Notes from the desert: Or why tech billionaires love Burning Man

Imagine walking into a dream – you’ll see a kaleidoscope of colors – pink, yellow, blue or what-have-you; a spectacle of lights, too; pulsating electronic dance music, 24/7; gyrating sweaty bodies – some topless, some bottomless, others in full naked glory; strange mutant art cars that spew fire and bicycles decorated with fancy parasols are everywhere, and so are jaw-dropping art installations – all these in the middle of a wide expanse of alkali desert as far as the eye can see.

This seems like Mad Max: Fury Road, Alice in Wonderland and Eyes Wide Shut all rolled into one. But then again, it isn’t. This is Burning Man and there’s nothing quite like it.

I’m among an estimated 80,000 people here in Black Rock City, an ephemeral town that exists for nine days in the Nevada desert, for this year’s Burning Man, a wild counterculture gathering devoted to communal living, radical self-reliance and self-expression, held every year. It starts days before Labor Day in the US.

I just made it through the hours-long queue to get inside, as part of a group of Filipino “burners” – the term used to describe seemingly crazy individuals who would go through a grueling journey to live in a temporary desert city – under the furnace like-heat with no water and limited electricity.

Here, you will be run over by intense emotions. No wonder veteran burners say you’ll cry at least once at Burning Man. I shed tears not long after I got in, while a Filipino love song played in the van as I thought about what happened the past two years – all that was lost and everything that remains.

‘Burning Man is Silicon Valley’

And then you totally forget about everything else as you get deeper into the Playa, as this place is called.

I began to understand why this gathering has attracted not just artists, dreamers, bohemians, but also information technologists, tech moguls, and tycoons from the world over.

Who’s been here? Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Google’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin are just some of the tech billionaires who have done this pilgrimage.

Musk declared years ago that “Burning Man is Silicon Valley,” which sounded bizarre. How can a giant gathering in a barren landscape compare to the dotcom and innovation capital of the world?

“If you haven’t been (there), you just don’t get it,” Musk famously said years ago.

I get it now. It’s about shared libertarian principles, of how elements of the Burning Man universe – from using technology to influence life, to doing artistic labor, to working for the common good of all – inspire the free flow of ideas in the tech world of say, Google and other firms.

Burning Man is experimental, about what can be done using technology and art, in the middle of nowhere, a place where the wildest creativity perfectly blend with innovation – whether it’s an out-of-this world sex machine, a giant disco ball or the best space for your sun salutation.

The world’s most tech-savvy minds can test their latest opus here.

Burning Man has that same creative spirit and team-oriented manufacturing practices that drive Silicon Valley, concluded Stanford communication Professor Fred Turner after studying the annual gathering for years.

Perhaps, it’s what every workplace should have. Every Filipino tycoon should try it at least once if only to let creativity flow or to witness the endless possibilities of innovation; or to simply see if they can survive in an economy where money has no use. Burning Man, you see, works on barter. You want beer or whatever? You have to be ready to trade it with what you can give – anything from a KitKat to a kiss.

Maybe, with more Filipino boss burners, the more audacious and innovative our local companies would be and we may finally see a more creative and out-of-the-box yet altruistic private sector.

Google, at one point when it was looking for a CEO, picked Eric Schmidt, because he went to Burning Man.

“Maybe, if Schmidt could endure the blistering heat, the dust storms, the sleepless nights, and the relentless strangeness of Burning Man, just maybe, he’d be the guy who could help them grow the dream without killing it,” said NBCNews in an article on this Google fact.

Burning Man, like any other intense experience, of course won’t be the same for everyone. Some will sleep in luxury RVs while others will be fine in tents with a dozen other people, sharing everything from meals to body fluids.

Each burner, I am sure, will have a unique story to tell. No two burners can ever walk the same patch of sand on the desert; or have that same a-ha! moment; or experience the same sensation even if they sit on the same bedazzled vibrating Vagina Throne.

But here’s what I know for sure. Burning Man will no doubt be one of the most intense and bizarre spiritual experiences you will ever try in your life.

At best – and this I promise – your brain will at least get a good washing – you will learn and unlearn; love and un-love; live and let live – as you slip into a thin membrane in this universe where nothing else exists except you, your dreams and a bunch of amazingly kind strangers.

You’ll cry, laugh or savor the peace in your heart and that’s when you know you’ve had a great burn.

Iris Gonzales’ email address is [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @eyesgonzales. Column archives at eyesgonzales.com