The Jam Session Manifesto
This essay explains how I’m trying to solve society’s tribalism, loneliness, & lack of authentic passion.
How it all began
A year ago, I moved to Madrid. During the first few weeks, I heard smooth jazz music at night in the room below us. One day, my roommate ran into our downstairs neighbor, Ricardo. He invited us to come by sometime and check out his speak-easy club — “El Noviciado”. Later that night, I nervously walked into the club. But right when I walked in, my anxiety flushed away. I was welcomed by friendly faces, great music, and a warm atmosphere. As the night progressed, I became increasingly amazed. Every person I spoke with was kind, curious, & fascinating. By the end of the night, I was racing back to my roommates to tell them about this club’s amazingness!
Throughout the semester, El Noviciado became a second home to me. Every time I went, I left more energized, positive, and connected to those around me. It helped me open up into my truest and most authentic form. A few months later, I left Madrid to go home. I was sad to say goodbye to such an awesome community. But, I knew I wanted to replicate its atmosphere in The States.
I started simple. I wrote down a list of my kind, curious, & fascinating friends. And every time I had an intellectually stimulating conversation with someone (whether it be at a bar, class, gym, or anywhere else), I’d write their name down on that list. Each week, I texted an invitation to those people.
And thus, the jam sessions were born.
We are now 18 jam sessions strong and I can confidently say there is magic in the air. Since the community is growing, I want to break down why they’re important to society, what makes them magical, and how we can improve them.
Why jam sessions are important
(Thanks to Tim Urban’s book The Story of Us for this section’s core ideas)
With the advent of widespread internet, social media, smart phones, crypto, AI, & more — society’s pace of change has been dizzying. The future these technologies create could be unfathomably awesome. We could conquer every problem that ails us today — disease, poverty, climate change, maybe even mortality itself.
But, the same technology that has made our world magical has also opened a large number of Pandora’s boxes: rapidly advancing AI, cyber warfare, autonomous weapons, and bioweapons, to name a few. The future these technologies create could be unfathomably catastrophic.
Our responsibility is immense. If we can figure out how to get this right, our descendants could live high up on that mountain in what would seem like a magical utopia to us. If we get this wrong and stumble off those steep cliffs, this might be the last page of our story. With the stakes this high, we’d want to be our wisest selves.
Which is unfortunate, because in recent years, society is acting like a poop-pantsed four-year-old who dropped its ice cream. Tribalism, political division, & strong opinions with weak foundations are on the rise. Trust, the critical currency of a healthy society, is disintegrating. On top of that, we’re more lonely, depressed, & isolated than before. We have drifted away from nuanced, thoughtful discussion; and away from genuine human connection.
That’s where jam sessions come in.
How jam sessions help people
Jam sessions aim to fix our current situation (on a micro-scale) in 2 ways:
- They push people to have thought-provoking conversations. Jam sessions are an intellectual gym where you can test your ideas without hurting your ego. They inflict humility on you rather than breeding unearned conviction. You can play verbal ping pong with others to solve problems in your life or society.
- They provide a space for people to form a genuine, human connection with each other. Jam sessions give you the space to be your true self. They cultivate that feeling when you flow in conversation with no awareness of time, how you’re sounding, or what you’re saying. Your sense of self collapses and you’re just two humans exchanging energy, ideas, and attention in an open, warm space (thanks Isabel). That feeling of true human connection.
At a time when society needs it more than ever, jam sessions help people grow more wise & connected.
The magical secret sauce
There is only one ingredient necessary for our secret sauce: curious people.
Jam seshers are internally & externally curious. Their internal curiosity develops authentic perspectives & interesting thoughts. Their external curiosity sparks great questions & a genuine interest in the people they talk to. These traits add up to consistently great conversation.
In addition, jam seshers are low-ego & truth-seeking. They don’t care about your sex, age, race, gender, internship, or anything else. They simply care about the quality of your character, the thoughtfulness of your perspectives, and the openness of your mind.
With this secret ingredient, everything else falls into place. I simply send out a text each week with a time, location, & optional conversation starter. People who want to learn and meet curious folks show up and start chatting. That’s it.
As a result, jam sessions are dynamic & low-pressure. At any given time, there’s 3–6 conversations talking about everything from the human experience to rockets to music to startups to travel to philosophy to mental health to you know name it. If your conversation is boring, you can simply turn to your side and join another one. If you want to just chill, you can just sit back and listen to people talk. If you can only come for 30 minutes, you can pop in and out. There’s no expectations or requirements.
It’s beautiful.
How we can make them better
For the most part, we are doing a killer job. People who come usually love it and come back consistently. However, there’s 2 things we can do better.
First, we need more diverse perspectives from women. Since it’s usually just guys, we miss out on an entire lense to view the world. And, we create a self fulfilling prophecy. To change this, we can do 2 things.
- Make newcomers feel more welcomed. So if you notice someone is timid or uncomfortable at a jam session, be the friendly person to reach out and spark a convo.
- Bring more girls. And if you have any internally & externally curious girl friends, please invite them!
Second, we can deepen connections between jam seshers. I’d love to see a culture of people getting to know each other outside of jam sessions. Everyone that comes is more fascinating than a few hours worth of convo.
- If you have a good chat, get their number and snag coffee!
- I’ll also be building out a database of jam seshers so you can easily find people’s contact info.
Now let’s go off and change the world
I truly think these jam sessions & you jam seshers can have a massive positive impact on society. I hope you think so too. If you have any ideas (or have yet to come), shoot me a text or DM on Twitter.
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