Witt decided to go to San Francisco because it is now, as it was during the ***ual revolution of the 1960s, the place that most embodies the conviction that the future can be better.
The ethos of Witt’s polyamorists, if not the practice itself, is endemic to the Silicon Valley set: "When they talked about their coworkers in the Bay Area, Chris and Wes sometimes discussed the culture of ‘hyperbolic optimism,’ which they defined as a genuine commitment to the idea that all things were possible." "Responsible hedonism" is another Bayism that circulates "only half-jokingly" among their peers, and is perhaps no better exemplified than when Elizabeth throws a lavish loft
*** with sister party-complete with satin sheets and artful photographs of the host penetrating herself with a dildo-but first purchases liability insurance for the stripper pole.
Emma says Eddie is the only person she has slept with and at first she worried what the world would think of her body. "The $400 ticket price," she notes, "was as much about the right to leave what happened at Burning Man behind as it was to enter in the first place." But almost in spite of her account, which verges at times on the ruthless, Witt admits that she enjoyed herself.