
My Year in San Francisco’s $2M Secret Society Startup - dcschelt
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/my-year-in-san-franciscos-2-million-secret-society-startup
======
archagon
What an interesting article. To me, it illuminates two things: the desire for
that child-like sense of depth and mystery that many of us still look for in
our everyday lives, and the tendency for Silicon Valley money to turn
everything it touches into a slide-deck-laden commercial enterprise.

Sadly, as much as I love the idea, I see the same thing happening with
venture-funded cooperative living arrangements.

When I was studying in Berkeley, I lived in a student-run co-op house. We were
the wardens of our creaky 1920s manor: we did all the cleaning, made repairs,
painted (and mural-ed) the walls, did some remodeling, picked out the
furniture. Even membership was decided collectively. As a result, the
community we had was an emergent property of our environment, and it created
friendships that have lasted for the past decade. Sitting in the overgrown
backyard garden or watching the glimmering city lights from the roof, I felt
immersed in a world of beauty and mystery for the first time in many years.

Lately, I've been seeing a lot of co-living/"nomad house" startups being
posted to HN. You see photos of beautiful houses all around the world; fancy
toys in full-size entertainment dungeons; attractive young people all working
on their latest business venture. But I can't escape the feeling that all of
this exists in that same corporate Neverland described in the article. Venture
capital runs through the blood of these communities. They exist to make money.
They don't own the houses. They don't get to decide their own fate. It's all a
petri dish carefully designed from an office building somewhere in the
Financial District.

As a result, when a true community does manage to take hold in this sort of
artificial ether, it becomes all the more agonizing when corporate decides to
pull the plug on you. If only the incentives were aligned; if only corporate
didn't "really needed to monetize" the venture...

Maybe these sorts of spiritually-significant projects (and I do include the
Latitude Society in this) simply don't work when run as a conventional
business. And yet, there's clearly a deep desire for them to exist.

~~~
spaceflunky
Don't fool yourself, the student run co-ops are no different from the venture
capital that runs any other co-living/"nomad house" you speak of.

Because, in a way, the student is the "start-up" and the money paid for
tuition is "venture capital," put up in hopes to see an ROI, in terms of money
or societal contribution, from the student.

Speaking as a former UC Berkeley Cloyne co-oper, I've seen a handful of former
co-opers try to transition the "magic" of the USCA into normal life. They
failed because the reality is that American society doesn't it lend itself
well to collectivism and the lack of capital needed build a functioning co-op.

Sure the student co-ops ran great when everyone is unattached, uninhibited,
young dumb, full of cum, and fueled by venture capital (e.g. student loans,
scholarships, etc). But once you pull all that out, the wheels fall off the
cart pretty quick.

~~~
archagon
I'm not holding up the co-ops as some sort of paragon, but I think they're
clearly a stepping stone in the right direction. At the very least, the
cooperative business model has allowed them to (more or less) self-govern and
adapt to a rapidly changing populace over the course of many decades. In my
experience, they also have a much more diverse population on campus than the
dorms or greek houses. While it's true that the largely student constituency
is what's currently funding the co-ops, the BSC has always been a separate
institution from the university; were Cal to suddenly shut down, I have no
doubt the BSC would still find plenty of people to fill their seats, if for no
other reason than the alluring economic prospect. The institution itself, as
it's currently structured, does not require an outside source of funding to
prop it up: the business is a closed loop, and the incentives are aligned.
(Correct me if I'm wrong... I don't know how much the BSC relies on donations,
etc. to survive.)

> _Speaking as a former UC Berkeley Cloyne co-oper, I 've seen a handful of
> former co-opers try to transition the "magic" of the USCA into normal life.
> They failed because the reality is that American society doesn't it lend
> itself well to collectivism and the lack of capital needed build a
> functioning co-op._

True, but many others have succeeded. I know for a fact that there are a ton
of graduate and post-graduate independent cooperatives in Berkeley. They're
not exactly common in the US, but you can find them if you look around. (And
it's not like the concept is new: the Rochdale Principles are almost 200 years
old.) To be fair, it probably takes a dedicated and idealistic group of people
to make it work; I'm sure many BSC co-opers never really held a deep-seated
belief in cooperative living.

~~~
spaceflunky
> The institution itself, as it's currently structured, does not require an
> outside source of funding to prop it up: the business is a closed loop, and
> the incentives are aligned.

This is categorically untrue. The BSC receives large subsidies from Cal in
different forms. To my knowledge the main form is through Cloyne Court, which
is owned by the university and leased back to the BSC for a dollar a year
(seriously). Meanwhile, the university still pays things like property tax,
insurance, and some other expenses on the building.

Because of this sweetheart deal, Cloyne is a huge profit center for the BSC
and the funds are used subsidize unprofitable houses (mostly all the smaller
ones). CZ runs a small profit, but no where near as big as Cloyne. If the BSC
lost Cloyne, the entire BSC would either fold, or have to raise prices so
dramatically it would eventually fold. They would definitely close all smaller
houses like Davis, et al. Also the land for Rochdale village was a subsidized
deal as well, which helps those stay profitable.

But my point is that the success of the BSC is due to "venture capital" in the
form of students "investing" in their education. And the fact that undergrad
and grads at Cal for the most part are very like minded and in similar
"stages" in their life which makes co-habitation relatively easy. Which is why
I say that when you look a few levels deeper, the BSC not a replicable model
outside of academia.

However, I agree with you that the BSC is fucking awesome for all the reasons
that you stated.

~~~
cbHXBY1D
Speaking as a former Cloyne resident and former employee of the BSC, I would
say the BSC works in spite of the fact that it is (mostly) run by students.
Nearly all of the houses have a transitory nature to them - some of them
rarely have students stay for more than a year at a time.

The BSC is more similar to the corporate co-living/nomad house than archagon
realizes. Even though the BSC is a non-profit, it treats students like they
are expendable. [1] The students don't own the house, they don't get to decide
their own fate. It is not actually a true cooperative, employees of the BSC
will be the first ones to admit that.

[1] See Cloyne's fate

------
izak30
Ahoy! I just stumbled on this. I was the Director of Technology for this set
of local bizareness for its last two years. I won't say "I'm happy to answer
any questions" because I may avoid some. If you want to ask, maybe hit me up,
Especially the tech, especially if you got to play and have a good idea of
what we were doing.

Also! I think I'm signed up to give a talk in May at ADG. If you're interested
in this sort of world-building, and the hacker side of it; maybe come to that?
My talk isn't on the shedule yet, but it's penciled in (and Definitely go to
Catherine Herdlick's if you can!) [http://www.meetup.com/Adventure-Design-
Group/](http://www.meetup.com/Adventure-Design-Group/)

~~~
kbhn
Thanks for stopping by! What was the most memorable moment of the whole
experience for you?

~~~
izak30
As far as the experience goes, one of the things I'd say over and over is that
if you noticed my work, I did a bad job. I was building the automation,
electronics, mechanics, and hardware and software systems to make things tick.
I was typically working with about two other hacker-types. sometimes hardware
and audio folks, sometimes web and software folks.

So there was this beach on the top floor of a building downtown. When you were
invited in, a whole day would pass in the scope of twenty minutes. More than
anything, it was a place to think. And through some very clever crafting with
about a dozen RGB floodlights (and previous work deconstructing how to work
the Philips Hue API) we made it simultaneously look like an office/gallery,
that would pass from dawn through early morning, noon, afternoon, sunset,
evening and the sort of blue-midnight you only see on television.

I didn't really "do" the experiences, I always knew what was behind the door
when I opened it, and often times I was "doing" it for QA purposes, but that
part of that room will probably stick on me like a soft spot for a very long
time.

~~~
MrEricSir
> if you noticed my work, I did a bad job.

Partial counterpoint: I didn't notice the cameras in the sandbox, so I happily
covered them up by accident. It just "felt right" to me for whatever reason to
decorate the corners. Oops.

~~~
izak30
For those who don't know: He's talking about the in the aforementioned "beach"
room, which had a different name, meaning, and story. MrEricSir appears to be
one of the top google results for "The Latitude Book 2" if you care to
explore.

There was a hexagon shaped table with a sandbox. In each corner of the sandbox
there was a digital camera (connected to a raspberry pi) that would photograph
the sandbox throughout your appointment and then send the pictures to your
personal account on our website. When you went back to the website to confirm
that you had completed your experience, you were presented with a handful of
sandcastle-POV photos that were just for you.

Yeah, I heard that a couple of times. That's part of why there were 6 cameras,
with the hope that two or three would be working + get a decent shot.

Still, I'd say from a design pov, that _totally worked_. People behave
different when they know they're being watched or evaluated. This was meant to
be a private space for you, and the photos of that thing were meant to be a
pleasant surprise.

~~~
lydialaurenson
That's awesome. I was an early tester on Book 2 and I really wanted to take
photos, but I didn't because I wasn't sure if it was against the rules. Really
glad to hear that you added this detail so carefully!

------
rl3
> _One member wrote later that “I was stunned, flabbergasted, to learn that a
> significant number of people don’t even bother taking that step. A friend
> sits you down, asks of you absolute discretion, and then gives you a
> mysterious card that, if activated, literally opens a door to a new world of
> adventure, and you DON’T EVEN USE IT? C’mon, people: Be better.”_

Maybe they could smell it was a lame transmedia project that was trying too
hard to copy _Eyes Wide Shut_. I mean, any real-deal secret society is going
to have rules that—when broken—result in membership revocation via way of
tragic suicide. It's just not an authentic secret society experience without
that constant spectre of death looming over each and every member.

In all seriousness though, I enjoyed the article, and it's neat that most of
the compelling narrative in the society ended up being user-generated. You
also have to give its creators credit for trying something that far out in
left field.

~~~
brbsix
I wonder if people forget that there are plenty of legitimately secret
societies like the sort you described (in just about any sufficiently large
city in the world). They're called criminal enterprises. With few exceptions,
I don't think most people on HN would enjoy being part of them. However I can
certainly think of a few pleasant ones that reminisce the cryptic business
card. Then I read on a bit further and realized we were just talking about a
game.

------
lsiebert
I never got an invite to this. I started working in the city two weeks before
the shut down, so perhaps this is for the best.

But I have gone to:

A game of space ships on the frontier and brown coats, using Nerf Guns, run in
a Dungeon.

A game of cosmopolitan monsters with a 20+ year history of play in countries
around the world.

A private performance space, where I've met amazing friends: amazing people,
magicians, performers, stars of world renowned shows, artists, gamers, cyber
security wizards, and more.

Community organized get togethers for Metafilter users.

Secret Meetups for Ingress Users.

I'm sure there are more things that nobody has invited me to, I mean there is
underground, and there is the center of the earth, but I would imagine that
Latitude is only the tip of the iceberg, a single cavern in a vast but hidden
space.

~~~
mathattack
In my younger days when I lived in SF, I felt that most of the fun in the city
was in it's subcultures and underground societies. The city officially closed
very early 11 or 12, and then the "other" took over. I'm glad that it's not
dead yet.

~~~
seanp2k2
Same thing with the music scene in the Bay Area. There are tons of underground
parties happening behind plain doors and in warehouses all over if you're part
of the announcement groups on Facebook / group chat programs / info lines.
Breaking into it isn't too hard but can take a few weeks of effort. The best
way is, of course, to talk to someone already part of that scene and have them
show you around :)

------
Animats
It's sounds like a well-produced LARP. Like Escape Room.[1] It wasn't really a
society. It was a startup pretending to be one.

With today's high real estate costs, it's hard to do anything like this in the
physical world. People no longer rent storefronts as clubhouses, or set up
social organizations which own their own buildings. Hacker Dojo morphed from a
hacker space to a commercial co-working startup for that reason.

[1] [http://realescapegame.com/pzrsf/](http://realescapegame.com/pzrsf/)

~~~
pilingual
_Hacker Dojo morphed from a hacker space to a commercial co-working startup
for that reason._

This is false. Hacker Dojo is a non-profit, and many members and those on the
board are passionate about its future. The Dojo has the best rates in the Bay
Area ($100 for non-work hours and $195 for 24/7 vs. $300 avg for SF/SV). There
is a maker-space with a laser cutter on the way, and an electronics area that
Woz only wishes existed back in his day. There are several events each day,
including tech meetups and educational classes.

Dojo rents out some of its space to bootcamps and startups. Why? To meet its
fundraising goals. In May, Dojo will move from Mountain View to Santa Clara;
however, several members are interested in buying a building in the next
couple of years assuming commercial real estate experiences a down market. I
assure you, there is nothing "commercial co-working startup" about it. It is
and will continue to be a community-focused non-profit. The board members
wouldn't allow otherwise.

~~~
lsiebert
Wait, what happened to the Laser Cutter that was there, that Carlos was
training people on?

~~~
mbaker
Yea! And where's Carlos? I want to go surfing or maybe have a beer w/ that
guy. Carlos, I hope you're there for my first Burning Man experience.

------
lydialaurenson
Hi! I'm the article author. AMA :)

~~~
Tarrosion
What a great article! My head is buzzing, but to start:

1) You mention that some people never used the invitation or used it but
didn't complete the initiation. "Why were some of us drawn in like moths to a
flame, while others reacted zero?" You also mention some trepidation during
your own initiation ritual. What made you go through with it? I'm a healthy
young male, and I feel nontrivial trepidation at the thought of going
somewhere unknown, alone, knowing I'm being watched, not knowing if I can get
out, surrendering my phone and wallet, seeing the glass of who-knows-what...I
imagine these fears would reasonably be stronger for many others. Is it
reasonable for the society to ask such trust from people who haven't yet
interacted with it? Presumably the danger and the fun are intertwined. Is that
necessarily a good thing? Does it have negative filtering effects on society
membership?

2) What happened if someone going through the initiation ritual didn't play
along - didn't go down the slide or leave, didn't move on from the library at
the appointed time, hid their phone then tried to record the Fable, etc?

~~~
lydialaurenson
Thank you! :)

1) Honestly, it never occurred to me to not go through with it, even when I
was nervous. :) I guess I was just really pulled in by the beauty and drama of
it. As I wrote in the article, there were many people who didn't go through
with their first appointment, so the secretive appointment was certainly a
filter. Whether it was a negative filter, I couldn't say.

2) My partner had a descendant who tried to steal one of the books from the
library, hahahaha. He got chased down by one of the Nonchalance employees.

------
bikamonki
The first time I saw a game of MTG I was instantly hooked. 20 years ago on my
way to class I saw some guys playing the game and I stood there watching for a
while. I was invited to play and that was it. Played for a few hours, skipped
class, walked away with a deck, skipped many, many more classes thereon.

Nothing had ever wrapped me in such a way, a delicious combination of fantasy,
role playing, strategy, wits and beautiful art.

I played the game for many years and even now when I seldom run into my
collection (now forgotten in a closet) I remember that first feeling and get a
sudden urge to go build a deck. Yet the magic faded until it died, it did when
I started to see the business behind it, the artificial scarcity, the product
cycle, the content adjustments to target new generations of players, the
manipulation, the rules aimed to sell more. The business killed the feeling.

I suppose the same thing happened to many Latitude members: they were exposed
to a crude reality check (pay to play) which killed the fantasy.

It is a big question for all startups: how to not kill that initial true value
once you need to monetize.

~~~
rhaps0dy
Would that pay-to-play feeling have been less bad if the cult had been a
nonprofit?

~~~
bikamonki
A nonprofit? Makes no sense. A business is fine. The problem is when the
business crosses that thin line and it becomes too aggressive in its profit-
seeking. In MTG the game stopped being a casual thing and it became a
competition (regulated and very profitable). To compete one needs powerful
cards which become quite expensive due to its power and scarcity (which is
artificial b/c many more could be printed). The original cult changed then,
forever.

Social networks do the same. FB for instance, it did deliver value at the
beginning. It was super useful and innovative to get and keep in touch with
fam and friends. Then the brands came, then ads flooded. That killed the
original value. I closed my FB account and no value was lost b/c nobody in my
circle is using it anymore for that original purpose. In fact, I regained
value (time and privacy). Now we share on Whatsapp groups (which I am sure
will soon be flooded with brands and ads in order to make back the billions).
We'll move our sharing to something else.

~~~
GFischer
As another former MTG player, I think the scarcity is part of the experience,
but I think they went way too far, because they are hunting "whales", which I
was close to becoming but didn't because of a lack of money. The scarcity can
be simulated without resorting to the money grabs they went for :( .

And it "works" for them, I think it's a huge part of the Hasbro money machine.
As a game it was (is?) great, but the cost to buy in is way too great.

I guess I agree that your disappointment mirrors the one from the people at
this "secret society" when they started charging a very costly membership.

[http://venturebeat.com/2013/03/14/whales-and-why-social-
game...](http://venturebeat.com/2013/03/14/whales-and-why-social-gamers-are-
just-gamers/)

------
CPLX
Between this and the Trump campaign's success I'm increasingly certain we are
living in a Hunger Games prequel.

------
eghad
The Longread from last September on The Latitude's expansion into a startup
was pretty solid foreshadowing:

[http://blog.longreads.com/2015/09/24/we-value-experience-
can...](http://blog.longreads.com/2015/09/24/we-value-experience-can-a-secret-
society-become-a-business/)

------
tlrobinson
Attempting to scale a "secret society" has extremely obvious problems...

~~~
cm2187
Freemasonry is achieving this pretty well. I can count the number of movies
that make a reference to freemasonry on my fingers with a single hand.

In fact I am surprised it was not mentioned in any of the comments or the
article.

~~~
runjake
I would not classify Freemasonry as a secret society. Freemasonry wants new
members and while recruiting is (supposed to be) a big no-no, being visible
(preferably while bettering your community) is encouraged.

The appearance of symbols in movies and other media are somewhat like
rickrolling or "masons were here" tagging, intended for other masons. An
allusion to the "We Are Everywhere" motto which is intended well, but ends up
sounding ominous to outsiders.

There are appendant bodies within Freemasonry that certainly are secret
societies. Even secret from most Masons. Some Googleable (eg. J-----rs), some
not. I can answer more specific questions here, if desired.

They have their own legends, symbols, and modes of recognition. Some of these
are as small as a few people, and some are worldwide.

Source: Am one.

Edit: I should mention that this is all from my perspective in the US.
European Freemasonry works substantially differently and I'm not familiar with
perceptions and processes there. Thanks cm2187

~~~
cm2187
Things might be more transparent in the US, but in Europe, freemasonry:

\- only recruits by co-option

\- membership and activities are secret

\- medias pretty much observe a remarkable silence / lack of curiosity on
their activities

Now I am not sure what are the exact criteria to call an organisation secret
but it ticks the box to me.

------
brudgers
LARP'ing _Foucault 's Pendulum_ was all I couldn't help but think...and hoping
it would get to the Rosicrucians.

The lessons about social networks made it all worthwhile, though, I guess.

------
rmason
Is it just me or isn't this a case of a rich guy building his own cult? It
either became too expensive or more likely he became bored with it and shut it
down.

~~~
daodedickinson
Eh I don't he really believed in it enough for it to be a cult. It's sorta
like that, I guess, but a bit half-hearted or at least three-quarter-hearted
for a cult. It sounds like it was a cult for some people (the ones telling
that story to their kids every night, for instance).

Cults are fun, there's obviously a lot of demand for them among the atheists /
logical workers of SF who have to live with so much boring truth all the time
(e.g. the guy who says "I feel like much of my life is so focused on Doing The
Thing that I don't take that kind of time very often. The feeling of warmth
and excitement and sparkling eyes was really strong, and it formed a lot of my
sense of what this group was and why it was meaningful.").

------
lydialaurenson
Almost forgot to tell you all -- I wrote a followup and FAQ on one of my blogs
here: [http://lydialaurenson.com/my-new-article-in-vice-about-
san-f...](http://lydialaurenson.com/my-new-article-in-vice-about-san-
franciscos-startup-secret-society/)

(For those who haven't seen my previous comments, hi, I'm the article author!
Thanks for reading!)

------
kjstevo
I don't know why but the author's experience and description of the scene
reminded me a lot of Myst and how I felt the first time I ever played it. I
envy anyone who is fortunate enough to experience even a portion of that IRL.

------
draw_down
Does this seem... incredibly lame?

~~~
smartician
Funny how polarizing it is. The elitism, faux secrecy and utter pointlessness
of this just ticks me off (along with the other criticism mentioned in the
article), but some people, including the author, seem to gobble this up like
candy.

~~~
munchbunny
It's a power fantasy. There's an "in group" and through various mechanisms,
it's perceived to be a concentration of power. Some people want to be on the
right side of the line, while others actively distrust any organization that
advertises the power fantasy behind a hidden agenda, or think it's childish,
or both.

My view is that there's no harm in indulging this power fantasy if it's just a
game, but when you try to merge it into your everyday life, you're playing
with fire. Secrecy begets exclusivity and intentional power imbalance, and
society as a whole needs less of both.

~~~
beeboop
I am a huge cynic and probably one of the first people to agree with a post
like yours, but I really have to disagree. I saw very little power dynamic
going on from what I read. There was a level of mysteriousness in that some
people knew a lot more than others, but seemingly a large part of this project
was experiencing the discovery and exploration of the project. Hence the
reason when the author asked a ton of questions, the guy replied "I could tell
you, but do you really want to know?".

It was seemingly a large art project. Some people were "in the know" because
projects like this require the full time work of several people. You exclude
as many people as possible because it ruins the illusion that people enjoy.
Your post may as well criticize Disney World for being a power fantasy because
they don't allow park visitors behind the scenes.

~~~
1stranger
"I requested that they deactivate my membership. But when I left, I became a
security risk. People I knew made vague threats that I would regret leaving or
talking about it. A roommate of mine stopped telling me where he was going
when he left the house. Friends whom I trusted contacted me and played stupid
about their own involvement in order to suss out what I knew."

~~~
beeboop
That's an unconfirmed third hand story by someone who was obviously way too
emotional about the equivalent of being kicked out of their D&D group. I would
guess his/her friends ignored him/her because he/she was acting childish. What
roommate ALWAYS tells the other where they're going? Especially if they
started asking in a suspicious way? Or maybe the roommate stopped telling
because he knew it was sensitive subject.

Frankly the way that account is told more than explains why people were
distancing themselves from him or her. (S)he sounds crazy.

------
thehooplehead
The initial description of the library had me thinking of 'the Man Who Was
Thursday', a book which includes its own absurd secret society.

Also, anyone interested in real-world social games might enjoy Journey to the
End of the Night ([http://ichaseyou.com/](http://ichaseyou.com/)). It's not a
secret society, but it shares some elements of roaming through your city,
playing a game with strangers, and creating your own adventures.

~~~
lydialaurenson
+1 for Journey. It's awesome. The person who runs it, Thomas Lotze, was also a
Society member and is quoted in my article.

------
cowabungabruce
This is Jeff Hull's follow up to the Jejune Institute, which I was lucky to
have participated in and you can see a documentary on it called "The
Institute".

------
unclefishbits
Just sharing my experience:

I wasn't in search of it, but I'm known as a creative and energetic guy that
loves fun and am totally curious, etc. I am 100% the target market, except
that I am 40. A younger guy involved with The Institute film gave me a key. I
alone found it charming. I didn't take it seriously. For fun, I thought to
invite some friends. I think 6? Every single one of them had a weird
experience where people took it far, FAR too seriously. I, at one point, had
to accompany a good friend and his young girlfriend, at night, in the rain, in
a foreign city to them. When I was going up the stairs to the final room, some
people high on fake power and taking the whole thing FAR too seriously gave us
a chilling and somewhat disturbing lecture about how serious it is for people
to do it on their own, etc. It was unbelievably absurd, and destroyed all the
simple charm. I abandoned it after that. When delightful ideas try way too
hard... it vacates the intent.

~~~
KannO
Hmm..
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment)

------
nickpsecurity
Very interesting. Im only halfway through so this is a pre-comment:

Anyone interested in this sort of immersive experience needs to watch The Game
with Michael Douglass. Skip the trailer and its spoilers. Just watch it. It's
like this but better. Preempted the appearance of such things you might say.

------
ryandrake
Admittedly only skimmed the article, but I missed exactly what this group
actually did. Philanthropy? Community service? Multi-level marketing? What's
the purpose of having some secret group that only exists to be secret and to
be a group?

~~~
developer2
I read the article from top to bottom, and these questions aren't exactly
answered. I got the impression it was a group of mostly artistic types getting
together for conversation, essentially bringing social networking back to the
real world instead of through screens.

How the hell this was supposed to be a "startup" that expected to grow into a
profitable business is beyond me. In any case, Jeff Hull inherited many
millions of dollars, blew a chunk of it on a personal pet project, and then
had a hissy fit when he tried to monetize it and met resistance. Classic
child-like behavior of inherited wealth, completely detached from the real
world where the rest of us have to work hard to earn a pittance.

------
thatfrenchguy
So, it's like normal social interactions in something that look like a club or
a non-profit but done by a private company that watch you all the time ?

That sounds to me like something for people that lack actual interesting
social groups...

~~~
ethanbond
Of course it is. That's why it's in San Francisco run by techies.

------
Fomite
This feels very much like the kind of thing that could have benefitted from an
endowment, rather than a monetization strategy.

------
indubitably
rich people with too much free time

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iokevins
Seems like the video indicates Nonchalance used a projector, to animate the
fable, on the book pages...or was it something more exotic (?) Kind of hard to
see.

Link:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAazLmTcmb0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAazLmTcmb0)

~~~
izak30
Yeah, it's a projector. pre-recorded projection mapping, custom electronics as
a triggering mechanism. Automation for the projector and underlying computer.
flask-socketio + Chrome for the media player.

You saw what the article was claiming was the total budget right? If we had
done "mischief managed" levels of wizardry on that budget you would have heard
about a very different aspect of what we did.

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vespergo
Wow, I'm glad I have so many better hobbies than this.. This seems like a sad
state of affairs to me.

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FireBeyond
I'm curious. "I'm asked to surrender my possessions. So in go my iPhone and
wallet"... and yet somehow there's photos of everything beyond that point.

~~~
lydialaurenson
Hi! I'm the article author. Praxis events were held in the same building as
the slide, receiving room, etc. So I got the photos later, months after my
initial Latitude experience.

~~~
Dnguyen
Interesting read! I've always love new experiences and have been thinking of
ways to share with people. Do you think instead of a single entity covering
the cost, a group splitting the cost would make this idea lasts? For example,
businesses that sponsor the society can get 3 invitations each to give to
their top three customers. I'd love to brainstorm this if anyone in SoCal is
interested.

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markwaldron
Great read! Now I so badly want to be apart of a secret society

~~~
cperciva
You mean you're not part of one? But all the rest of us are...

~~~
btilly
I'm pretty sure I am. But which one is a secret even from me!

------
andyidsinga
Mr penumbras 24 hour bookstore

~~~
dnr
Hah, I just read that a few weeks ago and that's the first thing I thought of
also. I wonder if the author was a member/participant in this.

------
fvrghl
I submitted this yesterday. I thought HN didn't allow recently submitted
articles?

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11240405](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11240405)

~~~
dcschelt
I actually submitted this 13 hours ago, not 1 hour ago. Take a look at my
profile. Curiously, the front page shows 1 hour.

Regardless of that discrepancy, fvrghl's post was still prior to mine, as it's
from a day ago. I'm not sure what's going on with the time stamps.

~~~
dcschelt
Check that. 17 hours ago. Still doesn't explain my ability to submit the link.

~~~
striking
"Interesting" posts that don't make it to the front page are sometimes
revived.

I once received an email asking me to resubmit a link to something considered
interesting, as part of a kind of trial for whether it should be the norm on
HN. The behavior is now built in, so you don't need to interact with the
system for your link to come back if it's "interesting".

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acjohnson55
Why not just join Scientology? Seems like it scratches may of the same itches.

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bencollier49
This reminds me of "Visit Port Watson". Similar purpose, similar execution.

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ElComradio
This article felt much like reading a pitch for a MLM scheme.

------
dovdov
hipster D&D

