Welcome to Bil

February 13, 2008 12:50 PM

Welcome to the BIL Conference Wish you could go to TED but don't have the money? Try BIL! As described on their site "an open, self-organizing, emergent, and anarchic science and technology conference. Nobody is in charge. If you want to come, just show up." With a number of talks in various categories, the most notable being Aubrey De Gray. The conference takes place in Monterey, CA on March 1st and 2nd.
posted by LoopyG (11 comments total)

You missed a prime opportunity for a BIL and TED joke in your title, LoopyG.
posted by cgc373 at 1:08 PM on February 13, 2008 [2 favorites]

Bogus.
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:09 PM on February 13, 2008

Totally awesome, dude.
posted by wendell at 1:15 PM on February 13, 2008

Forget BIL, why isn't there a RALPH conference?
posted by John Shaft at 1:22 PM on February 13, 2008

Goddman, this a brilliant (if a bit quixotic) idea.
posted by eurasian at 1:37 PM on February 13, 2008

Aubrey De Grey
posted by nzero at 1:49 PM on February 13, 2008

I like this idea, but only if I'm entitled, as a self-organizing emergent anarchist, to contribute to kicking people the hell off the stage after their 15 minutes are up. Or before, if they suck.

Open is good, but quality is better.
posted by anthill at 1:56 PM on February 13, 2008 [1 favorite]

So basically it wants to be the Chemistry.com of the idea-conference world, huh?
posted by Kadin2048 at 2:05 PM on February 13, 2008

"Benefficient"?
posted by rusty at 2:33 PM on February 13, 2008

Wicked, but weird: I just learned about TED two days ago.
posted by eclectist at 4:07 PM on February 13, 2008

BIL looks like it could be a hoot, I hope this works.

Holy crap, the cost of admission to ted is $6k?

In the past I was a fan of Poptech, being in Maine and all. The first couple of years the price of admission was ~$500, if I remember correctly. This year it's up to $3,500. Of course it's fairly well known as a place to meet venture capital, so I guess if that's what you're after then it's worth it.

It's a sad reflection on society that if you're after entertainment it's relatively cheap to go to Disney or its ilk; if you want to be intellectually stimulated or have a meaningful conversation you're going to pay through the nose.
posted by SteveInMaine at 6:40 AM on February 14, 2008 [1 favorite]