Principia Discordia

Quote from: Cramulus on March 16, 2009, 08:18:57 PM
-well I think a board project would help. We have these periods of amazing activity and discussion following the launch / conclusion of any project. Group efforts help create group dynamics.

I've been thinking about that post. And I've come up with this thought.
What we need to do (Oh god Rog is going to hate me for this) is a positive sort of support for Discordian work both on the interwebs and beyond.
Go to commonly visited websites and pimp the hell out of this shit.
OR
We could create a new work like BIP.
And then Pimp that.
Your thoughts?

Do you have any examples of what you mean? "A positive sort of support for Discordian work" is pretty vague--not bad, but it doesn't exactly prompt great ideas to leap to mind.


I'm getting the impression that there are a lot of people behind the "PD is getting lame! How can we save it and do something cool at the same time?" thought process, but no one's stepping up with ideas. Hey, it's cool, I'm not either. The fact still stands that a bunch of heads nodding in agreement don't produce results.

Just going to throw out some stuff.
Well, what DO we do, and what of it is good?

We turn out various writings,  "public services" like posterGASM, bounce off of each other on topics or current events, and troll people / situations we think we can have fun with.

In a more serious, less confrontational way, we could seed discordian ideas, elsewhere as a sort of "this is how we get into the idea, we're not all pinealist assholes", sort of mission.  This would require accepting it if good stuff starts happening elsewhere, we can't be attached to "keeping" it for the PD community if we try to grow it that way.

Personally, I'd love to see the idea of Discordia get wider credit for unique POV / philosophy.  The zeitgeist impression seems to get caught on folks who use it as an excuse to be pointless / excessively wacky and crazed methhead "Discordian Peace Ambassadors".
It pisses me off that the impression is there, and there isn't the counterpoint of the deeper side of things.  Not that PD is the "REALLY REAL", sect of Discord, and we're not a group / philosophy / whatever that everyone can get behind. 
We are NOT for public consumption, and missionary work is right out.

So, what DO you want to see?

The Fractal Prank

I'd like to see a time-coordinated, multinational prank that preys upon people's uncritical media consumption in such a horrible way that people only get some things resolved when it's finally revealed as a prank. It ought to be so ingenious that merely describing what happened to other people acts as another layer of prankery and suggests more layers to the prank which haven't been revealed.

It would require an incredible degree of social engineering, but if we succeeded it would be legendary.

The ways this could manifest might be thought of as nesting a prank within a prank within a prank and so on.

Here's one possible scheme visualized:


How many pranks could we nest inside one another? Even one inside another may be enough for people to infer more, but if we got three inside one another—holy shit a legend is born.

If my little graphics didn't make it clear, what would be occurring is that a social dynamic would both be a basic prank structure (figure one) and in a larger context would be a collective target interacting with a collective bait, collective revealing mechanism, and collective audience (figure II).

It would be a feat of absolute brilliance to get this to three nests, let alone two, so we should shoot for three.

I know this is a lofty goal, but we're all extremely intelligent and creative people, right?

Did you see the little faces? I don't know why but I think they look like Mourning Star...

Also, I hate you guys so much I used Arial. UNNNNNNNNG! In your eye holes!

Okay heres it a little more specific
As horrible as it sounds I think what we need really is an Evangelicalism of the Discordian movement. And while theres no way that Discordia is going to overspread any world continent country or even state a little bit more people joining or at least thinking about it
For instance: BIP Specific postergasms that would intrigue people enough to actually check it out or make it easy for some one to find other Discordian related works.

Quote from: Automaton on March 18, 2009, 12:19:22 AM

It would require an incredible degree of social engineering, but if we succeeded it would be legendary.
It would be a feat of absolute brilliance to get this to three nests, let alone two, so we should shoot for three.

I think this is the heart of my idea.
We have good ideas but we really don't have the manpower or connections to pull it off.

Hey, I'd be on board for some evangelizing, since I'm guessing the Fractal Prank is probably too lofty and insane for most of us to seriously consider.

Lofty? Yes. Insane? No.

The simplest way would be taking old postergasms and fixing them up with either the html of the PD website or BIP wiki. The only problem is we would look like some sort of viral marketing campaign
OR
Just writing Black Iron Prison or anything else someone would be likely to search on the googles at the bottom.

Quote from: The Pariah on March 18, 2009, 12:27:45 AM
Lofty? Yes. Insane? No.

The simplest way would be taking old postergasms and fixing them up with either the html of the PD website or BIP wiki. The only problem is we would look like some sort of viral marketing campaign
OR
Just writing Black Iron Prison or anything else someone would be likely to search on the googles at the bottom.

I think there would have to be one more cue besides the words "Black Iron Prison" so people could differentiate it from Philip K. Dick.

Or maybe the ambiguity would serve our purposes.

:mind ray:

Getting more of it out there, beyond BIP stuff, would be great.  Some of the more neutral / upbeat stuff could serve as a good hook.

I am inclined against "Evangelism", it makes it sound too much like we're trying to get converts.  Evanlgeism has more conversion - as - goal connotation.   It shouldn't be a goal or a contest to find people / win hearts and minds.  In my mind making it available, visible, and seeing who bites it more the idea.  If we set out to get converts and recruits we are guaranteed to end up with an assload of the easily converted or coerced. 

Quote from: Richter on March 18, 2009, 12:49:27 AM
Getting more of it out there, beyond BIP stuff, would be great.  Some of the more neutral / upbeat stuff could serve as a good hook.

I am inclined against "Evangelism", it makes it sound too much like we're trying to get converts.  Evanlgeism has more conversion - as - goal connotation.   It shouldn't be a goal or a contest to find people / win hearts and minds.  In my mind making it available, visible, and seeing who bites it more the idea.  If we set out to get converts and recruits we are guaranteed to end up with an assload of the easily converted or coerced. 

What about telling people who are basically already discordians but just didn't know discordia existed?

Quote from: Automaton on March 18, 2009, 02:15:14 AM

Quote from: Richter on March 18, 2009, 12:49:27 AM
Getting more of it out there, beyond BIP stuff, would be great.  Some of the more neutral / upbeat stuff could serve as a good hook.

I am inclined against "Evangelism", it makes it sound too much like we're trying to get converts.  Evanlgeism has more conversion - as - goal connotation.   It shouldn't be a goal or a contest to find people / win hearts and minds.  In my mind making it available, visible, and seeing who bites it more the idea.  If we set out to get converts and recruits we are guaranteed to end up with an assload of the easily converted or coerced. 

What about telling people who are basically already discordians but just didn't know discordia existed?

Thats more of what I was thinking
I couldn't really think of a better word at the time

Quote from: The Pariah on March 18, 2009, 04:40:08 AM

Quote from: Automaton on March 18, 2009, 02:15:14 AM

Quote from: Richter on March 18, 2009, 12:49:27 AM
Getting more of it out there, beyond BIP stuff, would be great.  Some of the more neutral / upbeat stuff could serve as a good hook.

I am inclined against "Evangelism", it makes it sound too much like we're trying to get converts.  Evanlgeism has more conversion - as - goal connotation.   It shouldn't be a goal or a contest to find people / win hearts and minds.  In my mind making it available, visible, and seeing who bites it more the idea.  If we set out to get converts and recruits we are guaranteed to end up with an assload of the easily converted or coerced. 

What about telling people who are basically already discordians but just didn't know discordia existed?

Thats more of what I was thinking
I couldn't really think of a better word at the time

That's what I'm in favor of too.  I get REALLY pissed at attempts to convert / witness / evangelize, (especially from the Christian traditions, since they HAVE damn references telling them NOT TO DO IT THAT WAY.)

I think what would really help is talking to seemingly like - minded assholes on forums, other IRC channels, IRL, and having links / printouts / hard copies of some of the good stuff, and see if they want to get into things from there. 

I don't see numbers of posters on the board, or people filling in "Discordian" as their official religion as a goal.  What works for me is showing folks that it can be an intersting an intelligent philosophy that still knows not to take itself seriously.  Whether they show up to play or not, we're still spreading something we've found useful or thought provoking ourselves. 

yeah, word. What we're doing is not really "evangelism" because we're not seeking to convert anybody to anything. Most converts are TRUE BELIEVER types anyway, and Discordia's already got too many of them IMO. But Evangelism makes sense because that's what other religions do when they're trying to spread the word.



Re: Fractal Prank
the self-perpetuating prank-within-a-prank was one of the original goals of OMGASM - to create a network of participatory stunts which refreshes and revitalizes itself with every iteration. Has it worked? I'd be interested in hearing people's thoughts.

I'm having a bit of trouble conceptualizing how we turn the audience into the second iteration pranksters and/or victims. Can you give a more concrete (or limited) example?

I am skeptical of projects which do not have a specific plan, but are launched with the phrase "It would require an incredible degree of social engineering, but if we succeeded it would be legendary." It already sounds like an unattainable goal. I think it's best to start with something smaller scale which we could build on as it grows and changes.

OK, I guess I got stuck on the evanelism and didn't get past street corner preachers telling me I'm going to hell.

SO....  Is this something planned for us to do on other forums or IRL?

I can argue till I'm blue the advantages of both, but I don't want to go on a tangent. 

My problem is I don't know where to look.

Okay I'm declaring the first plan of attack/action. This one is to find any already Discordians and introduce them to GASMs/BIP.
I think the best place to start would be on community sites like DevianART YouTube etc. etc.

oh and stumbleupon would be a good one.
The good thing is that this project is a passive one and does not take an extreme amount of your time. If you see a discordian work, whether it be painting writing whatever, from someone you don't recognize from this forum just send em a link, preferably to the BIP wiki.

I like, direct the obviously like minded to our resources.

I'm brainstorming of stuff along the "Fight Club" homework assignemnet route.  
- Pitch a rant in public
- Strike up a conversation with a stranger in a line.
- Geurilla information kiosk.  

At best, this will find the assignee like minded folks, and maybe simialr fucktards for boards / local IRL projects.
At worst, we get ignored or brushed off.  No sweat, not knowing them they were expendable people anyways.

What y'all think?

I like it.
I'll start that today.

Quote from: The Pariah on March 19, 2009, 03:17:03 PM
Okay I'm declaring the first plan of attack/action. This one is to find any already Discordians and introduce them to GASMs/BIP.
I think the best place to start would be on community sites like DevianART YouTube etc. etc.

:mittens:

Excellent. Let's pick some big media distribution points
(youtube, deviantart, flickr communities, LJ communities, etc)
and start generating media to match the medium.

on youtube we could do talks about the BIP or Discordia or whatever... actually, Hoopla's already doing that - is there a way we can get his platform to a larger audience?
what's the best way to get click-throughs from DeviantArt? Is it by posting art?

This seems to cross over a lot with your other thread, Cram.

I've been meaning to do a lot of crossover - ing with a yet - to - be created LJ type thing. 
Gauranteed hits get expensive, but a lot of us doing some networking across many platforms would ease the spread.

Cram, you can also get clicks by making insightful or inflammatory comments on other people's art, in their forums, their news posts, and in various chatrooms.

How will we know we've succeeded in exporting discordia? Is this a useful question to ask at this point or are we going to play it more by ear?

Quote from: Automaton on March 19, 2009, 10:25:49 PM
How will we know we've succeeded in exporting discordia? Is this a useful question to ask at this point or are we going to play it more by ear?

Exporting Chaos is not a path to a door, but a ever winding road into the sunset.  :fnord:

Okay I'm going to get a start on DeviantArt

Oh and if any of you spags are members of DeviantART please announce ITT. It would make me feel like an idiot to message one of you guys about the BIP

I can't draw for shit.  Unless Deviant metal work is an option...

Niether can I. Mainly used for trolling purposes.

 :lulz:
Well, this should be fun.

Most of my stuff got deleted due to copyright use.

Apparently the monalisa is copyrighted

Quote from: The Pariah on March 20, 2009, 01:49:47 AM
Most of my stuff got deleted due to copyright use.

Apparently the monalisa is copyrighted

More likely every photograph is.  Trademarked, if nothing else.  Fuck if it matters.

Quote from: Richter on March 19, 2009, 03:28:04 PM
I like, direct the obviously like minded to our resources.

I'm brainstorming of stuff along the "Fight Club" homework assignemnet route.  
- Pitch a rant in public
- Strike up a conversation with a stranger in a line.
- Geurilla information kiosk.  

At best, this will find the assignee like minded folks, and maybe simialr fucktards for boards / local IRL projects.
At worst, we get ignored or brushed off.  No sweat, not knowing them they were expendable people anyways.

What y'all think?

Holy shit.  Why have I never thought of this?

So there's this stand, like a children's lemonade stand, or Lucy's "The Doctor Is In" thingy, it's labeled "Guerrilla Information Kiosk," and the guy standing there is wearing a shirt that says "Ask me anything!"  Maybe there's a placard on it saying "Today's Theme Is _______ ."  It's stocked with maps of the area and local bus routes, maybe a math textbook or three, an encyclopedia set, and a laptop with an internet connection.

Quote from: The Pariah on March 20, 2009, 01:49:47 AM
Most of my stuff got deleted due to copyright use.

Apparently the monalisa is copyrighted

Assuming both you and the host are in the US:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/7135039/DMCA-counternotification-letter-template  DMCA counterclaim template.  Also demand a copy of the original claim.  It should have a signature filed under penalty of perjury.


IANAL, this is not legal advice, talking to a lawyer may be worthwhile, since if I remember right, you are now owed a large sum of money. a waste of time, you're only owed damages you can prove.

Quote from: Two Frame Animation on March 20, 2009, 03:26:56 AM

Quote from: Richter on March 19, 2009, 03:28:04 PM
I like, direct the obviously like minded to our resources.

I'm brainstorming of stuff along the "Fight Club" homework assignemnet route.  
- Pitch a rant in public
- Strike up a conversation with a stranger in a line.
- Geurilla information kiosk.  

At best, this will find the assignee like minded folks, and maybe simialr fucktards for boards / local IRL projects.
At worst, we get ignored or brushed off.  No sweat, not knowing them they were expendable people anyways.

What y'all think?

Holy shit.  Why have I never thought of this?

So there's this stand, like a children's lemonade stand, or Lucy's "The Doctor Is In" thingy, it's labeled "Guerrilla Information Kiosk," and the guy standing there is wearing a shirt that says "Ask me anything!"  Maybe there's a placard on it saying "Today's Theme Is _______ ."  It's stocked with maps of the area and local bus routes, maybe a math textbook or three, an encyclopedia set, and a laptop with an internet connection.

Or just a "Kindle" on a chain. 

I'm glad that you caught that, I almost forgot it.  The idea would basically be what you said, but go beyond anything local tourism would WANT you to know.  For example:

Liquor store locations
Porn shops / theatres
Strip clubs
Likely places to score drugs
Frank assessments of how safe an area is
Quickest route to a walk - in clinic
Cheap tailor / luggage repair (as opposed to hotel)
Where to buy some good boots.
Game stores, and schedules of open games / tournaments / drafts they are running
Schedules of off- beat activities
Where ball games, parkour, acrobatics, or fight clubs tend to happen

It'd be a great way to direct people to some of the lesser acknowledged parts of a city and screen for likeminded folks. 

Quote from: Automaton on March 18, 2009, 12:19:22 AM
How many pranks could we nest inside one another? Even one inside another may be enough for people to infer more, but if we got three inside one another—holy shit a legend is born.

If my little graphics didn't make it clear, what would be occurring is that a social dynamic would both be a basic prank structure (figure one) and in a larger context would be a collective target interacting with a collective bait, collective revealing mechanism, and collective audience (figure II).

It would be a feat of absolute brilliance to get this to three nests, let alone two, so we should shoot for three.

they already did this in Japan, but before they reached the fifth level, they hit a fundamental limit of the universe: the Pranck-length.

Quote from: Triple Zero on March 20, 2009, 06:49:11 PM

Quote from: Automaton on March 18, 2009, 12:19:22 AM
How many pranks could we nest inside one another? Even one inside another may be enough for people to infer more, but if we got three inside one another—holy shit a legend is born.

If my little graphics didn't make it clear, what would be occurring is that a social dynamic would both be a basic prank structure (figure one) and in a larger context would be a collective target interacting with a collective bait, collective revealing mechanism, and collective audience (figure II).

It would be a feat of absolute brilliance to get this to three nests, let alone two, so we should shoot for three.

they already did this in Japan, but before they reached the fifth level, they hit a fundamental limit of the universe: the Pranck-length.

*groan*

in some sense...  ;-)

Project Idea:

The Fat Eris Cook Book

the spags of the recipie forum all post their favorite dishes, with pictures.

once we have 15 or 20, we throw it in a book and hit print


book can also contain advice, anecdotes, and straight-up pranks that will make you think you're making some sauce, but it really turns the whole meal bright green

and your urine purple


or, you know, set your kitchen on fire

So, intentional culinary sabotage?

Quote from: Cramulus on March 20, 2009, 07:31:31 PM
Project Idea:

The Fat Eris Cook Book

the spags of the recipie forum all post their favorite dishes, with pictures.

once we have 15 or 20, we throw it in a book and hit print


book can also contain advice, anecdotes, and straight-up pranks that will make you think you're making some sauce, but it really turns the whole meal bright green

and your urine purple


or, you know, set your kitchen on fire

We need this as a thread in Mech. Recovered Meat Hole. 

We were trying a long troll on a christian wives board a while back, I think there were a few "domestic catastrophe" posts, like throwing an ink cartridge into the washing machine to remove stains.  That could be fun to bring back.

Quote from: LMNO on March 20, 2009, 07:32:24 PM
So, intentional culinary sabotage?

actually, your "cooking with LMNO" thread, would make a really cool regular picture-cookbook, if nicely layouted and printed full colour :) but that might turn out to be slightly expensive...

Quote from: Requia on March 20, 2009, 03:59:11 AM

Quote from: The Pariah on March 20, 2009, 01:49:47 AM
Most of my stuff got deleted due to copyright use.

Apparently the monalisa is copyrighted

Assuming both you and the host are in the US:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/7135039/DMCA-counternotification-letter-template  DMCA counterclaim template.  Also demand a copy of the original claim.  It should have a signature filed under penalty of perjury.


IANAL, this is not legal advice, talking to a lawyer may be worthwhile, since if I remember right, you are now owed a large sum of money. a waste of time, you're only owed damages you can prove.

Thanks

I'm going to set up an  information Kiosk the next time a convention is in town

Quote from: Cramulus on March 20, 2009, 07:31:31 PM
Project Idea:

The Fat Eris Cook Book

the spags of the recipie forum all post their favorite dishes, with pictures.

once we have 15 or 20, we throw it in a book and hit print


book can also contain advice, anecdotes, and straight-up pranks that will make you think you're making some sauce, but it really turns the whole meal bright green

and your urine purple


or, you know, set your kitchen on fire

I can get a start on this.

If anyone has an idea for a picture to go on the front page please to tell

Quote from: The Pariah on March 20, 2009, 11:22:53 PM
If anyone has an idea for a picture to go on the front page please to tell

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Featured_picture

A lot of them are huge, which means they'll print well (if you reformat them to somewhere between 180 - 300 pixels per inch).

Thanks.
Though something more related to cooking would help

(http://i470.photobucket.com/albums/rr70/AidanGriff/Picture1.png?t=1237766678)
I'm going to post this here as well.
This is the very very very rough draft of the cover.
Feedback?

If that's the rough draft, I can't wait to see how you develop it.

You might consider your visual hierarchy and make it a more deliberate sequence.

But, I really like how you've started it—good typefaces, cool red triangular element...