The Man and the Myth: Two Interviews with Not Dominic Williams
As we mentioned in a previous ICPSQUAD Weekly, a parody Twitter account posting as an alternate reality version of DFINITY founder and CTO Dominic Williams has been bringing much needed levity to the IC community. The @notdomwilliams account has received a lot of attention since it began, counting even the real Dominic Williams among its followers.
The account seldom breaks character (sometimes causing inadvertently hilarious conversations), which makes this exclusive double interview very special. In Part One, @notdomwilliams answers in his parody persona, a genius-but-slightly-sinister version of the real Dominic Williams.
In Part Two, we get a glimpse into the comedic mind of the actual person running the account, who is probably not really Dominic Williams... probably.
Part One: @notdomwilliams as Dominic Williams
1. How is sharing one key with all of the employees in the Zurich office going?
@notdomwilliams: Truth be told it didn’t go well. The first day some people thought I was joking and because of that poor Maria Dubovitskaya got locked inside the building for the entire weekend. I had stolen her iPhone 12 at lunchtime to play Candy Crush and accidentally went home with it so she couldn't even call for help.
The first week was actually really pleasant, the entire staff walked to and from our cars every day as a group. It was a fun bonding experience and everyone was enjoying the oddness of it.
Then everything changed during week two… Michael Lee was in the country, we went out partying Sunday evening after crashing a Bar Mitzvah at Zurich Marriott. He overslept and showed up 30 minutes late to work. We had a two hour all-staff meeting that morning so nobody saw his messages and he ended up sitting in the parking lot for another 60 minutes, got annoyed, and flew back to California before we could even go bowling.
After that people were clearly just annoyed with the whole situation and I even caught Andreas selling copied keys to employees at an outrageous markup. I could tell morale was low and realized the world wasn’t ready for this level of progress so I ended the initiative and gave everyone back their keys.
2. Do you have a favorite employee? Least favorite?
@notdomwilliams: Yes, Andrew Tang is my favorite, that's why he’s my phone background. Andrew is also my least favorite because I know he only makes me his phone background when we see each other. I pretend I don’t know, but sometimes it hurts.
3. Other than hacking more cross-chain bridges, what exciting plans do you have for DFINITY this year?
@notdomwilliams: Great question, I’ve started to get bored of hacking all these unsafe bridges. It’s just too easy. I need more of a challenge. I thought that de-pegging stables would take me at least a month but I surprised myself and completed that in 24 hours. I will take this opportunity to announce some exciting new projects for the very first time:
NNS dApp Light Mode - I have heard the community's complaints about the NNS front end and we are working to improve it! You’ll soon be able to toggle between the current dark mode and the new light mode.
Cycle4Tree - The IC already has a very low environmental impact when compared to other blockchains. However, we take global warming very seriously and so I am starting Cycle4Tree – for every 1 cycle burnt we will plant 1 tree somewhere in the world. I expect this to be very effective.
Neuron Gamble - You’ll soon be able to risk ICP in a staked neuron in return for increased rewards. Once a week you will be able to click the “Risky Move” button in the NNS dApp. If you do this there will be a 50% chance that you lose and 1/5 of your ICP will be distributed evenly to the 50% of people that clicked the button and won. This will be an optional feature.
4. Have you ever tried vampire calamari*?
(*This is in reference to a tweet the real Dominic Williams wrote, describing certain market makers as a "vampire squid".)
@notdomwilliams: Tell you the truth I didn’t know vampire squids were real until the other day. I was mind blown because I always thought that Vampire Squids and Vampire Bats were magical mythical creatures like Reindeer or Narwhals.
5. You mentioned judging the Supernova Hackathon based on the attractiveness of the devs. Any favorites so far?
@notdomwilliams: I think people actually misunderstood what I meant when I said “I'm judging projects by how good looking the team is”, I was saying that I am judging projects by how good their eyesight is. I’ve been secretly performing visual acuity tests on all the participants by casually asking them to read things for me at varying distances.
Part Two: @notdomwilliams as NOT Dominic Williams
1. What inspired you to start this parody account?
@notdomwilliams: Dominic Williams was definitely a major point of inspiration.
2. How long have you been investing in ICP?
@notdomwilliams: Been dollar-cost averaging for a year. Staked 8 years, not dissolving, and never will be.
3. What do you think about DFINITY’s current marketing efforts?
@notdomwilliams: Crypto marketing and communications can be brutal even when the price is going up. The DFINITY team has done an extraordinary job attracting the brightest minds and busting FUD despite the coordinated spread of misinformation and unfavorable price action.
4. You mentioned being a figure involved in the IC ecosystem, will you ever reveal yourself?
@notdomwilliams: That’s a weird question… maybe if we ever go to one of those European beaches where everyone does it, but I would never reveal myself on Twitter or anything. I think you can get in real trouble for that.
5. The real Dominic has been following you almost since you started posting, what do you think his thoughts are about your account?
@notdomwilliams: I have no idea, I hope he knows I have only the best intentions with this account. I’m not trying to actually steal his identity and take over his life or anything. If I can get one laugh out of him I will have exceeded all expectations I had for this account when creating it.
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