Combatwords, Friday January 14, 2011: Identity and Reality
We take many shapes and forms. There is the known self, the unknown self; the self others see in us and the identity we see in the other. Philip K Dick was concerned that real wasn't as real as it used to be (rather, that he was not as sane as he used to be...). If we can't know our selves, then how can we know others, much less the reality that surrounds us all?
CombatWords September 10, 2010: Conditioned Responses
I was going to make Culture the theme of this combat, but culture is only one of the many means through which our reflexes are shaped. Family, trauma, love; playing it safe, playing it dangerous: all of these factors contribute to the responses that shape who we are. Genes play a role, but so does art. In the 60s, lots of speculative fiction called androids 'reflex machines.' Is that all we are? A bundle of reflexes? Is BF Skinner right in the essential, even if he was wrong with particulars?
Combat Expiration: 9/12/2010, Midnight, PST
Critique Expiration: 9/13/2010, Midnight, PST
Bonuses: +3 if posted by 6pm PST (9/10/2010), +2 if posted by 9pm PST (9/10/2010), and +1 for midnight PST (9/11/2010) posts. -1 per hour, for posts that go up after Combat Expiration: Max -2.
Yellow Cards/Red Cards: This is a game of literary combat. Have a grudge? Try OUTWRITING your nemesis. Ordinary shit talk is not allowed, except as critique. You get one shot at critique, so get all your licks in one post. I don't mind bending the rules a bit, but problem posters get one warning in the form of a yellow card. Additional, blatant violations of the rules will result in a red card. Red cards mean I will delete all that poster's identifiable posts on the thread. I will permaban anyone who is persistently disruptive. If you can't be bothered to even try to outwrite your enemies, you don't belong here.
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