This raises more juicy questions. What methods do we have for synchronising people’s behaviour, making them more predictable to each other without being excessively controlling, without feeling manipulative or contrived, without putting extreme concentrations of power in the hands of a few, without excluding people for unethical reasons? Where can... See more

Here’s one way to understand the mechanism of action: compared to society-at-large, the people at a gathering have less variance between them. Less variance makes strangers more predictable to each other. If I can make more accurate guesses about your behaviour, I can be more generous with you even if I don’t yet know you personally, because... See more

I’m fascinated by this temporarily intensified intimacy. What conditions enable the sudden expansion of the trust bubble?

A gathering can temporarily inflate your bubble of trust to include many more people.