Wheb I was a teen, I played MGS2 in 2004 and I thought it was pure fiction. How could information be pollution? How can we have useless information? And how can it be harmful? This was before twitter or even Facebook. We had no idea how people's misinformation and ignorant opinions would be so easily accessible... And that people would even believe it...
I bet you're one of those people who thinks it's amazing when the famous purple stuffed worm in Flap Jaw Space, with the tuning fork, does a raw blink on Hari-Kiri Rock, or something. Aren't you?
I really can't help but feel like this is unironically becoming one of the most important channels that I watch. The lens you put this information thru is both relevant to the overarching theme, and incredibly sourced to our current reality. Fantastic.
i specially hold in my heart the history related ones, like the recent one about the Cuba USA prison encampment and torture... this channel impress me with frequency.... its crazy
It's crazy to think how Deus Ex and MGS2 brought to the forefront these topics about misinformation, artificial intelligence, and societal control over 20 years ago, and their stories and themes are still relevant, perhaps even more so in the years to come! I really hope more games will dive deeper into these topics about artificial intelligence and digital information in the future. The only notable ones I can think of that really delved into these themes were Deus Ex (2000), MGS2, and the Talos Principle.
"And can you give me proof of your own existence? How can you, when neither modern science or philosophy can explain what life is." Ghost in the Shell, 1995
@@100organicfreshmemes5 how about it's our natural instincts manifesting as belief. we have inherint instinct not to die so we made the belief its bad to kill. boom get rekt
@@chrysm6842 the concept of meme? As far as i have understood it, it's the digital counterpart to genetic information. Species reproduce themselves passing genes, ideas reproduce themselves passing memes. It's information, content, concept. Everything derived or leading to an idea. Anybody here is free to correct me if i got it wrong.
@@chrysm6842 more like an ideology is a system of memes. Memes are simply ideas expressed in ways that makes it's virality self replicating, simply by its universal nature. In this way, memes have existed long before the internet. Just ask jim davis and garfield.
*I hear it's amazing when the famous purple stuffed worm in flap-jaw space with the tuning fork does a raw blink on Hara-Kiri Rock. I need scissors! 61!*
I've always felt MGS2 was the most thought-provoking game in the series. It's a real treasure. I can't believe some people still hate it because Raiden lol. Maybe they see a bit too much of themselves in Raiden, hmm? Anyway, excellent video yet again! PS: How amazing was the MGS2 soundtrack?
when i first played the game i was fairly miffed with the raiden switcharoo but after that last codec call it all clicked and i was like damn this game is amazing im not even mad anymore.
this game was WAAAAAAAAAY ahead of its time, insofar as the themes depicted inside this game. The nanotech, the AI and how it wants to censor everything (like Ytube and Facebook). Also, the fact that there is a type of illuminati reference, called "the patriots." Its actually pretty creepy.
Deus Ex also covered many of the same subjects a year before, and I’m sure Kojima played it at some point, given that Drebin in MGS4 was a reference to that game’s smuggler. They’re basically twins in regard to their predictions of the world post-9/11.
I honestly feel that Kojima was really onto this back then. It's amazing to see these concepts in reality. Always gets me from the psychological and neurological perspective.
@@SeanWMODonnell Death Stranding already has come to pass. COVID-19 was, kind of, a good example of this: people were very isolated, literally, in that time period. But also, on a larger societal scale, we lack a lot of important social functions that people of the past had. Humanity has always been tribal - we have always valued our communities. Social interaction keeps us off of death's doorstep, but in the modern world, we are very much alone. The 24/7 newsfeeds have scared people into letting their kids out to play; convinced them that their neighbors could be gangbangers or kidnappers - even though murder and overall crime is the lowest in human history. You can't blame the newsmedia for this - the employees need to pay their bills, pay for food for their kids. They, perhaps, don't quite know what they're doing. There is something else that MGS warned us about, though: AI-generated newsfeeds. If you've kept up with Google News lately, you'd know that they've just revealed their own AI-generated news headlines. What happens when corporations kick out the human journalist? This is also why the current SAG-WGA strike is important. It seems ridiculous, but they're trying their hardest to fight back against AI encroachment upon culture. This is a pretty important strike. Death Stranding was about reconnecting with the world. Reconnecting people, cities, and retaking our humanity. I wouldn't worry too much about the future, despite the storms overhead. Reconnect yourself, be kind, and be thoughtful and considerate, actionable but do not force your views onto others, value diversity (as diversity is a evolutionary boon that has kept all life alive), value people and do not stand for oppression and we'll prevail.
@@Hayden-tp4cbhmmm....interesting opinion. I thougt it was his most mind blowing game since MGS2, and GOTG for me. Death Stranding 2 can't come soon enough.
Be careful not to lose sight of your self. The 'self' is a fluid, intangible thing that changes constantly, every day with every single piece of new information that can alter the fringe of old ideas. Consider the philosophical quandary of the scenario wherein a boat from the early colonial days of the Mayflower fleet sitting in the Smithsonian suspended for all to see in all its glory. As the years go by, routine maintenance dictates the replacement of floorboards being affected by the moisture in the air, the mast being switched out for a newer, stronger one to avoid an accident occurring, the ship's wheel taken away to be preserved elsewhere and in its place a replica identical to the naked eye. At what point does the ship cease to be the ship it originally was? Can it even be called the same ship? The human biology follows a similar routine. Our cells divide and replicate dutifully, but each one has a lifespan determined by the telomeres in our DNA, a built-in failsafe to keep a damaged DNA from replicating incorrectly which results in cancer. Some cells are born here, others die there. No cell within our bodies is the same exact one that was there merely one year ago, they are building themselves off of a memory of a memory of a memory, repeating the pattern until so much of the original signal is lost, resulting in the phenomenon we recognize as Aging. Are we the same person we were 10 years ago? How about 5? 1? Yesterday? Every single day that we wake up, we rebuild the image of our 'self' based off of the collective memory of who we think we are. But if memories are so fallible and unreliable, then who are we really? We are living Nature, granted legs and arms and a brain to influence the world we've found ourselves in, for the better or worse. Nature is destructive, calm, beautiful, horrifying, visceral and raw, yet simplistic and grand, we embody all of these traits and untold more in the decisions we make and the actions we perform. By following our nature, we form a 'self' to ascribe a semi-permanent vessel capable of carrying out our will manifest. Our nature, then, is the only true reflection of the individual hiding in our subconscious, the being pulling the strings on our thoughts and compartmentalizing the decisions we've made and will make into a neat pile for posterity. Change your thoughts, alter your actions, and the feedback will cause minute adjustments to your nature, until you soon realize that you are not the person you were when you started your journey. But tender care must be placed in remembering exactly who you were wholesale, for it is by that template that you mold who you want to be Tomorrow. To complete the thought, the idea that we try to mold nature with technology can be beneficial, it has been for a long time now, but we know that too much artificial adjustment always has some kind of consequence that must be faced later down the line. We use technology to supplement our own Nature, by connecting and educating us, even assisting our reproduction, to what consequence in our future? Perhaps we are experiencing the growing pains even now. But as we well know, the might of nature is fierce indeed, and the time will come when mankind as a wholly formed being will reject technology due to the unceremonious influences it has had on us.
I've started thinking a lot about how much of "me" really is *me*, ever since sitting down to think about MGS2. It wasn't really so much the action or conspiracy of this game that made me think but more so the theme of searching for identity and purpose. Honestly nature seems like magic to me, and technology seems like another kind of magic. My opinion on "rejecting technology" is alongside my feelings on those who "reject change". I think nature and technology together make for a rather beautiful combo.
The thought experiment your referencing is called The Ship of Theseus. It’s one of the oldest thought experiments in Western philosophy, having been discussed by Heraclitus and Plato all the way back into the early BC’s, and can even be taken a step further. By attempting to preserve the ship of Theseus, restorationist working for the museum it currently sits in begin to remove and replace individual wood panels from the ship with identical pieces, due to rot, slowly over years and years. Eventually, the entire ship is stripped replaced and the old wood is kept in storage. This is when we are presented with the original question; If the entire ship has been gradually replaced with new, but identical wood, is it still the ship of Theseus? If not, at what point or what piece, did it stop being the ship? Taking it a step further, after years of technological advancements, workers develop a method to restore the rotted wood back to its original state and piece it back together. Now, they’re presented with two identical ships. Based off of the answer to the original question, which of the two is the original and what does/doesn’t make the other the ship of Theseus?
Reminds me of this from Dr. Timothy Leary... "Think for yourself. Question authority. Throughout human history, as our species has faced the frightening, terrorizing fact that we do not know who we are, or where we are going in this ocean of chaos, it has been the authorities -- the political, the religious, the educational authorities --- who attempted to comfort us by giving us order, rules, regulations, informing -- forming in our minds -- their view of reality. To think for yourself you must question authority and learn how to put yourself in a state of vulnerable open-mindedness, chaotic, confused vulnerability to inform yourself." Leary would be tared and feathered if he were alive today.
Im just so happy someone has put the level of attention MGS needed the way Jorin Lee does. I did a report years ago in high school based on this and it went over everyones heads. Guess its easier with 20 years of cold hard evidence stacking up
Whenever I need anything for university I just word search the mgs 1, 2, 3, 4 scripts and pull something up. Usually just one line or a quote but it's enough to start some interest.
If you pay attention to reality you can pretty much predict what will happen in 10~20 years easily. I''m yet to be wrong about anything regarding Brazilian politics since 2007. Kojima does that too, so did Mike Pondsmith with Cyberpunk and the Illuminati card game.
Kojima's work isn't some singular great work of prediction by one man, other people were saying similar things during the same period (not to downplay his ability to produce/write ofc)
Not prophetic. Literally any Sci-Fi books in the 1900’s displayed and discussed many of the topics Kojima broached on. It just seemed new to us because most of us hadn’t been exposed to these kinds of theories at the time and when we finally were (via MGS2 for me personally) it came at a time where similar things were already forming. I agree with another comment here, you really can predict these things if you try to see the bigger picture, at the very least, One can make a great guess.
If you can say that then literally any postmodern film is prophetic: - The Matrix - The Truman Show - Fight Club - Nightcrawler - American Psycho No, these are behaviours that they accurately predicted would be more prevalent due to the internet exposing the films more to a more wider audience. They are trends since the counterculture era.
I just love the fact that people are still actively talking about the themes of my favorite game of all time. This proves that video games are art, I bet that MGS2 and MGS4 will be at least 95% accurate in the next decade.
I would argue they are 95% accurate now. You have everything from the Wagner Group PMCs waging an unending war in Ukraine in the name of Russia, killer drone swarms, and nanotech reactive armor to a pandemic of potentially curious origin and nanomachines that are capable of killing cancer cells that are undergoing trials in animals. All the while, the threat of nuclear war is greater than at any time in recent memory and our media ecosystems and governments are best characterized as “post-truth.” The dude had his finger on the pulse of society. Sadly, he was right.
@@BigBeefNCheddar Who gives a shit about the Nazis in Ukraine? And how are we closer to nuclear war now than during the Cuban missile crisis, when people with nukes were being encouraged to use them? What? Because the Ukrainian Nazis threatened to melt down their own power plant and blame the Russians if the rest of the world didn’t bow down and give them arms? Is that why? Read a book you uneducated zoomer.
That is a very self-aware jab at yourself. I just want to let you know, none of that is true. Everything you've produced has been incredibly interesting, Psychology is my field of study for over 6 years of my life and you've taught me a lot about my own field. Thank you.
@conan 263 Oh absolutely. A lot of this stuff you do learn. Like for example, Dawkinian Memetics in relation to social media use, I learned of that in my last week of Cognitive Psychology. The mind-body problem which was briefly discussed in this video is something that is gone over is a lot of intro classes (depending on your professor that is.) What you don't, however, is connections to WWII like those described in previous videos.
@conan 263 No, they do. That was just an example. Societal engineering falls under a lot of purviews. Social psychology, Cognitive psychology, behavioral, industrial, abnormal, biological. Etc. They all inform and alter the way society operates.
@conan 263 Do not interpret the basics as inherently separated from the application of theory. Take behaviorism, the process as to how something learns is detailed such that you can replicate that process in real-time. Take dog training, the process through which a dog learns how to sit is very similar if not almost the same process used to alter human behavior. In other words, by understanding the 'basics' as you put it, you conceptualize a more complex phenomenon. I would highly encourage you to pursue this field, you seem to be very interested in learning what makes the world 'tick' and that is something very valuable.
I'm a 35yr old African American dude from the hood, not that it matters but its for context, I played mgs1 n 2.. this vid explained so much that went over my head back in high school.. I def felt like mgs was saying something a lot of us missed. thanks for the vid, shouts to destiny for mentioning the vid
I remember that I saw this channel on my youtube feed once but for some reason I didn’t click that video. A few weeks later a friend of mine sends me a youtube link with your video “WTF Even Happens on MGS3 Part 1”. And now I’m suscribed to this channel. Damn...
Its very interesting how AI have evolved since this video have been uploaded. At 9:33 it is mentioned that an AI that can out performe humans is very far off, I would not argue the same this very date. I wonder if an "updated" video about this would be relevant? :D
I see alot of people trying to write this game off by saying "the ideas arnt new" "this game just parrot older books with the same ideas".etc They essentially try to invalidate its accomplishments which I feel like they are missing the point on. The reason why people say MGS2 is prophetic is not because the ideas themselves are new. Its the sheer accuracy at which Kojima (maybe Fukoshima who knows) portrays their consequences and implmentation. They are scarilily accurate to how selective currated media feeds, and the internet in general actually operates in the real world today. There is no shadow government or organised conspiracy at the top. Its all of us participating at the user level, each contributing to the beast that is society in the digital age. In essence, we are all the conspiracy itself and this idea is ultimatley original in the way it weaves this message together into a coherant narrative while also raising unqiue questions of its own that are still relevant and applicable to this day.
Watching this video 3 years ago: man AI could be scary Watching today: oh man you have no idea In three years: YOU HAD NO IDEA In 10 years: please i need food
Kojima definitely saw the future and even I've questioned myself is Kojima a futurist or has he seen the future but he's used history events as a way to hide what he's trying to relay to us
Isn't it creepy asf that kojoma would give the Patriots the same goal as our media overlords in controlling all flow of information and this game came out in what like 2004?
But this is hardly a new goal. Even millenia ago, controlling information, including intentional misinformation and creating context was an important practice for the elites and in a way, everyone else, too. This never really changed. We are just more conscious about it (or some of us are at least) and the scale this is happening on is much bigger of course, thanks to the internet.
Its a common theme that has existed across all of human history. Do you think the US had a free press during WW1? Wilson administration locked up anti-war activists under the Espionage Act.
It's not the media that are the overlords, they are merely pawns in the game played by the elites. They are unwitting puppets who genuinely believe what they're doing is great for humanity. The real movers and shakers are unseen unless paid close attention to, as by design.
Man you have got to do a video about ocelot, he's arguably the most complex character in the series. I like the idea that he's the main character of the metal gear series and we see his life through other characters eyes (eg solid snake and BB)
I really hope he takes you up on this. I've played all the games released after mgs2 but i never played mgs1. I don't quite get what Ocelot's "deal" is. Great suggestion.
@@cowboy4187 ocelot post MGS1 isn’t actually Vanilla Ocelot. In the first game he gets his arm cut off by gray fox and his arm gets replaced by snakes brothers arm liquid, which carries liquids consciousness, controlling ocelot in many instances.
Man, I just started up the load of MGS2 videos you have in your playlist, thinking that's all there was, and here you are uploading more for me to watch. Keep up the good work, I'm loving these essays on one of my all time favorite games.
MGS 2 is so deep when you think about it and look at things in todays modern time. After this video I feel the need to play through the game again and pay way more attention to details that I never thought or saw before in the store. Like characters not being to say the Patriots! When you brought that up my mind went WHAT? When this game first came out I was a Solid Snake fan and was bummed when I saw Raiden, but I played them game and liked it a lot. Now over the years I have a healthy respect for MGS 2.
Another amazing deep dive into MGS and our world! I always try to take notes while watching your essays. Here's some miscellaneous considerations : - MGS is no stranger to the overwhelming memetic legacy of english in the world of software. As the series progresses from one game to the next, the original japanese version of each game begins to sound more and more like a localization. Few of its characters are japanese (Kaz is only part japanese and walks away from his cultural heritage). They may have vague japanese ancestors (David), or consume japanese cultural products (Hal, Paramedic or Volgin), or utilize japanese technologies (Sony Walkman), but the series is curiously bereft of a direct, explicit japanese agency. Despite the game series being made by a japanese team, any japanese influence is felt like a lingering spirit through its themes and the guiding hand of its author, not through any hard presence. - There always was a gap in understanding between the capabilities of a machine and the level of knowledge required of its user for its operation. Interfaces have become more user-friendly, at least at the surface level. However, computing itself has become more complex by virtue of this layered machine-learning process. The gross effect is : algorithm-based computing as a process is becoming more and obscure to the end user, while growing in complexity and responsiveness. The size and scope of the machinery of the Industrial Revolution was visible in plain sight, whereas the size and scope of the machinery of the Digital Revolution is obfuscated away. The more we interact with learning software, the less confirmation it requires from us. Every piece of information returned by the system is no longer just a piece of data to be recontextualized, or a computer's hard-edged request for clarification (data not found, syntax error, bad command or file name), but a targeted, customized message with an increasingly human face. At the edge of this process, the "machine" knows who it is talking to, and automatically adapts to their intended recipient, but we are not allowed to get to know it. O'Brien on a silicon board. Sociologically, this creates frustrating blind spots that collectively form a massive breeding ground for speculation of all kinds. We can no longer fully trust the agencies that have the ability to leverage our own data footprint against us. However, we rely massively on these same agencies in order to interact with each other. The gap between human agency and digital agency is narrowing. - Because of its many integrated systems, MGSV is particularly effective at displaying this phenomenon at work through story and gameplay. One easy example is how opponents adapt to repeated uses of the same tactics. However, another example is much more telling, and may or may not have been intentionally designed to stand out : When in the field, Venom Snake's radio support team very rarely reacts to things Venom himself says, but rather to the same input he's receiving from his circumstances. As if Miller and Ocelot shared Venom's senses, seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling and tasting alongside him, and responding at the speed of a computer who was not yet taught not to speak out of turn. (Think of an AI chatbot who responds with a wall of text in less time than a human might have taken to type out.) - The scene in MGSV where Venom Snake smashes the mirror and walks away into the foggy background is of particular interest. It can of course be interpreted in many ways, but one possible interpretation which strikes me as the strongest is a strange sense of liberation. Having received Big Boss' memetic information (complete mission record) along with supplemental sense data from Miller, Ocelot and that data being cross-referenced with player input, Venom has now been freed by his handlers, and is allowed to become his own person. Like an AI passing a test. Then he is off to encounter Solid Snake, who is not to be made aware of his true nature. Intrude N313 is a final test of the Venom proof-of-concept. The question is not whether or not he can defeat his designated foe, but if Bis Boss' memetic copy can pass for the real thing to a human opponent. Venom Snake is neither fully human nor a synthetic recreation of one, rather, he is the successful integration of both man and machine. A cybernetically-enhanced, simulation-informed, drug-assisted post-human warrior prototype for the 21st century. Alongside Grey Fox and Raiden, he holds the dubious honour of having unwittingly served the Patriots as a test subject and agent. "See you on the other side"
As always from you, an unbelievably well written response! Your observation about Venom Snake reminds me of the Turing Test. And most of the rest of your comment weirdly fits perfectly with the book I’m reading right now. It’s called The Age of Surveillance Capitalism. I love your line about O’Brien too! You could probably make pretty good MGS content yourself!
The midroll ad I saw when "lasagna" was on screen had to do with a dirty lasagna pan, right when the topic was about the internet acting like a brain. 😶
Echo-chambers are terrifyingly real, despite the larger degree to which we are all interconnected in this age. Just your example provided at the very end of the video only strengthens this hypothesis. We all pretty much agree, despite this existing on an open network. Which is terrifying.
This is a phenomenal video. You take the surface level synopsis of MGS2 and expand them in a coherent way to really delve deep into the major and minor themes, well done!
Snake definitely says ''memwies'' one time when responding to Mei Ling in that codec call. Maybe it made Kojima and the team laugh and was subtle enough to leave in.
I'm continually impressed by your preparation, writing and research involved in your thesises in your videos. They are great, in-depth works and I hope you continue doing more in the future! Fantastic work! 👍
Has anyone pointed out how natural and smooth the codec sound volume level bar looks in MGS1 but in MGS2 it specifically looks like a gun pointed right at Snake’s/Raiden’s head?
Brother just by watching your content I feel like I’m taking a college course on the Metal Gear series. I’ve been a Kojima fan since 1999, with my introduction to Metal Gear through the demo disc on the PS1. I haven’t missed a beat since. Kudos!
This was a great deep dive into Robb Stark. He's one of my favorite characters on the show and in the books. A young boy forced into manhood too early. A truly tragic tale
17:56- LOL 😆 I first found out about your content from TH-cam algorithm months ago like you said and I then I Subscribed for The Gear in METAL GEAR SOLID 1-3. Also I still own a PS2, I wanted one for games on the System like Tekken Tag Tournament, Tekken 4, DOA2 Hardcore, Gran Turismo 3 & 2002, Virtua Fighter 4, Zone Of the Enders, Final Fantasy X (Even though the Sphere Grid System looks complex for my taste), Resident Evil Code: Veronica X, Time Crisis 2, Ninja Assault, Soul Calibur II, Street Fighter EX3, Bloody Roar 3, Jak & Daxter, Batman Dark Vengeance, Devil May Cry 1 & 2, Onimusha, the PS1 backwards compatibility and of course Metal Gear Solid 2.
Veronica x fn sucks the rest are still awesome. Try finding reservoir dogs. Has the earliest form of duck and cover 3rd person shooting I have ever seen and it works great
it's why one of the things i hate hearing people say is "It's just a game" because by that logic you should go into an art museum and go "whats the big deal? its just a painting!"
30:00 I'd say MGS2 was spot on. The internet might be more connected than ever, but it is so vast, we have developed our wpn echo chambers, confined ourselves to groups, discord servers and subreddits where nothing is discussed, nothing is is debated or questioned and being out of line warrants a ban. And so, enxlosed that we are, we avoid any form of conflict, because to have our worldvoews questioned, to even allow the thought of being wrong, is a sign of weakness, and opens us to mockery and ridicule. Just look how homogenised culture and thought have become, everyone speaks and THINKS in English, meaning the culture associated with it spreads with ease and any idea outside it is deemed nonsensical, at times irrational.
I'm a 40 year old computer scientist. I played the original Metal Gear game in 1987 and have been hooked ever since. I live in Alaska, so I lean pretty hard to the right, however I totally understand that my environment plays a big part in that. As someone who spends a lot of time online but who also travels extensively, I do my best to listen to others and to learn from other cultures around the world. I am glad the algorithm brought me here. I do a lot of work with AI and I can say it is a far more advanced field than people realize. Perhaps the blissful ignorance is for the best. Historically speaking, rocking the boat of social foundations to their very core has always lead to calamity, best to keep the peace via the status quo. I for one, welcome AI, and its inevitable rule over humanity, for we fail miserably at taking responsibility for our civilization. I hope to see the Colonel in charge in my lifetime.
It's so funny to me that everybody thinks Snake is some kind of here when in EVERY game you are playing for the "bad" guys... The Rat Patrol was under orders of the Patriots, in Shadow Moses you are trying to stop Liquid from getting revenge on the Patrios and in the second game you are but an experiment, MGS3 Naked Snaked is little more than a tool for the government and after he just becomes exactly what he sought to destroy... Ocelot is the only one who just wants to watch shit blow up xD Maybe he liked Snake so much because he was mums bestie xD
I actually think the idea that we “retreat into our own little ponds” is accurate if you consider echo chambers your own pond. And that creates the several “cardinal truths” that never mesh or clash. This leads to no one being invalidated, but no one being right. Because the truth as usual is somewhere in the middle, but everyone is hyper polarized to one end or the other. Our news is constantly trying to create context and depending on what you read or listen to, we basically live in entirely separate realities. The algorithms will keep you in that bubble and keep opposing views away from you. If you want the whole picture you have to read like 8 different sources. Like yeah we’re connected all the time, technically. But the internet allows communities to form and isolate themselves based around any principle or idea.
not all echo Chambers are the same. some echo Chambers are actually echoing the truth while others echo a truth that carefully omits certain information and many people exist in an echo chamber that is completely fabricated and basically an alternate reality. The further removed from reality they are, the more desperately they seek to escape into the echo chamber because cognitive dissonance begins to kick in when their beliefs aren't being constantly validated.
and no you don't need to read eight different sources to find the truth. if several of those sources are CNN, Fox, OANN, MSNBC, the Epoch Times, etc. then you are wasting your time. those sources are all trash to varying degrees. Sure CNN is better than Fox but its still a terrible, shallow news source that loves the military industry and loves fossil fuel money. you need to figure out who is trustworthy and only get information from those sources. since most people lack critical thinking they simply gravitate toward what they want to believe. whatever makes them feel validated.
You floored me today. Your breakdowns in every video are fantastic but, learning the patriots have a parallel in reality is mind blowing. Let alone the aspect of neural networks being used to create data sets from human emotions derived from memes. Patterns of behavior. Gotta say you supremely out did yourself with this one. Bravo.
29:58 I would say it's still a problem, there are still insular communities around the internet that people retreat to, echo chambers where certain viewpoints are cultivated and biases are reinforced, and this amplifies the conflict between people with different points of view
I am a black man with wife and kid in my early 30's played MGS on a custom ps1 my cousin bought overseas while in the navy. All the games were illegal copies and the PS1 was green. He had a whole thick cd book of illegal games, and my favorites were FF8 and MGS 1. Played all the MGS games on Playstation ending with Phantom Pain. I found you because I watch other MGS content it's not that difficult. You need watch just one of those meme compilation videos for TH-cam to offer one to you again and again. I didn't know if I agreed with you before i watched, I just watched cause I enjoyed hearing about MGS. I was more or less with you until you brought up your race, sex orientation and gender to try and make a point about the algorithm. I was confused in how you can say the algorithm is forcing us to interact with ideas we don't agree with, opposite of what the patriots claim and then turn around and say the algorithm made sure mostly straight white dudes found the video. I think the patriots were right, and places like twitter, tumblr, reddit prove the point. We just retreat into our favorite echo chamber and feel validation.
Phew. This is very revealing about the information age we're in. Do you suspect Kojima was trying to incept a bunch of sleeper cells? Like... Realizing this was shoved into my brain roughly 2002/2003 that was a pretty formative age for me. And the MGS series as a whole has solidified my vehemently anti-war stance. I'm not inferring anything nefarious about Kojima's intentions. But I do wonder how many other people watching this feel that little itch of... "If I tell my friends about all this, they'll think I'm crazy? I KNEW this was coming. The age of disinformation and content vs. context and how it's used to influence people..." Maybe at the time we were bummed that we didn't play Snake all the way through... But... In hindsight, would any of us want it any other way? Gosh, I hope I'm not alone in thinking that. Twitter Files are proof that Cypher exists and possibly even The Patriots.
I can't thank you enough for these magnificent, beautiful, deep, enlightening MGS analysis videos of yours. You have put a very hard work and it shows. These are the ultimate commentary of the game.
As long as you understand that everything you see and read that's backed by millions of dollars, are only there to manipulate and shape your opinions and worldview, your internal operating system is functioning correctly. Most people's aren't.
![Why Raiden Makes MGS2 A Masterpiece [METAL GEAR SOLID 2 RETROSPECTIVE]](/img/n.gif)
Imagine being a straight white male metal gear fan in their early 30s
Straight latino male metal gear fans in their early 20s rise up
I’d love as diverse of a fan base as possible, Boss! Women are invited too
@@FuturasoundProductions never had a ps2 only a ps3 and ps4
W ✊🏽
I’m mid 30s. I practically grew up with the series.
Hi, straight white male in his early 30s here.
Wheb I was a teen, I played MGS2 in 2004 and I thought it was pure fiction. How could information be pollution? How can we have useless information? And how can it be harmful? This was before twitter or even Facebook. We had no idea how people's misinformation and ignorant opinions would be so easily accessible... And that people would even believe it...
So damn true dude lol
kojima pulled these ideas from Brave New World which is basically about information pollution.
The thing is some of us refuses to see other truths to make up a bias-less truth eventually calling anyone calling an opinion as a fence sitter.
True, but there where other websites like 4chan
It's because the upper echelon of freemasonry got together a millenia ago
Eerie, really eerie.
What’s that patriot system becoming aware of your self lol 😂 yup totally agree with ya though
Do you need some scissors?
Hmm?
I bet you're one of those people who thinks it's amazing when the famous purple stuffed worm in Flap Jaw Space, with the tuning fork, does a raw blink on Hari-Kiri Rock, or something. Aren't you?
@@Bortsch_ Only those Patriot dweebs would!
I really can't help but feel like this is unironically becoming one of the most important channels that I watch. The lens you put this information thru is both relevant to the overarching theme, and incredibly sourced to our current reality. Fantastic.
i specially hold in my heart the history related ones, like the recent one about the Cuba USA prison encampment and torture... this channel impress me with frequency.... its crazy
I KNOW RIGHT
It's a game, a game just like usual
All except the death stranding video. that game sucks
darpa at the end of happy death day 2 a little sus huh
It's crazy to think how Deus Ex and MGS2 brought to the forefront these topics about misinformation, artificial intelligence, and societal control over 20 years ago, and their stories and themes are still relevant, perhaps even more so in the years to come!
I really hope more games will dive deeper into these topics about artificial intelligence and digital information in the future. The only notable ones I can think of that really delved into these themes were Deus Ex (2000), MGS2, and the Talos Principle.
Gtav kinda touched on it but yea peaquads and queequegs where actual coffee shops taken over by Starbucks
In Deus Ex Human Revolution, Elisa Cassan (the news reporter) was an AI
Find an Asimov book, PLEASE!
Let me know which one/ones you choose. He wrote fiction and non-fiction.
I think AAA gaming has become way too big of an industry for games to actually tackle topics that go into a political direction
"And can you give me proof of your own existence? How can you, when neither modern science or philosophy can explain what life is."
Ghost in the Shell, 1995
Religion is the soul of humanity.
Major? 😳
Chills, this is so relevant to the argument of the Patriots as well as the existentialist musings of the major. Well said sir or ma'am.
@@realdomdom Religion is arguably just another set of memes, programming people on what to believe and how to act.
@@100organicfreshmemes5 how about it's our natural instincts manifesting as belief. we have inherint instinct not to die so we made the belief its bad to kill. boom get rekt
You know, with such speed of making very good videos, I'm starting to think that you're an AI yourself
GW?
I have trouble keeping up lol even with quarantine going on this guy is not human
In your future, this will become a recurring question asked
I feel like this guy can spend the next two decades just talking about MGS2
Flawlessly*
Hideo called it
The MGS series has a lot to unpack and examine...
I feel like I'd watch it
well mgs2 is the most relevant mgs to the times we live now so
Hideo would be proud of this channel.
After all, we're all memes started by him, grouped together by the very algorithm he told us about.
I'm unsure but if I understood that concept well, meme is like ideology, right?
@@chrysm6842 the concept of meme? As far as i have understood it, it's the digital counterpart to genetic information. Species reproduce themselves passing genes, ideas reproduce themselves passing memes. It's information, content, concept. Everything derived or leading to an idea.
Anybody here is free to correct me if i got it wrong.
@@chrysm6842 more like an ideology is a system of memes. Memes are simply ideas expressed in ways that makes it's virality self replicating, simply by its universal nature.
In this way, memes have existed long before the internet. Just ask jim davis and garfield.
*I hear it's amazing when the famous purple stuffed worm in flap-jaw space with the tuning fork does a raw blink on Hara-Kiri Rock. I need scissors! 61!*
I've always felt MGS2 was the most thought-provoking game in the series. It's a real treasure. I can't believe some people still hate it because Raiden lol. Maybe they see a bit too much of themselves in Raiden, hmm? Anyway, excellent video yet again! PS: How amazing was the MGS2 soundtrack?
Omg the beat soundtrack, Kojima always has the beat music.
In late 2001 into 2002 the only games you needed were.. Metal Gear Solid 2, GTA III, Max Payne and WWF Smackdown! Just Bring it
Its soundtrack is a masterpiece.
I have always loved MGS2.... I just hate Raiden. The gameplay was still great. Still wish I could play as Snake the whole way through though.
when i first played the game i was fairly miffed with the raiden switcharoo but after that last codec call it all clicked and i was like damn this game is amazing im not even mad anymore.
The people who are hitting dislike are part of the Patriot AI
the lalelulelo??
👿
Yes, especially within GW........
The Patriots got rid of the damn dislike button too
this game was WAAAAAAAAAY ahead of its time, insofar as the themes depicted inside this game. The nanotech, the AI and how it wants to censor everything (like Ytube and Facebook). Also, the fact that there is a type of illuminati reference, called "the patriots." Its actually pretty creepy.
Deus Ex also covered many of the same subjects a year before, and I’m sure Kojima played it at some point, given that Drebin in MGS4 was a reference to that game’s smuggler. They’re basically twins in regard to their predictions of the world post-9/11.
the (((illuminati)))
I honestly feel that Kojima was really onto this back then. It's amazing to see these concepts in reality. Always gets me from the psychological and neurological perspective.
Oh God, then Death Stranding should be right around the corner....
funnily enough he had to rewrite DS2's script because he "didn't want to predict things".
@@SeanWMODonnell Death Stranding already has come to pass. COVID-19 was, kind of, a good example of this: people were very isolated, literally, in that time period. But also, on a larger societal scale, we lack a lot of important social functions that people of the past had. Humanity has always been tribal - we have always valued our communities. Social interaction keeps us off of death's doorstep, but in the modern world, we are very much alone. The 24/7 newsfeeds have scared people into letting their kids out to play; convinced them that their neighbors could be gangbangers or kidnappers - even though murder and overall crime is the lowest in human history. You can't blame the newsmedia for this - the employees need to pay their bills, pay for food for their kids. They, perhaps, don't quite know what they're doing. There is something else that MGS warned us about, though: AI-generated newsfeeds. If you've kept up with Google News lately, you'd know that they've just revealed their own AI-generated news headlines. What happens when corporations kick out the human journalist?
This is also why the current SAG-WGA strike is important. It seems ridiculous, but they're trying their hardest to fight back against AI encroachment upon culture. This is a pretty important strike.
Death Stranding was about reconnecting with the world. Reconnecting people, cities, and retaking our humanity. I wouldn't worry too much about the future, despite the storms overhead. Reconnect yourself, be kind, and be thoughtful and considerate, actionable but do not force your views onto others, value diversity (as diversity is a evolutionary boon that has kept all life alive), value people and do not stand for oppression and we'll prevail.
@@SeanWMODonnell you poor soul the game was so bad
@@Hayden-tp4cbhmmm....interesting opinion. I thougt it was his most mind blowing game since MGS2, and GOTG for me.
Death Stranding 2 can't come soon enough.
This hits diff once again now two years later
Be careful not to lose sight of your self. The 'self' is a fluid, intangible thing that changes constantly, every day with every single piece of new information that can alter the fringe of old ideas.
Consider the philosophical quandary of the scenario wherein a boat from the early colonial days of the Mayflower fleet sitting in the Smithsonian suspended for all to see in all its glory. As the years go by, routine maintenance dictates the replacement of floorboards being affected by the moisture in the air, the mast being switched out for a newer, stronger one to avoid an accident occurring, the ship's wheel taken away to be preserved elsewhere and in its place a replica identical to the naked eye. At what point does the ship cease to be the ship it originally was? Can it even be called the same ship? The human biology follows a similar routine. Our cells divide and replicate dutifully, but each one has a lifespan determined by the telomeres in our DNA, a built-in failsafe to keep a damaged DNA from replicating incorrectly which results in cancer. Some cells are born here, others die there. No cell within our bodies is the same exact one that was there merely one year ago, they are building themselves off of a memory of a memory of a memory, repeating the pattern until so much of the original signal is lost, resulting in the phenomenon we recognize as Aging. Are we the same person we were 10 years ago? How about 5? 1? Yesterday? Every single day that we wake up, we rebuild the image of our 'self' based off of the collective memory of who we think we are. But if memories are so fallible and unreliable, then who are we really? We are living Nature, granted legs and arms and a brain to influence the world we've found ourselves in, for the better or worse. Nature is destructive, calm, beautiful, horrifying, visceral and raw, yet simplistic and grand, we embody all of these traits and untold more in the decisions we make and the actions we perform. By following our nature, we form a 'self' to ascribe a semi-permanent vessel capable of carrying out our will manifest. Our nature, then, is the only true reflection of the individual hiding in our subconscious, the being pulling the strings on our thoughts and compartmentalizing the decisions we've made and will make into a neat pile for posterity. Change your thoughts, alter your actions, and the feedback will cause minute adjustments to your nature, until you soon realize that you are not the person you were when you started your journey. But tender care must be placed in remembering exactly who you were wholesale, for it is by that template that you mold who you want to be Tomorrow.
To complete the thought, the idea that we try to mold nature with technology can be beneficial, it has been for a long time now, but we know that too much artificial adjustment always has some kind of consequence that must be faced later down the line. We use technology to supplement our own Nature, by connecting and educating us, even assisting our reproduction, to what consequence in our future? Perhaps we are experiencing the growing pains even now. But as we well know, the might of nature is fierce indeed, and the time will come when mankind as a wholly formed being will reject technology due to the unceremonious influences it has had on us.
meh
I've started thinking a lot about how much of "me" really is *me*, ever since sitting down to think about MGS2. It wasn't really so much the action or conspiracy of this game that made me think but more so the theme of searching for identity and purpose.
Honestly nature seems like magic to me, and technology seems like another kind of magic. My opinion on "rejecting technology" is alongside my feelings on those who "reject change". I think nature and technology together make for a rather beautiful combo.
Really should've not been high while reading this
*Nondualism has entered the chat*
The thought experiment your referencing is called The Ship of Theseus. It’s one of the oldest thought experiments in Western philosophy, having been discussed by Heraclitus and Plato all the way back into the early BC’s, and can even be taken a step further.
By attempting to preserve the ship of Theseus, restorationist working for the museum it currently sits in begin to remove and replace individual wood panels from the ship with identical pieces, due to rot, slowly over years and years. Eventually, the entire ship is stripped replaced and the old wood is kept in storage. This is when we are presented with the original question; If the entire ship has been gradually replaced with new, but identical wood, is it still the ship of Theseus? If not, at what point or what piece, did it stop being the ship?
Taking it a step further, after years of technological advancements, workers develop a method to restore the rotted wood back to its original state and piece it back together. Now, they’re presented with two identical ships. Based off of the answer to the original question, which of the two is the original and what does/doesn’t make the other the ship of Theseus?
Reminds me of this from Dr. Timothy Leary...
"Think for yourself. Question authority. Throughout human history, as our species has faced the frightening, terrorizing fact that we do not know who we are, or where we are going in this ocean of chaos, it has been the authorities -- the political, the religious, the educational authorities --- who attempted to comfort us by giving us order, rules, regulations, informing -- forming in our minds -- their view of reality. To think for yourself you must question authority and learn how to put yourself in a state of vulnerable open-mindedness, chaotic, confused vulnerability to inform yourself."
Leary would be tared and feathered if he were alive today.
Why have predator drones , when you can have predator clones.
Hi im chris Hansen, do you wanna take a seat. Go ahead take a seat
as soon as predator clones becomes a thing, we'd have much scarier problems than an attack drone being able to attack you from anywhere from the sky.
Im just so happy someone has put the level of attention MGS needed the way Jorin Lee does. I did a report years ago in high school based on this and it went over everyones heads. Guess its easier with 20 years of cold hard evidence stacking up
Whenever I need anything for university I just word search the mgs 1, 2, 3, 4 scripts and pull something up. Usually just one line or a quote but it's enough to start some interest.
Kojima seems prophetic at times
not really he certainly had inside information.....
If you pay attention to reality you can pretty much predict what will happen in 10~20 years easily. I''m yet to be wrong about anything regarding Brazilian politics since 2007. Kojima does that too, so did Mike Pondsmith with Cyberpunk and the Illuminati card game.
Kojima's work isn't some singular great work of prediction by one man, other people were saying similar things during the same period (not to downplay his ability to produce/write ofc)
Not prophetic. Literally any Sci-Fi books in the 1900’s displayed and discussed many of the topics Kojima broached on. It just seemed new to us because most of us hadn’t been exposed to these kinds of theories at the time and when we finally were (via MGS2 for me personally) it came at a time where similar things were already forming. I agree with another comment here, you really can predict these things if you try to see the bigger picture, at the very least, One can make a great guess.
If you can say that then literally any postmodern film is prophetic:
- The Matrix
- The Truman Show
- Fight Club
- Nightcrawler
- American Psycho
No, these are behaviours that they accurately predicted would be more prevalent due to the internet exposing the films more to a more wider audience. They are trends since the counterculture era.
I just love the fact that people are still actively talking about the themes of my favorite game of all time. This proves that video games are art, I bet that MGS2 and MGS4 will be at least 95% accurate in the next decade.
I love the first MGS for PS1 and MGS3 too
I would argue they are 95% accurate now. You have everything from the Wagner Group PMCs waging an unending war in Ukraine in the name of Russia, killer drone swarms, and nanotech reactive armor to a pandemic of potentially curious origin and nanomachines that are capable of killing cancer cells that are undergoing trials in animals. All the while, the threat of nuclear war is greater than at any time in recent memory and our media ecosystems and governments are best characterized as “post-truth.”
The dude had his finger on the pulse of society. Sadly, he was right.
@@BigBeefNCheddar Who gives a shit about the Nazis in Ukraine? And how are we closer to nuclear war now than during the Cuban missile crisis, when people with nukes were being encouraged to use them? What? Because the Ukrainian Nazis threatened to melt down their own power plant and blame the Russians if the rest of the world didn’t bow down and give them arms? Is that why?
Read a book you uneducated zoomer.
That is a very self-aware jab at yourself. I just want to let you know, none of that is true. Everything you've produced has been incredibly interesting, Psychology is my field of study for over 6 years of my life and you've taught me a lot about my own field. Thank you.
started to study psychology last year, love the content he puts out.
@conan 263 Oh absolutely. A lot of this stuff you do learn. Like for example, Dawkinian Memetics in relation to social media use, I learned of that in my last week of Cognitive Psychology. The mind-body problem which was briefly discussed in this video is something that is gone over is a lot of intro classes (depending on your professor that is.) What you don't, however, is connections to WWII like those described in previous videos.
@conan 263 No, they do. That was just an example. Societal engineering falls under a lot of purviews. Social psychology, Cognitive psychology, behavioral, industrial, abnormal, biological. Etc. They all inform and alter the way society operates.
@@grayfox4288 Hey, that's awesome! I hope you get a lot out of it!
@conan 263 Do not interpret the basics as inherently separated from the application of theory. Take behaviorism, the process as to how something learns is detailed such that you can replicate that process in real-time.
Take dog training, the process through which a dog learns how to sit is very similar if not almost the same process used to alter human behavior. In other words, by understanding the 'basics' as you put it, you conceptualize a more complex phenomenon.
I would highly encourage you to pursue this field, you seem to be very interested in learning what makes the world 'tick' and that is something very valuable.
I'M LOVING THE RECENT SUCCESSION OF UPLOADS.. I LOVE YOUR CONSISTENCY, DUDE .. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK, THANKS! 👍🏻
I'm a 35yr old African American dude from the hood, not that it matters but its for context, I played mgs1 n 2.. this vid explained so much that went over my head back in high school.. I def felt like mgs was saying something a lot of us missed. thanks for the vid, shouts to destiny for mentioning the vid
Ironic.
@@realdomdom lol who'd a thunking...
You are the most exciting MGS scholar I’ve encountered , really appreciate you
To complete the series, I suggest Super bunnyhop and Max Derrat.
MGS2 is an underrated masterpiece. Not only in its storytelling and themes, but the stealth mechanic, graphics and physics were great for the time.
I remember that I saw this channel on my youtube feed once but for some reason I didn’t click that video. A few weeks later a friend of mine sends me a youtube link with your video “WTF Even Happens on MGS3 Part 1”. And now I’m suscribed to this channel. Damn...
Keep them coming you have turned into my favorite!!
Same!!!!
This hits harder today than it did 3 years ago.
Its very interesting how AI have evolved since this video have been uploaded. At 9:33 it is mentioned that an AI that can out performe humans is very far off, I would not argue the same this very date. I wonder if an "updated" video about this would be relevant? :D
I see alot of people trying to write this game off by saying "the ideas arnt new" "this game just parrot older books with the same ideas".etc They essentially try to invalidate its accomplishments which I feel like they are missing the point on. The reason why people say MGS2 is prophetic is not because the ideas themselves are new. Its the sheer accuracy at which Kojima (maybe Fukoshima who knows) portrays their consequences and implmentation. They are scarilily accurate to how selective currated media feeds, and the internet in general actually operates in the real world today. There is no shadow government or organised conspiracy at the top. Its all of us participating at the user level, each contributing to the beast that is society in the digital age. In essence, we are all the conspiracy itself and this idea is ultimatley original in the way it weaves this message together into a coherant narrative while also raising unqiue questions of its own that are still relevant and applicable to this day.
You raise a strong point. I'll consider it.
Futurasound, been here since 14k, can't wait till you blow up!
matter of time!
and act like he doesn't know nobody?
@@boislap it will probably will not be an act because he must be to busy making content for people he doesn't know
@@johnniewaiker6203 he is just referencing a meme.
Watching this video 3 years ago: man AI could be scary
Watching today: oh man you have no idea
In three years: YOU HAD NO IDEA
In 10 years: please i need food
Kojima definitely saw the future and even I've questioned myself is Kojima a futurist or has he seen the future but he's used history events as a way to hide what he's trying to relay to us
Isn't it creepy asf that kojoma would give the Patriots the same goal as our media overlords in controlling all flow of information and this game came out in what like 2004?
2001...
But this is hardly a new goal. Even millenia ago, controlling information, including intentional misinformation and creating context was an important practice for the elites and in a way, everyone else, too.
This never really changed. We are just more conscious about it (or some of us are at least) and the scale this is happening on is much bigger of course, thanks to the internet.
Its a common theme that has existed across all of human history. Do you think the US had a free press during WW1? Wilson administration locked up anti-war activists under the Espionage Act.
It's not the media that are the overlords, they are merely pawns in the game played by the elites. They are unwitting puppets who genuinely believe what they're doing is great for humanity. The real movers and shakers are unseen unless paid close attention to, as by design.
Dude did you even watch the video lol stop using words like "overlords," that's just a straight-up fundamentally flawed intuition.
One video a day. More than enough to kill anything that moves.
me and my group of friends fangirl every time you upload. we appreciate your hard work. you’re pretty good.
“You lack the qualifications to exercise free will” will forever remain the most scalding of burns
Kojima really missed me with all this sick lore since I was 13 when I played it. Still a classic game
Play it again
If i hadn't known about mgs2 and it's my first game i played i would be scared shitless of the corrupted gw
Holy crap this is why you are the best boss
So much stuff to watch!
5:36 D.A.R.P.A. Chief
10:31 Advanced AI can never comprehend Love, art, abstract thought.
17:09 La-li-lu-le-lo
This is the Futurasound video I’ve been waiting for, MGS2 and V specifically are infinitely interesting to me.
I agree. They are the two most interesting games in the series to me.
Man you have got to do a video about ocelot, he's arguably the most complex character in the series. I like the idea that he's the main character of the metal gear series and we see his life through other characters eyes (eg solid snake and BB)
I really hope he takes you up on this. I've played all the games released after mgs2 but i never played mgs1. I don't quite get what Ocelot's "deal" is. Great suggestion.
@@cowboy4187 ocelot post MGS1 isn’t actually Vanilla Ocelot. In the first game he gets his arm cut off by gray fox and his arm gets replaced by snakes brothers arm liquid, which carries liquids consciousness, controlling ocelot in many instances.
Dang dude! Talk about quality and quantity!
I feel too dumb to understand this. I'm humble enough to admit it.
Basically, if you watch Super Bunny Hop, you'll be recommended this episode
Man, I just started up the load of MGS2 videos you have in your playlist, thinking that's all there was, and here you are uploading more for me to watch. Keep up the good work, I'm loving these essays on one of my all time favorite games.
Stunning conclusion, or how to reconsiderate metadata in our daily lives.
Your memes... end here.
MGS2 is playing out before our very eyes.
Kojima is either a genius, or he's in the know somehow. Mind blowing
He’s 100% laying out the plan for all the world to see😂
@@frankjeager9043 maybe. It's probably more likely that made predictions based on where the trajectory of technology was headed
Another profound video.
Thank you, Boss!
MGS 2 is so deep when you think about it and look at things in todays modern time. After this video I feel the need to play through the game again and pay way more attention to details that I never thought or saw before in the store. Like characters not being to say the Patriots! When you brought that up my mind went WHAT? When this game first came out I was a Solid Snake fan and was bummed when I saw Raiden, but I played them game and liked it a lot. Now over the years I have a healthy respect for MGS 2.
Another amazing deep dive into MGS and our world!
I always try to take notes while watching your essays. Here's some miscellaneous considerations :
- MGS is no stranger to the overwhelming memetic legacy of english in the world of software. As the series progresses from one game to the next, the original japanese version of each game begins to sound more and more like a localization. Few of its characters are japanese (Kaz is only part japanese and walks away from his cultural heritage). They may have vague japanese ancestors (David), or consume japanese cultural products (Hal, Paramedic or Volgin), or utilize japanese technologies (Sony Walkman), but the series is curiously bereft of a direct, explicit japanese agency. Despite the game series being made by a japanese team, any japanese influence is felt like a lingering spirit through its themes and the guiding hand of its author, not through any hard presence.
- There always was a gap in understanding between the capabilities of a machine and the level of knowledge required of its user for its operation. Interfaces have become more user-friendly, at least at the surface level. However, computing itself has become more complex by virtue of this layered machine-learning process. The gross effect is : algorithm-based computing as a process is becoming more and obscure to the end user, while growing in complexity and responsiveness. The size and scope of the machinery of the Industrial Revolution was visible in plain sight, whereas the size and scope of the machinery of the Digital Revolution is obfuscated away.
The more we interact with learning software, the less confirmation it requires from us. Every piece of information returned by the system is no longer just a piece of data to be recontextualized, or a computer's hard-edged request for clarification (data not found, syntax error, bad command or file name), but a targeted, customized message with an increasingly human face. At the edge of this process, the "machine" knows who it is talking to, and automatically adapts to their intended recipient, but we are not allowed to get to know it. O'Brien on a silicon board.
Sociologically, this creates frustrating blind spots that collectively form a massive breeding ground for speculation of all kinds. We can no longer fully trust the agencies that have the ability to leverage our own data footprint against us. However, we rely massively on these same agencies in order to interact with each other. The gap between human agency and digital agency is narrowing.
- Because of its many integrated systems, MGSV is particularly effective at displaying this phenomenon at work through story and gameplay. One easy example is how opponents adapt to repeated uses of the same tactics. However, another example is much more telling, and may or may not have been intentionally designed to stand out : When in the field, Venom Snake's radio support team very rarely reacts to things Venom himself says, but rather to the same input he's receiving from his circumstances. As if Miller and Ocelot shared Venom's senses, seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling and tasting alongside him, and responding at the speed of a computer who was not yet taught not to speak out of turn. (Think of an AI chatbot who responds with a wall of text in less time than a human might have taken to type out.)
- The scene in MGSV where Venom Snake smashes the mirror and walks away into the foggy background is of particular interest. It can of course be interpreted in many ways, but one possible interpretation which strikes me as the strongest is a strange sense of liberation. Having received Big Boss' memetic information (complete mission record) along with supplemental sense data from Miller, Ocelot and that data being cross-referenced with player input, Venom has now been freed by his handlers, and is allowed to become his own person. Like an AI passing a test. Then he is off to encounter Solid Snake, who is not to be made aware of his true nature. Intrude N313 is a final test of the Venom proof-of-concept. The question is not whether or not he can defeat his designated foe, but if Bis Boss' memetic copy can pass for the real thing to a human opponent.
Venom Snake is neither fully human nor a synthetic recreation of one, rather, he is the successful integration of both man and machine. A cybernetically-enhanced, simulation-informed, drug-assisted post-human warrior prototype for the 21st century. Alongside Grey Fox and Raiden, he holds the dubious honour of having unwittingly served the Patriots as a test subject and agent.
"See you on the other side"
As always from you, an unbelievably well written response!
Your observation about Venom Snake reminds me of the Turing Test.
And most of the rest of your comment weirdly fits perfectly with the book I’m reading right now. It’s called The Age of Surveillance Capitalism. I love your line about O’Brien too! You could probably make pretty good MGS content yourself!
Thanks, your videos are always inspiring.
And it appears we have similar book tastes!
6 minutes into this video and I become certain that Kojima is under the CIA or KGB or maybe both watch lists.
Noticed how Konami tried to destroy his reputation and erase him from his work?
@@jazen.sidarapRemember when he got accused of involvement in the killing the former Japanese PM.
The midroll ad I saw when "lasagna" was on screen had to do with a dirty lasagna pan, right when the topic was about the internet acting like a brain. 😶
It wasn’t predicted, we were just being conditioned into it.
No, it was predicted.
Mutadis, mutandis...
all planned by god?
Echo-chambers are terrifyingly real, despite the larger degree to which we are all interconnected in this age.
Just your example provided at the very end of the video only strengthens this hypothesis.
We all pretty much agree, despite this existing on an open network.
Which is terrifying.
The left and right are both echo-chambers of people wanting community and forfeiting their free thought to achieve it.
@@omnihazzardsNot everyone forfeits their free thought. Some start their own communities and keep free thought either way.
It's now 2022, AI just cracked human art, it's over
it's 2024 now, humans are having sex with AI, it's never been this so over before
@@DGP406Geez man, aren't you being a little too dramatic there?
This is a phenomenal video. You take the surface level synopsis of MGS2 and expand them in a coherent way to really delve deep into the major and minor themes, well done!
Snake definitely says ''memwies'' one time when responding to Mei Ling in that codec call. Maybe it made Kojima and the team laugh and was subtle enough to leave in.
MGS: 2 and I'm here so fast, you can't look that fast.
I studied about and now work work in AI and big data and yeah this was just amazing i think it's your best video so far
I'm continually impressed by your preparation, writing and research involved in your thesises in your videos. They are great, in-depth works and I hope you continue doing more in the future! Fantastic work! 👍
Has anyone pointed out how natural and smooth the codec sound volume level bar looks in MGS1 but in MGS2 it specifically looks like a gun pointed right at Snake’s/Raiden’s head?
Yes I did notice that. How do you consider that aesthetic detail? What do you make of that?
Brother just by watching your content I feel like I’m taking a college course on the Metal Gear series. I’ve been a Kojima fan since 1999, with my introduction to Metal Gear through the demo disc on the PS1. I haven’t missed a beat since. Kudos!
MGS2 and Deus Ex are probably the most accurate games when it comes to near future prediction.
This was a great deep dive into Robb Stark. He's one of my favorite characters on the show and in the books. A young boy forced into manhood too early. A truly tragic tale
17:56- LOL 😆
I first found out about your content from TH-cam algorithm months ago like you said and I then I Subscribed for The Gear in METAL GEAR SOLID 1-3.
Also I still own a PS2, I wanted one for games on the System like Tekken Tag Tournament, Tekken 4, DOA2 Hardcore, Gran Turismo 3 & 2002, Virtua Fighter 4, Zone Of the Enders, Final Fantasy X (Even though the Sphere Grid System looks complex for my taste), Resident Evil Code: Veronica X, Time Crisis 2, Ninja Assault, Soul Calibur II, Street Fighter EX3, Bloody Roar 3, Jak & Daxter, Batman Dark Vengeance, Devil May Cry 1 & 2, Onimusha, the PS1 backwards compatibility and of course Metal Gear Solid 2.
Veronica x fn sucks the rest are still awesome. Try finding reservoir dogs. Has the earliest form of duck and cover 3rd person shooting I have ever seen and it works great
@@gekyumerising3152 I see.
This makes me wants to boot up my MGS Legacy Collection for MGS 1-4. Great video boss! (y)
5th woot , im all the things listed at the end . good catch
still love these videos so much. amazing work that went into these. have to rewatch the entire collection.
I just watched an actual AI generated General Campbell reading the ChatGPT paper... We were warned, I guess.
This is unironically one of the most profound videos i've ever watched
my man is pumping them out.
My brother, it was Solidus who plotted with Ocelot by the end of Mgs1, not Liquid
it's why one of the things i hate hearing people say is "It's just a game" because by that logic you should go into an art museum and go "whats the big deal? its just a painting!"
MGS2 was wayyy ahead of its time.
30:00 I'd say MGS2 was spot on. The internet might be more connected than ever, but it is so vast, we have developed our wpn echo chambers, confined ourselves to groups, discord servers and subreddits where nothing is discussed, nothing is is debated or questioned and being out of line warrants a ban. And so, enxlosed that we are, we avoid any form of conflict, because to have our worldvoews questioned, to even allow the thought of being wrong, is a sign of weakness, and opens us to mockery and ridicule. Just look how homogenised culture and thought have become, everyone speaks and THINKS in English, meaning the culture associated with it spreads with ease and any idea outside it is deemed nonsensical, at times irrational.
Today is good because the boi jorin lee made a video essay.
I'm a 40 year old computer scientist. I played the original Metal Gear game in 1987 and have been hooked ever since. I live in Alaska, so I lean pretty hard to the right, however I totally understand that my environment plays a big part in that. As someone who spends a lot of time online but who also travels extensively, I do my best to listen to others and to learn from other cultures around the world. I am glad the algorithm brought me here. I do a lot of work with AI and I can say it is a far more advanced field than people realize. Perhaps the blissful ignorance is for the best. Historically speaking, rocking the boat of social foundations to their very core has always lead to calamity, best to keep the peace via the status quo. I for one, welcome AI, and its inevitable rule over humanity, for we fail miserably at taking responsibility for our civilization. I hope to see the Colonel in charge in my lifetime.
You're an interesting one. Your thoughts sum up my other hand.
It's so funny to me that everybody thinks Snake is some kind of here when in EVERY game you are playing for the "bad" guys...
The Rat Patrol was under orders of the Patriots, in Shadow Moses you are trying to stop Liquid from getting revenge on the Patrios and in the second game you are but an experiment, MGS3 Naked Snaked is little more than a tool for the government and after he just becomes exactly what he sought to destroy...
Ocelot is the only one who just wants to watch shit blow up xD Maybe he liked Snake so much because he was mums bestie xD
I haven't revisited this in a damn minute. I just remember it was a massive mindfuck.
I actually think the idea that we “retreat into our own little ponds” is accurate if you consider echo chambers your own pond. And that creates the several “cardinal truths” that never mesh or clash. This leads to no one being invalidated, but no one being right. Because the truth as usual is somewhere in the middle, but everyone is hyper polarized to one end or the other. Our news is constantly trying to create context and depending on what you read or listen to, we basically live in entirely separate realities. The algorithms will keep you in that bubble and keep opposing views away from you. If you want the whole picture you have to read like 8 different sources. Like yeah we’re connected all the time, technically. But the internet allows communities to form and isolate themselves based around any principle or idea.
not all echo Chambers are the same. some echo Chambers are actually echoing the truth while others echo a truth that carefully omits certain information and many people exist in an echo chamber that is completely fabricated and basically an alternate reality. The further removed from reality they are, the more desperately they seek to escape into the echo chamber because cognitive dissonance begins to kick in when their beliefs aren't being constantly validated.
and no you don't need to read eight different sources to find the truth. if several of those sources are CNN, Fox, OANN, MSNBC, the Epoch Times, etc. then you are wasting your time. those sources are all trash to varying degrees. Sure CNN is better than Fox but its still a terrible, shallow news source that loves the military industry and loves fossil fuel money.
you need to figure out who is trustworthy and only get information from those sources. since most people lack critical thinking they simply gravitate toward what they want to believe. whatever makes them feel validated.
You floored me today. Your breakdowns in every video are fantastic but, learning the patriots have a parallel in reality is mind blowing. Let alone the aspect of neural networks being used to create data sets from human emotions derived from memes. Patterns of behavior. Gotta say you supremely out did yourself with this one. Bravo.
It's seriously scary how accurate this is today. I just wonder if one day our media overlords will try to ban this series.
The algo brought me here moments after telling my friends how prophetic MGS2 was and how it seems so much more sane playing it in 2024.
29:58 I would say it's still a problem, there are still insular communities around the internet that people retreat to, echo chambers where certain viewpoints are cultivated and biases are reinforced, and this amplifies the conflict between people with different points of view
First video I’ve seen on this channel just stumbling on and I think I’m hooked!
I am a black man with wife and kid in my early 30's played MGS on a custom ps1 my cousin bought overseas while in the navy. All the games were illegal copies and the PS1 was green.
He had a whole thick cd book of illegal games, and my favorites were FF8 and MGS 1.
Played all the MGS games on Playstation ending with Phantom Pain.
I found you because I watch other MGS content it's not that difficult. You need watch just one of those meme compilation videos for TH-cam to offer one to you again and again.
I didn't know if I agreed with you before i watched, I just watched cause I enjoyed hearing about MGS. I was more or less with you until you brought up your race, sex orientation and gender to try and make a point about the algorithm.
I was confused in how you can say the algorithm is forcing us to interact with ideas we don't agree with, opposite of what the patriots claim and then turn around and say the algorithm made sure mostly straight white dudes found the video.
I think the patriots were right, and places like twitter, tumblr, reddit prove the point. We just retreat into our favorite echo chamber and feel validation.
Ok your outro at 30:58 just creeped me out. GET OUT OF MY MIND, LIQUID!
Phew. This is very revealing about the information age we're in. Do you suspect Kojima was trying to incept a bunch of sleeper cells? Like... Realizing this was shoved into my brain roughly 2002/2003 that was a pretty formative age for me. And the MGS series as a whole has solidified my vehemently anti-war stance.
I'm not inferring anything nefarious about Kojima's intentions. But I do wonder how many other people watching this feel that little itch of... "If I tell my friends about all this, they'll think I'm crazy? I KNEW this was coming. The age of disinformation and content vs. context and how it's used to influence people..."
Maybe at the time we were bummed that we didn't play Snake all the way through... But... In hindsight, would any of us want it any other way?
Gosh, I hope I'm not alone in thinking that. Twitter Files are proof that Cypher exists and possibly even The Patriots.
I'm starting to suspect Konami firing Kojima wasn't just "for the cost of developing MGSV"... 🤔😬
There's a line between understandable and Batshit insane. You can't go across it. You may have already.
Thank you for the sea of garbage you continue to produce. 🙏🏽
All jokes aside, you really put some amazing stuff together. You're pretty good.
I can't thank you enough for these magnificent, beautiful, deep, enlightening MGS analysis videos of yours. You have put a very hard work and it shows. These are the ultimate commentary of the game.
As long as you understand that everything you see and read that's backed by millions of dollars, are only there to manipulate and shape your opinions and worldview, your internal operating system is functioning correctly. Most people's aren't.
Does that include his?
l found this from watching Colonel Campbell's Time paradox voice lines, pretty good eh?
Also, nice video, can't say more, you got me speechless.
I NEED SCISSORS! 61!!!
and behold. It's 2024, and we are all Sons of the Patriots now.