Lovely paper on the importance of gatherings as sources of fatefulness: journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.117 (via … ironically published in '19!)
"Social occasions are more likely than other kinds of time to house events that unexpectedly shift the trajectory of individual lives."
Conversation
I would like some more fatefulness in my life please!
I don't know how to square this with a strong sense of self-efficacy, etc: like, I don't exactly *want* to be tossed around by the winds of fate! And yet it's hard to sail a ship with just the wind from one's own lungs…
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Interesting to consider why video hangouts don't produce the five effects the author describes.
1. "A special world set off from ordinary live": nope, still on my couch, looking at my laptop, but now it's showing a different rectangle.
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2. "The electrical charge… generated when people assemble together": video chat really doesn't generate that emotional spark for me—but I don't know why.
3. "Worlds colliding": harder to casually meet new people with typical limitations on polyphonic/spatial conversation
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4. "Forced public rankings": video calls feel relatively low stakes; you're not offering up precious seats around the Saturday night dinner table.
5. "Complex choreography (while everyone is watching)": the medium distorts everyone's social grace in n-way chats, lowering stakes
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Yes! There is a flattening that happens over video (and arguably *less* so with audio only due to expectations).
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You're really right. I often find it's easier to stay emotionally connected with audio-only.
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Don’t know about the “five effects”, but Zoom based workshops have definitely been fateful for me.
They haven’t been hangouts, they’ve been facilitated and structured events attended by intentioned people for the purpose of growth.