A long-term goal of Less Wrong is to achieve the benefits of religion without becoming a religion. LW Meetups are partially an attempt at achieving a rationalist sense of community, for instance. Stanislav Petrov Day and Vasili Arkhipov Day are steps in the direction of rationalist rituals in general and rationalist holidays in specific. In addition to creating more holidays, I suggest that we figure out ways to celebrate them, rather than simply marking them.
I'll take a crack at it. A holiday celebrating existential risk reduction is a glorious opportunity to develop a habit of gratitude. (See Method #7 of lukeprog's How to Be Happy for the importance of gratitude.) Here are 5 things I am grateful for:
The way my personality shifts barely perceptibly toward the better when I'm socializing with people who have a positive influence on me, and the way this lasts, like inching up a rock wall toward a summit.
Worcester, Massachusetts sunrises and sunsets, which are not always beautiful, but are never the same.
My "good" parents, for their conscientiousness. Apparently I did not inherit it from them, but they do provide strong mimicable examples.
Modern medicine, for keeping me sane. Without aspirin, my TMJ pain would be serious trouble.
Less Wrong, for prompting me to improve myself. My friends have noticed my progress without me asking them about it.
What are you grateful for, or, alternatively, are there better ways to celebrate Vasili Arkhipov Day?
1) I'm grateful that there's a place on the internet where a good person will remind me to be grateful for things.
2) The world is still around, despite the risks.
3) This world exists, and us in it, for whatever difficult-to-imagine reasons or lack thereof.
4) I have an incredibly caring/patient/interesting girlfriend
5) I am equipped with sensory apparatus that can discriminate for high nutrient content in foods and butter chicken exists.
Stanislav Petrov is a rather famous person (of course only on Lesswrong, not in the real world).
But there is another Russian who saved the world: Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov.
On this day in 1962, at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis Vasili Arkhipov prevented the launch of a nuclear torpedo and thus a possible nuclear war.
It's strange that Petrov attracts much more attention than Arkhipov. E.g. googling "Stanislav Petrov" produces 101.000 results, "Vasili Arkhipov" only 9.040 results. By contrast searching for "Britney Spears" generates about 295.000.000 results. Sorta depressing.
Anyway, let this day be the Vasili Arkhipov Day.