Ask Dunamis

Social Forums Non-Philosophical Chat
1

We know your face, and that you must be in the 30 range. You’re white, somewhat athletic, well read, ingenius and versatile. We also know you don’t suffer fools gladly. You have the highest post count here, and people like to poke a stick at you. Sometimes it seems like you like fending them off, other times it seems you get sick of it. You can write 6000 words that say nothing and 2 words that say everything. In fact, it seems there’s nothing you CAN’T do. You are officially fascinating, and I think the time is ripe for an interview. Whitelotus did his, so in the tradition of the rare ILP interview genre, please comply. It is a HUGE honor. You don’t have to answer directly, but answer that which does not make you feel like you are compromising your privacy.

What is your advocation? Do you have one, none or many? Explain. Include how/if you support yourself.

2

The only question I have is how someone can put literally 1000 posts in a word association thread.

I threw in a couple here and there when I was bored, but I mean… wow.

3

Gamer, is there an entrance fee for this cult of personality you are constructing?

4

Gamer,

Perhaps it is a mistake or character flaw, but I do not identify with my historic self, in the sense that many people seem to mean when they talk about themselves. That “me” simply is not important to me, so when others make a big deal about it, or find it interesting, they are asking me about things that don’t figure much in my own thinking. My biography always feels like it is today or tomorrow.

That being said, given the acerbic nature of the game King of the Hill played around here, and the unfriendly - and still ongoing - vollies aimed at me via my photo, it serves me even less to discuss/reveal more of the parts of my person, even those I don’t identify with much. The response to the photo pretty much excludes the possibility.

Much of this place is unkind – unkind in a subtle way – and it has made me, or allowed me, to be unkind in return. This is something I don’t appreciate of myself (and really others). I do thank you for your interest though, for that is a compliment.

Dunamis

5

Well, I’m interested in a way that I think is genuine. I believe that much of the interest is natural because of your dynamic abilities on the site. It’s like wanting to know more about Batman, but then again that might be the answer.

Photo:
I mentioned that I thought you had sensitive eyes in your photo with a touch of sadness.

6

Let me speak my part, as I am guilty of this myself. Dunamis, I don’t give a damn what you wear as clothing, unless of course you dress yourself up like Bon Jovi and expect to be taken seriously. If you do not understand by now that my pot-shots at your regarding your clothing and ‘look’ are in jest, like a friendly punch-in-the-arm, then I will not question the sincerity of your complaints. However, something tells me that you know I am kidding when I make those comments, and that you are simply whining about it.

For the record, I think you are an attractive man and I see great potential in your eyes. Your confidence is obvious and I’d have you by my side at a moments notice. With you on my right, and Satyr on my left, I just might be capable of taking over the world. (SIATD would be my propagandist, of course, because he is a master rhetorician)

While we’re at it, I want to ask you this- are you a gentleman who was a member of the MSN ‘Philosophy Cafe’ and the old ‘Thin Edge of Staring,’ who went by the name of Spacer?

You don’t have to answer, obviously, but I am extremely curious, having become informed of your real name in a PM, which, if I recall, was the real name of Spacer. Also, I see parallels in your philosophy, and if you are Spacer, I see perfectly, now, how you have evolved since then and from where you have come.

And now, in cooperation with the project of this thread, I will ask my formal and extremely philosophical question to you:

If it took a chicken and a half, a day and a half, to lay an egg and a half, how long would it take a monkey with a wooden leg to kick the seeds out of a dill pickle?

7

Not Spacer, nope. Sorry.

Dunamis

8

I find it interesting that Detrop knows your real name. Does that make him Robin?

9

Yes, because he is a leader without a following…a soldier without an army. The despair in his eyes spawns from his sense of impotence in his efforts. Dunamis needs a cause and he needs to be useful and active. No, not some Spinozean activity of complacent stoicism, but the Sartrean activity of force and responsibility.

Tomorrow Dunamis will follow me to the promise land…

10

That has a ring of satire to it, but I bet it’s true as a mothafucka!

Our current world of capitalism is not for the thoughtful.

11

Please. Do not try to blame ILP for the way you treat others. That would be childish. And no, I’d rather not argue about it today. :slight_smile:. For what it’s worth I rather like your photo. I think you look like a decent guy.

12

I would also agree with this. Most of the mundane messages are just bored people, and bored people crack jokes and the like. At least me and Ad do during the ‘daytime’ when he’s at work with nothing to do, and I’m inbetween classes.

Still though, Dunamis is right… this place can be subtly cruel, but I mean… that’s life. RL is even more subtly cruel when you stop and think about it, thankfully all the beauty usually negates that.

13

But you do know him, because of the subtlety of your answer.

If you did not know him, your answer would have been simpler and shorter, and not the primary concern of your response. Also, you answer as if the question was an insult. “Nope” says it all. While it should have been simply “no” if you were not concerned with it. Also, it was the only thing in my post that you took an interest in, suggesting that the subject grabbed your attention because it was familiar to you.

Other evidence I have that suggests that you might know Spacer is this: earlier you mentioned the name “Biggie” when you addressed myself and other members in the “Why Rap is Bullshit” thread. ‘Biggie’ was a member of the same two sites I mentioned at the time of Spacer’s participation.

Am I good or am I good? :sunglasses:

14

obw,

I was just thinking that you were about to lock this thread because someone wasn’t paying enough attention to you. Of course if you read what I said closely, I left it indeterminate whether the spirit here “made” me or “allowed” me to act in a certain way. But what I will say is that the moderators and creaters of this site are responsible for the tone and efficacy of its content. It reflects upon them.

Dunamis

15

No really lost. I have no idea what msn internet cafe is, or whatever you call it. Nice detective work though.

Dunamis

16

Not a good detective?

Watch this.

It might be true that you are not aware of Spacer or the sites mentioned, but I would not trust your testimony because in the PM I sent to you requesting your assistance in deciding what I should do about this incident with the contractor, you pretended as if you didn’t know, and said “I have no idea what you are talking about…if you’ll give me a quick summary, I’m sure there is a way we could work through it.”

Now, if this were true, it would mean that you didn’t read my posts prior to my PM. This is unlikely because it is a statistical fact that you read most, if not all my posts the moment you see them, thereby proving that you were lying when claiming your ignorance of my issue with the contractor.

If this is the case, I cannot expect that you would tell the truth about your knowledge of the sites and the member I mentioned. However, I cannot be certain, but only suspectful based from the initial premise that I don’t believe you when you said you were not aware of my issue with the contractor. On my side I have the statistical density of past cases. Against me I have the lack of proof via the consensus fallacy.

But don’t worry about. I’m just speculating and exercising my brain. This is for fun.

17

detrop,

Great fun. Unfortunately I was not up to date on your adventures with the contractor, although I did stumble upon some ridiculous claim to have killed him in Raskolnikov fashion, which immediately caused me to leap from the thread in boredom/repulsion. The only thing I associated with the contractor business was your other plea to have a lengthy treatise translated into the Spanish, which only gave rise to the image of gangs of hammer wielding workers turning against their English speaking colonialist oppressor. Unsure if these two subjects, your dead contractor and the non-anglo uprising proletariat were connected, I didn’t seek to find out more about this no doubt fascinating story.

Dunamis

18

Thank you.

It was my pleasure.

Nice synopsis you made, as well.

Stay tuned for further information.

19

Hmm, so the thread is useless, if you will not answer questions because when you showed your picture you didn’t like the reaction. I have a hard time identifying with that decision, because you have a handsome mainstream look that defies any sort of pointed criticism. I had fun pointing out that you seemed young for your voice. And at the time I had a go at saying “okay, who the fuck are you,” and when you refused I taunted you. For that I’m sorry. The sea change is: time was, you had many of us gunning for you, to raise your ire, to make an adversary out of you, to see what you’re made of, and one way to do this is to humanize you. To see “me” in “you.” (That’s what this questionairre might be motivated by.) The ensuing months have been bizarre. I sense many of us, in the same way we wanted to mess with you, now want to find favor with you. I’d even guess you engineered it that way, by becoming Mommie Dearest and spewing out nonsense words one at a time for hours and hours. The Derrida answer about biography aside, indulge us if you would. Seriously.

  1. Are you gay? You’re not crude and sloppy like Detrop or myself, which reveals his masculinity. You’re “snippy” and precise, which signals to my reptillian brain that you might be gayish. Whitelotus admitted as much. Clearly this one takes courage, so I don’t expect an answer. Nor do I really want one, but others might.

  2. Do you have an advanced degree? What type of college, and what was the degree in?

  3. Do you have or plan on getting on XBOX 360 with internet link? If so, we could kill eachother in virtual space.

  4. How much do you bench and weigh? How many pushups does it take to start feeling a serious burn?

  5. What is your favorite cereal?

  6. Are your parents living?

  7. Do you have siblings? If so, are you the smartest among them?

  8. Do you have a criminal record?

  9. Did you play with explosives as a child? Firecrackers, etc.?

  10. Comcast or Direct TV?

  11. Do you have any major illnesses?

  12. Approx. how many hours a day do you spend online?

  13. Do you have any pets? If not, which pet would you have?

  14. You’ve never posted in creative writing. Is art too revealing a process for you? If you were to compose a poem or story, what would it be like?

  15. Do you have a musical background of any kind?

That’s all I have for now.

20

I object!

I have an obsession with cleanliness and not only will I refuse to wear the same shirt two days in a row (unless of course I am mobilized in the battle-field, in which case I wouldn’t lug my entire wardrobe around with me so that I can move quickly, efficiently, and effectively), I scrub myself visciously in the shower with a rag (most people only use the bar of soap, which is useless because the skin is porous, or that pathetic little pink or tan modern plastic-mesh ball which couldn’t clean the grease off Scevola if his skin was made of glass) and I don’t use the same bar of soap twice. (just kidding about that last one)

I am also obsessive about order- my belongings are arranged hierarchically and with great precision. Not one article of clothing do I cast upon the floor like SIATD (view the picture of Bowser to observe his messy room).

I will say it again, Gamer, so open your fucking ears. I look sweaty and crude because I was playing the drums not moments before that picture was taken. My hair is a mess and my skin is glazed with sweat.