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Burning Man Festival Draws Tech Industry Titans

Mason Rosenthal of New York City plays on the playa at the Burning Man festival in Gerlach, Nev., on the Black Rock Desert on Thursday, Aug. 30, 2007. (Brad Horn/AP)
Mason Rosenthal of New York City plays on the playa at the Burning Man festival in Gerlach, Nev., on the Black Rock Desert on Thursday, Aug. 30, 2007. (Brad Horn/AP)

Founders and employees from tech companies like Google, Amazon, Twitter, Zynga and Uber are in increasing presence at the Burning Man festival.

Until recently, Burning Man was a countercultural event drawing people dedicated to the “spirit of community, art, self expression and self reliance.” Thousands of participants gathered for a week of celebration in the Nevada desert, and left without a trace.

Increasingly, the festival has become a draw for people from the tech industry, including the founders of Google, Tesla and Facebook, leading some to ask if the festival is now just a mirror of the larger culture and not something apart.

Nellie Bowles, culture editor for the tech news site Re/code, discusses this question with Here & Now’s Robin Young.

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