Request to the team: I would like to see fewer or no AI-generated images. When I see images on a video about a historical topic, I often look at them to get a sense of specifics of the time and place, and the AI depictions obviously wouldn't have that. Even knowing that they are AI-generated doesn't help, since I can't help but see them and retain some bits of info from them in spite of myself. On the positive side, I LOVE what you've been doing with Simon's extended desk and virtual background. It's almost seamless and I love the character it adds to the video of Simon. Great work!
Yeah while I embrace AI, there's no reason you can't simply grab royalty free images of any nondescript Russian factory town to use as a better proxy here. Also as a Stable Diffusion user with about a year of experience I could make these prompts with much better, less obvious outcomes lol. Hire me, Simon. Whoever did these doesn't know shit about upscaling from a smaller base image.
Yeah, he wont care if he does, but when a significant percentage of people feel the same way, which they absolutely do, that affects his bottom line...@@carlwheezer623
Sometimes, but only sometimes, Simon is a bit to hectic for me. I'm totally convinced, that there is no one else like him. I deeply appreciate his work.
I have noticed your push for these "AI depiction" inclusions, and my god they are bad. It's misguided at best, and straight up misinformation at worst. What the pictures suggest, or show has no relation to the actual reality. Like showing random metal pipes and containers interweaved nonsensically for "plutonium reactors", that look more like a distillery. Or in many other videos talking about people, where it shows the dreaded 6 fingered, broken boned AI people. It's just awful. If you can't find a decent reference picture, just don't show it instead, at least that's not misinformation. EDIT: Also I sincerely doubt, even if the images were more accurate to reality, people are stoked, in general, of seeing literal fake imagery, when talking about historical events and doing a documentary style show, going for factuality. Just a massive tonal disconnect.
Sure, the pictures are bad, but calling it misinformation suggests you're not paying attention to the definition of the word. They aren't providing false information by having these images and labelling them "AI-generated" - that's literally telling people that these pictures are fake and unrelated to the content. However, I agree that when discussing historical events, showing such images is a disconnect. It's better to not show anything if they resort to that.
maybe what you are mad that he chosse not to pay an artist and instead got bing copilot to make him something in 10 seocnds flat, for free. Maybe you're not mad at AI but maybe you are mad that some lazy LSD addicited waster, that couldn't pass math or science class, didn't get paid? Simon is in this for the money. You don't make money by spending it exponetially. Look at the channels he has SOLD, just coz they were worth hundreds of thousands, if not millions. If this one doesn't work out, or he gets bored of it, like geographics, he'll still make a hell of a lot of money.
Yeah the ai pictures are pretty bad, it’s probably hard to find real pictures of these places but you can find similar places and caption them explaining that they aren’t actually pictures of the place being described. Other creators do this and it’s better imo
On the topic of a close fuel cycle- they had one in the US in the 60’s. Not completely “non nuclear waste” producing, but it was able to recycle the fuel several times. It produced way less waste and the waste produced half life was cut drastically.
While I thank you for including the disclaimer when AI Artwork is used, and while in general I actually support the idea of AI Art as a tool, I think its use in what amounts to a historical documentary may not be quite appropriate. There might be a dearth of directly applicable images to this location, there are definitely loads of actually historical images of related topics that can be used. In lieu of having any relevant images, I support the idea that I'd rather just have you, Simon, on the screen instead. Other then that, keep up the good work!
I agree. I have a mixed opinion of the use of AI art but I think in this context is when it matters. Even though I know that it’s being used it distracts from the historical events rather than enhancing them.
While I do appreciate clear tagging of the AI images, the inclusion of lazy eye-catching images is not something I approve of. And here I thought this was one of the relatively good production value channels.
I had a professor at university who worked at Los Alamos when he was a grad student and he said that a researcher was removed from the Manhattan project when his wife told someone in town that her husband was a physicist.
Wait, sorry...using a river for cooling is not exactly an uncommon thing for nuclear reactors and is perfectly safe when done right...what, were these guys running the river water through the reactor itself? The way it's supposed to be done is you have your reactor where all the radiation is, you have a closed loop cooling system with some heat transfer medium (often heavy water) that pulls heat out of the reactor into a heat transfer system, which then conducts the heat through metal from the irradiated coolant to the river water. Build that, keep it from springing any leaks, and you've got a river cooling a reactor with no problems. Run the river directly through the reactor....yeah, it's going to be irradiated to fuck. But why would anyone... Soviet Union, right, I keep forgetting that's not a valid argument with the Soviets.
@@svenzverg7321 Can you tiktok kids even watch a full length video anymore? Jfc. Simon literally said that one reactor pumped river water through it with no treatment while two others did use heat exchangers.
@@svenzverg7321 In a way, perhaps. But confirmation bias can be correct. The Soviet Union was well known for poor nuclear safety. We're still finding orphan sources from them to this day and they have a history for nuclear accidents due to lax safety and pressing political concerns.
@@Plaprad Yeah, unlike all other countries, where nuclear safety was exemplary at the time. Regardless. The fact that conformation bias can be correct doesn’t mean that it should be embraced or even tolerated. Lax safety is one thing, deliberate discharge of what effectively is nuclear waste into a river is another. While USSR did indeed had two particularly nasty nuclear incidents, they were exactly that - incidents, not deliberate contamination. It doesn’t mean that Simon’s information is incorrect, but believing it just “because USSR” looks like a bit of wishful thinking. There could be as much merit in this information, as in these murky AI-generated pictures. On the other hand, we definitely still need to support propaganda against USSR again, since their successor state went bananas. Eh, whatever. Screw them river polluting bastards.
The AI images make it seem like you're summarizing a sci-fi novel rather than a real life story. And the studio background also looks kinda weird. Maybe you should hire an illustrator.
Love your content Simon! I know that other guy is hosting a few of your channels but I hope you keep the ones like astrographics and mega projects hosted by you and you alone! :)
Those channels weren’t Simon’s he just hosted. This one, Mega and Side Projects, Brain Blaze, Warographics… are his. Today I Found Out, Highlight History and the others also hosted by Daven Hiscky aren’t totally his but he is a partner so I don’t think he’ll stop hosting any of them
@danthevanman294 Well, he is the host and the task of a host is to be Charming enough that you want to watch more. He never made a secret out of it that he isn't the one writing the scripts
ya gotta stop with the AI depictions. They're really easy to spot, they're jarring and feel out of place. Finally, they make your videos feel cheap and lower quality than they actually are. edit: i got about 14 minutes into the video and the heavy use of AI depictions completely ruined it for me. I stopped watching. I don't think I'll be watching any more of Simon's videos if they contain AI depictions.
Cope harder man Jesus Christ. It’s not gonna change, it’s like if you were trying to stop the internet itself from taking off all those years ago😭 you’re not gonna stop it and you’re complaining will be viewing in a few years as merely nothing. I don’t like it either, but I don’t comment under every single video (most of them) that use it. It is a ubiquitous and simple to use and very effective technology. The world changes, this is a fact. An artist one day, is nobody the next day, this is a fact. Get over the AI art thing and move on with your life, I mean this sincerely. Ai art is not going to just disappear, if anything it will evolve.
My parents were born in one of these military towns in the USSR. They said they were never hungry never thirsty and amazing pay. I can share the name if there’s any interest of that town
Seeing how poor a lot of folks in ex-USSR countries are, and how good life apparently was in these closed cities, I can understand why a lot of people miss the Soviet times.
@@marktg98 That’s not exactly the whole reason. The common folk in general had decent living condition. School education is mandatory, but free. Intermediate education is free. You can only get into university on competitive basis, but once you’re in it’s free. You get a job, you get married, and you get your flat for free. You have a lot of kids, you’ll get a bigger one. You can have additional savings account in the bank (yeah, there’s only one option), if you wish, but whether you do or not, the government takes a monthly fee from your salary for mandatory retirement account. You’re not suppose to be a millionaire, but work hard (or be a slimy weasel), and you eventually will get into high management with a lot of benefits, like, several cars for family, maybe a personal driver, huge flat and “dacha” (kinda rural mansion) as a bonus. The truth is, for majority of citizens that simplicity and absence of choice was a boon. When all this went down crushing around them for the sake of freedom, a lot of people were not happy with their new freedom at all. And then the absolute disaster of “perestroika” (rebuilding) happened, leaving millions of people in total poverty. So,yeah. It’s complicated from Russian perspective.
@@marktg98Especially scientists and engineers. If you graduated with your degree before the late 80’s, you were pretty much guaranteed a good job by the state. When the Cold War ended and the USSR collapsed, most of the STEM professionals were out of their jobs overnight and no more privileges associated with their work. Which is why so many left the country in the 90’s (the old movie joke of “In America I am janitor, in Russia I was rocket scientist!” isn’t that untrue.)
I'm not a fan of the constant use of AI depictions; it kind of defeats the purpose of this type of channel. Are there no actual photos of anything even remotely connected to this story?
My friend this is a content farm along with the majority of his other channels, i doubt Simon even has power to change this. They likely do it for a more accurate representation, although I am probably being Naive in that assumption. As long as the facts are accurate I don't really mind it to much unless its a thumbnail with an egregious typo that clearly wasn't even looked at it before shipped.
Ahhh… how lovely it is that I was able to find someone to explain the most relevant points about this location just now- and historically synchronous the upcoming visitor’s upcoming visit will be 📰, which prompted the motivation for my search. Thank you 🙏 Exactly the information I was hoping to find, at an appropriate length & pace… but most importantly with the data pertinent of the situation. Appreciate you 🙏 Now what other two people in the world would one suppose could possibly have any use for Plutonium &/or its derivatives much less have access to such sophisticated weapons. Gee I wonder.
There’s videos about some of the individual ones on the Geographics channel, but I don’t remember any that went through multiple or explained the secret cities concept in general.
i thank the editor for making note of what is AI art and not, because some of this AI art is f- off pretty, and it's nice to keep people aware that it's different and not as significant as human-created works.
@sajidt.chowdhury726 😂 It's fun discovering more of Simon's channels isn't it! I have found 16 of them so far 😂😂 Welcome to the Whistlerverse! #amirightpeter
Hey Simon, quick Russian pronunciation primer for future reference. Evgeny is "ehv-geh-nee" rather than "yeh-vehn-jee", and Lavrentiy is "lahv-rehn-tee" rather than "lah-vehn-tree". Hope you keep up with making more Soviet history videos!
Russian names are so confusing to me... like, when do you add the y sound and when do you not? Had a friend named Ekaterina but pronounced yekaterina. Also had a friend called elena but pronounced yelena. And then i met another elena, also from russia like the other two people, but just pronounced elena not yelena. This shit don't make no sense 😂
@@adenkyramud5005 dw, I've been studying russian for 9 years and I still just kinda guess. Judging word stress and pronunciation visually is kinda hard sometimes so I just go based on vibes and wait to see if i get corrected lol
@@adenkyramud5005 if it starts with “E”, then it’s “ye”. The last Elena lied to you. In the middle of a word “e” could sound a bit like “э” which is somewhat similar to second e in “event”. If Russians want to make English e-noise (like the first e in “event”), they use “и” letter, not “e”. Russian is actually way mote phonetically consistent than English, transliteration into Latin alphabet, which has way less letters, is what mess things up usually.
@adenkyramud5005 I bet the second Elena was trying to make her name more “English.” Plenty of foreigners do that, they’ll adopt an “easier” version so people don’t need to be corrected.
To reply one comment below, stress is most often put on the second syllable. And non-stressed vowels are sometimes hardly pronounced at all. So Evgeniy can be pronounced as (y)ivGEniy where the first vowels are hardly heard.
"You'll be monitored by the military, the police and the KGB"...I mean, how is that different to the life of an Average Josef living in the 1960s Soviet Union?
@Places302, regarding soundtracks: What is the name of that soothing/mysterious background music track ( e.g. 0:34 ) that is used in most of your video's? And, I think, also used on some of your other channels like @decodingtheunknown2373 and @IntotheShadows, where there are 2 more that sound like a music box. They usually play while Simon is on track (reading the script) and then cuts away as soon as he strays off into a tangent 😅 - I don't blame you #SimonWhistler, I'm also #ADHD
I really dont understand the whining about the AI pictures. It was a good video, thumbs up, I couldn’t care less where you guys find your art and backgrounds.
Really love that you are using Drone footage of the Unesco Site Falu Gruva, The Copper mine where all of Europes copper came from in the 17th century. Didn't know I lived in a small Secret Nuclear City for ages LOL Please don't misstake Sweden with Siberia,
The Falu Gruva (Falu Mine) produced copper, iron, silver and other metals. Was earlier called Falu Koppargruva (Coppermine). And as said, don’t confuse Sweden with Siberia. Sweden is known for its watches, chocolate and banks. Think käserösti is the national dish of Sweden or was it cheese fondue 🙄
The background looks like the holodeck from Star Trek. Everyone complaining about the AI pics, yeah fair. They don’t really work but no-one has mentioned the whole side profile thing he’s now doing in these videos. Where’s that come from? It’s weird. Stop it.
@@hracekk I think he's got a great thing going. He literally gets to talk all day, I don't think he even does the research. He just shows up, flips on a camera and starts reading. Probably getting paid six figures to talk. I think it's brilliant, slightly jealous 😃
Completely agree, I think that's how my previous comment sounded. It's a money farm, altough I think (and I hope) that atleast warographics etc. is made by him and his research. Could be wrong to@@HolyReality
12:27 That's not Chernobyl. Those are two PWR type containment structures. The RBMK containment buildings, such as they were, are more akin to warehouses.
I forgot what it’s called but there is a massive man made valley near or in Siberia that was created due to mammoth fossils poachers. It was on expedition unknown, I’d love to see Simon cover this
Please dont use AI generated images, as they're all 100% misleading and have nothing to do with the topic. They couldn't get even a nuclear power plant right, instead showing a gas/coal whatever powerplant. So please, dont use AI gen images.
Simons made yet another channel to make more money on topics he's covered before and I'm here for it all the way. DANNY, GET BACK IN THE BASEMENT AND WORK BOI
Keep up the good work boys. Ingnore the people upset at the A.I. pics. They're just scared of the inevitable future. Thank you for at least saying when you use them. 👍
Great video again! Just thought in this video the AI depicted scenes were a bit too much doom and gloom for the text it was meant to contextualize. I'm fine that you use AI for the backdrop, especially for topics where there are little images to begin with. But in this video they seemed very dissonant
I'll never get people who say "it's only a gilded cage". I mean, is Earth a gilded cage since you cannot move out to space (in foreseeable future) ? Yeah I get it's a thing for free speech (like that ever is a thing) compared to some other things but meh
Enough with the AI pictures. They make absolutely no sense in the context of the videos, are incredibly uncanny and take away from the content. If you switch to AI scripts I am gone. I cannot stand the sudden over proliferation of AI. It’s not natural.
My great aunt worked in one of those secret cities. Can confirm, the sausages were better than Moscow. It looked nothing like the AI generated garbage. I’m sure if you asked around some corners of the internet… some pictures of that place would turn up.
In my city there are a ton of Mennonites. As a result there is a plqc called the MCC. Stands for Mennonite...something something who cares. Every time simon said MCC though that's what I thought of lol😂
is it me or is this video wildly out of focus? also, simon, you're not chris moyles. You sound wrong with this much bass on your mic. also that reverse camera angle is not the best.
Request to the team: I would like to see fewer or no AI-generated images. When I see images on a video about a historical topic, I often look at them to get a sense of specifics of the time and place, and the AI depictions obviously wouldn't have that. Even knowing that they are AI-generated doesn't help, since I can't help but see them and retain some bits of info from them in spite of myself.
On the positive side, I LOVE what you've been doing with Simon's extended desk and virtual background. It's almost seamless and I love the character it adds to the video of Simon. Great work!
Hard agree
Yeah while I embrace AI, there's no reason you can't simply grab royalty free images of any nondescript Russian factory town to use as a better proxy here.
Also as a Stable Diffusion user with about a year of experience I could make these prompts with much better, less obvious outcomes lol. Hire me, Simon. Whoever did these doesn't know shit about upscaling from a smaller base image.
the AI depictions make me want to stop watching Simon's videos.
@@CRneuI PROMISE he won’t care if you stop watching 😂😂😂
Yeah, he wont care if he does, but when a significant percentage of people feel the same way, which they absolutely do, that affects his bottom line...@@carlwheezer623
Sometimes, but only sometimes, Simon is a bit to hectic for me.
I'm totally convinced, that there is no one else like him. I deeply appreciate his work.
I think it's also to do with the more hectic editing and sounds then they normally have. I prefer the old style.
I have noticed your push for these "AI depiction" inclusions, and my god they are bad. It's misguided at best, and straight up misinformation at worst. What the pictures suggest, or show has no relation to the actual reality. Like showing random metal pipes and containers interweaved nonsensically for "plutonium reactors", that look more like a distillery.
Or in many other videos talking about people, where it shows the dreaded 6 fingered, broken boned AI people.
It's just awful. If you can't find a decent reference picture, just don't show it instead, at least that's not misinformation.
EDIT: Also I sincerely doubt, even if the images were more accurate to reality, people are stoked, in general, of seeing literal fake imagery, when talking about historical events and doing a documentary style show, going for factuality. Just a massive tonal disconnect.
Same. We don't need more sensationalist UA-cam channels. We need more factual ones!
Yeah Simon this isn't good for production. You are going to get a lot of blowbacl from your fans.
Sure, the pictures are bad, but calling it misinformation suggests you're not paying attention to the definition of the word. They aren't providing false information by having these images and labelling them "AI-generated" - that's literally telling people that these pictures are fake and unrelated to the content.
However, I agree that when discussing historical events, showing such images is a disconnect. It's better to not show anything if they resort to that.
maybe what you are mad that he chosse not to pay an artist and instead got bing copilot to make him something in 10 seocnds flat, for free. Maybe you're not mad at AI but maybe you are mad that some lazy LSD addicited waster, that couldn't pass math or science class, didn't get paid? Simon is in this for the money. You don't make money by spending it exponetially. Look at the channels he has SOLD, just coz they were worth hundreds of thousands, if not millions. If this one doesn't work out, or he gets bored of it, like geographics, he'll still make a hell of a lot of money.
They said the same when pictures came out. Many artists lost their jobs because of that.
Yeah the ai pictures are pretty bad, it’s probably hard to find real pictures of these places but you can find similar places and caption them explaining that they aren’t actually pictures of the place being described. Other creators do this and it’s better imo
Simon I’ve lost count how many channels u have all are amazing I must say
16 I've found so far 😂😂
why does it look like Simon is in a conference room aboard NCC-1701D ?
I'm glad I want the only one thinking...Star Trek.
On the topic of a close fuel cycle- they had one in the US in the 60’s. Not completely “non nuclear waste” producing, but it was able to recycle the fuel several times. It produced way less waste and the waste produced half life was cut drastically.
Breeder reactor, yes
Thanks Simon.
From Malawi With Love
Soviet and Russian history is the coolest. I love it. Thanks, Simon and team!
Would prefer you utilize simple photos instead of Ai. Ai doesnt add anything to the presentstion
not a huge fan of the AI pictures...
Or the font for the captions
Nor I, but I will give them a bit of credit to them for actually labeling them when used
Me neither, loses so much entertainment energy because of those
Get used to them
He has 25 channels that show roughly the same content ..he can't keep up.
Simon, I love your content, please don't use AI art in your videos. I would be happier with just seeing your lovely face :)
While I thank you for including the disclaimer when AI Artwork is used, and while in general I actually support the idea of AI Art as a tool, I think its use in what amounts to a historical documentary may not be quite appropriate. There might be a dearth of directly applicable images to this location, there are definitely loads of actually historical images of related topics that can be used. In lieu of having any relevant images, I support the idea that I'd rather just have you, Simon, on the screen instead. Other then that, keep up the good work!
I agree. I have a mixed opinion of the use of AI art but I think in this context is when it matters. Even though I know that it’s being used it distracts from the historical events rather than enhancing them.
While I do appreciate clear tagging of the AI images, the inclusion of lazy eye-catching images is not something I approve of. And here I thought this was one of the relatively good production value channels.
I'm curious of where one would find the sources used in the video. I'm probably missing them but would love to have them in the description. (:
all those AI pictures everywhere are so annoying. Especially in documentaries and educational content its very misleading
I had a professor at university who worked at Los Alamos when he was a grad student and he said that a researcher was removed from the Manhattan project when his wife told someone in town that her husband was a physicist.
Wait, sorry...using a river for cooling is not exactly an uncommon thing for nuclear reactors and is perfectly safe when done right...what, were these guys running the river water through the reactor itself?
The way it's supposed to be done is you have your reactor where all the radiation is, you have a closed loop cooling system with some heat transfer medium (often heavy water) that pulls heat out of the reactor into a heat transfer system, which then conducts the heat through metal from the irradiated coolant to the river water. Build that, keep it from springing any leaks, and you've got a river cooling a reactor with no problems.
Run the river directly through the reactor....yeah, it's going to be irradiated to fuck. But why would anyone...
Soviet Union, right, I keep forgetting that's not a valid argument with the Soviets.
From the description and the fact it was the USSR, yes, I think they just pumped river water through the reactor.
@@Plaprad I mean, not to argue, but you kinda openly admitting, that it’s conformation bias talking.
@@svenzverg7321 Can you tiktok kids even watch a full length video anymore? Jfc. Simon literally said that one reactor pumped river water through it with no treatment while two others did use heat exchangers.
@@svenzverg7321 In a way, perhaps. But confirmation bias can be correct. The Soviet Union was well known for poor nuclear safety. We're still finding orphan sources from them to this day and they have a history for nuclear accidents due to lax safety and pressing political concerns.
@@Plaprad Yeah, unlike all other countries, where nuclear safety was exemplary at the time. Regardless. The fact that conformation bias can be correct doesn’t mean that it should be embraced or even tolerated. Lax safety is one thing, deliberate discharge of what effectively is nuclear waste into a river is another. While USSR did indeed had two particularly nasty nuclear incidents, they were exactly that - incidents, not deliberate contamination. It doesn’t mean that Simon’s information is incorrect, but believing it just “because USSR” looks like a bit of wishful thinking. There could be as much merit in this information, as in these murky AI-generated pictures.
On the other hand, we definitely still need to support propaganda against USSR again, since their successor state went bananas. Eh, whatever. Screw them river polluting bastards.
So fascinating. Id love more videos like this
The AI images make it seem like you're summarizing a sci-fi novel rather than a real life story. And the studio background also looks kinda weird. Maybe you should hire an illustrator.
Simon's background looks like if you asked an AI to create a sci-fi neon lighting backdrop for a news reporter.
Had to watch twice after getting sucked into the comments
Love your content Simon! I know that other guy is hosting a few of your channels but I hope you keep the ones like astrographics and mega projects hosted by you and you alone! :)
If you are thinking on biographic, top tenz and some other channels, they aren't Simons, thus he dont host them anymore either
Those channels weren’t Simon’s he just hosted. This one, Mega and Side Projects, Brain Blaze, Warographics… are his. Today I Found Out, Highlight History and the others also hosted by Daven Hiscky aren’t totally his but he is a partner so I don’t think he’ll stop hosting any of them
@danthevanman294 Well, he is the host and the task of a host is to be Charming enough that you want to watch more. He never made a secret out of it that he isn't the one writing the scripts
I didn't even know abour astrographics until just now.
@@tylerreid1789yep just subscribed 😂
The scientists and engineers in Secret Cities usually lived a lot better than most Soviets, ironically...
So, aren't you guys going to link this channel with the others?
Nice Star Trek background fact boi
ya gotta stop with the AI depictions. They're really easy to spot, they're jarring and feel out of place. Finally, they make your videos feel cheap and lower quality than they actually are.
edit: i got about 14 minutes into the video and the heavy use of AI depictions completely ruined it for me. I stopped watching. I don't think I'll be watching any more of Simon's videos if they contain AI depictions.
Cope harder man Jesus Christ.
It’s not gonna change, it’s like if you were trying to stop the internet itself from taking off all those years ago😭 you’re not gonna stop it and you’re complaining will be viewing in a few years as merely nothing.
I don’t like it either, but I don’t comment under every single video (most of them) that use it. It is a ubiquitous and simple to use and very effective technology. The world changes, this is a fact. An artist one day, is nobody the next day, this is a fact. Get over the AI art thing and move on with your life, I mean this sincerely. Ai art is not going to just disappear, if anything it will evolve.
My parents were born in one of these military towns in the USSR. They said they were never hungry never thirsty and amazing pay. I can share the name if there’s any interest of that town
What was it called?
Seeing how poor a lot of folks in ex-USSR countries are, and how good life apparently was in these closed cities, I can understand why a lot of people miss the Soviet times.
@@marktg98 That’s not exactly the whole reason. The common folk in general had decent living condition. School education is mandatory, but free. Intermediate education is free. You can only get into university on competitive basis, but once you’re in it’s free. You get a job, you get married, and you get your flat for free. You have a lot of kids, you’ll get a bigger one. You can have additional savings account in the bank (yeah, there’s only one option), if you wish, but whether you do or not, the government takes a monthly fee from your salary for mandatory retirement account. You’re not suppose to be a millionaire, but work hard (or be a slimy weasel), and you eventually will get into high management with a lot of benefits, like, several cars for family, maybe a personal driver, huge flat and “dacha” (kinda rural mansion) as a bonus. The truth is, for majority of citizens that simplicity and absence of choice was a boon. When all this went down crushing around them for the sake of freedom, a lot of people were not happy with their new freedom at all. And then the absolute disaster of “perestroika” (rebuilding) happened, leaving millions of people in total poverty. So,yeah. It’s complicated from Russian perspective.
@@marktg98Especially scientists and engineers. If you graduated with your degree before the late 80’s, you were pretty much guaranteed a good job by the state. When the Cold War ended and the USSR collapsed, most of the STEM professionals were out of their jobs overnight and no more privileges associated with their work. Which is why so many left the country in the 90’s (the old movie joke of “In America I am janitor, in Russia I was rocket scientist!” isn’t that untrue.)
I'm not a fan of the constant use of AI depictions; it kind of defeats the purpose of this type of channel. Are there no actual photos of anything even remotely connected to this story?
My friend this is a content farm along with the majority of his other channels, i doubt Simon even has power to change this. They likely do it for a more accurate representation, although I am probably being Naive in that assumption.
As long as the facts are accurate I don't really mind it to much unless its a thumbnail with an egregious typo that clearly wasn't even looked at it before shipped.
Ahhh… how lovely it is that I was able to find someone to explain the most relevant points about this location just now- and historically synchronous the upcoming visitor’s upcoming visit will be 📰, which prompted the motivation for my search. Thank you 🙏 Exactly the information I was hoping to find, at an appropriate length & pace… but most importantly with the data pertinent of the situation. Appreciate you 🙏
Now what other two people in the world would one suppose could possibly have any use for Plutonium &/or its derivatives much less have access to such sophisticated weapons. Gee I wonder.
You should do rocky flats and the Hanford site if you haven’t already
Are the images related to the subject matter? Sadly, you've lost credibility, In this department.
Didnt Simon once do a video on the secret cities of Russia? Its nowhere to be found any more, and also the video about the kursk submarine
There’s videos about some of the individual ones on the Geographics channel, but I don’t remember any that went through multiple or explained the secret cities concept in general.
i thank the editor for making note of what is AI art and not, because some of this AI art is f- off pretty, and it's nice to keep people aware that it's different and not as significant as human-created works.
Safer to keep ai generated out of anything history?
I, for one, like the look of the videos on this channel. Keep it up.
Except for the unnecessary use of ai
Now that Simon has his own version of Geographics called Places I wonder if he'll make his own version of Biographics called People
In the Soviet Union , Everyone was Equal, But Some People Were More Equal!
They were only equal in there chance of survival after a meltdown
wtf Simon, do u even sleep at all? that's like your 6th channel that I have subscribed to now. Love your content!
@sajidt.chowdhury726 😂 It's fun discovering more of Simon's channels isn't it!
I have found 16 of them so far 😂😂
Welcome to the Whistlerverse!
#amirightpeter
6? more like 6 millionth 😂
Hey Simon, quick Russian pronunciation primer for future reference. Evgeny is "ehv-geh-nee" rather than "yeh-vehn-jee", and Lavrentiy is "lahv-rehn-tee" rather than "lah-vehn-tree". Hope you keep up with making more Soviet history videos!
Russian names are so confusing to me... like, when do you add the y sound and when do you not? Had a friend named Ekaterina but pronounced yekaterina. Also had a friend called elena but pronounced yelena. And then i met another elena, also from russia like the other two people, but just pronounced elena not yelena. This shit don't make no sense 😂
@@adenkyramud5005 dw, I've been studying russian for 9 years and I still just kinda guess. Judging word stress and pronunciation visually is kinda hard sometimes so I just go based on vibes and wait to see if i get corrected lol
@@adenkyramud5005 if it starts with “E”, then it’s “ye”. The last Elena lied to you. In the middle of a word “e” could sound a bit like “э” which is somewhat similar to second e in “event”. If Russians want to make English e-noise (like the first e in “event”), they use “и” letter, not “e”. Russian is actually way mote phonetically consistent than English, transliteration into Latin alphabet, which has way less letters, is what mess things up usually.
@adenkyramud5005 I bet the second Elena was trying to make her name more “English.” Plenty of foreigners do that, they’ll adopt an “easier” version so people don’t need to be corrected.
To reply one comment below, stress is most often put on the second syllable. And non-stressed vowels are sometimes hardly pronounced at all. So Evgeniy can be pronounced as (y)ivGEniy where the first vowels are hardly heard.
Why is Simon out of focus?
Especially the side shot?
Because he wasn't on green screen and cleaning the background was harder to scrub and it removed a layer of Simon
Just a heads up, the first image of the big mine pit with the big yellow house behind, that is Falun in Sweden and The Falu Copper Mine.
I hate when sensationalist journalists like this channel use misleading and hyperbolic graphics and imagery... The cancer stats were SCARY ENOUGH!
"You'll be monitored by the military, the police and the KGB"...I mean, how is that different to the life of an Average Josef living in the 1960s Soviet Union?
*average Ivan
@@brinko33 Probably could've used 'Average Nikolai' or 'Average Vlad', too.
Or modern day Britain lol
Probably because there would be eyes on you every moment here, vs more sporadic observations of you elsewhere.
..watch and listen over people living under poor conditions as a better way to validate their punishments ..🙄 Oh god !
@Places302, regarding soundtracks: What is the name of that soothing/mysterious background music track ( e.g. 0:34 ) that is used in most of your video's? And, I think, also used on some of your other channels like @decodingtheunknown2373 and @IntotheShadows, where there are 2 more that sound like a music box. They usually play while Simon is on track (reading the script) and then cuts away as soon as he strays off into a tangent 😅 - I don't blame you #SimonWhistler, I'm also #ADHD
Great content as usual. Dump the new background please. Diminishes everything else you do so well.👍
OK. Love the backdrop. Is that Green screen? or real like your other sets?
Another channel i didnt know about👌👌
Why video about another 5 closed cities dissapeared from Megaprojects channel?
I really dont understand the whining about the AI pictures.
It was a good video, thumbs up, I couldn’t care less where you guys find your art and backgrounds.
They are a little misleading and distracting when they are meant to approximate historical events and real industries
Why does the set look like it's in a Star Trek holodeck? 😅
I don’t know why I am not loving the font or the title stuff. Simon your great
Simon- How about a video on where we are currently with nuclear energy and why it is still not widely used?
Really love that you are using Drone footage of the Unesco Site Falu Gruva, The Copper mine where all of Europes copper came from in the 17th century. Didn't know I lived in a small Secret Nuclear City for ages LOL
Please don't misstake Sweden with Siberia,
The Falu Gruva (Falu Mine) produced copper, iron, silver and other metals. Was earlier called Falu Koppargruva (Coppermine).
And as said, don’t confuse Sweden with Siberia. Sweden is known for its watches, chocolate and banks. Think käserösti is the national dish of Sweden or was it cheese fondue 🙄
The background looks like the holodeck from Star Trek. Everyone complaining about the AI pics, yeah fair. They don’t really work but no-one has mentioned the whole side profile thing he’s now doing in these videos. Where’s that come from? It’s weird. Stop it.
Really not a fan of all the made up AI generated images.
How about a video on the Village of Saltaire?
LCARS background - nice
How many channels do you have 😮
Just what I need, more fact boy, dang it, sub'd. Let Danny out of the basement.
I'm starting to think Simon Whistler is an AI advanced program. I love you buddy, but how many channels is this? I have lost count 😅
Being born in Britain and be a good looking man is such a privilege😂 I guess he just records videos all day, making that easy paper🤑
@@hracekk I think he's got a great thing going. He literally gets to talk all day, I don't think he even does the research. He just shows up, flips on a camera and starts reading. Probably getting paid six figures to talk. I think it's brilliant, slightly jealous 😃
Completely agree, I think that's how my previous comment sounded. It's a money farm, altough I think (and I hope) that atleast warographics etc. is made by him and his research. Could be wrong to@@HolyReality
12:27 That's not Chernobyl. Those are two PWR type containment structures. The RBMK containment buildings, such as they were, are more akin to warehouses.
I had the thought that Simon is also AI generated.
I forgot what it’s called but there is a massive man made valley near or in Siberia that was created due to mammoth fossils poachers. It was on expedition unknown, I’d love to see Simon cover this
Don't like the side profile view switch. Maybe if the camera was pointing to the ass... but otherwise it is lame.
Very interesting topic, well written.
But why the AI images? (Edit: I see I was not the only one baffled here.)
Do one about slab city California
Whats with background factman? Cmon dont use greenscreens its as much annoying to watch as it is to complain abouy it 😫
Please dont use AI generated images, as they're all 100% misleading and have nothing to do with the topic. They couldn't get even a nuclear power plant right, instead showing a gas/coal whatever powerplant. So please, dont use AI gen images.
Simons made yet another channel to make more money on topics he's covered before and I'm here for it all the way. DANNY, GET BACK IN THE BASEMENT AND WORK BOI
Stop with the ai generated slop for the love of god.
WTF is with the wierd side camera? It seems so. . . Pointless
I’d rather not imagine living in the Soviet Union at any point.
Anyone know what those neon looking lights are around/behind him? I want some!
they’re digitally generated. probably with AI
Geeze the AI depictions are simply awful, not just bleak but badly done slap dash too. Hire a graphic artist, please
Please do DHAYAH FORT, UAE
Keep up the good work boys. Ingnore the people upset at the A.I. pics. They're just scared of the inevitable future. Thank you for at least saying when you use them. 👍
So what your saying is this place has affordable housing? 😮
Da!
Great video again!
Just thought in this video the AI depicted scenes were a bit too much doom and gloom for the text it was meant to contextualize. I'm fine that you use AI for the backdrop, especially for topics where there are little images to begin with. But in this video they seemed very dissonant
So my town Gretna might have a wierd link to a secret city
Do an episode on Trekhgorny
New Fact Boi Video. Hell yeah
Anyone knows if this is the same Zelenogorsk found on the Chernarus map of Arma DayZ &/or DayZ standalone?
The ai pictures are very jarring and sensationalise the topic not a fan
Do a video on the Principality of Sealand. It's an extremely interesting place with an equally interesting story.
He has already done one on his old Geographics channels.
I'll never get people who say "it's only a gilded cage".
I mean, is Earth a gilded cage since you cannot move out to space (in foreseeable future) ?
Yeah I get it's a thing for free speech (like that ever is a thing) compared to some other things but meh
Not a fan of the side profile when introducing names lol
Do a video on ex Yugoslavia Zeljava secret inside the mountain air base. It's on the border between bosnia and croatia.
Enough with the AI pictures. They make absolutely no sense in the context of the videos, are incredibly uncanny and take away from the content. If you switch to AI scripts I am gone. I cannot stand the sudden over proliferation of AI. It’s not natural.
My great aunt worked in one of those secret cities.
Can confirm, the sausages were better than Moscow.
It looked nothing like the AI generated garbage. I’m sure if you asked around some corners of the internet… some pictures of that place would turn up.
This is about history, use historical photos. AI has no place here, it’s simply not accurate.
Shut up 😂
big Stalsk-12 vibes from Tenet
Serious question, how many channels is Simon Whistler the face of now?
Ummm Simon gets 99% of my entertainment time...and he snuck in Astrographics channel as well recently.
Trying the Enterprise background today I see.
Железногорск так не произносится, господин англичанин 😑
In my city there are a ton of Mennonites. As a result there is a plqc called the MCC. Stands for Mennonite...something something who cares. Every time simon said MCC though that's what I thought of lol😂
is it me or is this video wildly out of focus? also, simon, you're not chris moyles. You sound wrong with this much bass on your mic. also that reverse camera angle is not the best.
So, do we also have non-AI generated depictions? Stopped the video at 16:00
The number of people with two heads increased from 2 to 12000 , and people glowed in the dark
the mug keeps appearing and disapearing lol
Please avoid using AI images at all. This total ruines the high quality of the research and presentation.
America had a secret city how about doing that one on your channel Oak Ridge. TN
Also in the middle of hilly terrain with plenty of hydropower