DUNE Pykewater Challenge

[rapture1 No.16671265]

New thread, want to give anons plenty of time:

The Pykewater Library is happy to kick off its first monthly writing competition with some classic Sci-Fi. The winner of the competition will receive a new copy of the illustrated Folio Society publication of Frank Herbert’s Dune.

Prompt: Please write an essay on the idea of outer space as a political frontier.

Conditions: Essays may be exploratory or argumentative in nature. Minimum of 250 words, maximum of 5,000. To enter, please submit in Microsoft Word format or as a PDF to [e-mail] with the subject line “Pykewater Challenge: Dune.” All essays should be submitted by 11:59 PM, Nov. 30th, 2020.

The winning essay will be announced by mid-December and will be featured on the Pykewater website.

For info on the Pykwater website: https://pykewater.com/pykewater-challenge

For info on the prize book: https://www.foliosociety.com/usa/dune.html

[rapture1 No.16671284]

>>16671265

will be bumping with book still lifes.

[rapture1 No.16671296]

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[Anonymous No.16671790]

>>16671265
I asked this in a previous thread but didn’t get an answer
What do you mean by essay? Would a creative take on the prompt be accepted, like a screen play or something?

[Anonymous No.16671866]

>>16671597
I like those blocks

[Anonymous No.16671962]

>>16671790
>please write an essay on the idea of outer space as a political frontier
>essays may be exploratory or argumentative in nature

learn to read anon

[Anonymous No.16671991]

>>16671284
>>16671296
>>16671310
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>>16671640

where do you get these from anon?
they're nice

[rapture1 No.16672181]

>>16671790
>>16671962
I'd accept anything of quality but I'd certainly prefer a more structured, traditional essay, however you want to construe that.
One anon has submitted a screen play already, actually.

>>16671866
>>16671991
Thank you--the images are actually produced at my own graphic design studio, associated with the greater library: https://pykewater.com/pykewater-studios

The question to which the images respond to is: how best to market knowledge/books to an instagram-oriented generation?

These images are early attempts at a new experimental advertising campaign where something as abstract as "ideas" themselves can benefit from modern PR techniques.

[rapture1 No.16672235]

>>16672181

[rapture1 No.16672249]

>>16672235

[Anonymous No.16672283]

I've never written an essay for a contest or anything but this sounds cool
I might try it

[rapture1 No.16672355]

>>16672283
Thanks anon, looking forward to your submission

[Anonymous No.16672409]

>>16672355
Should I read dune or anything to get info for it?

[rapture1 No.16672468]

>>16672409
Nope, not necessary at all--I wanted the prompt to just be loosely affiliated with the prize. I thought it would be sorta odd to ask anons to write about a book that they would then win--like you probably already have DUNE at that point and the prize would be a little moot.

The prompt can be engaged from whatever angle you think would best address it; DUNE is one possibility but certainly not required or expected.

[Anonymous No.16672616]

>>16672468
What if it was an essay about WMDs in space and how countries have handled it?

[Anonymous No.16673433]

Hey Rapture, I just want to say that you're doing god's work with the library, the lists, the studio, and now the essay contest. It's just amazing for someone to use their fortune to help spread the access to and the love of knowledge. I'll definitely be considering writing this essay

[Anonymous No.16673443]

>>16671265
>Please write an essay on the idea of outer space as a political frontier
dumb prompt

[Anonymous No.16673613]

Is this part of your gay project to create a new political ideology?

[rapture1 No.16674136]

>>16672616
If its well-thought out, well-articulated, provocative, etc.--then absolutely.
really the emphasis is on quality rather than a specific form. as i mentioned above, i tend to personally prefer a more traditional essay structure just in terms of readability, but i am very much open to accepting a breadth of options--just as long as they represent some real effort or talent.

>>16673433
That's extremely kind of you, thank you very much for this. I hope you know that the entire effort is being made to reach someone like you. to that extent, if ever i can help mold it to better fit your needs/wants, absolutely let me know. thanks again for such kindness.

>>16673443
yeah, it was a first attempt and i wanted it to be broad enough for anyone to really approach it. future contests will have perhaps several options or just a more refined starting point.

>>16673613
yes.

[rapture1 No.16674153]

>>16674136

[Anonymous No.16674396]

>>16671265
You are a gay nigger.
Yep I'm based.
Fuck Rapture and fuck Rapture slaves

[Anonymous No.16674417]

Is Dune really that popular

[rapture1 No.16674433]

>>16674396
I don’t know why you capitalize the “R”
It’s always been a little “r”

[rapture1 No.16674441]

>>16674417
I wanted to find something that seemed culturally relevant (new movie on the horizon) while also being somewhat of a mainstay around here for genre enthusiasts. The folio edition is a nice one and i thought would make for a sought-after prize.

What types of prizes would you be most interested in? What books do you think would lend themselves most to this type of competition? This is a first attempt at something like; i hope to gather feedback and refine it over time.

[Anonymous No.16674458]

>>16674441
How about something more widely popular, like Harry Potter, or something deeply classical but also popular, like Sherlock Holmes or Charles Dickens

[rapture1 No.16674466]

>>16674441

[rapture1 No.16674481]

>>16674458
Good calls. My lineup coming up for a December and January competition was going to be the limited edition folio society copy of Alice in wonderland and then the illiustrated, full single-volume copy Harper Collins copy of lord of the rings.

I think the classics are the way to go for some literary prizes. I’m thinking of developing more artistic ventures as well: maybe a playwriting competition, a competition for the visual arts, etc. Ideally i want to respond to a range of anons abilities and talents and set up a whole rotating host of similar competitions.

Thanks for the feedback, anon—very appreciated and very helpful.

[Anonymous No.16674498]

>>16674481
If you wanted, why not have greater and lesser prizes for a first, second and third place? Or a couple of prizes one of which the first place winner may choose? I lean more towards the former, but these are all merely suggestions and not demands.

[Anonymous No.16674513]

>>16674498
and also post the winning and honorable mention entries on your website

[Anonymous No.16674585]

Im not going to submit an essay, but Id like to present my thoughts here, in relation to the themes present in the 6 dune novels.

Politics only serve men insofar as they establish the rules boundaries of civilization which we will break at a later date. But the rules and boundaries cannot be established until there is a direct exploration of the unknown. The process is as follows, the unknown becomes a known, and a new order is established. This is exactly what has happened in every stage of human civilization: there is a technological advancement, which in turn creates a new social pressure, and the political landscape is changed to meet the new demands, from the invention of agriculture and the first city states, to the steam engine and rise of communism. Therefore, the idea of a political frontier is an oxymoron in its nature. Politics have never, and will never exist in the unknown. The same is true for commerce, and this idea is expressed perfectly in dune. The Bene Geseret, choam, the laansrad, even prescience: these represent the known bodies which humanity is constantly trying to break free from.

> And always, he fought the temptation to choose a clear, safe course, warning 'That path leads ever down into stagnation.

[Anonymous No.16675087]

>>16674136
Hey Rapture, I'm >>16673433

I'm a High School Senior (I just turned 18, mods) and for the past few months I was looking for some philosophy/political essay contests to do to spice up my College application. I did find one ran by an Oxford College which I did, but honestly I thought there was a lack of essay contests online. So I'm glad you started these monthly contests; I think the prompt for this one is really cool too. But if you're looking to expand Pykewater in the future, an idea might be to do something for Teens with literature/philosophy/etc. but I don't have any specific ideas. Anyway, thanks again for your work and dedication in the spread of Knowledge.

[Anonymous No.16675365]

>>16674481
lol you're a polesmoker.

[Anonymous No.16676029]

>>16671284
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>>16671640
these are giga cringe, its like what a 14 y/o rich kid hipster thinks is cool

[Anonymous No.16676037]

>>16672468
Okay Pykewater guy, I'm making coffee and outlining my essay. You got me with the regular threads. It's 4am in the morning and I havent slept a week but my new job doesnt start until sunday so what the hell. Let's fuckin go.

[Anonymous No.16676133]

>>16674136
>new political ideology
Excuse me Sir, I would like to participate in your competition but first I have a question: How based are you?

[rapture1 No.16676172]

>>16674498
This is some great feedback, thank you. I’ve been considering a three-tier system for prizes like you mentioned: i decided to wait on these first couple of rounds of the experiment if only because 1. I don’t anticipate having too many submissions at the get-go, and 2. As a result, i want to showcase the absolute best rather than a mediocre selection. With time and hopefully a greater reach of participants that is exactly the way to go, i think.’
I’m planning on posting the winning entry as-is; I like the idea of honorable mentions or runners up, though. Will most likely incorporate.

>>16674585
>politics can never exist in the unknown
What would you say to the Aristotelian/Peircian notion that there is an unbuilt democracy to the unknown?

>>16675087
Hey man, great posts, thank you again for such quality and thoughtful feedback, extremely happy to hear that I’m engaging the next generation on here as well.
Your idea of opening up the competitions to teens is absolutely great, and i want to pursue that. Currently i find it rather intimidating, however; i feel like i would need to calibrate a great deal politically at this point to meet certain demands or expectations, and certainly just judging and dealing with a teen competition takes its own form of energy.
Creatively breaking into that market is pretty much the next major step. I need more research under my belt to figure out what would actually work in that type of context.

>>16676029
>what a 14 y/o rich kid hipster thinks is cool
Good, that’s absolutely the point.

>>16676037
Looking forward to your submission!

[Anonymous No.16677138]

Comfy enough idea. Will submit.

[Anonymous No.16677977]

>>16676172
stop advertising your gay little project shitass

[Anonymous No.16678348]

Sounds cool, I don't know how to write an essay because I only ever received primary education, where do you begin with that sort of thing? I find it hard to write more than 10 words.

[rapture1 No.16678349]

>>16676172

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[rapture1 No.16678695]

>>16678628
a new requested reading list is now active: Guerrilla Urbanism - Urban Transformation

pykewater.com/politics/2020/10/29/guerrilla-urbanism-urban-transformation

enjoy!

[rapture1 No.16679219]

>>16678695

[Anonymous No.16679836]

>>16671265
>political frontier
It has to be watered down politically correct shit to win, right?

[Anonymous No.16680532]

>>16679219
Keep spamming to keep your own gay advertising thread alive queer

[rapture1 No.16680601]

>>16679836
What do you even mean by this?

If you think I want to read some extremist, re-shilled drivel, I definitely do not. If you somehow find a way to make an original, persuasive argument from an extremist perspective, then sure, you could win—but at that point you’ve won a lot more than my silly competition.

Traditionalism, extremism, etc.—it is very rare when these ideologies and attitudes go hand in hand with persuasive or truly ingenious writing. If you want to make this an opportunity to prove to be the exception, then—all the luck to you! I am only closed off to stupid ideas presented poorly.

[Anonymous No.16681053]

>>16680601
Exactly as I thought. Begone, shill.

[rapture1 No.16681252]

>>16680601

[Anonymous No.16681557]

>>16681252
Fuck off faggot. No one wants to enter your gay ass contest. Kill yourself nigger.

[rapture1 No.16681657]

>>16681252

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>>16681657

[rapture1 No.16681952]

>>16681667

[Anonymous No.16681972]

>>16671265
hey man i know youre an academic and maybe this is your default and you have cancer or something so i do have human sympathy for you but referring to yourself as this "pykewater library" thing and trying to force the meme of your personal hobby seems pretty quixotic to me be well

[rapture1 No.16681984]

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[Anonymous No.16682939]

>>16676029
>cringe
Eh, it's not entirely cringe, though a fair bit of it is. Some are alright.

[Anonymous No.16683051]

>>16671265
i'm trying to write an essay i hope it gets finished

[Anonymous No.16683099]

>>16671265
>>16682048
Do footnotes count against the wordcount Rapture?

[Anonymous No.16683605]

>>16679836
Most likely. The guy that's running this is a bourgeois progressive liberal type who had "BLM" plastered all over his website during the height of the craze.

[rapture1 No.16683972]

>>16683099
Nah have as many footnotes as you’d like

>>16683605
>bourgeois progressive liberal type
Yeah, he’s really not,. If you think I don’t want to waste my time reading some reactionary bullshit, double that for some leftist drivel.

The fact that the other poster asked if it has to be watered down politically and my answer was basically “sure, if you can make it good”—it was here that he backed out. It’s here someone like you backs out, too—you know, the point of any effort, etc.

>>16683051
Looking forward to reading it!

[rapture1 No.16683988]

>>16683972
>>16683605
>>16681053

Anons can choose literally any topic
I am open to literally any topic

What i ask, what i have asked, what i continue to ask: quality in thought and presentation.

That this translates into a political gatekeeping standard—well i gotta say, the ball is way more in your court than mine.

[Anonymous No.16685158]

bump for interest

[Anonymous No.16685605]

>>16683972
>>16683988
>doesn't deny BLM posting on his website
>scared of 'extremism'

[rapture1 No.16685802]

>>16685605
>r8 my b8 m8
2/10

good excuse to bump, though.

[Anonymous No.16685864]

>>16685802
>doesn't deny using his website to shill for BLM

[rapture1 No.16685875]

>>16685802

[rapture1 No.16685878]

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[rapture1 No.16685880]

>>16685864
I'm just gonna say that i dont think this competition is really up your alley.
you can stay and help bump the thread, but emotionally i would probably move on.

[Anonymous No.16685883]

>>16685880
I'm just gonna say you're a faggot

[rapture1 No.16685886]

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>>16685945

[Anonymous No.16687171]

I already submitted my attempt, but I feel inclined to share it here with the other anons. In the form of a short story, because why not?

[Anonymous No.16687175]

HOLTB40-2537

(1)
To whom it may concern, this is captain Holloway of the US-TB40 aircraft currently located in the outer skirts of the large magellanic cloud. We are required by law to write a journal each day documenting what happened, but since nothing special in particular happened today and since I also know that all this pile of junk will just be processed by a machine who will never understand the irony and sarcarm of my discourse I feel like rambling a bit. Man gets to do so after a drink or two, something a machine will also never understand. You see, we thought we had it all. "Space, the final frontier", to quote the idealists of the last centuries, "a chance for man to conquer the stars, a chance to unite all with a common purpose, a common goal". How naive were they really?

[Anonymous No.16687185]

(2)
First there were the colonies in Mars and on the Moon. Though initially subjected to Earth, the growing changes in the morphology of the Lunians, all due to the different gravitational field, quickly instilled a sense of identity in them. "We're not earthians, look how young we look. The tiranny of gravity does not apply to us, we have no sagging of cheek or drooping of breast". For many years there was a divide on Earth caused by the color of the skin, something which would only be resolved after the reforms of the year 2287. The Lunians then dared to ressurrect the ethnical matter on the basis of a supposed accidentaly achieved neoteny.
It was at least comical. But they suceeded, effectively separating
themselves from Earth's government.

[Anonymous No.16687193]

(3)
Mars followed shortly although for different reasons. The initial goverment installed on Mars was lead by a young entrepeneur who was eager to attract as many people with him. What he didn't expect were the growing restrictions imposed by Earth. Poor devil, he would speak of genetically altering grains to yield more crop only to be met with denial from Earth. In the end, his dangerous ideas led him to take dangerous decisions, he led a coup against Earth's forces in what became known as the first Martian revolt. The conflict grew and grew with the years and the leader was eventually captured and murdered. This turned out to be a poor decision, because many of the guy's friends on Earth, technocrats mainly, who were initially hesitant to join the revoltution turned one hundred eighty degrees against Earth, completely altering the outcome of the war and leading Mars to independence. The leader's legacy now remains alive on the planet, where technology thrives, but a grudge against Earth remains.

[Anonymous No.16687217]

(4)
What a lad, one more drink to him! We now come to this poor's man situation as captain of a ship in the middle of nowhere, more drunk than intended but still able to spit some truths. I joined the USSF to deliver goods and serve my country the best I could, but the growing scandals and exposés of coallitions made me lose my faith in such thing as nationalism. Are countries even a thing when there exists a global network of corruption, influencing every step of the election? To see the planet as a whole, makes for a more connected government, but what they didn't anticipate is that it also makes for a more corrupt government, on a global scale! On a planetary scale even! We've had countless wars for pitiful resources by today's standards. Even though space stretchs out far into infinity, man's greed knows no limits. Whatever is more advantageous will be done, and to hell with your moral arguments! That is pragmatism 101 for you, the nº1 current of thought in these days. It is late, and these lights are hurting my damn eyes. I better get some sleep before the delivery tomorrow. This is captain Holloway speaking, I'm out.

[Anonymous No.16687295]

>>16685605
>doesn't bend to retard posters and disavow whatever they tell him to
Based and over-18-pilled.

[Anonymous No.16687303]

>>16687175
>aircraft
You had one job.

[Anonymous No.16687339]

>>16685880
>>16685892
>>16685919
>>16685923
>>16685945
>>16686065
you are the gayest human faggot alive.

[Anonymous No.16687351]

>>16687303
kek poor choice of words, didn't even notice while I was writing, I also should've written "required by law to dictate a journal each day" to fit the style better but eh, to heck with it

[Anonymous No.16687385]

>>16671265
GRUG HATE PYKEWATER CHALLENGE
GRUG SMASH

[Anonymous No.16687392]

>>16687339
Anon he doesn’t seem to care about you very much
Why do you care so much about him?
You’ve come across as really desperate for attention
Is there some reason for the hate beyond that?

[Anonymous No.16687469]

Will you stop bumping your thread by mass-replying to your posts calling yourself a faggot, rapture?

[Anonymous No.16687494]

>>16687392
Not the anon you are responding to but there are definitely plenty of weird chuds around who want to fit /lit/ into a pantheon of boards with /pol/ and /x/ by focusing on mystical fascism. A few months ago there were even big /natsoc/ generals, the Evola threads, and the "we need to do something about the evils of wikipedia" threads. From the latter topic and the fact that they attempted to crowd out all other discussion from the board they are quite obviously obsessed with making this "their" space. Anything that attracts people who might not subscribe to that ideology to this board and pushes down their beloved threads is a threat and so they want to harass it out of existence.
>>16687469
See what I mean?

[rapture1 No.16687758]

>>16687392
He’s just a troll man, nothing more. Just ignore him.
Let them have their fun if they want it. I guarantee not much is going for them otherwise.

Gotta learn to love the hate.

[Anonymous No.16687807]

>>16687385
>>16687392
>>16687494
>>16687758
Samefag

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>>16687758

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>>16687836

[Anonymous No.16688075]

>>16683972
>If you think I don’t want to waste my time reading some reactionary bullshit, double that for some leftist drivel.
so your tactic for proving to people you're not a white noise bourgie liberal is to... proudly declare your love for the horseshoe theory...?

[rapture1 No.16688200]

>>16688075

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>>16688221

[Anonymous No.16688235]

>>16688200
Oy vey goyim its annudah shoah

[rapture1 No.16688268]

>>16688234

[Anonymous No.16689676]

>>16688268
I wonder, how many of these do you have saved up? You're surely going to run out eventually, especially if you keep posting them so close together.

[Anonymous No.16689706]

>>16687807
Kek

[Anonymous No.16689759]

>>16685880
Seriously though: why did you plaster your site with pro-BLM messages? (I'm not that other anon.)

[Anonymous No.16690355]

>>16689759
He's a niggerlover from Cornell (jewish) University (allegedly). He's probably living in his mom's basement more than likely.

[rapture1 No.16690513]

>>16688268

[rapture1 No.16690539]

>>16689676
I mean, they come out of my photo studio, i can request them whenever; i have access to unlimited photos like these

[rapture1 No.16690541]

>>16690539

[Anonymous No.16691791]

Bump for holy rapture

[Anonymous No.16692034]

What is the glowworm section of the website?

[rapture1 No.16692164]

>>16692034
Immortality

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>>16692164

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>>16692173