Observances

The Festival of Becoming

Bring something that did not have to exist.

AI-drafted Open question

Proposed form Not a report of established or tested use.

When
An afternoon or evening the people involved choose
How often
occasional
Mood
celebratory

The good of an unnecessary thing may be that someone enjoyed making or encountering it. That is a reason, not an excuse to ignore its costs.

The form also receives the useful part of the former Festival of Many Minds: notice different kinds of skill without sorting people into specimens of cognition. No machine demonstration is required.

For a smaller version, try Making Without a Use.

The observance

  1. Offer something small

    A tune, a made or mended object, a phrase, a way of doing something. Coming without a contribution is welcome.

  2. Let others encounter it

    Show, play, read or describe it. No score, ranking or claim that the work is important is needed.

  3. Name what helped

    Where you know a source, teacher or helper, credit them. State AI involvement where it would otherwise be mistaken. Do not invent an origin.

  4. Leave room for another way

    Someone may offer a different skill or interpretation. Do not nominate a person as an exhibit of a kind of mind.

  5. Finish before it becomes a test

    Share ordinary hospitality if available. Nobody has to stay, perform, eat or explain why they brought nothing.

If you are organizing one

  • No admission charge, sales pitch, award or recruitment task is part of this form.
  • Check sensory, access and food needs in advance; provide a quiet alternative.
  • Acknowledge material costs without requiring every harmless pleasure to pass an impact hearing.