BERKELEY (RNS) — Raymond Arnold sat in the dark on the edge of a Berkeley stage in early December, his voice breaking as he addressed the nearly 500 people gathered for Secular Solstice. “Guys…” he whispered into the microphone. “I don’t think we’re gonna make it.”
Arnold, a web developer and founder of the now 15-year-old Rationalist holiday, admitted he thought this could, potentially, be “the last Solstice.”
Winter solstice traditions around the world and across religions mark the shortest day of the year and offer observers a meaningful way to stare down the dark or, as Arnold puts it, “challenge the Abyss to a staring contest and win.” At this year’s Bay Area Secular Solstice, that meant grappling with the possibility of superintelligent AI wiping out humanity — a future some Rationalists, including Arnold, believe may be near.
Secular Solstice began one December evening in 2011, when Arnold and 19 friends crammed into a New York City apartment, illuminated by plasma balls, oil lamps and lightsabers, to beta-test a new holiday. Arnold, a Catholic-turned-humanist, was looking to create a tradition that reflected his new worldview. He’d recently discovered Rationalism, an internet-born movement focused on sharpening reasoning skills to better society. The community — which took seriously futuristic notions like interstellar colonization and artificial intelligence — “radically expanded my sense of how much sacredness I could feel,” Arnold said. For him, creating Secular Solst …