A Conversation With Dahamburgler

My friend Dahamburgler and I wanted to have a conversation about the internet over plurk. Next time we'll just public plurk it then provide a link. Enjoy!

Billchu13 feels

like there's not enough time in the day for all the stuff we want to do

Dahamburgler thinks

the internets (aka Das Webernets aka the toobs, aka Castle Webbenstein) are the real culprit. We spend all day on social sites instead of

Dahamburgler thinks actually be social

Dahamburgler thinks Our lives revolve around avoiding any human contact nowadays

Billchu13 loves the internet, and all its tubes

Billchu13 what's wrong with something that great, even if you're addicted to it?

Dahamburgler It's kind of like Shivers. We, who have been used to it since we are born have to problems with it, but the people on the outside are the

Dahamburgler only people that can be a real judge of whether it is truly a benefit or not. People who are addicted to drugs think they're good too!

Billchu13asks , what' s wrong with drugs? Just because a view is different from yours, even if it's through a different lens, doesn't make it less valid.

Billchu13is browsing the Facebook during this conversation, and dahamburgler is venting w/ freinds

Billchu13

Dahamburglerwonders if we should stay on point. I do not doubt that i rely on the internet too. That is not the question. My query is whether it is hurting us.

Billchu13 I see the Internet as an enabler. As far as communication with people goes, I can have text conversations with my friends all day, not just

Billchu13 when we're on the phone

Dahamburgler Ya, but are we really that against human contact that we can even HEAR each other while conversing. Like right now, you're sitting next to

Dahamburgler me, but we are TALKING not just typing to each other, but conversing in person. I have no problem sending messages when its inconvienient

Dahamburgler but I feel we use it as a replacement rather than a suppliment.

Billchu13 It's a supplement, at least for me

Billchu13 I still need to spend time with real people. Texting/fb-ing is addition, not subtraction

Dahamburgler You say that because you are on the inside and you cannot see properly. Nor can I for that matter. Yet, to quote you

Dahamburgler "Colby, you should get Duels of the Planeswalkers so you don't have to come to my place to play it.

Dahamburgler "

Billchu13 only b/c you don't like coming to my place, but valid point

Billchu13 just because something is so awesome it makes everything else pale by comparison doesn't mean that's a bad thing

Dahamburgler I don't follow...

Billchu13 Being "inside the parasite" doesn't have to be a bad thing. you're working under the assumption that everything that takes away from what

Billchu13 you already have is a bad thing. But sometimes it's time to say "out with the old and in with the new"

Dahamburgler I believe there are pros and cons to everything I just feel people aren't really aware of what they have bought into without realizing it.

Dahamburgler For example, I buy a new computer every 2 years at least because I want to stay up to date on games and programs because I've been

Dahamburgler conditioned to always feel that I should because I was raised in the technologically savvy era.

Billchu13 but maybe... everybody benefits from this computer addiction.

Billchu13thinks this kitty can defend the internet way better than I can

Billchu13thinks

Dahamburgler The argument is not whether the internet is funny or that it is a waste of time, but rather that we spend so much time on the internet

Dahamburgler without even thinking about how we used to communicate. We have "free hugs" people and the "hugbots" so that we can have an artificial

Dahamburgler replacement for actually having to see people and have physical contact with them. "Why go out and make friends and have fun when I can

Dahamburgler sit in this chair and

Dahamburgler 'make friends' on the internet'. I'd much rather go on a hike or find a nice place to sit and read outside than spend all day in the same

Dahamburgler sedentary position all day.

Billchu13 If you wanted to do that, you would. Is your complaint that the Internet is keeping you from doing that?

Dahamburgler No, it's the weather. I'm saying that we should have balance to our laziness.

Billchu13thinks the Internet and digital era are not limiting the things that we do. It's an enabler, not a disabler.

Dahamburgler But maybe it shouldn't be "out with the old" is all I'm saying. We have replaced the old ways with new ones without realizing it.

Dahamburgler Why can we not assimilate the new things with new. I mean its a bit late now, but you get what I mean

Billchu13feels that whenever there's a market for old things, they will come back.

Billchu13 But when there's not a market for something anymore, then what's the point?

Dahamburgler I'm not saying we should bring old things back, I'm just saying we need to be aware of our technological history and the fact that our

Dahamburgler lives revolve around all this new technology that will be as obsolete as the gramophone in due time. I feel Nick Swarthson had a good

Dahamburgler example. When we are grandparents we'll be telling stories about of technological history. Our grandkids will ask about the games we used to

Dahamburgler play and we would say something like "In my time, we used to an incomplete pie chart and we would chase GHOOOSTS!!!" How stupid does that

Dahamburgler sound even now? But it lead to the games we play today, and was part of the technological revolution that lead to modern PCs.

Billchu13 The fact that our technology will be obsolete in ten years in no way lessens its awesomeness. It just makes me even more excited about

Billchu13 THE FUTURE

Billchu13 It's...the future of gaming

Dahamburgler The more important part is the technology of the future that will make some illness a thing of the past

Dahamburgler in any case, I hope that we can simply recognize our reliance on technology. That way we can at least be prepared if, for some reason,

Dahamburgler all our technology stops working

Billchu13 hopes that never happens, my head might explode

Billchu13 I don't think that we have any illusions about our reliance on technology for everything.

Billchu13 But what I'm saying is, technology is great. It's the hyperevolution of the human race.

Billchu13wonders In a hundred years, who knows what we'll be capable of?

Dahamburglerthinks it will be great, but who's to say that we will not be so reliant, that IT runs us...anyhow, it's late and we should go to sleep.

Dahamburglerthinks

TOPIC DISCUSSED! in my opinion.

Vampire Pop Addictions

A lot of my ideas were inspired by this show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQs89Mih8B4&feature=related

Lately I've been thinking about how the media is making us love vampires. As creatures of the id, they've always fascinated me, but their use in "The Twilight Saga" (and to a lesser extent in "True Blood") has become an all but transparent attempt to yank our youth's fragile libidos into the next pop trend.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/akdobbins/twilight-dildo

When I heard about this I almost flipped my shit I laughed so hard. I understand that they are creatures of pure desire, but anyone who would keep a sex toy in their fridge has an unhealthy addiction to the craze. That got me thinking about the market that these V pushers have created and I couldn't help but start to see similar plots everywhere. The media is constantly trying to sell us a fantastic way of life that is sexy, alluring, and unrealistic. And they aren't even being subtle about it anymore; they're just being ironic.

One main observation I made was when I was watching the movie Shivers (1974). Of the many hosts to this strange parasite that was spreading through the population like wildfire and making everyone really horny (not a hard connection to make, right?), Nick Tudor was an extraordinary case. He just seemed ill and distant when he was with others, but when he was alone he would coax his little friends to come out of hiding and let them slither around in his stomach, pushing out on his skin. This exchange between him and his parasites was shown to be masturbatory when he quickly puts them away in response to a comment from his wife in the other room.

Nick's eventual death to the creatures within him was horrific and pitiful, especially given the metaphorical meaning of the parasites. His addiction to the sexual creatures within him drives him to obsession and death. The worst thing about it is that this kind of thing happens to real people all the time. Addiction affects all of us in some way, and many of us are now addicted to a metaphorical representation of addiction.