Event Highlights | Thesis Festival 2023
Quotes, photos, and what people are saying about Thesis 2023.
We are so pleased to announce that our inaugural Thesis Festival 2023 in partnership with Every Magazine was a great success!
We are so thankful for the support of our incredible line-up of Thesis speakers (view all speaker bios here), the staff at the Guidepost Museum Mile, Contrary NYC for providing a fabulous after-party venue, and our gracious event-day volunteers, without whom none of this would have been possible.
To re-cap Thesis for those who weren’t able to join us (and for those who are already ready for Thesis 2024!), read on for a few of our favorite quotes, feedback from speakers and attendees, and some great photos from the event.
Best,
—🎉 The Interintellect Team 🎉
What is Thesis? Thesis is a writer’s festival that brings together some of the best writers on the internet to present their "thesis" statements, an expression of their big ideas in simple terms.
During the festival, speakers give micro-salons, host live workshops, and engage in creative conversations with you, our audience.
Thesis “By the Numbers”
By capping attendance and maximizing the number of talented speakers, Thesis gave us all the opportunity to share an intimate space with some of the best writers and thinkers on the internet:
Some of Our Favorite Quotes
From Anne-Laure Le Cunff’s (Ness Labs) thesis: “Goals, Reimagined: A New Approach to Ambition for Our Liminal Times”
Liminal Goals:
"Most successful creators are masters of the liminal [the space in-between]."
"Linear goals focus on an outcome, versus...liminal goals — the circular approach — focus on the journey."
"When you take a liminal approach [to your goals] — when you run lots of experiments — then your ambitions are going to take you to places that you didn't expect."
From Eugene Wei’s (Remains of the Day) thesis: “Writing as Technology”
Writing + Technology as Magic: “In magic, there's this idea where you can just learn a set of words, you can make something happen, manifest it in the world. Large language models and these interfaces like ChatGPT are like magic... It's the closest we've come to being able to manifest spells in the world.”
The Evolution of Writing: “When we were in 'Oral Culture' there was this idea that 'Hearing is believing.' ...And when writing first came out, they didn't trust the text. But eventually, when we moved to writing, we moved to a 'Seeing is believing' culture… Writing has fidelity of information, a permanence to it that oral culture doesn't.”
From Sahil Lavingia’s (SahilLavingia.com) thesis: “How Being Religiously Optimistic Shaped Me as a Writer”
Sunday Mornings: "What do you do on Sundays? Sunday mornings are a pretty good filter of what's important to you."
On Happiness: “Happiness requires faith and sacrifice.”
Interintellect Members: Did you know? As part of your membership, you’ll get full access to all of the Thesis 2023 video recordings. Stay tuned!
Not an Interintellect member? Become a yearly member at 25% off with code [iiThesis25], or learn more about the Interintellect community.
What People Are Saying
Speaker Jason Shen @
shares an amazing re-cap of his Thesis experience:
…Thesis attendee Camilo Moreno-Salamanca shares this epic thread summarizing thoughts and ideas from the festival.
Speaker Elaine Wang @
has an insight from her breakout session……and Thesis attendee Ankit Shah (still “basking in the nerds”) shares some great pics.
Speaking of Great Pics…
Too many to choose from, but we Figma’d up a mini-collage of Thesis online and offline photos for you:
Thank you on behalf of Every and Interintellect to everyone who joined us for Thesis 2023!
Weren’t able to join us for Thesis? That’s okay! Subscribe to stay in the loop about our next festival, and in the meantime, check out our Events Page for other online and offline events happening NOW.
Want more Interintellect IRL? We’ve got incredible events upcoming in New York, Mumbai, Lisbon, and more.
Cover art by Nat Sharpe | Offline photography provided by Clik.