The Collective Intelligence Symposium & Short Course: Foundations hosted by the Santa Fe Institute brought together a transdisciplinary group of researchers, activists and artists interested in intelligent behavior in groups. All of us searching for parallels in the intelligent behavior of various complex systems: social insects, flocking birds, human social organizations and artificial agents. The passion and intellectual curiosity of this eclectic group was infectious and inspiring. In the after-hours, I also attended an excellent debate on societal impacts & harms of AI, contributed early ideas for the formation of the ACI Journal Club and explored Meow Wolf’s House of Eternal Return.