Today's Startup Cult Meeting Is Completely Incoherent
Most crazed collections of likeminded nuts have something you could call an agenda. Maybe it's "startup assholes drinking wine on a mountain," or "lizard people are real," or something. But I have absolutely no fucking clue what "Camp Mighty" is about.
Here are the facts, as we understand them:
Camp Mighty is organized by "Go Mighty," a sort of bucket list web service:
Go Mighty helps you create a Life List—a record of the things you’d like to do in your lifetime.
Go Mighty is a place to outline your goals and dreams, track your progress toward checking them off, and find inspiration to challenge your personal status quo.
That doesn't really sound like anything at all, but maybe it's something that sounds like it could be something? Or something. But is writing a list of goals enough to organize a trendy tech conference around? Apparently! Since when have tech conferences ever needed to justify themselves? Here's what the vaguely tech-oriented bloggers, "creatives," and "designers" in attendance are working on today, after shelling out $400 for tickets, plus a requested $200 Charity: Water donation:
Swapping platitudes:
"Don't procrastinate what you can abandon." - @maggie #campmighty
— Morgan (The818) (@the818) October 18, 2013
"Small things that don't feel like a gift to you, often are to others." @maggie #campmighty
— carina murray (@crowandcanary) October 18, 2013
Be the dumbest guy in the room. That's how you learn. - @larrysmith #sixwordmememoirs #campmighty
— Morgan (The818) (@the818) October 18, 2013
"It's okay to be happy where you are now." -Anna Dorfman, #campmighty http://t.co/LcsdmIXPk8
— elizabeth hagopian (@elizhagopian) October 18, 2013
Aside from things you could learn from a five dollar online MBA, the conference includes crafting, too. Here's a tag on a tree:
Or, draw a bear:
Writing "six word memoirs"
#sixwordmemoir #campmighty accept the process that leads there
— Liz Coopersmith (@SilverCharmEvnt) October 18, 2013
@sixwords couldn't have baby, raising someone else's #sixwordmemoir #campmighty #fosterparenting #givingthebabyback
— Daffodil Campbell (@daffodilblog) October 18, 2013
Giving the baby back!? This needs more than six words. There is also twee entertainment on the schedule: a "Space Camp Party," and a seminar on "using Life Lists to change your story, and how that narrative can help you shift your perspective, and balance self-acceptance with growth." OK, but we're still not really sure what this is or why it costs so much.
Aaaand a panel discussion prison reform. This is one wacky weekend. This is real. It's real and it's happening right now, with real people, who paid to do it. If "companies are transcending power," then it looks like the people who dream of making the companies are transcending coherence. Next year: paint your own pinecone, hope chants, DIY iPhones (3G and below only, PLEASE), confetti buffet, crowdfunding a bunny.