Member Questionnaire (AstonMarten)

Beauty is an aesthetic quality which creates a positive experience for the subject. Love is a strong, constant, and positive emotion.

What makes something beautiful or generates feelings of love toward/for something, however, is beyond my understanding without the aid of something like brain chemistry or spiritualism.

I spent about an hour going through some tests and exercises, because I had no honest idea what my values are.
My instinctual drives appear to be Power, Challenge, Competence, Freedom, and Autonomy.

My actions would seem to suggest that this is a correct diagnosis of my core values.

I am best described as agnostic. I believe there is some sort of higher power, but am unsure of what that higher power is. Perhaps I am mistaken and simply conflating the fact that reality is not purely random with the existence of a deity, but even natural laws would still be some sort of "higher power," no?

Militaries and wars are necessary. Some might claim that wars are 'immoral' or 'unethical', but all they are is a large-scale application of force. In my view, the ends very much justify the means, so applying force to achieve a desired end is no different - regardless of any other factors.

Power to me is the ability to apply your will and resources to influence others to whatever ends you so desire.

Most lengthy conversations are arguments. I can shoot the breeze with people about almost anything, but I don't thoroughly enjoy it.

I typically enjoy stuff that's interesting and challenging. I thrive on competition and love solving puzzles, so I build mental models of things and spin them around, analyzing them from different angles until I've made sense of things from both a fragmented and holistic way. Anything which improves my effectiveness in reaching my goals is an interest of mine.

Generally speaking, I am interested in psychology insofar as it helps me with relationships and understanding emotional states. I suck at understanding people's emotional state unless they are visibly expressing it, but have become a little better by study and observation.

Not generally. I don't mind some medical science, but only if I'm solving a puzzle with a Doc buddy of mine.

No, I do not focus on my body. I take care of myself and am generally aware of my needs, but don't let them get in my way.

Not a big fan. The sheer monotony will bore me to death.

House of Cards, Game of Thrones, House, Sherlock, White Collar, Inception.

Not much makes me cry. I get angry, but I rarely cry. The one thing that really got to me was when my one friend passed away.

I smile and laugh instinctively, I guess. I'm not usually aware of it until after I've already smiled and laughed.

I can feel a sense of belonging just about anywhere. It's instinctual.

At one with the environment? I don't know, it's sort of a default thing for me. I am in the environment and part of the environment by nature.

I have been told that I am somewhat unsympathetic, that I don't know how to offer real emotional support beyond very surface-level stuff. I've also been told that I steamroll a lot and am quite aggressive when pushing an agenda.

Personally, I dislike the fact that I suck at interpersonal relationships. I have only got two people in this life who I have ever deeply connected with, and one of them died about a year ago. I am a misanthropic man at heart, and am suspicious of almost everyone in almost every relationship.
I am also pretty nihilistic, but I don't want to be. I want to find something meaningful, some indication that all of this means something - even if the meaning is chained to the physical universe.

People constantly say that I am brilliant, resourceful, quick-witted, persistent, forceful, and tenacious. I've also regularly been told that I succeed at everything I set my mind to. I am compelled to agree on all fronts.

I need help to find meaning, to find direction, to know that what I do today will matter long after I'm dead and gone.
In everything else, I'd rather learn it myself, because any advice I get has thus far fallen on deaf ears.

On occasion. I need to have a challenge to overcome or a puzzle to solve. Without either, I get bored and depressed. I claw my way out by finding a new obsession.

I struggle to get along with overly-rigid and structured people, who don't have any sense of adaptability or the ability to bend rules when it makes sense. I also hate it when people are so deeply set into the processes and procedures of things that they neglect the goal they are striving for.

I hate stupidity and am not a fan of dishonesty.

Qualities I like? I couldn't say. I don't generally look at the upside of things very often and am really critical.

I get along with EIE and IEI most of the time, ILI and LIE some of the time, and enjoy spending my time with extraverted people in general. Bonus points if I don't need a damn decoder ring to understand what you're saying

Sex is great, romance is good, qualities are undefined. In a long-term partner, I'd probably look for someone who's smart and funny enough to have some good banter.

I'm a bit of an antisocial fella, though, so I doubt I'll ever connect deeply enough to seek a long-term partnership.

My child needs to be capable of achieving whatever he sets his mind to. He needs to be autonomous, capable and confident in pursuing his goals. He should also be intelligent, sociable, and witty.

I would start putting him in mildly uncomfortable positions routinely so that he would develop a natural craving for autonomy. The key is that he would have a safety net to protect him from the worst possible consequences, forcing him to think through his actions strategically while making sure he won't suffer if he missteps. That safety net would eventually dissipate.
Training in charisma and formal logic will help with the last three, and could begin as early as age 5.

Why?
Being smart and sociable are like two golden tickets to success in any society which has ever existed and will ever exist. Being autonomous is just icing on the cake, making him an achieved leader rather than a follower. I want to set my child up so he can gain the heights of power, and these would act as the foundation upon which he can build that power.

I'm going to clarify terms, then argue until he submits and accepts my view.

Society is a hierarchy, and I exist within a certain set and subset of strata in this hierarchy.

People, as a whole, exist within this hierarchy and, in some sense, generate it. Society is defined by the groups within it, and the people define the groups within society. The people are defined by their merits and flaws (of which I tend to focus on the flaws).
Therefore, society is defined in my mind by the flaws it inherits from the people and groups within it.

A prevalent social problem? At least in the US, people are punished for decisions which do not harm anyone but the subject who makes the decisions. That is the definition of an irrational law that should be broken against the iron rod of logic.

An even greater problem is the poisonous effect of organized religion. People are so blind in their search for meaning that they latch onto the first thing that promises something better, often without a single reason as to why that belief might be reasonable. I may seek meaning, but I am also rational enough to realize that meaning doesn't exist around every corner in some ethereal plane.

I don't really have friends, per se. I choose to associate with people based on the groups I think they are part of and the benefit I can extract from that association.

Friends are more individualized, and I focus on how the holistic image of our association looks.

Around acquaintances, I act in the manner which would be expected by their social groups. Around friends, I really let my dark wit loose.

My default mode of interaction is polite and businesslike, but that mode is easily modified based on the judgements I pass on the groups those individuals are associate with. The less I respect your group, the less I respect you, and the more unrestrained my behavior becomes.