21.840 --> 0:09:24.440 thousand eleven, and they have it set up first of 0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:27.160 all so that you can't scout like you are allowed 0:09:27.200 --> 0:09:30.840 to per credit card. Okay, but that apparently it's just 0:09:30.920 --> 0:09:33.360 led to people like having a bunch of people call 0:09:33.440 --> 0:09:36.240 with their credit cards and keeping all of them for themselves. 0:09:37.040 --> 0:09:39.640 They also have it on a sliding scale, so if 0:09:39.720 --> 0:09:43.920 you are buying early, you pay more. So I think 0:09:43.920 --> 0:09:46.439 it's like six fifty bucks for a ticket. That's the 0:09:46.480 --> 0:09:49.079 opposite of how things you like that usually work, right, 0:09:49.160 --> 0:09:51.000 usually the early purchase of the cheaper ones and it 0:09:51.040 --> 0:09:53.679 gets more expensive. This does the exact opposite. It's a 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:57.679 little weird. They get um cheaper and cheaper as it comes. 0:09:57.720 --> 0:10:01.240 And apparently they're also work all low income tickets which 0:10:01.240 --> 0:10:05.320 are half price of the lowest normal price. And then 0:10:05.440 --> 0:10:07.840 apparently a lot of times if you show up there 0:10:07.840 --> 0:10:10.120 will be scalpers there, but they're selling the tickets for 0:10:10.200 --> 0:10:13.439 less than face value, sometimes half of the lowest price, 0:10:14.000 --> 0:10:16.800 just to fit that. Uh yeah, that's kind of cool. 0:10:16.920 --> 0:10:19.480 And um, I'm sure people give away a ticket here 0:10:19.520 --> 0:10:22.520 or there. Uh, but it's gotten to the point now 0:10:22.640 --> 0:10:26.880 now that it's sold out officially fifty tickets I think 0:10:27.120 --> 0:10:32.480 or um, now it's like different, like you have to 0:10:32.640 --> 0:10:34.680 buy a ticket you can't just show up because you 0:10:34.760 --> 0:10:39.160 might drive through hundred fifty miles from San Francisco and 0:10:39.240 --> 0:10:41.680 then be like, we can't let you in. Sorry, Yeah, 0:10:41.760 --> 0:10:45.920 there's the rules. Uh, there is rules. There aren't many 0:10:46.000 --> 0:10:48.000 rules aside from that though. Um, like you said, it's 0:10:48.080 --> 0:10:53.400 kind of anything goes everything from sex clubs two people 0:10:53.440 --> 0:10:56.840 setting up their own bars, to filmmakers and artists and 0:10:56.880 --> 0:11:02.680 performance artists, and I mean it's really anything goes um 0:11:02.720 --> 0:11:05.160 And one of the things that they try to get 0:11:05.200 --> 0:11:07.120 people to do is take a little piece of that 0:11:07.720 --> 0:11:11.480 attitude back home with them. You know that it's this 0:11:11.920 --> 0:11:15.000 for a lot of people. I imagine there's a lot 0:11:15.040 --> 0:11:18.480 of There's some people who are true devotes of Burning 0:11:18.520 --> 0:11:20.959 Man and this Burning Man philosophy and like there they 0:11:21.000 --> 0:11:23.000 go set up the city and like they maintain the 0:11:23.040 --> 0:11:28.000 website you're around. There's others who are like new, There's 0:11:28.040 --> 0:11:30.280 some who are like there, but there are they're still 0:11:30.280 --> 0:11:31.920 bringing in a lot of the hang ups from the 0:11:31.920 --> 0:11:34.440 outside world, and like sure they have dreads, but they're 0:11:34.440 --> 0:11:38.440 also like real gossipy or whatever, and there's like just 0:11:38.559 --> 0:11:41.280 normal joes. A lot of a lot of d i 0:11:41.440 --> 0:11:44.160 y makers love going to Burning Man because like you're 0:11:44.240 --> 0:11:47.439 out there in the desert and like you better build 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:51.520 yourself a shade structure where else you're going to burn. Um, 0:11:51.760 --> 0:11:55.320 there's just a lot of hands on building. Um. So 0:11:55.400 --> 0:11:57.400 there's a lot of normal people with normal jobs who 0:11:57.440 --> 0:11:59.120 use a week of their vacation to go out to 0:11:59.160 --> 0:12:02.520 the desert and just totally cut loose and like you're saying, yeah, 0:12:02.960 --> 0:12:06.800 like you're saying, part of the hope is that all 0:12:06.840 --> 0:12:09.160 of the stuff that happens here and just relaxing and 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:12.720 forgetting about like having to spend money on something or 0:12:12.880 --> 0:12:16.080 you know, like sharing your food with somebody you've never met, 0:12:16.120 --> 0:12:18.640 All of this stuff is meant to be carried out 0:12:18.679 --> 0:12:20.800 into the rest of your life the other fifty one 0:12:20.880 --> 0:12:23.640 weeks a year is the author of the article puts it. Yeah, 0:12:23.679 --> 0:12:26.120 like I just I just gave away my last bit 0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:30.240 of food, but uh, God gave me three hits of acid, 0:12:30.640 --> 0:12:33.160 And I just had sex with four strangers, right and 0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:35.439 I haven't worn't close for the last three days and 0:12:35.520 --> 0:12:37.840 we all smell and it's great. Yeah. Now, there's certain 0:12:37.880 --> 0:12:40.719 aspects of it you probably shouldn't bring back into your 0:12:40.760 --> 0:12:43.360 normal life, Like going to work naked is a bad 0:12:43.400 --> 0:12:48.360 idea under almost all circumstances. Um. But the mindset, the 0:12:48.400 --> 0:12:53.000 philosophy behind it just kind of like, uh, like none 0:12:53.040 --> 0:12:55.720 of this matters as much as a lot of people 0:12:56.000 --> 0:13:00.000 put stock into it. Agreed. So black Rock City itself, 0:13:00.040 --> 0:13:03.360 if you have ever, it's not just a big mass 0:13:03.400 --> 0:13:06.719 of tents um. It is actually has a design. If 0:13:06.760 --> 0:13:09.640 you look at photos of Burning Man from above, it 0:13:09.760 --> 0:13:13.959 is a big cum Oh yeah, yeah you have You 0:13:14.000 --> 0:13:17.800 never seen the aerial shop. I don't know it should 0:13:17.800 --> 0:13:21.960 be a b sure or him. Uh And it is 0:13:22.000 --> 0:13:27.240 a big ce with um. The burning Man they just 0:13:27.240 --> 0:13:29.720 call him. The man is at the center, of course, 0:13:29.880 --> 0:13:32.600 and supposedly you can. They have him up on a 0:13:32.640 --> 0:13:37.360 big pedestal now like fifty high, and it varies every year, 0:13:37.400 --> 0:13:39.880 but he's generally with the pedestal about a hundred feet high, 0:13:40.120 --> 0:13:44.079 so you can see him from from anywhere in the camp. Uh. 0:13:44.080 --> 0:13:46.120 And I think this year, because the cargo cold, they're 0:13:46.160 --> 0:13:49.640 building him on top of like this flying saucer. Oh 0:13:49.679 --> 0:13:53.360 really structure, that's what the pavilion is meant to look like. Cool. Yeah, 0:13:53.559 --> 0:13:56.600 it's in the hopes that aliens. Oh yeah, well it 0:13:56.600 --> 0:13:58.440 looks a lot like a crop circle. It looks very 0:13:58.480 --> 0:14:02.439 much like a crop circle um or half finished crops circle, 0:14:02.920 --> 0:14:06.200 lazy crops circle. The organ is saying on the Burning 0:14:06.200 --> 0:14:09.320 Man website that they hope that they're sure that this 0:14:09.520 --> 0:14:12.600 pavilion will attract lots of aliens, and they hope that 0:14:12.640 --> 0:14:16.440 it will stimulate our planets faltering economy, which I've read 0:14:16.480 --> 0:14:19.240 a bunch of times and I said, like, surely this 0:14:19.320 --> 0:14:24.120 is a joke and it maybe it was lost. I mean, no, 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:28.080 the economy things. They're hoping that our planets economy will 0:14:28.120 --> 0:14:33.400 be stimulated by Burning Man attracting aliens if you take 0:14:33.520 --> 0:14:35.800 take the whole alien part out, the fact that Burning 0:14:35.800 --> 0:14:38.920 Man is considered with our planets economy being stimulated. There's 0:14:38.960 --> 0:14:43.160 this really interesting interview um on a website called Public Books. 0:14:43.640 --> 0:14:46.960 It's an interview with T. J. Jackson Lear's uh, and 0:14:47.000 --> 0:14:50.200 it's called The Confidence Economy. I recommend everybody go read 0:14:50.240 --> 0:14:53.720 it because he's talking about how everything has transitioned to 0:14:53.840 --> 0:14:56.600 economics now, like as he puts it, like it went 0:14:56.640 --> 0:15:00.360 from like all of our moral ideals went from the 0:15:00.440 --> 0:15:04.400 religious to the cultural and now to the economic. And 0:15:04.440 --> 0:15:07.840 so the idea of risk, this existential idea that like 0:15:08.160 --> 0:15:11.520 we're in danger. There's danger out there and by doing 0:15:11.560 --> 0:15:15.280 certain things or avoiding certain things where we're um, we're 0:15:15.640 --> 0:15:20.400 going into an avoiding risk has now been melted down 0:15:20.440 --> 0:15:24.000 to a number on a banker's computer. Like that's what 0:15:24.120 --> 0:15:27.120 risk is to us. Now everything is economics. And like 0:15:27.160 --> 0:15:29.280 seeing that on their website like really kind of brought 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:32.120 that home. That's that was my little thing on that. 0:15:32.360 --> 0:15:35.440 Have you do you watch a veep? No, it's the 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:38.360 White House Show, um comedy And one of the guys, 0:15:38.440 --> 0:15:41.440 the new characters this year is uh Gary what's his 0:15:41.480 --> 0:15:45.040 face from office face? Yeah, um, Gary Cole, And he's 0:15:45.080 --> 0:15:48.240 the numbers guy and it's just sort of straight along 0:15:48.240 --> 0:15:51.200 those lines. All he does is talk numbers and that's 0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:53.960 that's his whole entire job and the staff's entire job. 0:15:54.160 --> 0:15:58.240 That's how we've become as a culture. Everything is economic space. 0:15:58.320 --> 0:16:01.680 Now that's kind of sad. It is. Um So back 0:16:01.720 --> 0:16:06.160 to black Rock City where where numbers don't count, Um 0:16:06.200 --> 0:16:11.320 it is, and it is uh it is, like you said, 0:16:11.320 --> 0:16:13.640 like a city. They have their eye store, obviously, have 0:16:13.680 --> 0:16:20.920 recycling and volunteering and medical facilities and information facilities and shuttles. 0:16:21.160 --> 0:16:23.160 Although one of the rules is you cannot drive on 0:16:23.200 --> 0:16:26.640 the playa. That's what they call it. Um, that's why 0:16:26.640 --> 0:16:28.680 there's a lot of bikes. Biking seems to be the 0:16:28.720 --> 0:16:30.880 best way to get around. Apparently you can get a 0:16:30.880 --> 0:16:33.880 permit from the city, the nearby city that that Plia 0:16:34.000 --> 0:16:38.440 falls under, I guess at the same county. So you 0:16:38.480 --> 0:16:41.160 can't because there's art cars out there. But well you're 0:16:41.160 --> 0:16:44.760 not allowed to drive where the people are though. Um, 0:16:44.960 --> 0:16:47.200 oh yeah, there's like motor homes that is what most 0:16:47.200 --> 0:16:49.360 people stay in. But like once you get there, you 0:16:49.480 --> 0:16:53.600 like take the keys out and burn them. Um, and 0:16:53.640 --> 0:16:55.560 then at the end of the week you're like, man, 0:16:55.720 --> 0:16:59.280 I just burn my keys. That was self expression, true, 0:16:59.400 --> 0:17:03.440 But um, there are no fires directly on the ground 0:17:03.760 --> 0:17:07.760 because that leaves a burn scar on the gentle high desert. Um, 0:17:07.880 --> 0:17:09.720 so they have to I guess have like fire pits 0:17:09.760 --> 0:17:13.760 and stuff. And I guess we could get into the 0:17:13.760 --> 0:17:16.760 core principles right. Well, yeah, we've been kind of dancing 0:17:16.800 --> 0:17:19.040 around him a little bit. You said leave no trace. 0:17:19.880 --> 0:17:27.359 That's a big one. Um. Radical self expression yeah, radical inclusion, yeah, 0:17:27.600 --> 0:17:30.760 radical self reliance and radical self expression. Those are the 0:17:30.800 --> 0:17:35.880 three radicals, right where so you can't just be like Um, like, 0:17:35.920 --> 0:17:40.240 hey man, I forgot to bring some water. Radical self 0:17:40.320 --> 0:17:44.000 inclusion or radical inclusion and they can be like radical 0:17:44.040 --> 0:17:49.960 self reliance jerk. Yeah, although gifting, it's a big one. 0:17:50.200 --> 0:17:52.600 Is a big one. Um. There, it is very much 0:17:52.600 --> 0:17:55.800 about giving things without it says gift thing does not 0:17:55.880 --> 0:17:58.600 contemplate a return or an exchange for something of equal value. 0:17:58.640 --> 0:18:02.560 So it's not about trading even it's about giving. Right, 0:18:02.880 --> 0:18:07.080 I will give you her pies. You don't have to 0:18:07.080 --> 0:18:11.479 give me anything back. You mentioned the commodification. No, uh, 0:18:11.720 --> 0:18:15.040 commercial sponsorships or anything like that. Yeah, Like that's why 0:18:15.040 --> 0:18:19.359 I wouldn't be a music festival. It's too commercialized. Exactly, 0:18:19.520 --> 0:18:23.040 communal effort. It's all about collaborating. Hey man, I'm out 0:18:23.080 --> 0:18:28.399 of amount of nails for my big giant alien I'm 0:18:28.440 --> 0:18:31.080 building out of wood. Don't worry, man, I got nails. 0:18:31.200 --> 0:18:33.520 I got your back. Right, we'll just disassembled my giant 0:18:33.520 --> 0:18:35.240 alien out of wood and use the nails. From the 0:18:36.240 --> 0:18:40.920 civic responsibility, Um, we value the civil society. Community members 0:18:40.920 --> 0:18:45.600 who organize events assume responsibility for public welfare. Um that's 0:18:45.600 --> 0:18:49.360 a little tricky. I wonder what the law says about that. Well, 0:18:49.400 --> 0:18:51.040 that's what I'm saying, like, like, what if someone got 0:18:51.080 --> 0:18:54.320 really hurt in someone's steam camp. I don't know, you know, 0:18:54.520 --> 0:18:58.760 I genuinely don't know. It says that the events have 0:18:58.840 --> 0:19:01.920 to be in accordance with the local laws, but they 0:19:01.960 --> 0:19:04.960 clearly break those a lot. You know, Yeah, there's a 0:19:05.000 --> 0:19:11.160 lot of laws broken at a burning Man, but they 0:19:11.160 --> 0:19:14.399 don't have their own laws, so technically there's no laws broken. 0:19:14.560 --> 0:19:19.000 And then the last two are participation and UM immediacy 0:19:20.119 --> 0:19:22.400 and the immediate experience is in many ways the most 0:19:22.400 --> 0:19:27.359 important touchdown of the culture is what they say. I 0:19:27.440 --> 0:19:29.520 like that participations in there. You can't just be like 0:19:30.359 --> 0:19:33.920 just some dude hanging out in the background, like staring 0:19:33.960 --> 0:19:37.080 at everybody that they want you to get involved, not 0:19:37.160 --> 0:19:39.600 only for your benefit, because you know, no one wants 0:19:39.600 --> 0:19:41.800 to be stared at while they're nude and on acid. 0:19:42.800 --> 0:19:45.080 It's a bump trip. Well, while we're on that, we 0:19:45.080 --> 0:19:49.120 should say that burning man is in certain areas are 0:19:49.240 --> 0:19:51.679 in X rated UM and they try to put up 0:19:51.720 --> 0:19:54.840 signage to indicate because there are families that go. I 0:19:54.880 --> 0:19:57.480 don't think there's a lot of families that go, but 0:19:57.560 --> 0:19:59.840 there are, and they try to indicate like, hey, this 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:03.600 as a group sex camp. There's a newdist camp. Um, 0:20:04.560 --> 0:20:08.080 can't you read the sign? Yeah? Um, but keep your 0:20:08.160 --> 0:20:12.639 kids away. You might want to, though, is the recommendation, Like, 0:20:12.680 --> 0:20:16.280 if you're not super open minded, or if you are 0:20:16.320 --> 0:20:19.679 easily offended, or if you don't want to permanently damage 0:20:19.680 --> 0:20:22.400 your kids, or if you want to be a good parent, Yeah, 0:20:22.760 --> 0:20:24.359 then don't take your family, or you may not want 0:20:24.400 --> 0:20:27.080 to go at all. Like you really need to know 0:20:27.080 --> 0:20:29.840 what you're getting into here, folks, Yeah, because you're going 0:20:29.880 --> 0:20:33.080 to be thrust right into the center of a like 0:20:33.359 --> 0:20:36.920 fifty thousand people who all came to like party, big 0:20:36.920 --> 0:20:39.880 part of it. Like you can call it a social experiment, 0:20:39.960 --> 0:20:42.840 you can call it like, um, you know, performance art, 0:20:43.240 --> 0:20:45.720 and it is all those things, but it's also people 0:20:45.880 --> 0:20:49.480 partying all the time for like a week. Um, there's 0:20:49.480 --> 0:20:51.959 a lot of drugs and alcohol involved, yeah, and you 0:20:51.960 --> 0:20:56.359 know everything else. So if you're you know, not cool 0:20:56.400 --> 0:20:58.800 with that, then I would imagine Bernie Man would be 0:20:58.840 --> 0:21:01.640 a really bad place for you to go spend a week. Yeah. 0:21:01.640 --> 0:21:03.480 But if if you don't know that, and if you 0:21:03.560 --> 0:21:05.000 bought a ticket and made your way out there and 0:21:05.080 --> 0:21:07.399 you don't know that at that point, then you almost 0:21:07.440 --> 0:21:10.280 say you should go, Well, just I want to see that, dude. 0:21:10.280 --> 0:21:13.240 I think Julia Layton writes that, like, you don't have 0:21:13.240 --> 0:21:15.199 to go for a week, Like, if you're thinking about it, 0:21:15.280 --> 0:21:17.160 go test it out for a few days. Yeah, that 0:21:17.160 --> 0:21:19.040 that's what I would do. There's no way I would 0:21:19.040 --> 0:21:20.600 go for a week. And I don't think they sell 0:21:20.640 --> 0:21:23.800 any ticket other than for a week. So if you 0:21:23.880 --> 0:21:26.680 decide that you're gonna have like what, I really like this, 0:21:26.960 --> 0:21:30.520 I really like partying every single day, Like I'll stay 0:21:30.560 --> 0:21:34.040 the whole week. You can stay because you got your ticket. Um. 0:21:34.080 --> 0:21:38.840 And on the sex note, uh, there have been reports 0:21:38.840 --> 0:21:42.439 of sexual assaults and even a rape. Um. It is 0:21:42.480 --> 0:21:47.760 clearly not the Uh it's opposite of everything that Burning 0:21:47.800 --> 0:21:50.200 Man stands for. But there are always bad apples, and 0:21:50.600 --> 0:21:54.600 I think the general consensus is some dumb dudes show 0:21:54.720 --> 0:21:58.760 up thinking like, hey, it's just sex fest because everyone's 0:21:59.160 --> 0:22:00.919 free love, free love of you need to go to 0:22:00.960 --> 0:22:05.000 Sandals for that exactly. It's not really the case, like 0:22:05.160 --> 0:22:07.800 that stuff does happen, but it's just like it would 0:22:07.800 --> 0:22:10.560 happen in the real world. I mean, maybe people are 0:22:10.560 --> 0:22:14.640 a little more like loose with their morals, but there 0:22:14.720 --> 0:22:16.679 you know, been reports of like a woman like dancing 0:22:16.760 --> 0:22:19.040 nude and then guys like kind of descending on her, 0:22:19.280 --> 0:22:22.160 Like that's not okay, right, Just because it's Burning Man 0:22:22.480 --> 0:22:24.840 doesn't mean she's inviting you to touch her, you know 0:22:24.880 --> 0:22:28.720 what I'm saying exactly, And that raises a really excellent point. Like, um, 0:22:28.800 --> 0:22:31.640 Larry Harvey like from the beginnings has said like this 0:22:31.720 --> 0:22:34.760 is this is a social experiment, And I wonder what 0:22:34.840 --> 0:22:38.640 he was thinking it was going to be, because surely 0:22:38.680 --> 0:22:43.320