Burning Man, setting the stage.

So if all about Burning Man is what you've seen on TV, you probably don't know much about what it's about or what it's like living in it.  Basically it's a week-long "art of all kinds" festival centered around ten principles which you can read about here.  The principles create a unique social environment in which to experience, create, and perhaps even be art.

The whole thing takes place on a particularly inhospitable bit of desert in Nevada.  It is so barren that the only animals that are inconvenienced by the presence of seventy thousand people tromping all over for a week are the fairy shrimp eggs in the dust. The dust is everywhere, and it sucks the moisture out of everything and eventually does nasty stuff to skin.  The weather is unpredictable.  It can be anything from freezing to city-paralyzing rain but specializes in effing hot with winds full of dust in the afternoons.  The infrastructure is minimal.  Porta-Potties are provided in generous numbers, but still possibly more than a quarter mile from where you might be at any given time.  There are trained medical personnel and ambulances and helicopters on call to whisk people away on expensive trips to far off medical centers.  There are security forces including federal, county, and an incredible volunteer safety force of the city called the Rangers.  There are helpful services for people who need psychological help.  Ice is available for purchase from the city for health reasons, and coffee is available to purchase, I'm not sure why, likely tradition.  It is prudent bring everything you need to survive in that environment physically for the whole week.  Some people don't though, and get by on the kindness and gifts of strangers.

Meh.  I don't like that description at all though.  One of the most important parts I think is the LACK of a society that will say "don't".  You can choose to express yourself in any way that isn't ridiculously harmful to yourself or others.  Even "ridiculously harmful" is subjective.  If you want to put people in a suit and shoot fire at them, it's okay as long as everyone's in consent and you're pretty sure it's safe.  When too many people fell off the giant coyote they put up a sign suggesting they refrain from climbing it, but it is NOT a place where they do overly much to protect you from doing stuff that could get you injured or even possibly killed.  You're responsible for yourownself.

I don't like that description either.  I'm trying to capture the spirit of the thing.  OK.  Cory Doctorow has a book called Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom (free download from the author).  In it is an alternate reality Disneyland in a world with no money.  People work on whatever Disney attraction they are most passionate about because money's not a factor.  Burning Man is a lot like that.  The desert makes it concurrently like a giant game of the reality show Survivor, IF it were a collaborative game instead of a competitive one.