August 05, 2004

I mentioned in yesterday's note that I'm in Colorado for the Eris Society conference. Many of you may not know much about the Eris Society -- I hadn't heard of them until about six years ago -- so I thought I'd tell you a little about the organization.

The Eris Society is a group that arose out of Doug Casey's annual dinner parties, to which he invited friends and various intellectuals. Most of the Eris Founders are anarchocapitalists or libertarians, so many of the invited speakers shared that outlook, but it isn't a requirement for attending. The purpose of the gatherings was to stimulate discussion, hear challenging ideas, and to enjoy the company of others who valued such discourse. Speakers' topics ranged from health, culture, and technological advances across several fields, and of course, world and national politics.

As the gatherings grew, Casey's friends and he decided to make the arrangement more formal and semi-public, and the Eris Society was born. Each year, an "apple bearer" team organizes the conference, with the purpose of stirring up the attendees' ideas and presenting information that won't be found in the daily news. At last year's conference, at which I spoke on the psychology of freedom, Louis James and I were tossed the Golden Apple.

It's been fun organizing the conference, and I'm eagerly awaiting the start of the conference later today, because that will be even more enjoyable. One of the best things about the conference, aside from seeing several friends here, is that it is a genuine meeting of minds; conversations can become quite heated, but it's all about exchanging and considering ideas. The fact that not all participants share a libertarian perspective makes the event more stimulating -- and intellectually challenging -- than most of the other libertarian conferences I've attended.

Why am I telling you so much about the Eris Society? I discovered it online, several years ago, quite by accident .... in the Free-Market.Net database. The Eris Society has turned out to be a treasure for me -- and one that would probably have remained undiscovered, had it not been for FMN.

What hidden treasures await your discovery, and subsequent enlightenment, in our extensive database? It's hard to say ... only you can tell what is treasure to you. That's one reason why our network is so valuable; we network the freedom movement from free-market conservatism to individualist anarchism. There's sure to be a gem or two waiting for you to discover.

Or you could do it the hard way ... searching online yourself, following link after link, hoping to find a group, a writer, or an annual get-together that speaks to your soul the way Eris does for me. Why not do it the easy way?

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Perhaps I'll be meeting you in lovely Snowmass next year!

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