“Follow-through on Bay Solstice” by Raemon

There is a Bay 2025 Solstice Feedback Form. Please fill it out if you came, and especially fill it out if you felt alienated, or disengaged, or that Solstice left you worse than it found you. (Also fill it out the first question if you consciously chose not to come)

The feedback form also includes a section for people interested in running a future Bay solstice (summer or winter).

The feedback form focuses on high level, qualitative feedback. You can also vote and comment on the quality of individual songs/speeches here.

I had a subtle goal, with a narrow target, for Bay Solstice this year.

I wanted to:

• earnestly face the possibility of living in a world where AI was quite likely to kill everyone soon.
• not advocate other people believe that. It's something I believe, and my believing it was part of the Solstice. But, the point wasn't for other people to change their beliefs. The point was to give people an opportunity to Pre-Grieve / Stoic Meditate on it, so that uncertain fear-of-it would have less power over them.
• give people a few different healthy options for how to contend with that (and some impetus for [...]

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Outline:

(02:06) If you left worse than you came, I will try to help

(03:54) This is not meant to be every year

(04:40) Solstice for whom?

(07:35) Spending / Gambling a limited resource of trust

(09:10) Is it bad that our Big Holiday is about Being Sad?

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First published:
December 10th, 2025

Source:
https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/Zb8ov7ai4zRdpxhQt/follow-through-on-bay-solstice

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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.