Hi there,

I’m in your inbox reminding you about our upcoming in-person event on March 28th. There are still a few tickets left.

Bonus: a generous donor has sponsored one ticket! Please email me directly if you would like this sponsored ticket. First come first serve.

While there is a lot of information out there about the Big Tech companies, their harms and excesses, there are fewer spaces where we can get together with like-minded and like-hearted folks and understand these things together.

Philosopher Byung-Chul Han talks about the loss of the narrative in his book “The Crisis of Narration.” We have information, yes, data, lots, but where do we go to form a coherent narrative about what is going on?

This is why I’m calling myself a “context creator” in these IRL events (vs a “content creator”). In an age of context collapse, building context together matters.

Perhaps because I’m both a Chinese medicine practitioner as well as a cybersecurity worker, both educator and organizer, I’m interested in looking at multiple scales at the same time: the personal, interpersonal, the collective.

There aren’t really events out there like this that marry multiple scales, not yet at least. ChatGPT* in a late-night flurry labelled this a commitment of “relational fidelity to humans.” Yes, that’s it. We are careening into a wholly new era, and I would like us to make sense of it together.

*Oh I’m aware of the irony.

This is an experiment, as all things are in this project.

Hosting this online and doing a bunch of promo online would probably sell faster and bigger. But that’s not the type of (capitalist-amplification) scale I’m interested in. I value the immediacy, the ephemerality of gathering together in person. If you’re here with me, I imagine you do too. Something shifts between scales - what is that thing?

If you’re interested in both digital literacy skills as well as a human-centered holistic approach to meeting this moment, come join us. And tell a friend.

Get your tickets here.

(Btw if you have access to acupuncture benefits, this would qualify. Please let me know if you’d like a receipt at the event.)

for the doomscrollers, the lurkers, the influenced, and the influencers:

what does Meta know about us and what we do know about Meta?

how does Meta hook us? 

and what do we do about it?

Very Offline Club Presents:

Looking Through the Looking Glass:
A Meta-Experience of Meta:

An Evening of Embodiment::

join us for an evening of myth busting, creative reflection, plus digital hygiene and embodiment practices, grounded in the wisdom of Chinese medicine to meet this present moment.

the evening will include conversation, reflection, creative journaling, device-free time, intentional device time, and ear acupuncture or acupressure. all activities are optional. show up as you are.

light refreshments provided.

$40 - 80 sliding scale.

access info at link above.

March 28, 4-7pm

3 Munro St, Unit 103, Toronto

See you offline,

-Gunjan

*By the way, what’s your stance on ChatGPT and other LLM’s and chatbots, and what’s your usage? Do they differ? Have you been curious and dabbled? Are you required to by your workplace or livelihood? How are you understanding AI? Did you hear this recent episode by relationship therapist Esther Perel, counselling a man and his AI chatbot girlfriend? Feel free to write me. I’m planning to host a session focused on AI soon.