Vibecamp 2023 Retrospective

I just got back from Vibecamp and it was one of the most high-valence activities that I have ever participated in. Here I talk about my experience, comment on some of the early post-Vibecamp discourse, and share my thoughts on the future of the festival.

How Vibecamp Felt

Vibecamp was incredible.

I went there to meet the people that post interesting things on the internet and I was blown away when they were just as interesting in real life. These people aren’t just witty posters — every single person I met was incredibly intelligent, eager to engage in complex discussions, curious about what I think, and overall extremely compelling.

https://twitter.com/CrispyWicks/status/1669893649134387203?s=20

Not only were the people of an exceptional caliber, but it was incredibly easy to start a conversation with anyone. One night, it took me over an hour to walk from one side of camp to the other because I kept stumbling in and out of extended conversations with complete strangers along the way. One of the new friends I made said Vibecamp felt like a wedding or a bachelor party — everyone sensed an implicit permission to talk to each other.

https://twitter.com/Shmojii/status/1670859628194693122?s=20

The Different Vibes of Vibecamp

For many, Vibecamp was a time to hang out with friends, meet new people, casually stroll around, or hang out with your particular micro-niche internet community. I think all of us did these things to some degree, but there were also some noticeably distinct categories of vibes.

To ask what is Vibecamp is to ask what is TPOT, and we all know how difficult explaining that is. In one regard, TPOT is an amorphous collective brought together by the algorithm gods of Twitter and Vibecamp is just those people meeting up.

It turns out, though, that when you tune the TPOT egregore’s intention toward “do a thing IRL”, something really special happens.

Practically overnight, Vibecamp turned one of the most addicting text based adventure games (TPOT Twitter) into Ready Player One. And it wasn’t long before its immersive, open world brimmed with spontaneity and creativity.

Vibecamp is the Room of Requirement of TPOT

Taking Twitter IRL means that you can relate to people in many more ways than just through text.

Campers hosted workshops, events, seminars, and parties of all types. Someone exceptionally creative formed a secretive cult of a few dozen campers who dramatically revealed themselves on the last day.

But the part that impressed me the most was how people expressed themselves outside of explicitly organized events. There were countless creative ways to make new friends and engage with the community. A few of my favorites included:

• Hosting a $1 advice booth and talking to random people for 3 hours
• Making fresh waffles at midnight for partiers just outside the dance venue
• Bringing a typerwriter to write poems by the pool at night
• Offering a “scent of the day” spritz to people
• Going around giving out baked goods
• Handing out tattoos
• Wearing a cool shirt that people can ask you about
• Giving out pins/stickers with your pfp/handle

Vibecamp presented a whole new way to relate to the TPOT community. One with many more angles on top of which to build relationships and a shared context.

Vibecamp is 16th century Florence

The creativity, intelligence, and curiosity per-capita of your average Vibecamper was enormous. Practically everyone had put in their “10,000 hours” into at least one thing and you could tell.

There were classes led by professional dancers, jam sessions with professional musicians, researchers sharing their writing, expert coaches, masseuses, spiritual leaders, entrepreneurs — it felt like everyone had an exceptional skill (or three) just under the surface.

And the art was incredible — there were poets, dancers, singers, theater kids, writers, philosophers, there were converted school busses, custom musical instruments, homemade scents, tailor-made clothes, and everything else you can imagine. The Dating Show to Save the World was a play prepared, written, and acted out entirely by campers and it was captivating, well-paced, and rich. You’d have thought the team that produced it had already been working together for years.

The Renaissance vibe came out the most in the overall atmosphere of the place. You could feel the hum of brilliance in the air as you walk around. What solidified it for me was getting to witness people’s talents in totally serendipitous moments. A few examples include:

• Impromptu Theremin & instrumental jam session by the pool that sounded like a professional band.
• A guy was chopping wood for the lamb roast (which itself was something exceptional to organize) and he had this captivating lumbersexual aura to him. So many people walked up to him to talk or to ask to chop wood that he’s hosting a wood chopping event next year.
• One night at 2 AM I ended up in the open-air pavilion where a camper was playing a beautiful piano sonata. He hadn’t brought the piano, it was there from an earlier event and he just sat down and played. Soon a small group of passerby’s formed a circle around him and we listened to him play for 15 minutes.
• The next night we were walking from a party to the bar and an impromptu professional wrestling ring broke out — complete with rules of engagement, a referee, a commentator, and an audience, all comprised of the dozen or so people who happened to be around when two people decided they wanted to wrestle.

Finally, one my favorite parts of Vibecamp was that the entire political spectrum was properly represented. You had furry femboy ancoms rubbing shoulders with proto-fascists (and everything in between) and each group was willing to respect the space of the other, and engage in conversation or debate without animosity.

https://twitter.com/Andr3jH/status/1668623594954584064?s=20

Vibecamp “cares too much”

For many people there seemed to be a subversion of earnestness, seemingly in order to fit in or to get something specific out of their time at camp.

I want to say that this stemmed from various types of insecurities and it manifested in a sort of imposter syndrome that took people out of the present moment.

It seemed like more than 50% of people cared slightly “too much” about something. Some cared “too much” about making the most out of their limited time at Vibecamp. Some cared “too much” about feeling like they belong. Some cared “too much” about being helpful. Some cared “too much” about not coming off as low-status. Some cared “too much” about follower counts.

I put “too much” in quotes because I don’t think that it’s bad to care “too much”. I definitely cared too much (about almost everything) at Vibecamp.

But there was definitely a sort of geeky eagerness to many people… a tense striving towards being someone or having a particular experience.

Vibecamp is a high school

What do you get when you bring together a bunch of people from all different walks of life who are connected by a shared social context?

A college campus.

But when it’s 700 people, it feels more like a high school. Sure, it’s a high school of magical, talented people — maybe like Hogwarts — but it’s a high school nonetheless.

https://twitter.com/chairsign/status/1670593090107715584?s=20

Vibecamp’s DNA is a strongly connected Twitter subgraph that someone takes a knife to and surgically traces some lines outside of which lay those who don’t get to go to Vibecamp and inside lay those who do get to go.

The creation myth of Vibecamp is the forming of an in-group. It’s not hard to expect that people will continue to want to form smaller and smaller in-groups when they get there.

This shared social context was fertile ground for gossip and status games. You didn’t need a high follower count to go to Vibecamp, but the specter of follower counts hung in the air. I got to learn that someone was Brooke’s ex, I got to meet Scott Alexander’s wife’s boyfriend, I got to watch people form cliques, I was told I was cool (as opposed to other people who were presumably not-as-cool).

Of all the movies that could provide a lense to describe some aspect of Vibecamp, I feel like “Mean Girls” could be in the top 10. We practically have a Regina George, the rest of the plastics might be men, but nonetheless… it’s a vibe that exists.

I think Vibecamp High is a sub-category of the previous “caring too much” vibe. Those who attend Vibecamp High care too much about not coming off as losers.

And it would seem like that’s not an unfounded fear:

https://twitter.com/michaelcurzi/status/1669900918727274497?s=20

https://twitter.com/mechanical_monk/status/1670473451050610689?s=20

https://twitter.com/deepfates/status/1670822361568870402?s=20

Vibecamp is ripe for exploitation by sociopaths

In his landmark piece Geeks, MOPs, and Sociopaths in Subculture Evolution, David Chapman talks about the origin and evolution of scenes.

As with any subculture, TPOT/Vibecamp will need to navigate growing pains, but I think its openness and radical acceptance makes it a prime target for “sociopaths” as defined by Chapman.

Vibecamp was full of intelligent and curious people open to new experiences. Most fit the bill of Visa’s F.A.N.’s but some were not entirely Friendly… Now I give the benefit of the doubt here — TPOT is full of neurodivergents and friendliness is a skill that’s much easier for certain temperaments, so I think 98% of people are extremely well-intentioned and go out of their way to make everyone feel as accepted as possible.

…but there is that 2%

Vibecamp is extremely high trust right now. Brooke is unanimously loved and respected as the figurehead. It goes without saying that people should strive to be radically accepting and caring of all vibes.

…but radical acceptance works to the advantage of the 2%

Now I don’t know what will happen — I don’t think there will be a sociopath coup or a hijacking of the vibes that ruins Vibecamp indefinitely or anything major like that.

But I do see a very soft under-belly that is at-present fully exposed, and I see a 2% of people with cunning in their gaze.

I think the best way to ward off sociopaths is to acknowledge them and actively cultivate an anti-sociopath vibe. Right now, Vibecamp is very amorphous and plotless; it needs to decide what is sacred to it and follow that as a North Star. If it wants to entirely eliminate the possibility of a sociopath takeover, it needs to declare that it’s no place for sociopaths.

https://twitter.com/VividVoid_/status/1671200225178923032?s=20

The Gender Ratio

The highest point friction was probably the gender ratio.

Some people have said it was 80/20, I personally feel like it was closer to 90/10, but in any case, it was very lopsided.

Now all the discourse I’ve seen so far agrees that the vast majority, perhaps even all, of the men were very respectful, gave proper space, and women who did venture to talk with new men generally felt safe.

https://twitter.com/goblinodds/status/1670848725718007809?s=20

However, a skewed gender ratio at a 72 hour event of mostly 20/30-somethings will inevitably… affect the vibes.

In my opinion, this happened in two primary ways:

1. An undercurrent of un-actualized male sexual energy: The fact of the matter is that not everyone at Vibecamp was a Lemur™ (Curzi, et al.) In fact, there were a good number of very attractive, confident, well-mannered, sharp men. The types of guys who are used to going to social events and attracting female attention without effort. These guys were unable to… be their full selves at Vibecamp. Like the gentlemen they are, they didn’t make a fuss about this, but there is a vector of brilliance that is currently unavailable at Vibecamp: very high quality males being able to show themselves and naturally meet the very high quality females they would normally attract at a social event.
2. Women had to be on-guard: Of course it’s worse for the women themselves. I don’t have first-hand sources because I barely got to interact with women, but I did observe some things. First of all, more than half the women stuck to their core groups that they came with/trusted. Everywhere they went, they were flanked by guys like diplomats in a third world country. The night venues hardly saw guys & girls chatting it up or flirting — there was practically no moment of romance that I witnessed. My heart goes out to all the women who went to Vibecamp open to meeting that special someone (of which it seemed like less than 50% were); there was a very delicate balance of being approachable <> being guarded that they had to strike.

I don’t know how you fix the gender ratio problem. Or if it’s even something that should be “fixed”.

The Aella experience

Ah Aella…. The internet’s most in-demand temptress made her appearance as a kind of cultural figurehead of Vibecamp.

She started with polls and a Robin Hanson Q&A, but I think she represented the spirit of Vibecamp in a really specific way that came out during the climactic spectacle on the last night, “The Dating Show to Save The World,” a play where three contestants “competed” to win Aella’s heart.

The host explained that the winner would be chosen “Based on whose vibes? Her vibes,” — he turned to point to the contestants — “because she runs the risk of having their vibes all up in her vibes.” He then said to the three contestants themselves, “She can feel what you feel and she is silently judging you all the time… like a distant god.” which was an on-the-nose allegory that aptly captured the spirit of male-to-female relations at Vibecamp.

In the end, the dating show turned out to be unwinnable, the hosts and participants are driven to madness and Aella mimes away to a postmodern ending which itself seemed to accurately convey some of the more nihilistic aspects of the vibe.

Why Was Vibecamp So Cool?

Nevertheless, despite the growing pains, Vibecamp was an incredible event and it’s 100% due to how incredible the people themselves are.

Some of the closest connections I made were two guys from MIT. I talked to them about whether their college felt like this and one of them told me that Vibecamp was unique. Not only was everyone here smart, they were also curious and all working on very interesting things.

It’s odd how a fully open social graph (anyone can get on Twitter and follow these accounts) somehow forms an extremely aligned subculture. Vibecamp has pioneered a new type of minimum viable shared context and it seems more vibrant than what even the most exclusive social clubs can recreate.

It’s uncanny that you can get that with nothing more than an application with general questions like “Describe the last conversation you really enjoyed” and “Describe a good activity you enjoyed”.

So then how do we think about what happened? To me, Vibecamp is “meta-as-substance”. It asks “If we optimize for some very high level thing, like just this social graph, and we let in the top 10% of interesting and initiative people, what do we end up with?”

The answer, it seems, is something pretty incredible.

Vibecamp at 10,000 people

I also had discussions trying to answer the question “What is peak Vibecamp?”

Left to its own devices, Vibecamp will want to keep growing — the NPS of the event is astronomical—it’s just a question of how big can it get without becoming a logistics nightmare or watering the vibes down too much.

It seems like there is still room to let in more people without losing the magic. I’m not sure what the ratio of (the size of TPOT) / (the size of Vibecamp) should be to keep the vibes pure, but it’s a question worth exploring.

In terms of what Vibecamp would look like at 10,000 people, I think it has the potential to become an all-encompassing third space for TPOT Twitter (especially with smaller regional camps/regular meetups). This is where the “Room of Requirement” angle really takes off… if Vibecamp becomes big enough, it may grow into a cultural force similar to Burning Man, SXSW, etc.

The most exciting part to me is that, between now and then, there will be tons of roles up for grabs for those who want to participate in building the scene. Right now the main roles are organizing meetups but pretty soon a whole cottage industry of creators, writers, thinkers, and more will emerge and define the future of Vibecamp and TPOT.

The horizon is opening right now, so if you like the vibes, do something to contribute!

Vibecamp for Me

Finally, Vibecamp was deeply moving for me personally.

I felt the release of a kind of tension that I had been carrying for close to a decade and I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say it changed my life.

I’ve always felt like an outsider wherever I go — I didn’t go to a big-name college, when I moved to Denver I didn’t instantly make friends, and I still have trouble finding people I click with. TPOT Twitter was the one place where I felt I could be the most myself and Vibecamp translated that belonging into real life.

I felt such a resonance with so many of the people I talked to and I finally felt seen and understood in a real way. I’ve never been around such a concentration of interesting and smart people and, in a certain sense, Vibecamp felt like going outside for the first time.

I can’t wait to see what this community becomes over the coming years and I’m very eager to become a part of building it. If you’re reading this I hope to see you around on the circuit…

Fuck it we Vibe!!

If you liked this, please share it and follow me. I’m trying to become the gonzo journo of TPOT: https://twitter.com/GeorgeHristov7

btw here’s a facedoxx in case you saw me at VC: