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My Year in San Francisco’s $2M Secret Society Startup

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Re: My Year in San Francisco’s $2M Secret Society Startup

#121

Post by izak30 »

iokevins wrote: post #12

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

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.

Re: My Year in San Francisco’s $2M Secret Society Startup

#122

Post by Animats »

lsiebert wrote: post #84
pilingual wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

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

I wondered that, too. Apparently it was just on loan. If you want to use a laser cutter, join TechShop. They have lots of them.

Re: My Year in San Francisco’s $2M Secret Society Startup

#123

Post by seanp2k2 »

mathattack wrote: post #44
lsiebert wrote: post #17

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, p…

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.

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 :)

Re: My Year in San Francisco’s $2M Secret Society Startup

#125

Post by 1stranger »

beeboop wrote: post #74
munchbunny wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

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 que…

"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."

Re: My Year in San Francisco’s $2M Secret Society Startup

#126

Post by beeboop »

1stranger wrote: post #125
beeboop wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 que…

"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."

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.

Re: My Year in San Francisco’s $2M Secret Society Startup

#127

Post by 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.

Re: My Year in San Francisco’s $2M Secret Society Startup

#128

Post by 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.

Re: My Year in San Francisco’s $2M Secret Society Startup

#129

Post by unclefishbits »

rl3 wrote: post #63

> 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 th…

I had at least 2 people who never did it because it felt like someone got high at burning man and tried too hard.
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