Dear all,
We’re running two back-to-back retreats this September at INTP in the French Pyrenees that I think will be of interest to people on this forum — both grew out of years of asking what’s actually wrong with the way research gets done, and trying to build something better.
Honest Science Workshop — September 20–27 A small research conference (10–20 people) for researchers working at the intersection of complexity science and contemplative studies. The premise: your worldview shapes your science before you even start — whether ant colonies “decide” things, whether first-person experience counts as data, whether science uncovers truth or constructs frameworks. These aren’t idle philosophy. Your implicit answers determine what you study, how you model it, and which colleagues you take seriously. When they stay implicit, they become invisible constraints — and arguably one of the deepest sources of irreproducibility we don’t talk about.
The week combines: research talks (honest version, not conference version), collective field-mapping of what’s been done and what’s missing, structured sessions on the core methodological risks of this research space, and a mid-week contemplative day for “epistemic debugging” — tracing where incentives, ego, or Goodhart’s law have quietly distorted scientific judgment. Shared outputs include a collectively authored field-mapping document and collaboration agreements. Details and registration →
Work Alive Retreat — September 27 – October 4 A co-working meditation retreat for researchers, writers, developers — anyone doing meaningful intellectual work. Bring your actual project. Work in focused blocks. Morning movement, communal cooking, evening fires. The premise: the resistance you feel opening a document is the same thing a meditator sits with on the cushion — we look at that, together, while actually working. Not a productivity retreat; no systems, no frameworks. About discovering that the work itself can be the practice. And it can be joyful, deep, and profoundly illuminating. Details and registration →
Combined week is €200 off. Early bird closes May 31.
Both are organized through CSCSC — the Complexity Science and Contemplative Studies Consortium — a small research community I co-founded around exactly these themes. Happy to answer any questions here or by email.
-Pavel