I've been attending Hamilton Society debates for the last few months, and they've easily become one of my favorite events in SF.
SF is full of smart people. But it often feels like an echo chamber, people just repeating what they read on twitter with no strong opinions of their own.
These people are building the future! They're creating the technology everyone will use, and they're getting all their ideas from the same Twitter threads?
That's insane.
People need space to think for themselves. To get out of their comfort zones and argue with their friends.
NEW IN PIRATE WIRES: Meet the Secret Society Where Young Tech Debates the Future of the West
Once a month, some 300 VCs, founders, and owners of timeline-dominant X accounts gather at the Star of the Sea Catholic Church in San Francisco for the night’s invite-only Hamilton Society debate. The dress code: a suit and tie for men, the female equivalent for ladies. Anything short of that is subject to ridicule or expulsion.
The society’s leadership created Hamilton in response to a “calcified social malaise” overtaking tech, where striving for the sake of short-term gains dominates any sort of larger moral vision for America’s future.
Recent debates have tackled H-1B visa fraud, the ethics of gene editing, and Christianity’s role in the future of the West. In the words of @Willob, one of the society’s Founding Fathers:
“The Industrial Revolution produced the great members’ clubs, debate societies, and civic institutions where we converged on a vision for what America should become. Silicon Valley has produced more wealth and influence than any place in history — and yet the only place its best ideas compete is a social media app that is increasingly full of slop. Our institutions need to match our ambitions. The Hamilton Society is a first step towards that. And frankly, we’re overdue.”
Read the full story from @huntryerson 👇