Without irony, this is at LEAST in the top 5 most important pieces of visual media I have ever consumed. I truly appreciate the way this helped me reconsider my relationship with technology, and not necessarily in a negative way. Its helped me develop a stronger respect for, as well as scrutiny of, my online life. Thank you so much.
You know that feeling you get when you finish a movie and you’re walking out of the movie theatre with a renewed sense of meaning in life? This is probably one of the only TH-cam videos that ever made me feel that way.
100% agree. Ive shared this on my Facebook, with a "novel" of my interpretation, open for further discussion. This has actually inspired me to start an extended essay on something similar... As Its very true when he says you cant make a point in a Facebook/Twitter post, so Ill go further and get it on paper, referencing this video and other sources. This might have inspired me more than 'The Social Dilemma' has, to get off social media. XD Marathon of CJs videos first though I think
Yeah for reals, I almost had a panic attack but it’s bc everything he said resonated with me so hard it was scary. but I feel like I’ve learned a lot about reality and life now
Ah yes, a 2.5 hour breakdown on a 1 minutes song. That is exactly what my adhd brain craves; while your flamboyant presentation is what my goblin heart craves.
I'm not sure if anyone is going to read this, but I want to say that I've watched this video three times and every single time I learn something new. I recommend it to everyone I can. It has genuinely completely changed how I view the world and myself. The first time I watched it, I had a complete mental breakdown and deleted all of my social media accounts for a couple months and called my mom and dad to ask them what they did everyday in the 60s and 70s before they had the internet because I literally don't know how to live without it. At all. What a mindfuck. 10/10.
@@redneckreviews2285 that's just monetary value though, that's only one type of value and arguably not the most valuable type of value (damn that sentence reads weird)
@@redneckreviews2285 The point is that "profit" has no monopoly on what should be consider valuable or at least you shouldn't let it become a monopoly on what is consider valuable. Because monopoly is bad. I hope regardless of politics we can all agree monopoly is bad. Monopoly of what is consider valuable is even worse. That's it.
Oh shit, super cool to see you here. I recognize the irony of this type of comment responding under a video that talks about parasociality, but it really is cool to see essayists I enjoy watching engaging with other essayists I enjoy watching.
This went from a fast paced funny rant about capitalism and Bo Burnham, to an existential discussion about cyborgs and transhumanism, to a monumentally soul-wrenching ending that shifted my whole fucking paradigm. At the end of all of it, I realized that you did something truly special. You changed my perspective.
"You're just a blob of compliments that will morph into an abusive mob when my time comes" is hands down the best description of the TH-cam/Twitter/Instagram/Tiktok commentariat that I have literally ever heard.
i expected that at the end of the video СJ will return to the subject of Jeffry Bezos and the fact that it didn't happen is the only inperfection i feel about all of this
@@xp7575 Hahaha I'm so glad! Thank you! Feel free to use the idea, just make 'Imagine' puns when you mock Ben. I just to say while I'm on the topic: Ben's opinions on music are so bogus because there's this genre of music called Harsh Noise and it's my personal favorite. If Ben would say to my face "Hanatarash isn't music, there's no beat or melody" then I would find that so hilarious, he can't handle new ideas.
I cannot stress enough how profound and deeply accurate this video essay is. Yes my soul IS online and dismissing this as “an Internet addiction” is so extremely reductive and fails to recognize the complete lack of control we have over the entire thing
YES esp considering it as a natural progression of alienation. We are social creatures.. if u take away our ability to have meaningful community naturally we were gonna fill that void by any means. The internet is one giant toxic and confusing community and without it i truly don’t know if i woulda survived at this point, we cannot survive without other people’s validation/acceptance. It’s survival!
@@diandrastithe3186 I still think we have the power to work a healthier relationship with the internet even if the cards are stacked against us. I for one have seen some of my friends finally uninstall social media apps from their phones and they get by. Sure, you might need some form of social media for work/studies/etc but if you know people irl you can just forgo social media for social purposes or reduce it to less toxic and alienating platforms, like an active discord with friends, and the thing is we'd probably be way better off if we managed to unplug that little bit from the more dangerously invasive side of the internet.
@@tand0ri agree, but i think the pandering made this harder tbh. I used to have my closest friendships online and I was starting to work on building relationships more irl focused but I haven't seen anyone other than my boyfriend and his family since early march 2020. If it weren't for social media we probably would've lost touch by now. I don't enjoy my online experience anymore but my friends are there and there only.
you are insane. there is nothing profound here. Hype and clicks. You need some serious soul-searching if this video looks like "deeply accurate" to you
This is unquestionably a masterpiece, but it kind of scares me, because there are many points throughout where I felt my feelings change about a subject, and I didn’t know if it was because the points being brought up rung true to my values, or because CJ is such a persuasive personality with such a mastery over words and delivery that my feelings were completely swayed and won over. I know that just sounds like a compliment but it’s legitimately scary and concerning to me.. Obviously, there's nothing wrong with changing your stance or begin swayed to the other side on an argument, it's extremely valuable and important, but like, it's important to understand the reasons you were swayed, right?
It's okay to feel uncertain. The solution is to branch out. Find other opinions and evaluate their merits on even ground. Maybe read the works of some philosophers noted in this video.
Katherine is right. You find out what you believe by repeatedly exposing yourself to new perspectives. In the beginning you will change back and forth and it'll feel uncomfortable but over time you will take things from everything and form a unique opinion based on who you are and all the info you've seen.
tbh I have to be in a really okay headspace to listen to a new CJ essay. ur so not alone. I know I'll be led down the garden path of my own opinions and then bam knocked off the wall. you do have to go in knowing that. but by now, I trust CJ's philosophical authenticity enough to know that I will have something legitimate to take away and think about. but for sure I've warily put on a new cj upload when I woke up and turned it off 30m later in tears (it was fine, I was fine, I enjoyed it later, but I don't need all of my assumptions questioned before i've had my coffee). I totally get the thing about the bad taste or strangeness of a persuasive talker, though. I guess you just gotta build that trust (I realise the parasocial irony in this statement) and your own history of turning over & exploring yourself the stuff that's said. idk how to parse this succinctly, I realise now.. but there's a certain intellectual honesty present in cj's breakdowns that I have found over time I can trust....... & rarely makes me need my safeword 🤭
I feel the same way. It feels like someone has an uncomfortable level of power over you, like you might believe them on a deep level even if you're brain did disagree. They're videos are wonderful, and the points have helped me work through what I believe in a lot of areas, but it's scary to watch this person I don't know and find my walls just completely rescind. I trust them, and I didn't choose to. It's been better recently though. Watching this video now hits totally different than it did when it came out, because I have changed so much. I still agree, but spending a long time processing what I believe about philosophy, politics, art, religion, etc. means I know that the part of me that agrees is actually me, and not this blind trust and "love" I have for a person I don't know.
After watching Inside, I was pretty hesitant to watch any video essays about it as I felt that most wouldn't really offer a perspective that brought more value to it. I am really glad I watched this one though.
For me it was the opposite, so many people telling their different impressions of the Bo special that i didn't know it's value. But that's a quirk of mine, I usually watch the review, or better, the analysis of something before watching it, specially if it's extremely popular.
god the point you made about little kids not knowing the difference between expressing and performing is so real. When I facetime my baby sister, she talks to me like I'm her TH-cam audience. She says like "Hey guys! welcome back to my home, today I've been playing a lot of Minecraft" and when she sends me videos or pictures it's like they're little TH-cam videos she made and it's really uncanny to interact in a personal one on one way with someone who's trying to make our actual relationship into a parasocial relationship instead because they really don't understand the difference.
Bruhhh that is really uncanny. Oof by the time I’m ready to have a kid how do I even go about raising them? Like it’s easy to say limit their internet accesses, but is that really going to be feasible? Like by the time a child is school age they are going to need to interact with the internet to be able to interact with their peers.
@@ruriva4931 This is a obviously a very recent thing so there isn't a lot of research on it but the evidence suggests that proactive parenting and putting in the effort for a lot of face-to-face interaction helps kids from falling down that rabbit hole
@@lulucool45 most parents cant/wont do that. humans evolved to raise kids as groups, not for 2 people to do all the work. without any big structural changes society is fked, pure and simple.
Okay so I just needed to write this down 7:00 Part 1 - Hysterical In Concept Alone 9:33 Part 2 - Lyrical Analysis 19:56 Part 3 - The Solo 23:10 Part 4 - What's Bothering Bo? 29:00 Part 5 - We Are Already Cyborgs 36:35 Part 6 - Transhumanism and Luddism 52:20 Part 7 - Customer Obsession 1:04:00 The Soul 1:06:30 Part 8 - The Transhuman Souls of Children 1:15:57 Part 9 - The Performer Audience Divide 1:31:55 Part 10 - Eviscerating Inside 1:51:50 Part 11 - Wait But I Don't Want To Kill Myself 2:14:57 Conclusion - Are You Happy?
Thanks! I'm trying to explain why a 2 minute part of a random comedy movie is 2 and a haf hours fucking long to my SO in Thailand and even with her pretty damn good grasp on English these semibreadtube philosophical videos are just too lost in translation to properly explain. But the having the broke chapters is soooo damn useful
Did you find the perspectives on social media accurate to your experience? Have you found the way you interact with the world change because of the way technology has been introduced? If so how and why?
@@HG-vm7eh I'm a philosophy major from way back, and one of the first early adopters of pc's [1985], ditto the internet, mmo's etc so...yes the perspectives on social media resonated with what I'd experienced. More importantly, they put into words what I'd been feeling. That's a huge gift.
I wonder if one day, down the line, Amazon will sell a stream of an AI CJ the X rants that last for 80 years and that's just that. You let one of your distributed brains watch that for your whole life while you keep going with the rest of your brains.
@@sharkyjeff fuck you mean 'nonsense'? Her videos are as comprehensible and consistent as you can get when trying to talk about broader concepts on a somewhat philosophical level without being boring. Also, it's been years since she's kept a monthly upload schedule lol
@@darko1295 Yeah, it's nonsense. Out of touch bullshit written by a woman who can afford to rent a museum, who oversimplifies and outright lies about Marxist theories to serve her own interests, and who thinks the French took the head off Louis Capet and his wretched Austrian because of "envy."
you made me actually want to have a real conversation with my friends about this but my vocabulary is shitty and i just ended up saying something like 'corporation bad' and started crying i wish i was joking...
This happened to me before i only vaugley remember it was me coming to the real8zation that my vovab was small after x years of not reading (after school). I got a library card and read abit i think.
Cultivating a skill like nuanced coversation takes years of practice. Just ask your English teachers. Please have patience with yourself-we’re here with you.
Same I think maybe just convince all your friends to watch it and then sit there in silence and have a moment until something that feels right comes up. That’s what I’m going to try.
@@hoaheoua I started watching the video this morning, and when I got to class the subjectmatter was the ethics of genemodification. I cried, and I could not explain with human Words why I was overwhelmed
@@hoaheoua the entirety of this topic easily ends up feeling foreign too me, as I’m a teenager and also lack the mindset to engage with online culture. I have a private Instagram account with five followers and generally avoid global news, (luckily for me us and uk politics fall into this category!) More so, It makes me anxious to know I don’t have the option to live my life without WiFi access. That my social life and work and school have to be connected to me through these mediums. Thank you for your lovely response, I will add that Speaking to yourself is probably healthier than spending your time hearing those same thoughts inside your head.
"Don't be intimidated by music theory it's just names for noises you already know" -CJ This is a very comforting thing to say when I'm trying to learn music theory for a WIP and it's kicking my ass. I genuinely appreciate it
you talking about para social relationships made me realize how alone I am every day. youtubers with smart thoughts are not a substitute for friends who keep up with you
Even though I'm a stranger, I can relate to this at a deep level. I also feel like I need to be reminded of that and feel lonely as a result. I spend a ridiculous amount of time on TH-cam. It's often in the background while I work. And in the spirit of what CJ was talking about, I couldn't possibly keep up with every person I interact with over here, but I hope it means something that we are feeling alone at the same time and for similar reasons. We are not together in the physical space, but we are alone in the same digital space. So my soul reaches out to yours and I honestly hope better days are ahead. Abrazo desde Puerto Rico.
I was off the Internet for a few weeks (involuntarily) and it took a while to ween myself off of it then I came back and it feels like relapsing for some reason like my grip has grown tighter & I’m constantly yearning 4 some unknown thing
no don't say this I have to grasp onto the last thing grounding me to this world and an alternative reality of panic. that thing is........youtubers. my friends
It took me a couple times watching "White Woman's Instagram" to really get it but once it did it hit me like a ton of bricks. The whole song is shot in a square aspect ratio to mimic the Instagram aspect ratio. It cuts from one performative action to the next, never breaking that format. Then it gets to the point where she's mourning her mom and the aspect ratio expands to fill the frame. She's finally opening up a little about the challenges she's facing, but as the 'caption' goes on to exclaim her accomplishments, it too becomes part of the performance and the aspect ratio shrinks down to the square again in time for a joke. The platforms encourage us to open up about things and 'get real' which then just becomes an additional part of the performance. We are encouraged to never say our lives are hard, unless it's followed by how we're actually doing ok, or a joke. If you've ever tried to say something is emotionally challenging to go through on social media, you are met with a wall of people saying a quick "you can do it!" or some other platitude so we largely just don't. Also "Some random quote from Lord of the Rings incorrectly attributed to Martin Luther King" is just a really solid joke.
I had a more optimistic interpretation of White Woman's Instagram, where that heartfelt story and the return to the Instagram format showed how people can be genuine in online spaces and that the same people can also be very performative at times. I get your comment, though, and really I think the song encapsulates all of these ideas.
I definitely interpreted it more like @frogman did, but I actually really like your analysis too. That makes a lot of sense in the context of performance.
Don’t you think it’s a little hacky and outdated? Let me be clear, I hold Burnam in very high esteem as a creator and I love this special, that’s why I felt almost shocked at what a huge miss that one was. The whole thing seems pulled straight from 2014, the entire concept has just been done to death over and over, it’s not even remotely insightful at this point
I would say the LOTR quote joke was only solid in the sense that it’s literally a meme… and since it’s a meme it’s been told over and over and over which is the definition of unoriginal… so in that sense to me that part was actually a really “easy” joke. Of course people laughed at that part, so as a joke goes we could say it did it’s job… but did you REALLY laugh that much ? Or just kind of grin or chortle at the fact that this concept (of an incorrectly attributed quote on the internet) is such a well-known trope? I would argue that that specific joke wasn’t actually that solid… but then again if we look at all the other lines they’re also very meme-ish. So clearly the idea was to appeal to the “white woman on social media” tropes that were all familiar with. That’s what makes it so poignant when the character opens up about the loss of their mother and the deep pain associated with it… for those of us watching that can relate to that pain, that part “hit like a ton of bricks” as you said. To me it was a portrait of “a random person on the internet”, in other words anyone, despite all the stereotypes they may display on the internet, is a real person going through things, and often we can be completely ignorant and unaware of this truth because we are so focused on the memes they embody. Sure it says something about the performance of social media, but it also says something about the audience, the viewers, us people watching. We can all sit and laugh at the performers “false” projection of a perfect life, and the meme like behavior, but we all too easily forget that it’s a performance we’re watching, and that the individual characters are merely performing.
As a disabled and chronically ill person, I completely feel like I live inside the internet a lot of the time. Even before the pandemic, I couldn't physically interact with people or go to social events very much. A lot of abled people see this lifestyle as sad and while, yes, I do wish that I COULD do more, I CAN'T. And the internet offers me solace in that.
It doesn't help that abled people think disabled people exist only to overcome and do things that even they can't to inspire them So when we eventually choose to not do that and just live in the way that's best for us, and that doesn't match up to their perception of the absolute most they think we should do they're actively disappointed in us Idk what the point of this reply was I'm quite drunk
@@bellac6311 Yes!!! Like explaining to people that not all disabled people *want* to work because it's just not really worth all the extra effort we'd often have to put in to do so. They think you're lazy for not working, but apparently you're an inspiration just for being disabled and nothing else. They can only conceive the hardships of disability when it's convenient to them.
part 1: hysterical in concept alone -- 7:00 part 2: lyrical analysis -- 9:33 part 3: the solo -- 19:57 part 4: what's bothering bo? -- 23:10 part 5: we are already cyborgs -- 28:59 part 6: transhumanism & luddism -- 36:37 part 7: customer obsession -- 52:21 part 8: the transhuman souls of children -- 1:06:31 part 9: the performer audience divide -- 1:15:59 part 10: eviscerating inside -- 1:31:56 part 11: wait but i don't want to kill myself -- 1:51:53 conclusion: are you happy? -- 2:14:58
It's always interesting seeing people talk about Tumblr as someone who's been using the site since I was 16, lived through the rise and fall of the "SJW" culture that had such an effect on modern discourse, and still uses the same account now a literal decade later. All social media is terrible but if I could be a filthy tumblr apologist for a moment I do find it fascinating in how it's the only platform I know of that doesn't really have any mechanics that discourage long-form written expression. There's so little you can fit into a tweet or facebook status or insta post but on tumblr I'm regularly reading essay-length posts and there's no algorithm stopping me. Again, it's still very much Not Good, but there has to be something that can be said for just... being able to use more words than can fit in a single snappy comeback.
I was thinking about this too! Also a long time tumblr user, and while tumblr isn’t exempt from cj’s critiques, i definitely read a lot of longer form stuff there-it isn’t JUST a hot take generator like twitter (though it still also does that lol)
Tumblr is my favourite of and really the only social media platform I still use bc of this and also because it's one of the only places on the internet where u can be anonymous
i think that's because tumblr offers the user a blog rather than an "account", and so it favors that sort of diary-like posts that give the website the personality other platforms lack. also, i love that the focus is on the content and not on the creators themselves, so there's barely any ego on the site. we're all rats meeting at the trash cans and vibing.
I read a post about this once on Tumblr! About how it was this miracle in the internet that couldn't be monetized for the longest time. Because everyone was anonymous, you couldn't expect to be individually famous like an influencer. You could only recieve attention for your ideas and often your art. It also welcomed long posts, art posts, videos, altogether which was part of what gave it such an active culture. You couldn't get a Tumblr user to pay for themes, to pay for premium accounts, to pay for special posts, and there was absolutely no idea how to advertise to Tumblr users when they finally did install ads. That was part of the appeal. If not for the whole nsfw fiasco, Tumblr would likely still have a very large active base. Tumblr had a lot go wrong but I was always proud that there was never any confusion between who ran the space, the users or the staff. Once the users were no longer happy, we mostly abandoned ship.
I think a big part of it is also the reblog culture. There are individual creators who you know what they look like, and certain communities might see as an authority, but like 90% of their posts will be reblogged from other people too. Every space on tumblr is more of a community conversation than a performance from any one person
“He was patient zero” Fucking KILL me when i grow up i want to have half of cjs critical think skills; they got SO much more out the social dilemma than i did jesus christ
"I'm literally selling my soul. And you? You're giving away your soul for free!" is literally the most raw line I have ever heard from a TH-cam video I literally had to put my phone down and stare at a wall for ten minutes
You and Bo exist in the same timeline. His verse “I want to leave this world better than I found it” and then you making this very real and authentic and enlightening video essay..you’re both simultaneously making the world a better place. That scratches an itch deep in my soul that I can’t describe via text. Thanks for this, I literally enjoyed every second of these 2.5hrs.
"when the medium of discussion becomes reductive jokes, a walking joke will be our leader." honestly, this video made so many great points so quickly that i couldn't write down all my favorite quotes if i tried, excellent analysis
You know what the most reductive joke of them all is? Monetizing being an insecure bully by pretending your sense of taste is superior to everybody else's.
Just dropping my favorite quote from the video here: 1:47:18 "Self-consciousness, constant performance, and cyborgian transhumanism are eating us alive. The corporations that control the mediums only care about profit. The parents still don't fully understand what a dab is. And the kids are so lost in irony and despair that they can only meme the pain away."
kind of ironic that they gave young people a world that we routinely want to escape from... and then gave us a way to escape it that also gives them money
when you hyped up Kill All Normies i was like "cool i should buy this so i can read it" and immediately went to amazon and then just had to lay down due to the several thousand layers of irony
@@nekolover881 the author doesn’t make money if u pirate, and they also don’t get to make more books if their first book does badly~ its better to try and buy from independent bookstores in ur area piracy should be a last resort unless the authors problematic or dead!~
Also, I get it, pirate when you can, give money to deserving independent creators, avoid giving money to corporations unnecessarily, im on board with that. but sometimes you just want a new thing fast, and that's amazon.
i hate sincerity. being honest about myself especially. i don't just hate it, i almost can't do it. when i try to talk about things i care deeply about with people i feel like a toddler just learning to speak. and that's why i always frame these discussions like they're detached from me. like it's simply objective to care and talk about them, but always with a layer of irony and doomerism. everything is hopeless and simultaneously everything is a joke, but it's no big deal, i don't care. it's like if i let myself talk about it it would become too real for me. i don't know how to redirect this emerging hopelessness into healing. i also don't know how to allow myself to be vulnerable, even with the closest of people, and trust them to not take advantage of it or start to perceive me differently because of it. but i am trying, this year. ineptly, but i am.
@@asiunderstandit5717 it's actually so much better now. i almost can't believe that I wrote this only a year ago. i think the biggest obstacle was me taking it so seriously, funnily enough. i didn't allow myself to be "vulnerable" with people because I thought it would make me exactly that - vulnerable. but it doesn't have to. i am much more confident and comfortable as me, and talking about myself is not shameful. i do not care much if people will see me differently or not because of it anymore. finding someone i could trust has been the catalyst for this. it's funny how it works, i thought you need to pour your guts out to feel better even if you feel shitty after, when you actually need to gain enough confidence in yourself first, and little by little you're going to open up more
@@pigeondance687 oh, I'm so glad to hear that!!! It's a process that I'm going through too, and it's definitely still a process, but I've been finding being bold has tended to pay off.
@@asiunderstandit5717 i do genuinely think you can do it. find people you're comfortable with and, most crucially, be yourself. i always dismissed that advice, but it actually works. good luck, friend! i hope to hear from you again someday
the amount of times during this video that i went "oh fuck right this video is about bo burnham" makes it exactly the kind of video that scratches my brain just right
When you realize "I promise to never go outside again" isn't about COVID. It's Bo's reluctant but inevitable return to comedy, once again re-entering the business of commodifying his self for an audience after his 5 years "outside". And the paradoxical tragedy is that he's really fking good at it, and it's what his audience has wanted this whole time. I hadn't understood this until now, so thank you for the phenomenal video
i usually try to comment something witty or meaningful but i’m incapable of performing rn via comments. i just really like this video. thanks for ur services.
There is so much in this video, and it is an instant favorite (though I am late to it). I am 47, so I grew up with books -- lots of books, some of which introduced me to a lot of these concepts (Gibson, McLuhan), and I was honestly excited about the possibilities of Transhumanism and the nascent internet, wanting to have cybernetic implants, wanting to get online and be there and get in touch with all the weirdos, cause, man, my childhood was lonely, and my hunger for knowledge nearly insatiable. I was really into the arts and into performing, but I quickly realized one of the things I valued most was my internal life, and thus my privacy. My biggest joy growing up in a big city was the anonymity, the ability to disappear. Maybe it was borne out of a certain amount of self-loathing, but also when you're constantly having small interactions with everyone you encounter, how does it ever get deep? And while I had a terribly ADHD brain, and I almost always had a book on me, I also took copious notes and spent lots of time daydreaming. I love having a computer in my pocket, but it is also mostly on silent because I cannot deal with the constant interruptions and calls for my attention. I almost never have my phone out while I am hanging out with friends, or when I spend time in nature. Even if I play a casual game or doodle in a notebook while I watch a video, that is actually cause it helps me focus and keeps my mind from wandering. And, again, I don't come at this from an anti-tech place -- I really, really love that tonight I was able to watch you talk about all this stuff for nearly three hours from the comfort of my bedroom while living in a small town and surrounded by trees... I couldn't have lived in a small town twenty years ago -- I would have been intellectually and artistically starved. But what I am saying is that I agree the constant interruptions create an inability to deeply connect to the world around us, and that fame and recognition do pretty much the same thing, as you state. And I was always uncomfortable with it, and I definitely see it all around me now, but I can also absolutely confirm that it is possible to go deeper, to connect with friends in long conversations, to go deep and not miss out. I get constantly caught up by friends on the latest memes or the newest culture, and I am sure I miss things, but if I were busy chasing the internet's fads I would be missing out on actual real life. And again, fantasy, art, tech, all wonderful things as well. I guess my point is that while, yes, making decisions about where to direct our attention does cause us to miss things (it is the literal definition of "decision" after all), we don't have to swing hard one way or another. Life is full of wonderful things, and that hour staring at a tree and listening to ourselves think is valuable, as is that hour spent talking to a friend, as is that moment of laughter when we find a good meme. It's all worth it, and it is perhaps exactly the variety that brings us contentment, if not happiness. A piece of candy is certainly an empty calorie, but it is also a burst of flavor and pleasure for us. Yet we can't live on candy alone. So is the meme an empty bit of data, but it is a burst of pleasure and fun. We can't live on memes alone. We must continue to sample all the good things in life, as well as the bad, to really live, to really feel the full spectrum of everything and get a real sense of what we value and have the bandwidth to think and come up with the solutions we need to make this world a better place. And let me say one last thing about that: because we are so scrutinized, atomized, and individualized, it *feels* like we have to solve all the world's problems, that if we cannot fix them, then all is lost. But this isn't true: we all contribute a little to the puzzle: every conversation we have may be the one that sparks an idea, that will spark another, that will contribute to big change. It is not up to each of us as that one person that will make a huge difference -- it is up to each of us as a collective to contribute to improving everyone's lives. We can do it if we act together, and of course I think that is the enormous power of collectivist politics... But, seriously, not one of us will be able to bring "change for the better" to this world, but we can do it, with the power of art to explore our hearts and point us towards better ideologies and deeper thought, with the power of the engineers who create the things that improve our daily processes, with the power of the therapists and counselors to heal our hearts, etc. etc. etc. Thank you for making this. Fantastic work.
"capitalism will force individual humans to embrace transcendence as a profit motive" was not the mindfuck I was expecting today but it's definitely appreciated
this is my favorite video on the internet, i’ve watched the entirety of it maybe twice, but i’ve countlessly rewatched my favorite bits. the first time i saw it i kept getting these epiphany moments, and i was just overall soooo excited about a subject i’ve never really thought of that much. it just felt so good seeing all the pieces forming a greater picture in my mind. you’re really good at understanding and making people understand stuff deeply. this video has over 2 hours i wasn’t bored for a minute, but also not slightly overwhelmed, its like its perfect
Also...existentially fulfulling though I think, especially at the end. I think it benefits us to take away those "materials" and produce our own for these conversations.
To each their own, but I found it almost, clearing. Like how a diagnosis can take worry away. (Although even that description I am not even on board, but after this I just feel so much less, stressed, like air has been in my lungs after months.)
what is so ironic is that I’m listening to this video on headphones at work. one day I came to work without my headphones, and I was genuinely off kilter and had no idea how I could get any work done. I had the same weird sense of loss you had with your phone. my brain really felt like something was missing. idk. I convince myself that my work is boring as shit and that I need a distraction in the background, but how much of that excuse is covering up a complete addiction and dependence? I don’t know anymore.
"trying to use a limb that was no longer there" really does hit the nail on the head. Gonna edit this to say that this is such a compelling video essay. I'm not great at conveying how I feel about things I view or ingest, but this held my attention for the full 2.5 hours, and that is saying something. Thank you for creating this.
God I fucking love listening to you. This is the future of TH-cam. When everyone's copying you in five years I hope people make two+ hour video essays about how your energy and syntax was the original.
@@pandoratypography contrapoints is like going into the theater but the screenplay is an academic essay, CJ is like you’re at a party and a friend of your friend starts ranting about something that tangents about 15 different times but magically it all connects into an overarching meaning while about 5 people listen quietly
This video, Jangles ScienceLad’s video, and your video are my top 3 video essays on Inside. My immediate thought after seeing Bo’s special was, “I can’t wait to see the art and analysis this inspires.” And y’all didn’t disappoint.
@Grace The first word that came to mine was "important". I think Inside and some of the video essays about it (including this one) are the earliest steps of the real conversation about the internet.
I honestly cannot comprehend how a video made by a leftist TH-camr talking for hours about some music made by Bo Burnham ironically cheering Jeffrey Bezos can be one of the deepest and most important videos I have ever seen, changing drastically the way I currently see the world.
@@WolfanTerror I can’t/won’t speak for OP, but honestly it’s the sort of phenomenon of the “bread tube” concept that’s real difficult to pull a lot of meaning out of. A lot of my political views were not changed, more clarified thanks to a lot of left-tube; but there’s so much of it, and a lot of it nowadays feels more… destructive rather than constructive (that’s the best way I can phrase it) and this video has more of the classic feeling of here’s what I think is a better way of doing this that is better for everyone involved, rather than it’s all shit and there’s nothing you can do to improve it so watch me complain for 4+ hours. Again, I can’t speak for OP, but that’s why I related to the comment. 🤷♀️
@@shelbyvontrapp you put this well i think. this is more of an analysis over critique, so it ends up being a more growth-oriented video because of that, even politics aside.
"Why do all your sentences have to end with laughter from an audience? Why does that feel like victory to you" Is incredible. I genuinely had to stop the video and think for a minute
I'm glad you don't treat your audience like they've never heard of the things you're talking about, that you engage with the modern culture in a way that isn't cursory and tied up with a bow by the end of the video. Such deep thoughts when the internet is inundated with reacts and clickbait and dunking on bad things and (most irksome to me) people who feel like they're saying something profound and incisive but are only engaging on a surface level and making "I just read a book on logical fallacies and now I think I'm Socrates" arguments. I love the frenetic and non-linear style of your videos; you're thinking, and we're along for the ride. You effectively employ academic language when appropriate, but are also more than willing to drop out of that mode into an experiential one or a comedic one, all giving us a fuller, more human picture of the ideas you're discussing. I know you're only conquering youtube along your path to greater things, but I hope you keep making stuff like this, because you've got a really unique voice and I think your ideas have meaning beyond just being "content." I genuinely believe that if everyone who watched this video truly, deeply understood what you were saying and allowed it to permeate them beyond the usual semi-intellectual hit of watching a video essayist say things you agree with, we would start actively making things better.
OMFGGGGG I AM THE GIRL IN THIS VID AT 01:53:00 i cannot fucking believe they were filming the questioners. this is absolutely nuts to see. i appreciate your kind words and thoughtful analysis, you did a great job putting this video together! what a fabulous piece of work! i look forward to watching more of your stuff! i doubt anyone will see this, but if i had the gift of hindsight (and was maybe more than 2 days past learning what neoliberalism was) i would ask him more about making a safe process in a notoriously predatory industry. was everybody paid fairly? what was the structure of empowerment for the minor actors on set? etc etc. etc. i would ask that because there were, statistically speaking, a large number of future directors sitting in that room (bc the screening was at the film school and mostly film students knew about it). i didnt go to film school, but i know for a fact many of the men in that room are gonna create some truly heinous work with completely awful processes lol. it mighta benefitted them to hear one of their idols talk a bit more about how to tangibly improve the lives of the people they work with rather than pontificate on a problem that seemed to only interest me at the time LOL. anyways, thanks again, much love to u! fabulous job!
After a few years have passed, I just wanted to say that the question, "How much of yourself would you feel you've lost if every archived post and chat history and all your social media accounts vanished tomorrow?" has completely changed my life and the way I perceive my identity and relation to pretty much everything. I put a lot more of my energy into things I really care about now. And I also do scrapbooking, lol.
I turn 20 in a week and I’m in the same boat yet just the other day I found myself thinking how I wanted to share an incredibly personal and intimate moment with my brother to a twitter or intsagram. I have neither. The poison is endemic.
"That's the problem with individualism, it's always preached by people for whom individualism worked." Man that really summed it up so hard I had to go back and listen to you say it again, damn
that anecdote about Dave and not having anything of value to him really struck a chord with me. when i was 18, i went to Europe with my mother for 6 months. i would give anything to redo that trip, because i spent so much time on my phone or in my own head thinking about fucking fandom. as a young queer person i needed the internet in a very specific way. i couldn't fully appreciate the experiences i was having partially because they *weren't* online. they weren't postable. they weren’t content. i liked looking around at the pretty scenery but i missed out on so much human connection because the only way i knew how to communicate meaningfully was through memes and textspeak. internet literacy/fandom destroyed my ability to have a conversation that wasn't about media. anyway. this video essay is incredible and definitely gave me a lot to think about
This is probably the saddest thing I've ever read wow. Not that I'm giving you pity but the simply statement that you were on your phone and not on the trip but you Were on the trip really fucks with me. It just.. I just feel sad now, I'm sorry. I've never had this problem because social media was introduced me at a later age. I used tumblr mostly in my teens but even then, I always craved connecting with nature. Maybe it's because I was born in a country that always been behind (a poorer, that once was a third world country) so maybe I have always had an inclination to appreciate and desire the simpler things of physical life itself.
I have a Hannah Montana style problem with my social media/internet usage - I'm terrible at posting content (bc my life is boring + I'm generally forgetful + tend to be Present instead of online during stuff) so I end up without Snapchats or photos of friends + family during events etc, bc I just straight up forget that that's an option - but I'm also terminally online to the point where my usual language + speech patterns are sped to 2x speed and sound like a ex-vine kid having a nervous breakdown about iCarly for 5+ hrs - so I get the worst of both worlds where i sometimes really struggle to switch from online-talk to Reality-talk - and oh my god did the pandemic make this 1000% worse 😬👀
i would argue its not an internet/fandom problem, its a social isolation problem. because im 23, started using the internet when i was 12 and i still experienced this (it was because of mental illness). finding people you LIKE spending time with irl can be really hard when you're a fucking weirdo to society at large and you have little to no social skills. the pandemic made this even worse.
Elon pushing for AI regulation was a marketing gimmick for AI. He made it sound like we were on the precipice of a singularity and thinking, feeling machines when all it can do is predict text, not communicate. There’s been a million videos on this and I’m sure y’all know by now, just figured I’d throw this in
I always figured he was trying to get governments to regulate companies with already established AI research divisions so his own could catch up to the pack, similar to how he killed plans for high speed rail systems by promoting the Hyperloop as a bunk alternative.
@@Hotshot3334they're also doing it to kill open source because "if this is a danger it needs to be in the right hands not the hands of any evil person."
I can't keep coming back to this. This is an ADHD masterpiece because it actually portrays an overarching plot and point and divergent thinking isn't 'off topic' As people assume it is. This makes me feel just a tiny bit more hope that I'll finish my silly art. What's amazing is that this is dense and not nebulous. Please keep breathing fire upon the Earth. I'm just really enjoying it.
yess this not only was so complete and thought-changing on its own, it also made my wacky ADHD train of thought feel validated, and i'm inspired to stop apologizing for it and just own it.
@@sophiabills6213 It's so good (I have ADHD)! I rewatch CJ's videos quite a bit. My partner also loved this video and its pacing and he doesn't have ADHD but is very internet and memes.
The ending of this video remeinded me of this quote "Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief. Do justly now, love mercy now, walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.”
this is a reference to a verse from the Bible- Micah 6:8 "what does the Lord require of you? to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God" its a really good one
That quote in my mind always pairs with the end of a poem (I forgot it's name) "Put down your gun and have a sandwich" Just...... the acknowledgement of the overwhelming amount of work required to fix things + the moral obligation to participate, paired with the reminder that you can't just live for the work; you need to put it down, and have a sandwich 😭 hits every time
iv watched this video before. i didn’t realize until the end. somehow the last couple years of my life changed enough to make this video feel completely different.
You're my new favorite TH-camr. Forty minutes in, I thought "wow, that was a great essay" but I saw it was almost two and a half hours in length, and it honestly made me feel spoiled. Do I even deserve this? Have I eaten enough vegetables to enjoy an absolute feast like this?
Una de las cosas más bellas de poder entender Inglés (aunque no pueda hablarlo ni escribirlo tan bien como escucharlo) es poder ver video ensayos e ir poco a poco entendiendo los conceptos que se plantean. Este de aquí dura dos horas y media, ¡por Dios!, pero aún así estuve sentado durante todo ese tiempo frente a mi computadora, escuchando lo que este chico tenía que decir. Y ha sido una gran experiencia, maldita sea.
Siendo en el mismo situación con el español (que es mi primer idioma, pero ni mi lengua materna… o si lo es? es complicado, y yo no entiendo nada), por FAVOR dime que tienes algunos recomendaciones por vídeo ensayos como este solo en español…? Y ahora que lo has mencionado tú (seguro que alguien más tmb, pero como te veo hablando en otra idioma, y sobre esto, ya confío en el hecho que entiendes esto mejor que cualquier otro desconocido aqui) - una de las cosas más bellas del internet es como te deja conectar con varias culturas y tal. En este momento es la única razón para que puedo justificar mi usage de ello, la verdad. En mi caso concretamente es raro pq soy un inmigrante/“third-culture kid” (mas o menos…? Menos. Pero más, tmb) y en algunas maneras el internet no es mi hogar pero CONTIENE mi hogar, y mi familia. Mi hogar ‘real’ no es mío y lo he visitado pero ya no es realista volver, si fuera posible en primer lugar. (Una cosa que me sorprende un poco es el hecho de que no menciono en absoluto algo que es uno de las primeras cosas en que pienso cuando pienso del internet - que por el internet, no por tumblr pero probablemente por una cultura seguramente creado por tumblr, conectaba a una cultura queer que me ayudó lograr un ‘entendimiento’ de yo misma; algo fuera de mi me dejo encontrar un hogar en mi propio cuerpo. Cyborgs! Cíborg, tmb, me dice GOOGLE - y …la trama… espesa… engorda… o algo) Si este comentario no es entendible puedo intentar traducirlo a inglés…. Que ya puedes entender - y muy muy bien, claramente - de todos modos… y NO lo haré a las 1 por la mañana. (Eso es un ejemplo de una hora a que NO debes escribir comentarios de YT, especialmente cuando tienes que levantarte a las 6, que eligió totalmente al azar).
I love how brutally honest you are. Genuine unpopular opinions and takes are refreshing. This is a level of understanding and comprehension I hope to one day achieve. The internet is a labyrinth and will most likely be the downfall of everything.
Bad probably, writing essays with ADHD it an absolute bitch, as he's speaking, he can better springboard off himself and better organise what he wants to communicate more clearly.
@@yoyobeweildered1332 This is so true. I've had undiagnosed ADHD for years(trying to finally get it diagnosed, hopefully sooner rather than later)and when I talk, I sometimes end up talking so fast, my mom has to tell me to slow down because she can't keep up. Writing with ADHD is a nightmare because it requires focus, AKA the exact opposite of ADHD. I can't focus on anything for too long without getting up and wandering aimlessly around my apartment with my thoughts going a million different directions but sometimes I talk to myself as if talking to someone else much like a video essayist does and I can focus more then(though there's still instances of going off on completely irrelevant tangents). The only thing that keeps me from tackling TH-cam myself is that I also have social anxiety and and an inferiority complex that can't handle any sort of criticism. So I'm too afraid to put myself and my insane thought process out there to be seen by others 🙃
I'm only halfway through this video and its already one of the most profound things I have ever experienced. You are the voice of a generation, keep it up my friend
1 hour and 40 minutes in, i have decided that i definitely need to give this a second and mayhaps even a third watchthrough just to comprehend and process all of the concepts and talking points in this video. i aspire this to this level of existence holy shit.
The fact that I came here just because I recently watched Inside, and during the video I forgot that was the concentric topic of this odissey of feelings and literal "fuck you"s, is just breath-taking. How they flowed between references to literature and their own thoughts; how they transition from point to point; just the overall way of performing is charming. I tried using this video as a "podcast" and it lured me into watching it, focusing solely in it. They made a video that I was feeling like I was Inside (pun intended), even though it was a monologue, I was capable of "being talked to". Im happy of having found this channel, and as so, thank you for making this content, which I may like to call art.
Profit isn't value. Value is value. Phones are a limb. "Customer obsession" doesn't mean they're obsessed with you, because you are not a Customer. "Customer" is a mode you enter, not a thing you are. But they are obsessed with keeping you in that mode. Jeff Bezos did everything right. He is the answer to the question of capitalism. He is capitalism's ultimate form, its ubermensch. The problem isn't Bezos, it is that our system has selected for him. Slow subtle verbosity is an answer to the evils that Online™ has wrought. Slow anything, maybe tryna log some notes to remember em later
I had to take some notes too. Let's pool resources :) "If you care about your soul, don't you care about my soul? My feelings may inconvenience you. They may require patience. They may require you listening and learning about me. Maybe after all that learning and listening and patience and kindness, you will feel the exact same way philosophically and politically about everything. Open and empathetic dialog is valuable. Admitting you might be wrong and you're doing your best, is valuable. Giving someone else the space to be wrong without having to prove yourself right is valuable. Feelings are valuable. Facts don't care about your feelings. But I am not a fact. I care about your feelings. "
I would DIE for this kind of in-depth review about filthy frank and exactly what point joji was trying to get across. He was one of the first people to understand meme and internet culture, its negative influence on people and how "trolling/joking" on the internet eventually impacts one's thoughts and behaviour.
There's a Quinton Reviews video about Filthy Frank that I felt like almost captured that vibe, though I also would like an analysis as deep as this one about it. It's a start though
TH-cam video essays can be so effective. Breadsword makes me nostalgic and teary-eyed, in praise of shadows inspires me to create weird art, and you send me into downwards existential crisis mode that never ends and just gets more momentum every video.. except the water ranking video. That gave me so much genuine joy.
One thing that concerns me with brain chips, particularly in a discussion of using them to eradicate neurological diseases, is--how long til someone suggests using it to get rid of autism? If I get a chip in my head capable of altering my brain chemistry to change abnormalities in it, how long til someone decides I must be hopelessly deluded to not use it to make myself entirely neurotypical, and the choice should be made for me by "healthy" people? That's not to say it's not amazing to use technology to deal with paralysis, seizures, Alzheimer's, etc., and even to moderate sensory experiences for the neurodivergent, maybe stimulate balanced production of serotonin and dopamine for depression and anxiety. But I think there's a very complicated conversation to be had there that absolutely cannot end at "it can be used to cure these horrible things, let's get back to other concerns".
We were talkin with a friend and we had the exact same discution you were fearing He was praising neural link and all the things it could cure and when i said: you don't/can't cure autism He said that i shouldn't say what we will be able to do in the future, that maybe we'll be able to do it: not understanding that my objection was with the ethics of, from my understanding, essentially killing someone to make them "normal"
Your comment and the specific language you chose brought to mind Distress, the novel by Greg Egan. A fantastic book by a fantastic author, the most core and fundamental message of which must be the big H's: Who decides what "Healthy" means? Who decides what qualifies as "Humanity"? Isn't it horrid and condescending when people are so bent on "Healing" the "Inhumanity" of the autistic? CJ reads and does a video essay on Greg Egan's bibliography when? Seriously CJ, I'd love to see this and I think you'd get a fuck of a lot of value from reading his books. (Well, you might get less from the handful of math and math history textbooks masquerading as hard science fiction...I love em, though.)
Also, I don't really trust tech people and businesses to consider those questions. When you make a product to sell, it's in your best interest to make those products for the masses, rather than the groups that need them. They also tend to push the technology for uses that it's not necessarily for (ex: your autism point).
Transhumanism, especially in regards to neurological situations, is a very *very* complicated subject and requires a lot of discussion and care to advance past where we currently are. Even just the idea of using a neurological implants to mitigate the symptoms of depression requires such an in-depth discussion that it makes most people shy away from the topic, and thats not even getting to neurodivergent individuals, just people with an observable, verifiable illness. And this is coming from a transhumanist. Its so complicated and such an sensitive topic that it would arguably take more time to discuss the fallout of doing so than it would take it get to the point we could do so. Arguably, that is for the best...
On your transhumanism segment: I’m really glad that I decided not to have any personal social media accounts. They’re all “anonymous” to some degree. I don’t follow my friends with them, just content creators. I don’t use social media to socialize, but rather as a form of entertainment, and learning. I’m still much more attached to my phone than I would like, but it’s not deeply rooted in my personality or social life. And I am thankful for that. Thanks 13 year old me for deciding not to post anything personal ever!
I can relate to that. I personally had a traumatic experience with social media when I was 17, after which I really stopped using social media for a long time. Now, I have a pretty detached relationship with social media. I sometimes comment, sometimes might post a question on reddit but that's most of it.
@@mr.duck1246 until you realize some social media apps (looking at you, tiktok) scrape your phone contacts and connect you with content that your irl friends and family interact with, and even put your profile in their "suggested friends" It's all very inescapable but your effort at keeping irl and internet separate is admirable. Can't imagine that.
I got emotional when cj started talking about how my gen is called the me generation. I didn’t do this to myself. I don’t want to feel this way. This is everything I know
I absolutely know what that's like and boomers were gaslighting us (millennials) for the exact same thing too. They even made the Time magazine person of the year "The Generation of You" And it's like "hey... You gave all this to us wtf." And then when they had the chance to catch the next gen from the absolute beginning (infants growing up on iPads/social media) they absolutely exploited that. And now they're chastising you for it. It's sick.
When every generation reaches the teen/young adult age, they get called the "me generation." It happens like clockwork and it's so frustrating. Like that's literally the age you're building yourself and making big decisions about your life. For a healthy person, this is the time you SHOULD be the most self involved!
I thought the me generation were the baby boomers (lord google and lady wikipedia agree with me)… lawd, u kids aren’t getting the right info…love, gen X
I'm not sure how relevant this is going to be but here goes: I'm somewhat of a crafter, I knit, I crochet, I cross stich, I make. I turn time into objects. It makes me happy to look at an object and go "I made this, this is a record of the time I spent working on it and the time I was alive." It's to the point where I feel my life being wasted if I am not making something. Either I'm working my day job or I'm making things. I like the process and the finished objects. I understand very dearly that what you make, what you produce, is a part of your soul. These things take time, they take the amount of time they take to be done. And you have to be careful who you share that with. I feel bad when I'm online for too long, it's not a real record of my time in the same way crafted things are. I don't know what my point was, just that we have to be careful with how we spend this life time we're given.
@@mmmaria1249 very good take! Something I've been working on in therapy is long term gratification and that means records of time that are more subtle sometimes, like gardening. A happy plant is months of consistent nurturing and seeing that love reflected in something tangible, physical, and sensory is so valuable in a way that something digital could never be
also a crafter, also really feel this. I found crafting became especially essential to me during quarantine / as I was graduating from university and facing down my future
The parasocial relationship has always been so fascinating to me. Even when a creator is literally saying ‘I’m not your friend you can’t be my friend I am a performer and you are my audience’ there’s this part of me that’s whispering back ‘but you’re not talking about me. I’m different. I could be your friend, give me a chance’. We’re sharing a platform with the world so we think we’re entitled to be intertwined with every single person’s life.
I think there's a thread to be drawn somewhere between the teacher-student 'friendship' that many kids have with their favourite teacher(s) and the parasocial relationship kids develop with youtubers/celebs. Something something about inherent power imbalance, hollow but often extremely emotionally-heavy dynamics, age-gaps/seniority, trust in authority, etc. (I wanna note that when I say teacher-student 'friendship' I'm talking about teachers who are friendly to students in the approved, safe way - NOT teachers who abuse or manipulate students etc. I had a few 'friendships' with various teachers - we'd swap books (English teachers) and discuss marvel movies, I baked so I'd bring cookies in for the cooking teacher + we'd chat during lunch (when she was on duty anyway-i respected her solo lunch times) the PE teacher and I talked music, etc. But I was always aware of that divide, and I was never dependant on them or took stuff like my grades or being yelled at when goofing off personally/expecting special treatment over other students - because I understood that we were 'friendly' but they weren't my actual friends - they were teachers who were friendly. Lots of my friends didn't seem to understand that divide, or how i could like a singer's music but dislike them as a person or vice versa - which didn't make any sense to me until years later when I encountered parasocial relationships + the surrounding terminology (I left secondary in 2015 lol) There's definitely something there about how one-sided relationships developed with people in power/authority over children are so easy for kids to internalize as normal + expect, but I'm too tired to figure those details out lmao
I admire how intricately interwoven your points are. As someone with ADHD, the way you speak makes it very easy to follow what you're saying. I look forward to listening to more of your video essays.👍
"I thought Bo Burnham wasn't that deep and HE BEAT ME!" Yeah that checks out. Whenever you try to look deeper into his work, you gaze into the void and the void gazes back. The void says "did you find it yet? Whatever it was you were looking for? Why don't you stay a while and keep searching"
I hope bo and Jeffrey watch this together and slowly lean in to a kiss that they tell no one about
this comment needs more traction
This is the definition of romance.
Oh my god
enemies to lovers
Ooh scandalous
"Don't be intimidated by music theory, it's just names for noises you already know." That's some good shit right there.
omg I forgot that was today. this video has distorted my perception of time.
Riiight. No sense UNDERSTANDING the nature of things. Just say, "been there, heard that" and dismiss anything you're too lazy to know more about.
@@Mystician Literally, what? There's no dismissal here, just no need to be intimidated. Calm down.
That's how I feel about physics: it's putting numbers to things you already intuitively know.
Every musician has a theory, it just might not be classical theory
THIS ESSAY IS LONGER THAN INSIDE AND YET CJ TALKS AT 3X THE SPEED OF BO
Well visual medium vs a largely speech medium
This needed to be screamed
@@dartxni astute observation
My ADHD: still play it at 2x
CJ talks at the speed of my ADHD
Without irony, this is at LEAST in the top 5 most important pieces of visual media I have ever consumed. I truly appreciate the way this helped me reconsider my relationship with technology, and not necessarily in a negative way. Its helped me develop a stronger respect for, as well as scrutiny of, my online life.
Thank you so much.
You know that feeling you get when you finish a movie and you’re walking out of the movie theatre with a renewed sense of meaning in life? This is probably one of the only TH-cam videos that ever made me feel that way.
I think you've explained it perfectly.
Fr
i keep coming back to this video, you explained it very well
100% agree. Ive shared this on my Facebook, with a "novel" of my interpretation, open for further discussion. This has actually inspired me to start an extended essay on something similar... As Its very true when he says you cant make a point in a Facebook/Twitter post, so Ill go further and get it on paper, referencing this video and other sources. This might have inspired me more than 'The Social Dilemma' has, to get off social media. XD Marathon of CJs videos first though I think
Yeah for reals, I almost had a panic attack but it’s bc everything he said resonated with me so hard it was scary. but I feel like I’ve learned a lot about reality and life now
jesus fucking christ
hell yeah
i love that this is pinned 😭
Fuck man, shit.
@@u2befake149 Fuck, man shit.
@@papasscooperiaworker3649 Fuck man shit.
Ah yes, a 2.5 hour breakdown on a 1 minutes song. That is exactly what my adhd brain craves; while your flamboyant presentation is what my goblin heart craves.
same. i want to find more video essays like this.
@Xanderqwerty Are you me from a different timeline, yet somehow, exactly the same?
@@ceph698 the Way is to follow this account, despite it never posting a single video. It's backed by another ADHD-like brain curating shit like this
Happy to be a lowly goblin!!! Grateful!!!
A lowly goblin am I. To indulge in the stimuli CJ gives instead of studying fluid mechanics is what I must
I'm not sure if anyone is going to read this, but I want to say that I've watched this video three times and every single time I learn something new. I recommend it to everyone I can. It has genuinely completely changed how I view the world and myself. The first time I watched it, I had a complete mental breakdown and deleted all of my social media accounts for a couple months and called my mom and dad to ask them what they did everyday in the 60s and 70s before they had the internet because I literally don't know how to live without it. At all. What a mindfuck. 10/10.
I was going to upvote you, but you're at 69 upvotes.
How often do you go on online now? Is it better with no social media, did u actually disconnect ?
@@swizzili4309 she can't answer. She's off the grid
Well… what did they say?!
imagine gatekeeping the solutions...
couldn't be me ;-;
"Profit isn't value. Value is value. Don't let them convince you they're the same thing." might be my favorite quote anyone has ever said
But value isn't determined by you, it's determined by what someone will pay no?
@@redneckreviews2285 that's just monetary value though, that's only one type of value and arguably not the most valuable type of value (damn that sentence reads weird)
I screamed and then bowed to my Nietzsche art deco wall poster upon hearing this
@@redneckreviews2285 The point is that "profit" has no monopoly on what should be consider valuable or at least you shouldn't let it become a monopoly on what is consider valuable. Because monopoly is bad. I hope regardless of politics we can all agree monopoly is bad. Monopoly of what is consider valuable is even worse. That's it.
@@Notmyday2009 yeah whenever I play monopoly the whole family ends hating eachother
So I just need to shave my head...say less.
this is quite literally the best crossover event :o
I think I recognize your voice at 1:06 ? ♥️
Just came here from your livestream
between CJ and fiq the signifier it seems TH-cam is recommending me a lot of channels you've commented on and I hope that streak continues
@@starsandmoonsabove really? I didn’t hear her?
Jeez you went next level on this one. This legit elevated the genre.
I really like your content too! You bring a fresh perspective to the essayists on TH-cam!
Oh look one of my favorite video essayists watching another one of my faves
I'm a huge fan of your content and I watched your essay on Inside just before this.
Oh shit, super cool to see you here. I recognize the irony of this type of comment responding under a video that talks about parasociality, but it really is cool to see essayists I enjoy watching engaging with other essayists I enjoy watching.
Everyone go home and close the internet. These are the only 2 definitive Inside video essays.
This went from a fast paced funny rant about capitalism and Bo Burnham, to an existential discussion about cyborgs and transhumanism, to a monumentally soul-wrenching ending that shifted my whole fucking paradigm. At the end of all of it, I realized that you did something truly special.
You changed my perspective.
"You're just a blob of compliments that will morph into an abusive mob when my time comes" is hands down the best description of the TH-cam/Twitter/Instagram/Tiktok commentariat that I have literally ever heard.
"commentariat" - what an astute word choice. Brilliant.
v
It reminded me of contra points discussions on cancel culture
Huh... guess you're part of the blob now, and so am I it seems...
when do we form the mob?
@@jameso2290 adopting this into my vernacular immediately
"I'm just gonna talk about this 56 second song about Jeff Bezos and nothing else."
Me, to myself: "Two hours...?"
i expected that at the end of the video СJ will return to the subject of Jeffry Bezos and the fact that it didn't happen is the only inperfection i feel about all of this
I did a double-take at the time stamp the second he said it too! 🤔💭...😂
And I watched the whole damn thing.
@@harissales9257 Same here 🤣🤣🤣
That was a lie.
"Nothing else"
Ben Shapiro has used the song unironically, while praising Bezos, it's amazing and I need everyone to be aware of this.
Ben Shapiro missing the satire, that's so classic Ben. Imagine all the people pointing and laughing at Ben (Woohoo Ooooh)
@@chaotickreg7024 I see what you did there, love it
@@xp7575 Hahaha I'm so glad! Thank you! Feel free to use the idea, just make 'Imagine' puns when you mock Ben.
I just to say while I'm on the topic: Ben's opinions on music are so bogus because there's this genre of music called Harsh Noise and it's my personal favorite. If Ben would say to my face "Hanatarash isn't music, there's no beat or melody" then I would find that so hilarious, he can't handle new ideas.
Is there a link to this? Or was it a twitter post or something?
Bro don’t leave me hanging like this. Drop the link
having this video periodically interrupted by amazon ads is. an experience to say the least
This guy would've been considered an oracle in ancient greece
Agree
‘If reality offends you it’s reality that’s offensive and not the person acknowledging it is’
Oracle stuff right there.
Ok, hear me out... what if... we never leaved... ancient greece... ?!
@@yungguattari4924 present greece
@@kyu7206 futuristic cyberpunk greece
I cannot stress enough how profound and deeply accurate this video essay is. Yes my soul IS online and dismissing this as “an Internet addiction” is so extremely reductive and fails to recognize the complete lack of control we have over the entire thing
YES esp considering it as a natural progression of alienation. We are social creatures.. if u take away our ability to have meaningful community naturally we were gonna fill that void by any means. The internet is one giant toxic and confusing community and without it i truly don’t know if i woulda survived at this point, we cannot survive without other people’s validation/acceptance. It’s survival!
@@diandrastithe3186 I still think we have the power to work a healthier relationship with the internet even if the cards are stacked against us. I for one have seen some of my friends finally uninstall social media apps from their phones and they get by. Sure, you might need some form of social media for work/studies/etc but if you know people irl you can just forgo social media for social purposes or reduce it to less toxic and alienating platforms, like an active discord with friends, and the thing is we'd probably be way better off if we managed to unplug that little bit from the more dangerously invasive side of the internet.
@@tand0ri agree, but i think the pandering made this harder tbh. I used to have my closest friendships online and I was starting to work on building relationships more irl focused but I haven't seen anyone other than my boyfriend and his family since early march 2020. If it weren't for social media we probably would've lost touch by now. I don't enjoy my online experience anymore but my friends are there and there only.
Qq Luigi
you are insane. there is nothing profound here. Hype and clicks. You need some serious soul-searching if this video looks like "deeply accurate" to you
"you're not a customer, you're a person. Don't let them convince you otherwise." Chills, literal chills
This is unquestionably a masterpiece, but it kind of scares me, because there are many points throughout where I felt my feelings change about a subject, and I didn’t know if it was because the points being brought up rung true to my values, or because CJ is such a persuasive personality with such a mastery over words and delivery that my feelings were completely swayed and won over. I know that just sounds like a compliment but it’s legitimately scary and concerning to me..
Obviously, there's nothing wrong with changing your stance or begin swayed to the other side on an argument, it's extremely valuable and important, but like, it's important to understand the reasons you were swayed, right?
It's okay to feel uncertain. The solution is to branch out. Find other opinions and evaluate their merits on even ground. Maybe read the works of some philosophers noted in this video.
Katherine is right. You find out what you believe by repeatedly exposing yourself to new perspectives. In the beginning you will change back and forth and it'll feel uncomfortable but over time you will take things from everything and form a unique opinion based on who you are and all the info you've seen.
tbh I have to be in a really okay headspace to listen to a new CJ essay. ur so not alone. I know I'll be led down the garden path of my own opinions and then bam knocked off the wall. you do have to go in knowing that. but by now, I trust CJ's philosophical authenticity enough to know that I will have something legitimate to take away and think about. but for sure I've warily put on a new cj upload when I woke up and turned it off 30m later in tears (it was fine, I was fine, I enjoyed it later, but I don't need all of my assumptions questioned before i've had my coffee). I totally get the thing about the bad taste or strangeness of a persuasive talker, though. I guess you just gotta build that trust (I realise the parasocial irony in this statement) and your own history of turning over & exploring yourself the stuff that's said. idk how to parse this succinctly, I realise now.. but there's a certain intellectual honesty present in cj's breakdowns that I have found over time I can trust....... & rarely makes me need my safeword 🤭
The capacity to be a supervillain has to be the best kind of compliment
I feel the same way. It feels like someone has an uncomfortable level of power over you, like you might believe them on a deep level even if you're brain did disagree. They're videos are wonderful, and the points have helped me work through what I believe in a lot of areas, but it's scary to watch this person I don't know and find my walls just completely rescind. I trust them, and I didn't choose to. It's been better recently though. Watching this video now hits totally different than it did when it came out, because I have changed so much. I still agree, but spending a long time processing what I believe about philosophy, politics, art, religion, etc. means I know that the part of me that agrees is actually me, and not this blind trust and "love" I have for a person I don't know.
After watching Inside, I was pretty hesitant to watch any video essays about it as I felt that most wouldn't really offer a perspective that brought more value to it. I am really glad I watched this one though.
Omg I'm the exact same way
For me it was the opposite, so many people telling their different impressions of the Bo special that i didn't know it's value. But that's a quirk of mine, I usually watch the review, or better, the analysis of something before watching it, specially if it's extremely popular.
RAZBUTEN IN THE FUCKING COMMENTS! Caroline konstnar clip in the first five minutes. God I fucking love CJ the X.
The one from f.d.signifier is also a very interesting watch from an entirely different perspective, highly recommend
I will say most the video essays r just synopses, theyre not great lmao
god the point you made about little kids not knowing the difference between expressing and performing is so real. When I facetime my baby sister, she talks to me like I'm her TH-cam audience. She says like "Hey guys! welcome back to my home, today I've been playing a lot of Minecraft" and when she sends me videos or pictures it's like they're little TH-cam videos she made and it's really uncanny to interact in a personal one on one way with someone who's trying to make our actual relationship into a parasocial relationship instead because they really don't understand the difference.
Bruhhh that is really uncanny. Oof by the time I’m ready to have a kid how do I even go about raising them? Like it’s easy to say limit their internet accesses, but is that really going to be feasible? Like by the time a child is school age they are going to need to interact with the internet to be able to interact with their peers.
get that girl away from youtube
@@ruriva4931 This is a obviously a very recent thing so there isn't a lot of research on it but the evidence suggests that proactive parenting and putting in the effort for a lot of face-to-face interaction helps kids from falling down that rabbit hole
@@lulucool45 most parents cant/wont do that. humans evolved to raise kids as groups, not for 2 people to do all the work. without any big structural changes society is fked, pure and simple.
Re: vlog brothers
?
Okay so I just needed to write this down
7:00 Part 1 - Hysterical In Concept Alone
9:33 Part 2 - Lyrical Analysis
19:56 Part 3 - The Solo
23:10 Part 4 - What's Bothering Bo?
29:00 Part 5 - We Are Already Cyborgs
36:35 Part 6 - Transhumanism and Luddism
52:20 Part 7 - Customer Obsession
1:04:00 The Soul
1:06:30 Part 8 - The Transhuman Souls of Children
1:15:57 Part 9 - The Performer Audience Divide
1:31:55 Part 10 - Eviscerating Inside
1:51:50 Part 11 - Wait But I Don't Want To Kill Myself
2:14:57 Conclusion - Are You Happy?
amazing, þank you for your work, kind one
Ty
@@Cold_S0up Noice! Needs more likes! Also pin that shit!
Thanks! I'm trying to explain why a 2 minute part of a random comedy movie is 2 and a haf hours fucking long to my SO in Thailand and even with her pretty damn good grasp on English these semibreadtube philosophical videos are just too lost in translation to properly explain. But the having the broke chapters is soooo damn useful
@@anterrobang9298 Hehe, how’d you get thorn on your keyboard?
I'm 70 and I'm in awe. Thank you.
66…ditto
Did you find the perspectives on social media accurate to your experience? Have you found the way you interact with the world change because of the way technology has been introduced? If so how and why?
@@HG-vm7eh I'm a philosophy major from way back, and one of the first early adopters of pc's [1985], ditto the internet, mmo's etc so...yes the perspectives on social media resonated with what I'd experienced. More importantly, they put into words what I'd been feeling. That's a huge gift.
So this is what the ever-increasing length of Contrapoints videos has prepared me for
I wonder if one day, down the line, Amazon will sell a stream of an AI CJ the X rants that last for 80 years and that's just that. You let one of your distributed brains watch that for your whole life while you keep going with the rest of your brains.
IVE BEEN TRAINING FOR THIS
this is much more insightful and consistently true than contra's monthly nonsense lmao
@@sharkyjeff fuck you mean 'nonsense'? Her videos are as comprehensible and consistent as you can get when trying to talk about broader concepts on a somewhat philosophical level without being boring. Also, it's been years since she's kept a monthly upload schedule lol
@@darko1295 Yeah, it's nonsense. Out of touch bullshit written by a woman who can afford to rent a museum, who oversimplifies and outright lies about Marxist theories to serve her own interests, and who thinks the French took the head off Louis Capet and his wretched Austrian because of "envy."
you made me actually want to have a real conversation with my friends about this but my vocabulary is shitty and i just ended up saying something like 'corporation bad' and started crying
i wish i was joking...
This happened to me before i only vaugley remember it was me coming to the real8zation that my vovab was small after x years of not reading (after school). I got a library card and read abit i think.
Cultivating a skill like nuanced coversation takes years of practice. Just ask your English teachers. Please have patience with yourself-we’re here with you.
Same I think maybe just convince all your friends to watch it and then sit there in silence and have a moment until something that feels right comes up. That’s what I’m going to try.
@@hoaheoua I started watching the video this morning, and when I got to class the subjectmatter was the ethics of genemodification. I cried, and I could not explain with human Words why I was overwhelmed
@@hoaheoua the entirety of this topic easily ends up feeling foreign too me, as I’m a teenager and also lack the mindset to engage with online culture. I have a private Instagram account with five followers and generally avoid global news, (luckily for me us and uk politics fall into this category!) More so, It makes me anxious to know I don’t have the option to live my life without WiFi access. That my social life and work and school have to be connected to me through these mediums.
Thank you for your lovely response, I will add that Speaking to yourself is probably healthier than spending your time hearing those same thoughts inside your head.
"Don't be intimidated by music theory it's just names for noises you already know"
-CJ
This is a very comforting thing to say when I'm trying to learn music theory for a WIP and it's kicking my ass. I genuinely appreciate it
I... legitimately went through all the stages of grief while watching this. Thank you. I needed this.
you talking about para social relationships made me realize how alone I am every day. youtubers with smart thoughts are not a substitute for friends who keep up with you
Even though I'm a stranger, I can relate to this at a deep level. I also feel like I need to be reminded of that and feel lonely as a result. I spend a ridiculous amount of time on TH-cam. It's often in the background while I work. And in the spirit of what CJ was talking about, I couldn't possibly keep up with every person I interact with over here, but I hope it means something that we are feeling alone at the same time and for similar reasons. We are not together in the physical space, but we are alone in the same digital space. So my soul reaches out to yours and I honestly hope better days are ahead. Abrazo desde Puerto Rico.
I was off the Internet for a few weeks (involuntarily) and it took a while to ween myself off of it then I came back and it feels like relapsing for some reason like my grip has grown tighter & I’m constantly yearning 4 some unknown thing
I realized this after the 2016 election... And fell into an addiction. I'm getting better though.
no don't say this I have to grasp onto the last thing grounding me to this world and an alternative reality of panic. that thing is........youtubers. my friends
You dont have to be so loud 🙁
It took me a couple times watching "White Woman's Instagram" to really get it but once it did it hit me like a ton of bricks. The whole song is shot in a square aspect ratio to mimic the Instagram aspect ratio. It cuts from one performative action to the next, never breaking that format. Then it gets to the point where she's mourning her mom and the aspect ratio expands to fill the frame. She's finally opening up a little about the challenges she's facing, but as the 'caption' goes on to exclaim her accomplishments, it too becomes part of the performance and the aspect ratio shrinks down to the square again in time for a joke. The platforms encourage us to open up about things and 'get real' which then just becomes an additional part of the performance. We are encouraged to never say our lives are hard, unless it's followed by how we're actually doing ok, or a joke. If you've ever tried to say something is emotionally challenging to go through on social media, you are met with a wall of people saying a quick "you can do it!" or some other platitude so we largely just don't.
Also "Some random quote from Lord of the Rings incorrectly attributed to Martin Luther King" is just a really solid joke.
I had a more optimistic interpretation of White Woman's Instagram, where that heartfelt story and the return to the Instagram format showed how people can be genuine in online spaces and that the same people can also be very performative at times. I get your comment, though, and really I think the song encapsulates all of these ideas.
Yeah but
I definitely interpreted it more like @frogman did, but I actually really like your analysis too. That makes a lot of sense in the context of performance.
Don’t you think it’s a little hacky and outdated? Let me be clear, I hold Burnam in very high esteem as a creator and I love this special, that’s why I felt almost shocked at what a huge miss that one was. The whole thing seems pulled straight from 2014, the entire concept has just been done to death over and over, it’s not even remotely insightful at this point
I would say the LOTR quote joke was only solid in the sense that it’s literally a meme… and since it’s a meme it’s been told over and over and over which is the definition of unoriginal… so in that sense to me that part was actually a really “easy” joke. Of course people laughed at that part, so as a joke goes we could say it did it’s job… but did you REALLY laugh that much ? Or just kind of grin or chortle at the fact that this concept (of an incorrectly attributed quote on the internet) is such a well-known trope? I would argue that that specific joke wasn’t actually that solid… but then again if we look at all the other lines they’re also very meme-ish. So clearly the idea was to appeal to the “white woman on social media” tropes that were all familiar with. That’s what makes it so poignant when the character opens up about the loss of their mother and the deep pain associated with it… for those of us watching that can relate to that pain, that part “hit like a ton of bricks” as you said. To me it was a portrait of “a random person on the internet”, in other words anyone, despite all the stereotypes they may display on the internet, is a real person going through things, and often we can be completely ignorant and unaware of this truth because we are so focused on the memes they embody. Sure it says something about the performance of social media, but it also says something about the audience, the viewers, us people watching. We can all sit and laugh at the performers “false” projection of a perfect life, and the meme like behavior, but we all too easily forget that it’s a performance we’re watching, and that the individual characters are merely performing.
As a disabled and chronically ill person, I completely feel like I live inside the internet a lot of the time. Even before the pandemic, I couldn't physically interact with people or go to social events very much. A lot of abled people see this lifestyle as sad and while, yes, I do wish that I COULD do more, I CAN'T. And the internet offers me solace in that.
It doesn't help that abled people think disabled people exist only to overcome and do things that even they can't to inspire them
So when we eventually choose to not do that and just live in the way that's best for us, and that doesn't match up to their perception of the absolute most they think we should do they're actively disappointed in us
Idk what the point of this reply was I'm quite drunk
@@CryptP don’t worry your point made very good sense
@@bellac6311 Yes!!! Like explaining to people that not all disabled people *want* to work because it's just not really worth all the extra effort we'd often have to put in to do so. They think you're lazy for not working, but apparently you're an inspiration just for being disabled and nothing else. They can only conceive the hardships of disability when it's convenient to them.
Same here. I see you. 🖤
Same. Here for you. xx
part 1: hysterical in concept alone -- 7:00
part 2: lyrical analysis -- 9:33
part 3: the solo -- 19:57
part 4: what's bothering bo? -- 23:10
part 5: we are already cyborgs -- 28:59
part 6: transhumanism & luddism -- 36:37
part 7: customer obsession -- 52:21
part 8: the transhuman souls of children -- 1:06:31
part 9: the performer audience divide -- 1:15:59
part 10: eviscerating inside -- 1:31:56
part 11: wait but i don't want to kill myself -- 1:51:53
conclusion: are you happy? -- 2:14:58
Thank you for this 🙏🏽
It's always interesting seeing people talk about Tumblr as someone who's been using the site since I was 16, lived through the rise and fall of the "SJW" culture that had such an effect on modern discourse, and still uses the same account now a literal decade later. All social media is terrible but if I could be a filthy tumblr apologist for a moment I do find it fascinating in how it's the only platform I know of that doesn't really have any mechanics that discourage long-form written expression. There's so little you can fit into a tweet or facebook status or insta post but on tumblr I'm regularly reading essay-length posts and there's no algorithm stopping me. Again, it's still very much Not Good, but there has to be something that can be said for just... being able to use more words than can fit in a single snappy comeback.
I was thinking about this too! Also a long time tumblr user, and while tumblr isn’t exempt from cj’s critiques, i definitely read a lot of longer form stuff there-it isn’t JUST a hot take generator like twitter (though it still also does that lol)
Tumblr is my favourite of and really the only social media platform I still use bc of this and also because it's one of the only places on the internet where u can be anonymous
i think that's because tumblr offers the user a blog rather than an "account", and so it favors that sort of diary-like posts that give the website the personality other platforms lack. also, i love that the focus is on the content and not on the creators themselves, so there's barely any ego on the site. we're all rats meeting at the trash cans and vibing.
I read a post about this once on Tumblr! About how it was this miracle in the internet that couldn't be monetized for the longest time. Because everyone was anonymous, you couldn't expect to be individually famous like an influencer. You could only recieve attention for your ideas and often your art. It also welcomed long posts, art posts, videos, altogether which was part of what gave it such an active culture. You couldn't get a Tumblr user to pay for themes, to pay for premium accounts, to pay for special posts, and there was absolutely no idea how to advertise to Tumblr users when they finally did install ads. That was part of the appeal. If not for the whole nsfw fiasco, Tumblr would likely still have a very large active base. Tumblr had a lot go wrong but I was always proud that there was never any confusion between who ran the space, the users or the staff. Once the users were no longer happy, we mostly abandoned ship.
I think a big part of it is also the reblog culture. There are individual creators who you know what they look like, and certain communities might see as an authority, but like 90% of their posts will be reblogged from other people too. Every space on tumblr is more of a community conversation than a performance from any one person
“He was patient zero”
Fucking KILL me
when i grow up i want to have half of cjs critical think skills; they got SO much more out the social dilemma than i did jesus christ
Ahhh that line hit so hard I forgot it happened. Thank you for quoting it
"I'm literally selling my soul. And you? You're giving away your soul for free!" is literally the most raw line I have ever heard from a TH-cam video I literally had to put my phone down and stare at a wall for ten minutes
here's a virtual hug I think you needed it, I think I need it too.
@Kimatron Automaton Here’s one just for you, bud.
You can't sell your soul. Just your precious time.
You and Bo exist in the same timeline. His verse “I want to leave this world better than I found it” and then you making this very real and authentic and enlightening video essay..you’re both simultaneously making the world a better place. That scratches an itch deep in my soul that I can’t describe via text. Thanks for this, I literally enjoyed every second of these 2.5hrs.
"when the medium of discussion becomes reductive jokes, a walking joke will be our leader." honestly, this video made so many great points so quickly that i couldn't write down all my favorite quotes if i tried, excellent analysis
You know what the most reductive joke of them all is? Monetizing being an insecure bully by pretending your sense of taste is superior to everybody else's.
Just dropping my favorite quote from the video here:
1:47:18 "Self-consciousness, constant performance, and cyborgian transhumanism are eating us alive. The corporations that control the mediums only care about profit. The parents still don't fully understand what a dab is. And the kids are so lost in irony and despair that they can only meme the pain away."
kind of ironic that they gave young people a world that we routinely want to escape from... and then gave us a way to escape it that also gives them money
I don’t see what’s ironic about that. Seems like standard capitalism to me.
@@SnailHatan good point
Capitalism creates the problem to sell you the solution. Tale old as time.
when you hyped up Kill All Normies i was like "cool i should buy this so i can read it" and immediately went to amazon and then just had to lay down due to the several thousand layers of irony
library gensis is ur friend :3
@@nekolover881 the author doesn’t make money if u pirate, and they also don’t get to make more books if their first book does badly~ its better to try and buy from independent bookstores in ur area
piracy should be a last resort unless the authors problematic or dead!~
Ignore all arguments discouraging piracy. Steal everything, don’t spend money on anything you can get for free.
Also, I get it, pirate when you can, give money to deserving independent creators, avoid giving money to corporations unnecessarily, im on board with that.
but sometimes you just want a new thing fast, and that's amazon.
libraries are a good resource, if you have access to one
i hate sincerity. being honest about myself especially. i don't just hate it, i almost can't do it. when i try to talk about things i care deeply about with people i feel like a toddler just learning to speak. and that's why i always frame these discussions like they're detached from me. like it's simply objective to care and talk about them, but always with a layer of irony and doomerism. everything is hopeless and simultaneously everything is a joke, but it's no big deal, i don't care. it's like if i let myself talk about it it would become too real for me. i don't know how to redirect this emerging hopelessness into healing. i also don't know how to allow myself to be vulnerable, even with the closest of people, and trust them to not take advantage of it or start to perceive me differently because of it. but i am trying, this year. ineptly, but i am.
Revisiting this video and I saw this. I hope it's going well
@@asiunderstandit5717 it's actually so much better now. i almost can't believe that I wrote this only a year ago. i think the biggest obstacle was me taking it so seriously, funnily enough. i didn't allow myself to be "vulnerable" with people because I thought it would make me exactly that - vulnerable. but it doesn't have to. i am much more confident and comfortable as me, and talking about myself is not shameful. i do not care much if people will see me differently or not because of it anymore. finding someone i could trust has been the catalyst for this. it's funny how it works, i thought you need to pour your guts out to feel better even if you feel shitty after, when you actually need to gain enough confidence in yourself first, and little by little you're going to open up more
@@pigeondance687 oh, I'm so glad to hear that!!! It's a process that I'm going through too, and it's definitely still a process, but I've been finding being bold has tended to pay off.
@@asiunderstandit5717 i do genuinely think you can do it. find people you're comfortable with and, most crucially, be yourself. i always dismissed that advice, but it actually works. good luck, friend! i hope to hear from you again someday
@@pigeondance687 thanks, you too!
the amount of times during this video that i went "oh fuck right this video is about bo burnham" makes it exactly the kind of video that scratches my brain just right
When you realize "I promise to never go outside again" isn't about COVID. It's Bo's reluctant but inevitable return to comedy, once again re-entering the business of commodifying his self for an audience after his 5 years "outside".
And the paradoxical tragedy is that he's really fking good at it, and it's what his audience has wanted this whole time.
I hadn't understood this until now, so thank you for the phenomenal video
porque no los dos? 🤷🏾♀️
i usually try to comment something witty or meaningful but i’m incapable of performing rn via comments. i just really like this video. thanks for ur services.
This channel makes me question reality
i love your vids
Retweet
Oh it's you.... 😒 the skinny shamer
@@dontcall9912 what did she say?
There is so much in this video, and it is an instant favorite (though I am late to it).
I am 47, so I grew up with books -- lots of books, some of which introduced me to a lot of these concepts (Gibson, McLuhan), and I was honestly excited about the possibilities of Transhumanism and the nascent internet, wanting to have cybernetic implants, wanting to get online and be there and get in touch with all the weirdos, cause, man, my childhood was lonely, and my hunger for knowledge nearly insatiable.
I was really into the arts and into performing, but I quickly realized one of the things I valued most was my internal life, and thus my privacy. My biggest joy growing up in a big city was the anonymity, the ability to disappear. Maybe it was borne out of a certain amount of self-loathing, but also when you're constantly having small interactions with everyone you encounter, how does it ever get deep? And while I had a terribly ADHD brain, and I almost always had a book on me, I also took copious notes and spent lots of time daydreaming. I love having a computer in my pocket, but it is also mostly on silent because I cannot deal with the constant interruptions and calls for my attention. I almost never have my phone out while I am hanging out with friends, or when I spend time in nature. Even if I play a casual game or doodle in a notebook while I watch a video, that is actually cause it helps me focus and keeps my mind from wandering. And, again, I don't come at this from an anti-tech place -- I really, really love that tonight I was able to watch you talk about all this stuff for nearly three hours from the comfort of my bedroom while living in a small town and surrounded by trees... I couldn't have lived in a small town twenty years ago -- I would have been intellectually and artistically starved. But what I am saying is that I agree the constant interruptions create an inability to deeply connect to the world around us, and that fame and recognition do pretty much the same thing, as you state. And I was always uncomfortable with it, and I definitely see it all around me now, but I can also absolutely confirm that it is possible to go deeper, to connect with friends in long conversations, to go deep and not miss out. I get constantly caught up by friends on the latest memes or the newest culture, and I am sure I miss things, but if I were busy chasing the internet's fads I would be missing out on actual real life. And again, fantasy, art, tech, all wonderful things as well.
I guess my point is that while, yes, making decisions about where to direct our attention does cause us to miss things (it is the literal definition of "decision" after all), we don't have to swing hard one way or another. Life is full of wonderful things, and that hour staring at a tree and listening to ourselves think is valuable, as is that hour spent talking to a friend, as is that moment of laughter when we find a good meme. It's all worth it, and it is perhaps exactly the variety that brings us contentment, if not happiness. A piece of candy is certainly an empty calorie, but it is also a burst of flavor and pleasure for us. Yet we can't live on candy alone. So is the meme an empty bit of data, but it is a burst of pleasure and fun. We can't live on memes alone. We must continue to sample all the good things in life, as well as the bad, to really live, to really feel the full spectrum of everything and get a real sense of what we value and have the bandwidth to think and come up with the solutions we need to make this world a better place.
And let me say one last thing about that: because we are so scrutinized, atomized, and individualized, it *feels* like we have to solve all the world's problems, that if we cannot fix them, then all is lost. But this isn't true: we all contribute a little to the puzzle: every conversation we have may be the one that sparks an idea, that will spark another, that will contribute to big change. It is not up to each of us as that one person that will make a huge difference -- it is up to each of us as a collective to contribute to improving everyone's lives. We can do it if we act together, and of course I think that is the enormous power of collectivist politics... But, seriously, not one of us will be able to bring "change for the better" to this world, but we can do it, with the power of art to explore our hearts and point us towards better ideologies and deeper thought, with the power of the engineers who create the things that improve our daily processes, with the power of the therapists and counselors to heal our hearts, etc. etc. etc.
Thank you for making this. Fantastic work.
Wow, thank you for this comment
I want to print this comment
I‘ll be thinking about this for a while, thank you
This shit is gonna be wild. I’m stoked.
that shit was wild
I've been waiting for something for this.
This shit has already been wild
"and don't take that out of context to be a TERF"
I was already feeling this essay but this earned a sub
UMMMM
I DID NOT HEED THE WARNING TO ADEQUATELY PREPARE
@@disasterjones5798 HAHAHA FELT THAT
"capitalism will force individual humans to embrace transcendence as a profit motive" was not the mindfuck I was expecting today but it's definitely appreciated
this is my favorite video on the internet, i’ve watched the entirety of it maybe twice, but i’ve countlessly rewatched my favorite bits. the first time i saw it i kept getting these epiphany moments, and i was just overall soooo excited about a subject i’ve never really thought of that much. it just felt so good seeing all the pieces forming a greater picture in my mind. you’re really good at understanding and making people understand stuff deeply. this video has over 2 hours i wasn’t bored for a minute, but also not slightly overwhelmed, its like its perfect
"Profit isn't value. Value is value" that deserve a like and a comment.
And a long form discussion
YOO I LITERALLY SAW THAT COMMENT AS THEY SAID THAT
this is just as existentially draining as watching inside, if not more…
I feel the same.
Also...existentially fulfulling though I think, especially at the end. I think it benefits us to take away those "materials" and produce our own for these conversations.
To each their own, but I found it almost, clearing. Like how a diagnosis can take worry away. (Although even that description I am not even on board, but after this I just feel so much less, stressed, like air has been in my lungs after months.)
It took me 2 days to finish watching it
I think its honest and hopeful
"I'm not here to give, so I must be here to recieve" - I am crying.
what is so ironic is that I’m listening to this video on headphones at work. one day I came to work without my headphones, and I was genuinely off kilter and had no idea how I could get any work done.
I had the same weird sense of loss you had with your phone. my brain really felt like something was missing. idk. I convince myself that my work is boring as shit and that I need a distraction in the background, but how much of that excuse is covering up a complete addiction and dependence? I don’t know anymore.
“as if you people know what you want”. that was a little TOO ACCURATE.
Ah yes, Contrapoints, well known makeup guru.
contr'angelo
This analysis made me nearly as depressed about the world as Inside did, good job mate x
"trying to use a limb that was no longer there" really does hit the nail on the head.
Gonna edit this to say that this is such a compelling video essay. I'm not great at conveying how I feel about things I view or ingest, but this held my attention for the full 2.5 hours, and that is saying something. Thank you for creating this.
God I fucking love listening to you. This is the future of TH-cam. When everyone's copying you in five years I hope people make two+ hour video essays about how your energy and syntax was the original.
Contrapoints did it first, wouldnt be surprised if someone did it before her either
@@dharmatycoon conrrapoints brings a very different energy than this
@@phantom-K I beg to differ
@@dharmatycoon tbh I love contrapoints and this is definitely a distinct energy, but honestly they’re both the future of long form entertainment
@@pandoratypography contrapoints is like going into the theater but the screenplay is an academic essay, CJ is like you’re at a party and a friend of your friend starts ranting about something that tangents about 15 different times but magically it all connects into an overarching meaning while about 5 people listen quietly
This is phenomenal.
Thank you for sharing this!
This video, Jangles ScienceLad’s video, and your video are my top 3 video essays on Inside. My immediate thought after seeing Bo’s special was, “I can’t wait to see the art and analysis this inspires.” And y’all didn’t disappoint.
No u
@Grace The first word that came to mine was "important". I think Inside and some of the video essays about it (including this one) are the earliest steps of the real conversation about the internet.
Watched this because you said it was good. Thanks for the heads up about this video
I honestly cannot comprehend how a video made by a leftist TH-camr talking for hours about some music made by Bo Burnham ironically cheering Jeffrey Bezos can be one of the deepest and most important videos I have ever seen, changing drastically the way I currently see the world.
I absolutely relate
What has him being leftist have anything to do with it
@@WolfanTerror I can’t/won’t speak for OP, but honestly it’s the sort of phenomenon of the “bread tube” concept that’s real difficult to pull a lot of meaning out of.
A lot of my political views were not changed, more clarified thanks to a lot of left-tube; but there’s so much of it, and a lot of it nowadays feels more… destructive rather than constructive (that’s the best way I can phrase it) and this video has more of the classic feeling of here’s what I think is a better way of doing this that is better for everyone involved, rather than it’s all shit and there’s nothing you can do to improve it so watch me complain for 4+ hours.
Again, I can’t speak for OP, but that’s why I related to the comment. 🤷♀️
@@shelbyvontrapp you put this well i think. this is more of an analysis over critique, so it ends up being a more growth-oriented video because of that, even politics aside.
"Why do all your sentences have to end with laughter from an audience? Why does that feel like victory to you" Is incredible. I genuinely had to stop the video and think for a minute
"he was patient zero" jesus fking christ this gave me chills like crazy
that line hit like a fucking truck
GOD YEAH
that part
I'm glad you don't treat your audience like they've never heard of the things you're talking about, that you engage with the modern culture in a way that isn't cursory and tied up with a bow by the end of the video. Such deep thoughts when the internet is inundated with reacts and clickbait and dunking on bad things and (most irksome to me) people who feel like they're saying something profound and incisive but are only engaging on a surface level and making "I just read a book on logical fallacies and now I think I'm Socrates" arguments.
I love the frenetic and non-linear style of your videos; you're thinking, and we're along for the ride. You effectively employ academic language when appropriate, but are also more than willing to drop out of that mode into an experiential one or a comedic one, all giving us a fuller, more human picture of the ideas you're discussing.
I know you're only conquering youtube along your path to greater things, but I hope you keep making stuff like this, because you've got a really unique voice and I think your ideas have meaning beyond just being "content." I genuinely believe that if everyone who watched this video truly, deeply understood what you were saying and allowed it to permeate them beyond the usual semi-intellectual hit of watching a video essayist say things you agree with, we would start actively making things better.
This comment put my thoughts and feelings perfectly. 🖤
Couldn't have said it better 🙏
OMFGGGGG I AM THE GIRL IN THIS VID AT 01:53:00 i cannot fucking believe they were filming the questioners. this is absolutely nuts to see. i appreciate your kind words and thoughtful analysis, you did a great job putting this video together! what a fabulous piece of work! i look forward to watching more of your stuff!
i doubt anyone will see this, but if i had the gift of hindsight (and was maybe more than 2 days past learning what neoliberalism was) i would ask him more about making a safe process in a notoriously predatory industry. was everybody paid fairly? what was the structure of empowerment for the minor actors on set? etc etc. etc.
i would ask that because there were, statistically speaking, a large number of future directors sitting in that room (bc the screening was at the film school and mostly film students knew about it). i didnt go to film school, but i know for a fact many of the men in that room are gonna create some truly heinous work with completely awful processes lol. it mighta benefitted them to hear one of their idols talk a bit more about how to tangibly improve the lives of the people they work with rather than pontificate on a problem that seemed to only interest me at the time LOL. anyways, thanks again, much love to u! fabulous job!
amazing that you actually found this!
so, what is your favourite beatles album?
Hindsight is so last year. But also so cool you found this and commented this :)
so cool that you found this!
@@koacado sgt peppers lonely hearts club band, the OBVIOUS CHOICE!
OMG HI i saw you in the depaul interview and was like
yes yes yes yes yes i agree hi bo burnham yes yes yes oh great question i agree yes yes yes yes
After a few years have passed, I just wanted to say that the question, "How much of yourself would you feel you've lost if every archived post and chat history and all your social media accounts vanished tomorrow?" has completely changed my life and the way I perceive my identity and relation to pretty much everything. I put a lot more of my energy into things I really care about now. And I also do scrapbooking, lol.
Watching this as a 19 year old with almost no social media presence is a trip.
I turn 20 in a week and I’m in the same boat yet just the other day I found myself thinking how I wanted to share an incredibly personal and intimate moment with my brother to a twitter or intsagram. I have neither. The poison is endemic.
I turned 20 2 days ago but same
I can relate so much. I don't understand half of the things they're saying
Heh. Y'all know this thread counts, right?
@@jessecoombs It really doesn't. If you think it does, that's part of the disconnect we're talking about.
"That's the problem with individualism, it's always preached by people for whom individualism worked." Man that really summed it up so hard I had to go back and listen to you say it again, damn
that anecdote about Dave and not having anything of value to him really struck a chord with me. when i was 18, i went to Europe with my mother for 6 months. i would give anything to redo that trip, because i spent so much time on my phone or in my own head thinking about fucking fandom. as a young queer person i needed the internet in a very specific way. i couldn't fully appreciate the experiences i was having partially because they *weren't* online. they weren't postable. they weren’t content. i liked looking around at the pretty scenery but i missed out on so much human connection because the only way i knew how to communicate meaningfully was through memes and textspeak. internet literacy/fandom destroyed my ability to have a conversation that wasn't about media. anyway. this video essay is incredible and definitely gave me a lot to think about
This is probably the saddest thing I've ever read wow. Not that I'm giving you pity but the simply statement that you were on your phone and not on the trip but you Were on the trip really fucks with me. It just.. I just feel sad now, I'm sorry. I've never had this problem because social media was introduced me at a later age. I used tumblr mostly in my teens but even then, I always craved connecting with nature. Maybe it's because I was born in a country that always been behind (a poorer, that once was a third world country) so maybe I have always had an inclination to appreciate and desire the simpler things of physical life itself.
I have a Hannah Montana style problem with my social media/internet usage - I'm terrible at posting content (bc my life is boring + I'm generally forgetful + tend to be Present instead of online during stuff) so I end up without Snapchats or photos of friends + family during events etc, bc I just straight up forget that that's an option - but I'm also terminally online to the point where my usual language + speech patterns are sped to 2x speed and sound like a ex-vine kid having a nervous breakdown about iCarly for 5+ hrs - so I get the worst of both worlds where i sometimes really struggle to switch from online-talk to Reality-talk - and oh my god did the pandemic make this 1000% worse 😬👀
i would argue its not an internet/fandom problem, its a social isolation problem. because im 23, started using the internet when i was 12 and i still experienced this (it was because of mental illness). finding people you LIKE spending time with irl can be really hard when you're a fucking weirdo to society at large and you have little to no social skills. the pandemic made this even worse.
Elon pushing for AI regulation was a marketing gimmick for AI. He made it sound like we were on the precipice of a singularity and thinking, feeling machines when all it can do is predict text, not communicate. There’s been a million videos on this and I’m sure y’all know by now, just figured I’d throw this in
Like he’s not that smart and AI’s not that interesting
I always figured he was trying to get governments to regulate companies with already established AI research divisions so his own could catch up to the pack, similar to how he killed plans for high speed rail systems by promoting the Hyperloop as a bunk alternative.
@@Hotshot3334they're also doing it to kill open source because "if this is a danger it needs to be in the right hands not the hands of any evil person."
I can't keep coming back to this. This is an ADHD masterpiece because it actually portrays an overarching plot and point and divergent thinking isn't 'off topic' As people assume it is.
This makes me feel just a tiny bit more hope that I'll finish my silly art. What's amazing is that this is dense and not nebulous. Please keep breathing fire upon the Earth. I'm just really enjoying it.
yess this not only was so complete and thought-changing on its own, it also made my wacky ADHD train of thought feel validated, and i'm inspired to stop apologizing for it and just own it.
But that's what an essay is supposed to be, a flow of thoughts
Also, can we ADHDers just appreciate how easy it was to pay attention to him? His voice was super stimulating, as were his points
@@sophiabills6213 It's so good (I have ADHD)! I rewatch CJ's videos quite a bit. My partner also loved this video and its pacing and he doesn't have ADHD but is very internet and memes.
I was just thinking this!
"You have to be happy, it's not a life if you're not"
Dave you absolute lad
The ending of this video remeinded me of this quote "Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief. Do justly now, love mercy now, walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.”
very raw quote. brb, will be thinking about this forever
this is going on my mirror
this is a reference to a verse from the Bible- Micah 6:8 "what does the Lord require of you? to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God" its a really good one
That quote in my mind always pairs with the end of a poem (I forgot it's name)
"Put down your gun
and have a sandwich"
Just...... the acknowledgement of the overwhelming amount of work required to fix things + the moral obligation to participate, paired with the reminder that you can't just live for the work; you need to put it down, and have a sandwich 😭 hits every time
@@doctorwholover1012 That is also such a good quote, I'll think about this
iv watched this video before. i didn’t realize until the end. somehow the last couple years of my life changed enough to make this video feel completely different.
You're my new favorite TH-camr. Forty minutes in, I thought "wow, that was a great essay" but I saw it was almost two and a half hours in length, and it honestly made me feel spoiled. Do I even deserve this? Have I eaten enough vegetables to enjoy an absolute feast like this?
you now need to do it!
Nah nah...this IS the veggies 🥕 but no, we don't deserve it
"Have I eaten enough vegetables to enjoy an absolute feast like this?" is my new favourite phrase thanks
Same, Connor. I kindly request that you lmk if you find any more gold out there and I will do the same
this man single-handedly defeated weeks of procrastination and actually made me start writing my script, what a chad
bro same. I just started writing the first page of the Ap4rth3us books i wanna write
"He's a business-oriented self-help book that a wizard made a real boy"
Best characterization of Jeff Bezos in the world so far
Una de las cosas más bellas de poder entender Inglés (aunque no pueda hablarlo ni escribirlo tan bien como escucharlo) es poder ver video ensayos e ir poco a poco entendiendo los conceptos que se plantean. Este de aquí dura dos horas y media, ¡por Dios!, pero aún así estuve sentado durante todo ese tiempo frente a mi computadora, escuchando lo que este chico tenía que decir. Y ha sido una gran experiencia, maldita sea.
Siendo en el mismo situación con el español (que es mi primer idioma, pero ni mi lengua materna… o si lo es? es complicado, y yo no entiendo nada), por FAVOR dime que tienes algunos recomendaciones por vídeo ensayos como este solo en español…?
Y ahora que lo has mencionado tú (seguro que alguien más tmb, pero como te veo hablando en otra idioma, y sobre esto, ya confío en el hecho que entiendes esto mejor que cualquier otro desconocido aqui) - una de las cosas más bellas del internet es como te deja conectar con varias culturas y tal. En este momento es la única razón para que puedo justificar mi usage de ello, la verdad. En mi caso concretamente es raro pq soy un inmigrante/“third-culture kid” (mas o menos…? Menos. Pero más, tmb) y en algunas maneras el internet no es mi hogar pero CONTIENE mi hogar, y mi familia. Mi hogar ‘real’ no es mío y lo he visitado pero ya no es realista volver, si fuera posible en primer lugar. (Una cosa que me sorprende un poco es el hecho de que no menciono en absoluto algo que es uno de las primeras cosas en que pienso cuando pienso del internet - que por el internet, no por tumblr pero probablemente por una cultura seguramente creado por tumblr, conectaba a una cultura queer que me ayudó lograr un ‘entendimiento’ de yo misma; algo fuera de mi me dejo encontrar un hogar en mi propio cuerpo. Cyborgs! Cíborg, tmb, me dice GOOGLE - y …la trama… espesa… engorda… o algo)
Si este comentario no es entendible puedo intentar traducirlo a inglés…. Que ya puedes entender - y muy muy bien, claramente - de todos modos… y NO lo haré a las 1 por la mañana. (Eso es un ejemplo de una hora a que NO debes escribir comentarios de YT, especialmente cuando tienes que levantarte a las 6, que eligió totalmente al azar).
@@user-qv2qf1jk5o Perdona por no responder, lo haré en comentarios separados, primero la recomendación y luego lo otro:
@@nestorcsamacho6328donde esta la recomendacion bro
@@nirbanana013 era un comentario muy largo y youtube lo borró. Otro día lo intentaré volver a subir, sino pondré mi discord a ver si lo paso por ahí
@@user-qv2qf1jk5o sigue bloqueando...
CJ that ending was wild. Thank you for the journey
It was cool to spot you in the vid
the ending gave me a stroke
The whiplash!!!
holly shit yes yes yess
My guy making bank 🤡💥💥
I love how brutally honest you are. Genuine unpopular opinions and takes are refreshing. This is a level of understanding and comprehension I hope to one day achieve. The internet is a labyrinth and will most likely be the downfall of everything.
i simply cannot imagine how godly your essays in school must've been
I always wonder if video essayists actually liked writing essays in school (especially since I hated writing em lol)
Bad probably, writing essays with ADHD it an absolute bitch, as he's speaking, he can better springboard off himself and better organise what he wants to communicate more clearly.
@@32Theresa i always assumed it was the same way the most voracious readers i knew in school were the first people to sparknotes the assigned readings
@@yoyobeweildered1332 This is so true. I've had undiagnosed ADHD for years(trying to finally get it diagnosed, hopefully sooner rather than later)and when I talk, I sometimes end up talking so fast, my mom has to tell me to slow down because she can't keep up. Writing with ADHD is a nightmare because it requires focus, AKA the exact opposite of ADHD. I can't focus on anything for too long without getting up and wandering aimlessly around my apartment with my thoughts going a million different directions but sometimes I talk to myself as if talking to someone else much like a video essayist does and I can focus more then(though there's still instances of going off on completely irrelevant tangents). The only thing that keeps me from tackling TH-cam myself is that I also have social anxiety and and an inferiority complex that can't handle any sort of criticism. So I'm too afraid to put myself and my insane thought process out there to be seen by others 🙃
@@yoyobeweildered1332 as someone who has ADHD, I try and somehow get it right even though speaking is better for me
I'm only halfway through this video and its already one of the most profound things I have ever experienced. You are the voice of a generation, keep it up my friend
1 hour and 40 minutes in, i have decided that i definitely need to give this a second and mayhaps even a third watchthrough just to comprehend and process all of the concepts and talking points in this video. i aspire this to this level of existence holy shit.
i found that out ten minutes in lmao
@@monroehoe1818 if only i realised that as quick as you dbdbd
Same
Im like 7 minutes in and it feels like I've watched a whole documentary, the speed of your speech always surprises me
"If you can't beat it, join it."
//laughs hysterically whilst washing dishes alone in my house
Wow me too lol
i feel so fucking hard
Watched this alone while baking bread the past like 4 hours and it was an Experience
Haha I love you for that comment
The fact that I came here just because I recently watched Inside, and during the video I forgot that was the concentric topic of this odissey of feelings and literal "fuck you"s, is just breath-taking. How they flowed between references to literature and their own thoughts; how they transition from point to point; just the overall way of performing is charming. I tried using this video as a "podcast" and it lured me into watching it, focusing solely in it. They made a video that I was feeling like I was Inside (pun intended), even though it was a monologue, I was capable of "being talked to". Im happy of having found this channel, and as so, thank you for making this content, which I may like to call art.
Profit isn't value. Value is value.
Phones are a limb.
"Customer obsession" doesn't mean they're obsessed with you, because you are not a Customer. "Customer" is a mode you enter, not a thing you are. But they are obsessed with keeping you in that mode.
Jeff Bezos did everything right. He is the answer to the question of capitalism. He is capitalism's ultimate form, its ubermensch. The problem isn't Bezos, it is that our system has selected for him.
Slow subtle verbosity is an answer to the evils that Online™ has wrought. Slow anything, maybe
tryna log some notes to remember em later
Woah, value is value. Incredible
@@SnailHatan r u bein facetious i can't tell
it's just a nice little rhetorical tautology i felt like remembering
I had to take some notes too. Let's pool resources :)
"If you care about your soul, don't you care about my soul?
My feelings may inconvenience you. They may require patience. They may require you listening and learning about me. Maybe after all that learning and listening and patience and kindness, you will feel the exact same way philosophically and politically about everything.
Open and empathetic dialog is valuable.
Admitting you might be wrong and you're doing your best, is valuable.
Giving someone else the space to be wrong without having to prove yourself right is valuable.
Feelings are valuable.
Facts don't care about your feelings.
But I am not a fact.
I care about your feelings.
"
I would DIE for this kind of in-depth review about filthy frank and exactly what point joji was trying to get across. He was one of the first people to understand meme and internet culture, its negative influence on people and how "trolling/joking" on the internet eventually impacts one's thoughts and behaviour.
There's a Quinton Reviews video about Filthy Frank that I felt like almost captured that vibe, though I also would like an analysis as deep as this one about it. It's a start though
i didnt even think of cj covering ff but now i need it
holy shit bruh DEADASSS
YAAAS PLS
YES THIS NEEDS TO HAPPEN
This took me to church
This made me want to go to church
this made me worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies
@@batmansass3906 this made me tell you my sins so you could sharpen your knife
@@gooddogtyson6135 this offered me that deathless death
This made me give you my life
TH-cam video essays can be so effective. Breadsword makes me nostalgic and teary-eyed, in praise of shadows inspires me to create weird art, and you send me into downwards existential crisis mode that never ends and just gets more momentum every video.. except the water ranking video. That gave me so much genuine joy.
"I'd say it to his face and he'd agree with me" is so powerful
It's 100% true! I really think he much prefers thoughtful criticism to glowing praise of himself, and I appreciate that about him.
One thing that concerns me with brain chips, particularly in a discussion of using them to eradicate neurological diseases, is--how long til someone suggests using it to get rid of autism? If I get a chip in my head capable of altering my brain chemistry to change abnormalities in it, how long til someone decides I must be hopelessly deluded to not use it to make myself entirely neurotypical, and the choice should be made for me by "healthy" people?
That's not to say it's not amazing to use technology to deal with paralysis, seizures, Alzheimer's, etc., and even to moderate sensory experiences for the neurodivergent, maybe stimulate balanced production of serotonin and dopamine for depression and anxiety. But I think there's a very complicated conversation to be had there that absolutely cannot end at "it can be used to cure these horrible things, let's get back to other concerns".
I agree.
We were talkin with a friend and we had the exact same discution you were fearing
He was praising neural link and all the things it could cure and when i said: you don't/can't cure autism
He said that i shouldn't say what we will be able to do in the future, that maybe we'll be able to do it: not understanding that my objection was with the ethics of, from my understanding, essentially killing someone to make them "normal"
Your comment and the specific language you chose brought to mind Distress, the novel by Greg Egan. A fantastic book by a fantastic author, the most core and fundamental message of which must be the big H's: Who decides what "Healthy" means? Who decides what qualifies as "Humanity"? Isn't it horrid and condescending when people are so bent on "Healing" the "Inhumanity" of the autistic?
CJ reads and does a video essay on Greg Egan's bibliography when? Seriously CJ, I'd love to see this and I think you'd get a fuck of a lot of value from reading his books. (Well, you might get less from the handful of math and math history textbooks masquerading as hard science fiction...I love em, though.)
Also, I don't really trust tech people and businesses to consider those questions. When you make a product to sell, it's in your best interest to make those products for the masses, rather than the groups that need them. They also tend to push the technology for uses that it's not necessarily for (ex: your autism point).
Transhumanism, especially in regards to neurological situations, is a very *very* complicated subject and requires a lot of discussion and care to advance past where we currently are.
Even just the idea of using a neurological implants to mitigate the symptoms of depression requires such an in-depth discussion that it makes most people shy away from the topic, and thats not even getting to neurodivergent individuals, just people with an observable, verifiable illness.
And this is coming from a transhumanist. Its so complicated and such an sensitive topic that it would arguably take more time to discuss the fallout of doing so than it would take it get to the point we could do so.
Arguably, that is for the best...
Fucking powerful as ever. I feel like I've been to church and college.
thank you raspberryitalia i will be using this phrase often
this video contains 22 of the top 35 most excellent sentences i have heard this week
On your transhumanism segment: I’m really glad that I decided not to have any personal social media accounts. They’re all “anonymous” to some degree. I don’t follow my friends with them, just content creators. I don’t use social media to socialize, but rather as a form of entertainment, and learning. I’m still much more attached to my phone than I would like, but it’s not deeply rooted in my personality or social life. And I am thankful for that. Thanks 13 year old me for deciding not to post anything personal ever!
Except for this comment I guess
Yet you are explaining part of your life choices to total strangers on an online platform designed to profit from that. Isn't it ironic?
@@marcod5027 yeah I know that but none of you know who I am IRL which is kinda the point.
I can relate to that. I personally had a traumatic experience with social media when I was 17, after which I really stopped using social media for a long time. Now, I have a pretty detached relationship with social media. I sometimes comment, sometimes might post a question on reddit but that's most of it.
@@mr.duck1246 until you realize some social media apps (looking at you, tiktok) scrape your phone contacts and connect you with content that your irl friends and family interact with, and even put your profile in their "suggested friends"
It's all very inescapable but your effort at keeping irl and internet separate is admirable. Can't imagine that.
I got emotional when cj started talking about how my gen is called the me generation. I didn’t do this to myself. I don’t want to feel this way. This is everything I know
I absolutely know what that's like and boomers were gaslighting us (millennials) for the exact same thing too. They even made the Time magazine person of the year "The Generation of You" And it's like "hey... You gave all this to us wtf." And then when they had the chance to catch the next gen from the absolute beginning (infants growing up on iPads/social media) they absolutely exploited that. And now they're chastising you for it. It's sick.
Ironically, the "me generation" was originally Baby Boomers: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Me_generation
When every generation reaches the teen/young adult age, they get called the "me generation." It happens like clockwork and it's so frustrating. Like that's literally the age you're building yourself and making big decisions about your life. For a healthy person, this is the time you SHOULD be the most self involved!
I thought the me generation were the baby boomers (lord google and lady wikipedia agree with me)… lawd, u kids aren’t getting the right info…love, gen X
I'm not sure how relevant this is going to be but here goes:
I'm somewhat of a crafter, I knit, I crochet, I cross stich, I make. I turn time into objects. It makes me happy to look at an object and go "I made this, this is a record of the time I spent working on it and the time I was alive." It's to the point where I feel my life being wasted if I am not making something. Either I'm working my day job or I'm making things. I like the process and the finished objects. I understand very dearly that what you make, what you produce, is a part of your soul. These things take time, they take the amount of time they take to be done. And you have to be careful who you share that with. I feel bad when I'm online for too long, it's not a real record of my time in the same way crafted things are. I don't know what my point was, just that we have to be careful with how we spend this life time we're given.
i feel this EXACT same way about my art! all humans share the same experiences and thoughts huh!! i think that's lovely
Wow this is exactly how I feel about painting and photography and even cooking. I want to have a tangible record of the time that was invested.
thats photography and home structure to me, and all art, genuinely appreciate this comment very thoughtful thank you
@@mmmaria1249 very good take! Something I've been working on in therapy is long term gratification and that means records of time that are more subtle sometimes, like gardening. A happy plant is months of consistent nurturing and seeing that love reflected in something tangible, physical, and sensory is so valuable in a way that something digital could never be
also a crafter, also really feel this. I found crafting became especially essential to me during quarantine / as I was graduating from university and facing down my future
damn dude the end made me cry, thank you for your art
The parasocial relationship has always been so fascinating to me. Even when a creator is literally saying ‘I’m not your friend you can’t be my friend I am a performer and you are my audience’ there’s this part of me that’s whispering back ‘but you’re not talking about me. I’m different. I could be your friend, give me a chance’.
We’re sharing a platform with the world so we think we’re entitled to be intertwined with every single person’s life.
Something about knowing there’s a chance
I think there's a thread to be drawn somewhere between the teacher-student 'friendship' that many kids have with their favourite teacher(s) and the parasocial relationship kids develop with youtubers/celebs.
Something something about inherent power imbalance, hollow but often extremely emotionally-heavy dynamics, age-gaps/seniority, trust in authority, etc.
(I wanna note that when I say teacher-student 'friendship' I'm talking about teachers who are friendly to students in the approved, safe way - NOT teachers who abuse or manipulate students etc. I had a few 'friendships' with various teachers - we'd swap books (English teachers) and discuss marvel movies, I baked so I'd bring cookies in for the cooking teacher + we'd chat during lunch (when she was on duty anyway-i respected her solo lunch times) the PE teacher and I talked music, etc. But I was always aware of that divide, and I was never dependant on them or took stuff like my grades or being yelled at when goofing off personally/expecting special treatment over other students - because I understood that we were 'friendly' but they weren't my actual friends - they were teachers who were friendly.
Lots of my friends didn't seem to understand that divide, or how i could like a singer's music but dislike them as a person or vice versa - which didn't make any sense to me until years later when I encountered parasocial relationships + the surrounding terminology (I left secondary in 2015 lol)
There's definitely something there about how one-sided relationships developed with people in power/authority over children are so easy for kids to internalize as normal + expect, but I'm too tired to figure those details out lmao
These threads make my brain feel like goo
I admire how intricately interwoven your points are. As someone with ADHD, the way you speak makes it very easy to follow what you're saying. I look forward to listening to more of your video essays.👍
"I thought Bo Burnham wasn't that deep and HE BEAT ME!"
Yeah that checks out. Whenever you try to look deeper into his work, you gaze into the void and the void gazes back. The void says "did you find it yet? Whatever it was you were looking for? Why don't you stay a while and keep searching"
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, CJ. I really needed this.