@@cagliari5984 im like 90% sure they werent serious and were mocking people who freak out over checkmarks (and ngl those people do deserve to be mocked)
I love the fact that every hell is a warning from the people who imagined it,and show the fears of these people in the eras they were alive. Even Solar Sands hell is a warning about the technology,sadism and apathy of the contemporary/modern man.
To me it shows something about our obsession with punishment that we continue to be obsessed with the hell part of Dante's work but no one really talks about the other two parts where he climbs the mountain and travels through space to get to heaven.
Also how medieval Christians focused so heavily on the imagery in Revelations and non-canonical apocrypha like Apocalypse of Paul instead of looking at what Jesus actually said about "hell". The eternal fire of hell is not a literal torture chamber, in the same way that the paradise of heaven is not an endless festivity of earthly pleasures. The afterlife is not of this world, and neither would the experiences of pleasure and pain therein be, so anything we can imagine or guess about it would be incorrect. All Jesus let's us know is that heaven is being one with God, and hell is being apart from him, and what that can mean to us as mortal beings is up for interpretation.
There is one advantage Inferno has and two big problems with Purgatory and Paradise: First, Inferno created the popular image of Hell. The Bible itself is more or less ambiguous, with vague references to suffering and lakes of fire but the details are sparse. Even stuff like "demons torture you" isn't Biblical canon, there's an argument to be made that Demons just want you to join them in their suffering and that's why they tempt people. Crabs in a bucket. But Dante's Inferno plus Paradise Lost paint an image of Hell being run by demons, and that sort of ended up the layman Christian's preference. It's a lot easier to imagine the same people that tempt you being the ones that torture, I guess, and all the ironic torments help the preachers paint a nasty image of the place. Second, Purgatory is pretty much Catholic only. Protestants don't believe in it, so you're cutting away any relevance to that audience. Third, Paradise is very... let's just say 'abstract'. It really deals more with trying to find a place for God and Divinity within the emerging picture of astronomy that was developing in the Renessiance. The stars were no longer holes in the firmament, as traditional Judeo-Christian lore would describe it - but rather objects. Objects that you could go to, visit. It wasn't necessarily 'sci fi', but it was dealing with science. And as astronomy moved further on and so did religion's conception of God's place in the wider Universe, the stars lost their connection with divinity and thus Paradise loses any relevance and just becomes really weird. So I don't think an obsession with punishment is what elevates Inferno above the rest. It just really stood the test of time.
This video reeeaally makes me think of "The Good Place". The entire show is set in the afterlife, and (among other things) tackles the idea that there is no ill deed performed on this earth that could possibly equate to an ETERNITY of torture. And on the flip side it shows that an eternity of "heaven" is also flawed. It's really interesting how in the end, they found a way to avoid the problems that infinity creates (by avoiding infinity altogether). (I don't want to go into too much detail (because spoilers) but give it a watch if you like a good laugh, philosophy and a finale that will probably make you cry).
@@pepsimanbooster Blinding light tentacle arms - 35m & 01s (I don't think youtube is letting me post a comment if it includes actual timestamps) flowing red infinity symbol - 52m & 17s the tunnel of love - 25m & 10s spiky ocean of blood - 35m & 11s screaming head - 56m & 30s I'm not sure if the animator Cyriak was the first person ever to create an animation with the mouth over the face like in the screaming head animation but he did it at least 15 years before me.
The guy at 25:00 who wrote the book "23 Minutes in Hell" was definitely experiencing a bad case of sleep paralysis. When I was suffering from opiate and benzodiazepine withdrawal I experienced something very similar multiple times. It happened so often that I would keep myself awake at all costs, I didn't sleep for almost 4 days. Sleep paralysis really does feel real and you really do feel like you are being physically injured by demonic beings. I'm not a religious person but if I was I would definitely see sleep paralysis as some sort of test or trial sent to me by god. It's crazy what our brains can make us perceive as reality.
As a schizophrenic, I had my own journey to hell as the illness took grip. I was drawing to cope with losing my mind. I had no idea what was happening to me. I'm not a trained artist and had never really drawn before that event. I thought I would never share those drawings but my psychologist thought it would be good for me. If anyone is curious I hade a sideshow of them here on UA-cam. I never inform people about it as I see how scummy it is but it felt relevant.
I'd love to look, I had a similar experience. I thankfully did not literally see hell 😭but instead met different demons, gods and monsters. I did some drawings too, some portraits of them and other stuff I saw and heard.
I'm not a psychologist, but it doesn't sound scummy to find an outlet for feelings that are difficult or impossible to describe, through art. I believe art is probably the best way for people to understand feelings that we've never experienced. If you're comfortable with it, I'd love to see the slideshow.
haven't read but that's truly a gut-wrenching sentence given the context . I imagine dante's visit was the only interesting thing that ever happened to him in his eternity in limbo...
Hey solar sands I know it’s pretty late to be commenting on what I know now is an old video, but videos like these are what have fueled my passion for historical art and have genuinely pushed me towards what I want my career to be. The way you talk in these videos and explain concepts draws me in better than any other commentator. You have a way with words that make watching your videos a relaxing and informative experience every single time no matter what the topic is. You are my favorite channel on UA-cam and I am inspired by you all the time. Please don’t ever stop making these video essays, because no one else does what you do.
I don't think Over the Garden Wall is a _retelling_ of Dante's Inferno; but it is most certainly at least heavily inspired by it, and at most, an allegory _for_ it.
I really don't like the comparison at all. It's absurd. There's nothing similar about the stories, characters, themes, or literally anything at all. It's such a reach. OTGW is about a metaphorical purgatory at most, and an adventure inside it, not a polite guided tour of hell and related realms. The stories it more directly parallels are others with the child lost in wonderland trope. If you were to say it's a retelling of any story you'd have to pick from Wonderland, Oz, Narnia, and more before even considering Dante's hell.
@@purplehaze2358 That's parallels. There's a huge huuuge leap from "has many parallels" to being a retelling or even being roughly based on it. And both have parallels to other stories about people traveling to the underworld. And OTGW has parallels to Narnia, possibly more so than it does to Inferno. It's just so far off the scope from being a retelling of any of these.
After hearing that Dante wrote something where people he hated suffered in hell I can imagine someone hearing that and going “Oh sure, When Dante writes something where people he hates suffer it’s considered peak literature but when I write something where people I hate suffer, people think there’s something wrong with me.
It was also a self-insert fanfic of the Apocalypse of Peter. Also, on a related note, Shakespeare constantly made up new words to rhyme and tried to appeal to the lower classes, like if Dr. Seuss became a rapper.
As someone who has followed you for 7 or more years, you've grown into a phenomenal analyst and I think this piece has outdone them all to date. Wonderful work
One time, my christian ex told me that because I'm bisexual I'll be going to hell. Looking back on it, after watching this video, I don't think he realized the weight and magnitude of what he said in full. I'm not religious at all, but just the thought of someone I considered a lover wishing me an eternity of torture...it sends chills down my spine; and saddens me that human minds are so easily in favor of extreme punishment over things that don't matter...
That's not a person that has a real connection with God and as someone who keeps Jesus Christ in my heart I'm so sorry you even have to have that memory. My parents told me I'm an abomination and it took me a long time to get that self hatred out of my heart. Bless
This may not be helpful, but most of the time Christians say that because they truly believe it because they were taught it from childhood. It isn't what they want, but they're told not to question the authority of God, and are told to preach against sin to save people.
Nothing has resonated with me this much about my feelings around hell. It's something that has taken up so much space in my mind and in my life, not only in a religious sense, but in other manifestations of eternity as well, like the possibility of technologically storing consciousness. I grew up in a very catholic home, and as I got older and learned more of the moral rules of Catholicism, and actually began to consider hell as a place I could end up, it took over my life. As a child I didn't fear hell as much mainly because it was so absurd and I thought only truly evil people could go there. But something as simple as skipping church on Sunday can send you to hell in Catholicism, and i started to take things like that more seriously. I have OCD, which I didn't know at the time. So I began to take the smallest things, that could potentially cause someone to sin, as a possibility that I had committed a mortal sin. And then I would go to confession, but i started having intrusive thoughts about forgetting how i had been thinking at the time. Was I culpable for things from years before, and was just in denial? It started to feel like heaven was unattainable. But I didn't even want heaven. I just wanted to not go to hell. I spent so much of my teenage years just hurting and worrying and repenting because everyone told me I could be subjected to eternal torture. That's what made me start to think God wasn't real. How could you make me and put me here, with such unclear instructions, and if I get it wrong, I go to hell? So after a while i looked into enough atheist arguments that i started to just let go of religion completely. It was so freeing. I was allowed to just be human. not for long though! About a year after that my OCD latched on to more past events and I started to obsess over new things. It was still a form of scrupulosity but now instead of eternity in hell, it was eternity in how people would think of me. What if things i said were twisted or taken out of context. what if i did something awful to someone and they ended their life because of me? What if i had a horrible thought that meant i was a horrible person. And what if my consciousness, or even just my memories, were obtained through technology someday? i felt like all my worst fears could come true in some unimagineable way through the wires of my computer. It felt like i made a new god after i got rid of the old one. And this one was right in front of me, growing, learning, every day. eventually i had to accept the possibility and move on with my life, because it was tearing me apart. but what you said about hell existing as long as humans want to torture people, is so true. We created so many religious hells, and we create hell in so many other ways, as a punishment for others, or for ourselves. no one deserves it.
I read your story. I can relate to the compulsive thoughts. I found my freedom in Christ. Realized that we all deserve hell for we’ve all sinned against an infinitely holy God (just one sin was enough put his son on the cross) can be scary to think. Jesus gave us freedom when he died on the cross. I no longer have to worry about my sin because he bore it all for me. I will never not sin as long as I am human. Interesting you mentioned even after leaving religion you still found a way to create some type of god in your life. We all do bc that’s just how God wired us. Thing is, you will never find any satisfaction with any “god” apart from Jesus. If you want to know if he’s real ask him sincerely and he will answer. Seek him and you will find him. We all need our own relationship with him. I confidently suggest this because Jesus is actually the only true and living God. This was long. I wanted to respond because you’re comment is genuine. Take from this what you will.
@@beeninthisfandomlongerthan9500 My only gripe with what you wrote is why should I follow a religion to just thank Jesus. Jesus exists, so I have to church at Sundays like what? Even if you're that thankful to Jesus, you could be thankful to someone without joining a fandom for it. A fandom that sometimes doesn't even agree with Jesus' message, "to love above all".
Im really glad that people are still talking about SOMA. The story of that game honestly has hung over me and never left my mind. The horror is so complex and deep, its honestly like nothing else I've seen, and I truly hope its never forgotten for it.
SOMA was one of the few games that really stick to you. The sheer unimaginability of the scenario just makes for a terrifying dive into the nature of human consciousness.
Yeah, I'd say Soma is sort of like the Matrix in that it became many people's introduction to philosophical concepts that had already existed for years or centuries. I think it was the first piece of media I saw that highlighted how teleportation or transferring your mind to another body is just carefully timed suicide alongside the creation of a copy of your memories. Even the illusion of continuity of consciousness goes right out the window when you mind isn't in your original brain.
56:50 "Thank God the universe will end" may be one of my favourite quotes ever considering all the context. Absolutely incredible work, you've made me cry and I'm not even entirely sure why
A human is an experiment of Life to explore design space. Life explores design space looking for ways to do replication across more space and more time. To embody replication. It is the responsibility of Anything to try out the design that it is, in service to this.
"it makes me emotional every time I talk about it" he says looking as if he's never been more bored in his life I'm more emotional when my browser takes a few extra seconds than usual to load a website
I'm pretty sure he's neurodivgent due to his monotone voice and his struggles with friendship it makes sense he can't express himself as one would expect
@@bleccoded He stated his opinion on fetishes, fetish art, and all forms of sexuality (that being that they are varying levels of immoral) and re-stated that he is anti-natalist. From what I have read, his opinion seems to be that actions that cause harm to others (such as directly harming someone or bringing another person into existence, which inevitably allows them to be harmed) and yourself (giving in to impulses, etc.) are immoral. I do not speak for him and recommend looking at what he directly wrote and responded to.
@@bolicob I’m thinking it’s cause he started roasting deviant art post then started making broader art videos and now just doesn’t whatever he wants idk but commenters give too much credit these days like the millions of “can we just appreciate.. so and so” type comments you see lately
Having been raised Catholic as a kid, Hell is one of the most fascinating topics to me and I eat up any piece of fiction that portrays it in a semi-serious way. Thanks for covering this from a literal, fire and brimstone approach.
My primary reason to not believe those “I’ve been to hell” type people is that if they really did experience the level of suffering hell is depicted to have for even a SECOND, They’d be smearing their blood and shit all over the walls of whatever asylum they’d be locked up in….
@@SonicXisCanon if you got anything from the video, than the level of punishment doesn't really matter. the fact that it goes on for eternity is the worst aspect of hell.
There's no torture that would universally result in that for anyone after only a second. Real torture takes time. It can take hours or days to break someone. Hell isn't normally depicted as fantastically as you imply here; the tortures are usually medieval and somewhat mundane. Someone could probably spend a few months there before reaching the point you're describing here but they're more likely to become catatonic than spread blood all over the walls. The human soul just doesn't work the way you're implying here.
@@heartycoffee4754an unexplored idea is that the human mind can cope with most conditions over time. Even in an eternity I would think that for the lesser punishments you would adapt (unless adaptation is turned off somehow). After a few years it would be normal to you, similar to how people can survive horrific situations in life by adapting and coping.
@@kotzpennerI mean considering most of us won't even be 100 years old just living 1000 alone seems crazy, and almost nothing compared to eternity, pretty sure you'd go numb or braindead at some point
The scene shown at 47:56 from SOMA is one of my favorite moments in a game ever, maybe in any media ever. It left me completely stunned for at least a couple minutes while I grappled with the indescribable existential horror of being *that.* Even though the revelation of the player character's nature comes earlier in the game, this transcendentally disturbing moment of recognition when you finally look yourself in the mirror is almost unmatched, in my books.
Fantastic documentary, as someone who has just unwillingly stumbled across this channel, I feel as if though you have a vast understanding of religion (and that's coming from someone who is) You really seem to have grasped the concepts of both afterlife's (Heaven and Hell) interpreting a message from writers, other experiences, books, and even god his self, you do what most creators are afraid to do, and you have my utmost respect, this was a very well put together video, thank you, this doc didn't waste my time, it gave me a purpose on how I could better subject it. Thank you, Solar sands
It's a shame we live in a world you need to put an ad in this piece of art just to pay the bills. I am grateful to be able to watch this for free. Astounding work, top to bottom
@@MungoThorne it's almost as long as a movie, so easily the price of a cinema ticket. But what I meant is that his work is so great that putting an ad on it is like a scratch on a diamond. There's not much to do about it though, it isn't like someone is gonna pay him to do make adfree, nor the patreons are gonna be enough (I guess)
i love bosch’s “garden of heavenly delights”, how seemingly satirical it almost is, because our pleasure equates to pain and punishment, according to the triptych and outer globe painting. also really enjoyed dante’s “inferno”, me and a friend read it in high school physically and it was so fun and freeing from the mundane routine of schooling.
I thought for sure you'd mention the idea of using drugs that lengthen perception of time so prisoners could serve sentences longer than normal human lifespan. If that's not a man-made hell, I don't know what is
That’s one that *really* fucked with me, especially after I read King’s “The Jaunt.” The idea that something like that could actually exist in reality chills me to my core.
think there was a star trek episode where a guy commits a crime on an alien planet and they stick him in a simulation to serve out a very long sentence in hours, horrifying thought
I'm pretty sure at a certain point you'd develop a tolerance to the drug. They'd have to exponentially increase the dosage, at some point the high dose would just kill you.
Luckily, people tend to forget that memory is based on physical processes. Live long enough, and you’ll literally stop remembering entirely the experience of living long enough ago. And that’s great!
You just made me imagine a heaven that is watching your all-time favorite movie for the first time, having your memory wiped, and then watching it again endlessly. The act of forgetting, erasure of memory, is the only antidote to the inevitable suffering of any form of experienced eternity.
Yup, that's the Alzheimer's joke - you can watch the same favorite movie forever... unfortunately here on Earth one suffers greatly because you can't remember who people are, how the things around you function, etc. That's close enough to hell for me...
I feel like that would be part of torment of hell, to be there so long that suffering is all you know and remember, with only a passing sense of nostalgia to remind you of the world above
In Part III, the chilling finale of that Black Mirror episode played on a loop in my mind, where the protagonist’s digital twin was condemned to an eternity in the simulated universe, experiencing a thousand years in just a mere second of our time, while the creators casually departed for their Christmas holiday. This moment was a profound exhibition of cruelty, a mind-twisting scene that has etched itself into the fabric of my memory as the most impactful of the entire series.
I only watched the first episode, so the shit people describe from this show always feels so incongruent with what I've actually seen lol. This is some horrors beyond human comprehension and yet the show chose to lead with... whatever that first episode was.
@@plebisMaximusvery first episode with the pig sex scene is NOT reflective of what the show is. It’s anthological so each episode is independent of the next and some are WAY better than others is the truth. Black mirror is actually not a good show. It has REALLY good episodes and then some that even I don’t remember lol
one of my favorite tellings of what hell could be is from the short story “a short stay in hell.” the thought of being stuck in an infinitely growing library, filled with the stories of all of those who have lived, is so unique. it really drives in the idea that hell is personal, it is what we sculpt ourselves. another thing that really adds on to the “time” aspect of hell is the game everhood. although it takes place in a heaven-like world, the characters are all mad and in pain, as they are all immortal.
I take issue with the video's wager. You either win, infinitely lose, or cease to exist. But wouldn't heaven be "infinitely win"? You'll experience joy and heaven for an infinite amount of time. He completely ignores that aspect. So if the odds really are akin to picking a single atom in the universe (10 to the power of 80), I'd probably take that bet. I'd need to know more information about heaven and hell, but I think I would do it. The odds of someone picking the atom that sends them to hell are so ridiculously small, they're essentially/effectively zero.
@@Zidbits Look at how the universe operates even outside our insignificant dot of a planet. There is existence and destruction. "Pleasure" is a rare phenomenon while suffering is infinite. Hell is everywhere you look, it's Heaven that's winning the lottery. My bet is on everyone going to Hell with the exception of a tiny few chosen at random. The monk who spent his whole life meditating and working for the betterment of the poor has the same chances as Hitler of getting there. What you do in life doesn't matter in the slightest.
I very rarely comment on anything I run into on YT, but I feel your work here deserves recognition. Although by its very nature infinity is too difficult for most minds to fully comprehend, your linear progression from the human infancy of absolutes with all its gratuitous focus to the halls of higher learning and scientific rationale that don't even mention fire or spikes or anything, you arrive at Zappas Crux of the Biscuit. No it's not the apostrophe, it's time. And your dispationate delivery and measured pace all contribute to the strength of your effort. Fantastic. I'd only add that I believe these shells we move around in and live and die in no way allow us to properly conceive infinity in any way near what, when the lights go out, we all, the good, the bad, and the ugly, have that face palming aha moment and exclaim Ohhh! ...and then you'll have a tiny aw crap moment when you look back in embarrassed frustration on the time you spent fearing he'll, or anything else for that matter. So thank you for this great video. Nicely done.
If a Hell or Heaven is individualized in some way -- how much *better* is the most moral person in Hell than the least moral person in Heaven? Because maybe it's better to do the wrong thing for the right reason than the right thing for the wrong reason?
Not exactly what you're looking for but the Bible has the story of Saul and David. Saul was chosen to be king as the best of the worst and after his first fuck up God chooses David who is the worst of the best to work under Saul as the secret true king. Long story short Saul goes off the deep end and does everything wrong. David later usurps him and after being rewarded he slowly falls as well. David tries getting his most loyal soldier killed while he bangs his wife. I forget how David died but I know he was also punished.
I don’t believe the qualification of whether or not you go to heaven or hell is a measure of morality. Just that people that go to heaven tend to be more moral than those who go to hell.
as a kid i never really understood the idea of hell, the idea that you could experience infinite suffering for a finite crime seemed so odd to me , it seemed almost unfair
It is technically unfair, but so many things in life are. Like people who spend their entire lives suffering hardship and poverty despite never having harmed another person, because the main factor that led to that was being born to poor parents.
In the Orthodox Christian understanding, Christ decended into Hades, broke down the gates, crushed Satan and brought all the righteous with him to heaven, preachng the Gospel to the dead. Hell is experiencing God's love but hating it, because, the person had hated the love of God during their life. Whereas Heaven is experience God's love and being energised and embrasing Him as you have in this life. God is present everywhere and fills all things in his energies, he's compared to a "consuming fire". Thus, when we die, we are in his presence and experience His unfiltered, unhindered love which consumes and hurts us if we hate Him like fire. Or energise us and indwell us if we've communed and loved Him during our life like metal that glows orange in contact with fire. For now though, all souls who've rejected God or not known him are in hades, they can be brought to the kingdom of heaven by praying for them, if they heed to the prayers and are willing to have communion with Him. This is all possible until the final judgement of Christ. C.S Lewis - "Great Divorce" is close to the Orthodox view where there's a bunch of people taken in a bus to Heaven and Hell. When they go to Heaven, the wicked experience it as Hell, because they hate the beauty and the sound and the goodness. It's not the lake of fire, to them the Good becomes evil, the grass becomes shards of glass to them, because it's too beautiful and they hate it. Christ's "Harrowing of Hades" is the restoration of our nature and that's why everyone is ressurected on the basis of Christ, even the wicked. It doesn't mean everyone is saved though, because it depends on everyone's own mode of willing and use of the Human nature they've been given, if it's missused by vice and the virtues aren't recapitulated, they'll have an experience of ever ill-will, rather than ever-goodwill. The experience isn't a sort of "burning lake", but God Himself because the wicked hate God, so what torments them is the presence of God. Those who die without knowing God are told the Gospel, about the Kingdom of Heaven in hades when they die.
No amount of pain we can inflict in our short lives could ever justify that sort of thing, just as i think the concept of eternal happiness to be dumb, i think the same with eternal suffering. If you feel one thing for long enough, it starts to mean absolutley nothing. Eternal contempt, and peace seems much more logical. you cant feel bad without good, and you cant feel good without bad. Granted, i am Hindu so the idea of life death and brahma has influence on my view of the linearity of the concepts of heaven and hell but i still think that the way its viewed is flawed
@@YvngKrishnaI mostly agree with you, except for pain/suffering. Sure, you can kind of distract yourself or try to mentally leave your body, whatever, but the experience of pain KEEPS being painful, because pain is often trying to alert you to fixing something (in the physical sense). I don't know, to me, pain doesn't get easier to cope with just because you're used to it. Growing up in one of those "house of horrors" situations with an abusive hoarder, I can say that pain can be normalized but I don't think you can get used to it, if that makes sense.
I just have to say I really appreciate the level of reality you bring to your videos. The topics aren't UA-cam monetization friendly, let alone safe in general. They're dangerous topics that most people are scared to think about. It's artistic and I really respect that.
As a student in Italy I used to hate the Divine Comedy (to be honest I used to hate anything related to school). Luckily I grew up to become a book worm, and in the last 4 decades my love for La Divina Commedia just grew stronger and stronger. I tend to read it (all of it) every couple of years. It's an absolutely stunning masterpiece, in my opinion the best work of poetry my country has ever produced, and one of the greatest literary works of art in human history. Not an easy read, especially the Paradise, but it's totally worth every drop of brain sweat! I also feel so lucky that I can read it in the original language, which is the most awesome thing because it also sounds unbelievably good.
Not only that, I'm pretty sure Jacob Geller has spoken about SOMA in one of his videos before, with a somewhat similar take. The theme and "moral", for lack of a better word, of this video just generally remind me of the kind of videos Jacob Geller makes.
Very much felt like a Jacob Geller video -- even to the point of ignoring obvious connections in other media in order to cram in more video games. Surprised he didn't mention the Black Mirror episode even once.
One more thing I'd like to say: Being good is not about doing bad things to bad people. Being good is about preventing bad things from happening in the first place.
Not necessarily, though I understand the point you are making. I'm not that well educated on this subject, but here's my thought. Good actions (or will) can have negative consequences. According to Kant, good will is justified by the action, itself, rather than the consequences. So, a good action can have a negative outcome and a bad action can have a positive outcome. I think your perspective falls under consequentialism: "Being good is about preventing bad things from happening." Consequentialism states that morality is only a matter of the consequences of the action. So, if you have a positive outcome, that means that your action was good. If you have a negative outcome, then your action was bad. Ethics is quite interesting and fun! Lots of different perspectives and ideas spanning across the history of humanity.
What a poignant statement that means literally nothing. "You don't punish bad people, you just stop the bad things from ever existing its just that easy bro. If you tried hard enough nobody could ever do crimes."
@@trustytrest The point of their statement, as I see it, is that "revenge" isn't good. That doing bad things isn't justified or by itself good if you do it to bad people. You might have to do bad things do bad people sometimes, for example in order to prevent them from doing more bad things, or to act as a deterrant for bad things being done. But the good of these actions would not be just in the fact that you're punishing the bad people, but in the fact that you're preventing more bad things from happening.
“God’s Demon” by Wayne Barlowe has some really awesome illustrations by himself, which depict demons and other supernatural inhabitants of hell more like a cohesive world with its own biology, culture, and history. Barlowe was also the creature designer for projects like “James Cameron’s Avatar”, “Pacific Rim”, and “Hellboy 2004”
When I think of hell, I think of Made in Abyss. Children used for experiments, given immortal bodies capable of withstanding infinite punishment, and used as disposable shields that let a person temporarily ascend from hell by transferring ones own punishment onto someone else.
Having the bones and flesh stripped away, leaving only vital organs, feeding them lies to inspire loyalty and not only accept the horror but to crave it, all so they can be used as a way for a madman to avoid the torment he himself deserves. The Abyss is cruel and unjust, torturing those unfortunate or foolish to have entered it, and it serves no purpose whatsoever except to embody the very idea of cruelty. Bowdrewd is the Devil himself in the guise of man, and if there's any justification for the existence of the hateful reality of the Abyss, it's so THAT walking atrocity can eventually face his judgement within its depths.
The series reminds me of Annihilation, Mystery Flesh Pit, and Roadside Picnic/Stalker in terms of cosmic horror setting and its occupants' careers involving touring the unexplainable and suffering in the process. I find the Abyss fascinating in its mysterious eerie beauty. The sunlight poured down by the forcefield that brings nutrition and warmth throughout most of its interior illuminates the very curse that same forcefield brings to its residents should they try to ascend ten meters. It's much like an Eldritch pitcher plant if it was a gaping mouth that's deeper than the Mariana Trench where the bottom is as of yet unseen- a man-eating hole that discourages its prey from leaving. Even the strains of ascension reminds me of decompression sickness. It has its own ecosystem filled with fantastical monsters and flora that the people on the surface try to both survive on economically and against for the sake of adventure and ancient relics. Delvers are hailed as martyrs by the locals, even when they're marching to their probable deaths. The greatest of their ranks are seen as less human and more monster, as one sacrifices at least some of their humanity the more one explores.
40:00 the philosophy Peter Singer goes even further, not only the rich,but ordinary people are imoral.(as even ordinary people can help a little but chose not to, out of convenience) to him charity is not generosity but obligatory,in the same way you must no kill,or when someone is falling and you can save them by standing your arms. And honestly i have no response that doesn't make me sound selfish or evil as hell lol.
He uses a brilliant analogy of a drowning child in front of you, but you’ll have to ruin your $100 shoes to prevent them from drowning. Probably 99% of people would save the child, but not saving it is essentially the same as not donating to charity.
This was one of the most thought provoking pieces of media I have ever watched. It's truly astonishing that UA-cam of all places houses this masterpiece of human creation
Ahh yes... the DMV. What a wonderful analogy. Great content as always. Don't ever stop man. Your video essays are so damn intricate and so damn inticing. Perspectives open, and you kinda help me see alot of things from different views from all of your videos. Cheers mate!
I find Solar's videos about horrific tortures and hellish punishments to be calming and relaxing while his videos about AI disturb and shake me to the core, and I can't tell if this says more about me or about our current society.
@@ConiferConnieTreeCow High tier artists still get jobs anyways. Also, what AI does with art is no different than what humans do. Every artist takes inspiration from other artists, even if subconsciously. AI just does that more efficiently
I'm glad to hear your take. As a christian, I'm always baffled that so many people can be so blase about hell. If you believe in it, why wouldn't you be absolutely terrified of it? And how could you want anyone else to go there for eternity, even the worst of people?
I was never raised Christian, so I never understood why Christians were so hellbent (lol) on converting non-Christians. This comment gave me a new perspective, thank you.
Now I'm going to theology school, and I'm wondering if Solar is holding his cards close on his own opinion: Hell *is* dumb. But also, everything we teach about it is arguably imagery to guide people. Solar read and even cited C.S. Lewis's *The Great Divorce* and that describes Hell as infinite self-inflicted isolation - it's not a punishment imposed, but a bad idea clung to by pride. This conception is no longer an infinite cruelty. So, from the Christian perspective, the despair is not so great, and I wonder if Sands doesn't feel the same way outside the context of this vid.
People just rely on Gods mercy which they hear so much about which is what angers me the most. They expect that a creator who they never cared about to save them at the last minute. It’s like one friend never caring about the other, never talking to them, never wondering about them, just never CARING, and then expecting to show them grace when they get into trouble. Why should that friend? Would we call a relationship like that with others healthy? Of course not. So why does the average person do this to God? They expect his mercy and love when they never even cared to ever think about him before. Hell is just a place where God isn’t. If you never cared about God in life, he’s not going to force to you be with him in death.
@@TheKnoxviciousBut isn't that his whole thing, that he died for our sins n everything? I'm not christian but as you said most people probably take heaven for granted so there's no need to worry about going to hell themselves I'd imagine
I highly recommend watching Wendigoons Series going through the Dantes inferno, purgatario and paradisio. It gives so much more context to alot of ideas in the Writings of Dante if anyone found the concepts here interesting
I know this is a serious video about religion and eternal torment, but I cracked a smile when Solar said "999,999 balls". I have the sense of humor of a 12 year old boy.
Having thought about it some more, Hell really is the perfect representation of mankind's wrath. When a human well and truly hates something, to the point of completely dehumanizing them, we want them not just to disappear, but to suffer. To suffer well and truly, either eternally or for so long that it may as well be eternal. We don't just want them to kowtow for any misgivings, we want them to be in complete unending misery for whatever they did to slight us. Anything from a personal offense to simply being part of a group we consider "bad". Absolutely no empathy for whatever they're going through, just a sadistic kind of antipathy. Hell is the symbol of just how unforgiving and ruthless humans are, well and truly beyond any other creature's malice. A beast would simply want to maul you and kill you, and then you are no longer a problem. A human, being crueler than any heast, wants their enemy to agonize even past death, so that not even death is an escape to their torture. Why are people this way? Is it because we have an inherent belief that "life is suffering", and we feel bitter that our slain enemies get to escape that suffering?
@@malakibaskerville2190 Not sure I agree, because you shouldn't confuse belief in hell with liking that hell exists. Most people believe in hell just because they were taught it, and don't like it, and don't understand why the punishments should be so harsh.
I thought this was just going to be an art analysis and critique of existing work but the way you brought that all together into the final thesis of "eternity is hell" was masterful.
about a third through the video and I had this thought about your content generally. I really appreciate that you're clear when speaking from the heart and a place of emotional resonance, and only try to justify it to the extent of arguing your perspective, rather than trying to argue that this perspective is somehow factual or on the "right side", and also without explicitly having to say "this is my opinion". it is such a relief to be able to listen to people's thoughts online and not feel attacked or challenged constantly, thank you
The book "Johnny got his gun" from Dalton Trumbo, that inspired metallica's "One", is, to me, the most scary depiction of hell/torture I've ever read. It is like "I have no mouth, and I must screen" but much more terrifying for it's reality and for how well written it is. If you are in the mood to feel bad, it is a amazing and contemplative read. And if you read it, remember what was said at 51:34 "what makes hell , Hell, is time."
Ive had this video in my watch later playlist since it came out. Now that I finally have some time to watch and enjoy it fully, I just wanted to say how much I appreciate the work and thought you put into every video. Ive loved growing up and changing along with this channel. Keep up the amazing work!
This is one of the greatest videos out there, and it really touches some of the thoughts I had for a long time now. I used to be horrified of an idea of a afterlife. I didn't matter what afterlife, just the idea of existing forever even in the most pleasures conditions, is a scary one. To continue existing forever is the worst thing that could possibly happen to someone, if its even possible. I grew up a bit since then. There are things that the human brain cannot understand, and this is one of them. If an afterlife is real maybe there's some things that will change the experience there or the comprehension of it. and there's no afterlife, I wouldn't even know. I also can't really change it so I don't worry about it, but... what if it is all real?
In the Bingo cage thought experiment: You've said that Hell is the ultimate loss state, then conclude that it is imperative to avoid it, so the correct choice is to stop existing. What about Heaven? If Hell is the ultimate loss state, you'd need to consider Heaven as the ultimate win state. You could argue that it is equally imperative to achieve it. Thus, the correct choice is to play, no matter how small the chance of winning is. I cannot help but feel compelled to play even if the ods were 1:1. I find my personal Hell to be life based around avoidance of loss, instead of just enjoying it as much as possible.
This is what went through my mind as i was watching that segment of the video. If the odds were 1:1 and you gambled an infinite amount of times, then you'd win exactly 50% of the time and lose the other 50%. That obviously breaks the rules of the video since you only get one shot, but it means that for a 1:1 ratio, there'd be a 50% : 50% chance for hell or heaven. Similarily, if there was a 1:2 ratio there'd be a 33% : 67% chance for hell or heaven, meaning that the average person would experience 33% of hell and 67% of heaven. If the pain from hell is equal to the pleasure of heaven, then the average person with a 1:2 chance would experience 67%heaven + 33%hell = 67%heaven - 33%heaven = 33%heaven. This makes sense because if the ratio was 1:infinity, then the chance of hell would be 1 divided by infinity which is equal to zero and the average person would experience 100% of heaven.
The cost of losing far exceeds the cost of winning. Can any "ultimate win" truly surpass an "ultimate loss"? Solar Sands argues no. Personally the correct move is to not play. IMHO, either state leaves you numb, with no room to grow. Why play at all, if you cannot do the very things that define your existence as a human. A constant, unchanging state of pleasure or pain, happiness or torture, health or injury, and there is no substantial change that allows you to really surpass your current limits, or to age and mature. That's what we do as humans, and our boundaries and limits define us. Take that away, in the static, unchanging afterlives, and you take away the only context we are defined to exist in. Why even bother?
This makes zero sense. We are accepting in this thought experiment that Hell can exist as eternal torment, but we cannot accept that Heaven exists as equal eternal pleasure? Why? I get that you (and Solar Sands) are personally interpreting both concepts as inherently bad because they are eternal. Can you at least agree that if you do not accept eternity as inherently bad, then your argument falls apart?@@FullCircleStories
@@blahthebiste7924that eternal torment for a finite life is bad is one of the foundational points of the discussion why are you even asking in the first place of course we all agree this is a fucked up thing.
Let's not forget the greatest journey to Hell. Chapter 7 of Super Paper Mario, when Mario, Luigi, Bowser and Peach all die and go to hell, only to travel all the way up to heaven
"Hell is real and humanity will bring it" is perhaps one of the most terrifying thoughts one could imagine. There's a concept in Protestant Christianity called "Total Depravity." It simply means that humanity, without the guidance of God, is capable of performing the most heinous and and dispicable acts possible. What's particularly terrifying about this is that there's no apparent "bottom" to this depravity. The most despicable and depraved human possible will never exist, because someone will always sink lower. Hell is perhaps, not simply God's just wrath, but the ultimate hubris of humanity. Not a realm separated from our current reality, but the destiny of our reality, driven only by the corrupt will of Man.
Absolutely amazing video! Terrifying and thought provoking! One thing that you could have talked about too is Roko's basilisk, and how the fear of hell could lead to it (but I guess you came to the same points using other examples). Another thing I've thought a lot about, which you also briefly mentioned between the lines, is how the idea of hell might come from reductionism, and simplying the world and people around us into groups of good and evil, instead of facing the truth that the world, its people, their decisions and ideologies are complex, and might just be the results of cause and effect. Instead of categorizing people as inherently good or evil, and deserving of punishment or not. And I also love the fact that you brought up how simply eternity (even if in a heaven) could be considered hell. It's something I've thought a lot about, which none of my friends seem to agree with. But these are just minor things and ideas that pop up when watching something as philosophical as this video. Great work!
Dang good comment right here - the imposition of a value duality on everything is something that messes with my life and the lives of many others. It's so hard to keep nuanced perspective on things, and so tempting to abbreviate them to "sucks" and "rocks". It prevents true understanding of things and people. That's hellish right there.
I really related to your point about how too much time is truly the most terrible thing someone can experience. The movie “The Tale of Princess Kaguya” by ghibli really put that into perspective for me. What’s the point of living if your experiences aren’t mortal? Is infinite happiness really worth it when you’ll eventually do everything there is to do? It always freaks me out when people are trying their hardest to extend the natural human life (I’m talking like way past 100 years extended.) if people find the key to immortality, they will be the ones suffering simply because they are scared of the unknown. Humans are always trying to figure out the unknown but death is just an occurrence we will all have to deal with at one point. Living life day by day and doing what makes you happy is enough in my opinion. There are supposed to be ups and downs, and there are definitely supposed to be unknowns.
30:45 the saying about the little bird and the mountain is a quote from a Brothers Grimm tale, the Shepherd Boy. it's also similar to the imagining of 52!, the number of ways a deck of cards can be shuffled, by Scott Czepiel: "Start a timer that will count down the number of seconds from 52! to 0. We're going to see how much fun we can have before the timer counts down all the way. Start by picking your favorite spot on the equator. You're going to walk around the world along the equator, but take a very leisurely pace of one step every billion years. The equatorial circumference of the Earth is 40,075,017 meters. Make sure to pack a deck of playing cards, so you can get in a few trillion hands of solitaire between steps. After you complete your round the world trip, remove one drop of water from the Pacific Ocean. Now do the same thing again: walk around the world at one billion years per step, removing one drop of water from the Pacific Ocean each time you circle the globe. The Pacific Ocean contains 707.6 million cubic kilometers of water. Continue until the ocean is empty. When it is, take one sheet of paper and place it flat on the ground. Now, fill the ocean back up and start the entire process all over again, adding a sheet of paper to the stack each time you've emptied the ocean. Do this until the stack of paper reaches from the Earth to the Sun. Take a glance at the timer, you will see that the three left-most digits haven't even changed. You still have 8.063e67 more seconds to go. 1 Astronomical Unit, the distance from the Earth to the Sun, is defined as 149,597,870.691 kilometers. So, take the stack of papers down and do it all over again. One thousand times more. Unfortunately, that still won't do it. There are still more than 5.385e67 seconds remaining. You're just about a third of the way done. To pass the remaining time, start shuffling your deck of cards. Every billion years deal yourself a 5-card poker hand. Each time you get a royal flush, buy yourself a lottery ticket. A royal flush occurs in one out of every 649,740 hands. If that ticket wins the jackpot, throw a grain of sand into the Grand Canyon. Keep going and when you've filled up the canyon with sand, remove one ounce of rock from Mt. Everest. Now empty the canyon and start all over again. When you've leveled Mt. Everest, look at the timer, you still have 5.364e67 seconds remaining. Mt. Everest weighs about 357 trillion pounds. You barely made a dent. If you were to repeat this 255 times, you would still be looking at 3.024e64 seconds. The timer would finally reach zero sometime during your 256th attempt."
That bit in Apocalypse of Peter about the damned no longer suffering "On the day of Christ's resurrection" might be referring to the final resurrection of the dead mentioned in the gospels, several of Paul's letters, and finally in Revelation at the very end of the canonical scriptures. This would essentially be a form of universal reconciliation in which hell is temporary and punitive rather than eternal and vindictive. Though, a difficulty of that interpretation would be that Revelation itself portrays sinners at the very end of the world, just before the resurrection, entering into eternal hellfire. Still fascinating as a concept though. Also those whole "I went to hell for a couple minutes and it was crAAAaaAaAaZyyy!!!" stories are directly contradicted by Christ himself telling the parable of Lazarus, in which the rich man asks God to send back his warning to his brothers so they don't have to go to hell, and God says that if they didn't believe the prophets or Christ himself, they wouldn't believe an emissary from the dead either. Why so many christians insist on contradicting their own scripture in a very cheap attempt at evangelism, I will never quite understand.
Thank you for bringing more attention to SOMA, I found that it mysteriously installed itself on my PS4 one night and though it didn't seem like a game I would've given the chance, it quickly pulled me into those thought experiments and left me thinking about it for weeks. It easily became one of my favorite psychologically intriguing pieces of media and it kills me that it's almost completely unheard of.
@aperturechromakey72 I brought my PS4 to my friends house in like 2018-2019 and when we booted it up the first thing on the dash was SOMA which creeped us out considering the logo. That's the only time something like that has happened. My guess is it was a promotion for Playstation Now at the time
Pascal's wager is such a "gotcha" thing that completely fails to address what happens if you worship the wrong god for example, or worship a god that hates being worshiped.
That's not Pascal's point. He is not addressing an individual who is examining all religious paths. He is addressing someone contemplating Christianity or Atheism. If you are caught between Christianity and Atheism, and you believe the evidence on both sides to be compelling, the obvious choice is to take a risk and go with the Christian element. If you are examining Islam, Christianity, Atheism, Hinduism, ect. Pascal's Wager does not apply to you because he did not intend it to be used in that circumstance.
@@Benjamin-ey9jg but it's used as a religious gotcha when it's a false dichotomy. You basically need to already believei n christ to come to the question of christianity vs atheism while ignoring everything else.
The opposite of love is not caring at all. There's a saying that hate is one step away from love, and that's because even if you hate someone,you still feel something about the object of your hatred. Not caring for them absolutely is worse.
One of my favourite depictions of a katabasis is in The House That Jack Built. I think its the first time I've seen a descent into hell without feeling any remorse for the damned individual.
Really glad that you touched on loss aversion, The Jaunt, I Have No Mouth and SOMA when covering eternity. Its a terrifying concept that I wasn't expecting you to cover for this vid
This video was absolutely incredible. I just can’t believe the calibre of the content you create. Thank you so much for putting so much effort into your videos man. Brilliantly-edited, smart dialogue & segues, awesome narration. And such a cool concept!!
The first 100 people to use code SOLAR at the link below will get 60% off of Incogni: incogni.com/SOLAR
Im going to watch this later but first I have to read the divine comedy
ayo I got to be the first person to set the sponsor block segments
Im too poor, but if i had the money, i would buy a white goat.
@@LoafAround Much appreciated, it makes me sad seeing SolarSands advertise something they clearly hate.
Solar sands have you done dmt? Do you plan to in the future. I heard the experience is almost unexplainable
The real journey to hell is the friends we made along the way
So true
"Jean Paul Sartre said hell was being locked forever in a room with your friends." "Holly, all his mates were French." - Red Dwarf
“Hell is Other People” is the best short story I’ve ever read.
The real Hell was the "Friends" we've made along the way
Quoted and recorded
man i just love how solar sands went from reviewing sans feet fetish deviantart fanart to talk about the human mind, philosophy and existentialism
It's kind of a pipeline actually speaking from personal experience.
Add Droid rights to the list.
Wh-
What?
Lmao what?
@@OnTheBackOfBullets lol i see you havent seen his old videos, i found his channel during that era and it was wild
@@gifnut2242 and ___ in a nutshell series, those are masterpieces
Your videos never disappoint. Even when planting the seeds for some nightmares
woah person with checkmark
omg person with checkmark? what are you doing here! you’re not supposed to be browsing the tube like one of us unmarked peasants!
@@iCookCrystalMethyou guys are so cringe wth
@@cagliari5984 yo never speak to me again
@@cagliari5984 im like 90% sure they werent serious and were mocking people who freak out over checkmarks (and ngl those people do deserve to be mocked)
I love the fact that every hell is a warning from the people who imagined it,and show the fears of these people in the eras they were alive.
Even Solar Sands hell is a warning about the technology,sadism and apathy of the contemporary/modern man.
what an interesting point. i didn't even realize this
WOW
Are you the ice pick that keeled Trotsky or just the same profile pic?
delirium tremens, if not actual hell, seemed close enough..
Hahaha... Yeah! 😅
To me it shows something about our obsession with punishment that we continue to be obsessed with the hell part of Dante's work but no one really talks about the other two parts where he climbs the mountain and travels through space to get to heaven.
what if hell is the pre designated destination for humans the entire time
Also how medieval Christians focused so heavily on the imagery in Revelations and non-canonical apocrypha like Apocalypse of Paul instead of looking at what Jesus actually said about "hell". The eternal fire of hell is not a literal torture chamber, in the same way that the paradise of heaven is not an endless festivity of earthly pleasures. The afterlife is not of this world, and neither would the experiences of pleasure and pain therein be, so anything we can imagine or guess about it would be incorrect. All Jesus let's us know is that heaven is being one with God, and hell is being apart from him, and what that can mean to us as mortal beings is up for interpretation.
Yes , because heaven is boring.
There is one advantage Inferno has and two big problems with Purgatory and Paradise:
First, Inferno created the popular image of Hell. The Bible itself is more or less ambiguous, with vague references to suffering and lakes of fire but the details are sparse. Even stuff like "demons torture you" isn't Biblical canon, there's an argument to be made that Demons just want you to join them in their suffering and that's why they tempt people. Crabs in a bucket. But Dante's Inferno plus Paradise Lost paint an image of Hell being run by demons, and that sort of ended up the layman Christian's preference. It's a lot easier to imagine the same people that tempt you being the ones that torture, I guess, and all the ironic torments help the preachers paint a nasty image of the place.
Second, Purgatory is pretty much Catholic only. Protestants don't believe in it, so you're cutting away any relevance to that audience.
Third, Paradise is very... let's just say 'abstract'. It really deals more with trying to find a place for God and Divinity within the emerging picture of astronomy that was developing in the Renessiance. The stars were no longer holes in the firmament, as traditional Judeo-Christian lore would describe it - but rather objects. Objects that you could go to, visit. It wasn't necessarily 'sci fi', but it was dealing with science. And as astronomy moved further on and so did religion's conception of God's place in the wider Universe, the stars lost their connection with divinity and thus Paradise loses any relevance and just becomes really weird.
So I don't think an obsession with punishment is what elevates Inferno above the rest. It just really stood the test of time.
dante only wrote that much about it
This video reeeaally makes me think of "The Good Place".
The entire show is set in the afterlife, and (among other things) tackles the idea that there is no ill deed performed on this earth that could possibly equate to an ETERNITY of torture. And on the flip side it shows that an eternity of "heaven" is also flawed. It's really interesting how in the end, they found a way to avoid the problems that infinity creates (by avoiding infinity altogether).
(I don't want to go into too much detail (because spoilers) but give it a watch if you like a good laugh, philosophy and a finale that will probably make you cry).
His Devintart stuff really prepared him for this one.
Thanks for letting me help out with some of the animations on this one, Solar!
If his first name is solar does that make his formal name Mr. Sandman?
@@minerscaleno, why would it
Thank you for helping to make this video!
which ones did you do
@@pepsimanbooster
Blinding light tentacle arms - 35m & 01s (I don't think youtube is letting me post a comment if it includes actual timestamps)
flowing red infinity symbol - 52m & 17s
the tunnel of love - 25m & 10s
spiky ocean of blood - 35m & 11s
screaming head - 56m & 30s
I'm not sure if the animator Cyriak was the first person ever to create an animation with the mouth over the face like in the screaming head animation but he did it at least 15 years before me.
The guy at 25:00 who wrote the book "23 Minutes in Hell" was definitely experiencing a bad case of sleep paralysis. When I was suffering from opiate and benzodiazepine withdrawal I experienced something very similar multiple times. It happened so often that I would keep myself awake at all costs, I didn't sleep for almost 4 days. Sleep paralysis really does feel real and you really do feel like you are being physically injured by demonic beings. I'm not a religious person but if I was I would definitely see sleep paralysis as some sort of test or trial sent to me by god. It's crazy what our brains can make us perceive as reality.
so real
I hear that
I've had realllly bad sleep paralysis dreams before, I'm sure they believe it really happened.
"It's crazy what our brains can make us perceive as reality."
Yet all we know of reality is what our brains make us perceive.
As a schizophrenic, I had my own journey to hell as the illness took grip. I was drawing to cope with losing my mind. I had no idea what was happening to me.
I'm not a trained artist and had never really drawn before that event. I thought I would never share those drawings but my psychologist thought it would be good for me.
If anyone is curious I hade a sideshow of them here on UA-cam. I never inform people about it as I see how scummy it is but it felt relevant.
I'd love to look, I had a similar experience. I thankfully did not literally see hell 😭but instead met different demons, gods and monsters.
I did some drawings too, some portraits of them and other stuff I saw and heard.
Carl Jung documented his interactions with what he called the spirit of the depths in The Red Book. Lots of mystical drawing and journaling.
@@bigmeatswangin5837 its interesting but I honestly hate reading about it and watching movies about it these days
I'm not a psychologist, but it doesn't sound scummy to find an outlet for feelings that are difficult or impossible to describe, through art. I believe art is probably the best way for people to understand feelings that we've never experienced. If you're comfortable with it, I'd love to see the slideshow.
Thank you all for your comments. I appreciate it.
People don't understand what a masterpiece the divine comedy is. When Virgil said "NOW I'M A LITTLE MOTIVATED" it brought me to tears
haven't read but that's truly a gut-wrenching sentence given the context . I imagine dante's visit was the only interesting thing that ever happened to him in his eternity in limbo...
After hearing those words may I dare say that even the Devil may cry
Satire will always be usurped by those you aim to take down. Ask the wachowskis.
It's inferning time
@@janedoe3043what?
Hey solar sands I know it’s pretty late to be commenting on what I know now is an old video, but videos like these are what have fueled my passion for historical art and have genuinely pushed me towards what I want my career to be. The way you talk in these videos and explain concepts draws me in better than any other commentator. You have a way with words that make watching your videos a relaxing and informative experience every single time no matter what the topic is. You are my favorite channel on UA-cam and I am inspired by you all the time. Please don’t ever stop making these video essays, because no one else does what you do.
I don't think Over the Garden Wall is a _retelling_ of Dante's Inferno; but it is most certainly at least heavily inspired by it, and at most, an allegory _for_ it.
I think it represents limbo
The cool thing is, allegory is the main rhetorical figure in the Divine comedy; basically every character, place and animal stands as an allegory
I really don't like the comparison at all. It's absurd. There's nothing similar about the stories, characters, themes, or literally anything at all. It's such a reach. OTGW is about a metaphorical purgatory at most, and an adventure inside it, not a polite guided tour of hell and related realms.
The stories it more directly parallels are others with the child lost in wonderland trope. If you were to say it's a retelling of any story you'd have to pick from Wonderland, Oz, Narnia, and more before even considering Dante's hell.
@@bluetaffy2785 There are actually a lot of parallels between it and Dante's Inferno.
@@purplehaze2358 That's parallels. There's a huge huuuge leap from "has many parallels" to being a retelling or even being roughly based on it. And both have parallels to other stories about people traveling to the underworld. And OTGW has parallels to Narnia, possibly more so than it does to Inferno. It's just so far off the scope from being a retelling of any of these.
After hearing that Dante wrote something where people he hated suffered in hell I can imagine someone hearing that and going “Oh sure, When Dante writes something where people he hates suffer it’s considered peak literature but when I write something where people I hate suffer, people think there’s something wrong with me.
"And when I depict my enemies as a soyjack, and myself as a chad, people think I'm cringe"
It was also a self-insert fanfic of the Apocalypse of Peter. Also, on a related note, Shakespeare constantly made up new words to rhyme and tried to appeal to the lower classes, like if Dr. Seuss became a rapper.
Because the rest of the Divine Comedy is groundbreaking
Yeah, that makes sense. I realised later it would be because of all the other stuff in it that isn't just suffering.@@Redspark77
@Placeholder501 you are right. i know Inferno is the most famous one but it is the most edgy, political hit piece of the three ans therefore the worst
Never take the glasses off. Wear them when you walk your daughter down the aisle.
You know Dante’s Divine Comedy was a revolutionary book when people still talk about it 800 years later.
This comment reads like an AI, there's no thought put onto it, it's so... empty. It's true, but it's the worst kind of true.
@@x-x its just a banal comment, dont be weird
@@x-xThis is the evolved version of "Still watching this in 2023 😂😂😂" Good old YT banality
@@x-x99% of youtube comments are banal, there are many millions of “great video, keep it up👍” you don’t see
are you living in the 22nd century
As someone who has followed you for 7 or more years, you've grown into a phenomenal analyst and I think this piece has outdone them all to date. Wonderful work
One time, my christian ex told me that because I'm bisexual I'll be going to hell. Looking back on it, after watching this video, I don't think he realized the weight and magnitude of what he said in full. I'm not religious at all, but just the thought of someone I considered a lover wishing me an eternity of torture...it sends chills down my spine; and saddens me that human minds are so easily in favor of extreme punishment over things that don't matter...
I feel this. I just hope that this isn't true. I'm an atheist now, but I've been mentally abused alot by my family because of religion.
was he wishing it on you?
That's not a person that has a real connection with God and as someone who keeps Jesus Christ in my heart I'm so sorry you even have to have that memory.
My parents told me I'm an abomination and it took me a long time to get that self hatred out of my heart.
Bless
This may not be helpful, but most of the time Christians say that because they truly believe it because they were taught it from childhood. It isn't what they want, but they're told not to question the authority of God, and are told to preach against sin to save people.
It's really crazy to me because thats just not even true from a religious perspective
He will never stop impressing me, in a playful way he talks about the most intelligent and interesting subjects
It was fun working on this project!
Oh look it's The Kino Corner. I love your series on Literally Me movies.
Nothing has resonated with me this much about my feelings around hell. It's something that has taken up so much space in my mind and in my life, not only in a religious sense, but in other manifestations of eternity as well, like the possibility of technologically storing consciousness. I grew up in a very catholic home, and as I got older and learned more of the moral rules of Catholicism, and actually began to consider hell as a place I could end up, it took over my life. As a child I didn't fear hell as much mainly because it was so absurd and I thought only truly evil people could go there. But something as simple as skipping church on Sunday can send you to hell in Catholicism, and i started to take things like that more seriously. I have OCD, which I didn't know at the time. So I began to take the smallest things, that could potentially cause someone to sin, as a possibility that I had committed a mortal sin. And then I would go to confession, but i started having intrusive thoughts about forgetting how i had been thinking at the time. Was I culpable for things from years before, and was just in denial? It started to feel like heaven was unattainable. But I didn't even want heaven. I just wanted to not go to hell. I spent so much of my teenage years just hurting and worrying and repenting because everyone told me I could be subjected to eternal torture. That's what made me start to think God wasn't real. How could you make me and put me here, with such unclear instructions, and if I get it wrong, I go to hell? So after a while i looked into enough atheist arguments that i started to just let go of religion completely. It was so freeing. I was allowed to just be human. not for long though! About a year after that my OCD latched on to more past events and I started to obsess over new things. It was still a form of scrupulosity but now instead of eternity in hell, it was eternity in how people would think of me. What if things i said were twisted or taken out of context. what if i did something awful to someone and they ended their life because of me? What if i had a horrible thought that meant i was a horrible person. And what if my consciousness, or even just my memories, were obtained through technology someday? i felt like all my worst fears could come true in some unimagineable way through the wires of my computer. It felt like i made a new god after i got rid of the old one. And this one was right in front of me, growing, learning, every day. eventually i had to accept the possibility and move on with my life, because it was tearing me apart. but what you said about hell existing as long as humans want to torture people, is so true. We created so many religious hells, and we create hell in so many other ways, as a punishment for others, or for ourselves. no one deserves it.
I read your story. I can relate to the compulsive thoughts. I found my freedom in Christ. Realized that we all deserve hell for we’ve all sinned against an infinitely holy God (just one sin was enough put his son on the cross) can be scary to think. Jesus gave us freedom when he died on the cross. I no longer have to worry about my sin because he bore it all for me. I will never not sin as long as I am human. Interesting you mentioned even after leaving religion you still found a way to create some type of god in your life. We all do bc that’s just how God wired us. Thing is, you will never find any satisfaction with any “god” apart from Jesus. If you want to know if he’s real ask him sincerely and he will answer. Seek him and you will find him. We all need our own relationship with him. I confidently suggest this because Jesus is actually the only true and living God. This was long. I wanted to respond because you’re comment is genuine. Take from this what you will.
@@beeninthisfandomlongerthan9500 My only gripe with what you wrote is why should I follow a religion to just thank Jesus. Jesus exists, so I have to church at Sundays like what? Even if you're that thankful to Jesus, you could be thankful to someone without joining a fandom for it. A fandom that sometimes doesn't even agree with Jesus' message, "to love above all".
@@xaf15001 I did not say to follow any religion. “Religion” is not what I was getting at.
Im really glad that people are still talking about SOMA. The story of that game honestly has hung over me and never left my mind. The horror is so complex and deep, its honestly like nothing else I've seen, and I truly hope its never forgotten for it.
me when Joseph Anderson
SOMA was one of the few games that really stick to you. The sheer unimaginability of the scenario just makes for a terrifying dive into the nature of human consciousness.
@@Josuh "soMa's nOt a hoRroR gaMe, iT isNt scaRy"
MauLer is rolling in his hibernation
Yeah, I'd say Soma is sort of like the Matrix in that it became many people's introduction to philosophical concepts that had already existed for years or centuries. I think it was the first piece of media I saw that highlighted how teleportation or transferring your mind to another body is just carefully timed suicide alongside the creation of a copy of your memories. Even the illusion of continuity of consciousness goes right out the window when you mind isn't in your original brain.
56:50 "Thank God the universe will end" may be one of my favourite quotes ever considering all the context. Absolutely incredible work, you've made me cry and I'm not even entirely sure why
The unknown is terrifying
Knowing this is all there is, is infinitely moreso.
infinity is hell itself. heaven nor hell. we are meant to suffer
A human is an experiment of Life to explore design space. Life explores design space looking for ways to do replication across more space and more time. To embody replication.
It is the responsibility of Anything to try out the design that it is, in service to this.
then why we need countless years to explore it ?
Jesus Christ loves you and died for your sins 🤎🤍
"it makes me emotional every time I talk about it" he says looking as if he's never been more bored in his life
I'm more emotional when my browser takes a few extra seconds than usual to load a website
I'm pretty sure he's neurodivgent due to his monotone voice and his struggles with friendship it makes sense he can't express himself as one would expect
@@thebookwormhotel5336 there's that and a complete lack of any sign of genuine human fear on display here
Solar Sands finally talking about how it feels to use Twitter.
I hope you know what he’s doing on there right now, still after like two days of being dunked on
@@connor48880 went onto that dumpster fire of a website just to see what you were talking about, now i think Solar Sands is even more based
Every website is awful in there own ways, either it be the community's fault or the people who run its fault.
@@connor48880what did he do this time
@@bleccoded He stated his opinion on fetishes, fetish art, and all forms of sexuality (that being that they are varying levels of immoral) and re-stated that he is anti-natalist.
From what I have read, his opinion seems to be that actions that cause harm to others (such as directly harming someone or bringing another person into existence, which inevitably allows them to be harmed) and yourself (giving in to impulses, etc.) are immoral.
I do not speak for him and recommend looking at what he directly wrote and responded to.
"Spoiler warning for Dante's Inferno"
I love this channel.
i am moved and this has altered my mind permanently. thank you for this experience, you are incredibly talented and admirable.
In 5 or 6 videos this man has re invented his entire career and I love it
For like the second time lol. I love this guy
Genuinely what do you mean by that I don’t get it he’s made stuff like this for years
How so?
@@bolicob I’m thinking it’s cause he started roasting deviant art post then started making broader art videos and now just doesn’t whatever he wants idk but commenters give too much credit these days like the millions of “can we just appreciate.. so and so” type comments you see lately
@@goatpepperherbaltea7895yeah but he’s been making these kinds videos for years now
Spoiler warning for dantes inferno is wild, like dude its been 500 years, read it already
Its a tough book honestly 💀✋ quite dense. The free audiobook was such a life saver.
Or...OR....watch Wendigoon's reading/explaning the book lol
@@Beta_Mixeswendigoon is fucking awful lmao
@@Beta_Mixesnah read the book
No need, I already played DMC
Having been raised Catholic as a kid, Hell is one of the most fascinating topics to me and I eat up any piece of fiction that portrays it in a semi-serious way. Thanks for covering this from a literal, fire and brimstone approach.
I was raised Atheist. The movie "Event Horizon" got me fascinated in the concept of hell.
Calling it fictional does make it so.repent
"Hell is fictional!" I just obliterated an infinite amount of suffering. I'm a nice guy like that.@@newtonmutea
@@NextLineIsMine You're an absolute hero.
@@NextLineIsMine Thank you for your service
My primary reason to not believe those “I’ve been to hell” type people is that if they really did experience the level of suffering hell is depicted to have for even a SECOND, They’d be smearing their blood and shit all over the walls of whatever asylum they’d be locked up in….
@@SonicXisCanon if you got anything from the video, than the level of punishment doesn't really matter. the fact that it goes on for eternity is the worst aspect of hell.
There's no torture that would universally result in that for anyone after only a second. Real torture takes time. It can take hours or days to break someone. Hell isn't normally depicted as fantastically as you imply here; the tortures are usually medieval and somewhat mundane.
Someone could probably spend a few months there before reaching the point you're describing here but they're more likely to become catatonic than spread blood all over the walls. The human soul just doesn't work the way you're implying here.
@@heartycoffee4754an unexplored idea is that the human mind can cope with most conditions over time. Even in an eternity I would think that for the lesser punishments you would adapt (unless adaptation is turned off somehow). After a few years it would be normal to you, similar to how people can survive horrific situations in life by adapting and coping.
@@kotzpennerI mean considering most of us won't even be 100 years old just living 1000 alone seems crazy, and almost nothing compared to eternity, pretty sure you'd go numb or braindead at some point
@@Josuh yeah the threat of being alone forever is far worse than most punishments described
The scene shown at 47:56 from SOMA is one of my favorite moments in a game ever, maybe in any media ever. It left me completely stunned for at least a couple minutes while I grappled with the indescribable existential horror of being *that.* Even though the revelation of the player character's nature comes earlier in the game, this transcendentally disturbing moment of recognition when you finally look yourself in the mirror is almost unmatched, in my books.
Fantastic documentary, as someone who has just unwillingly stumbled across this channel, I feel as if though you have a vast understanding of religion (and that's coming from someone who is) You really seem to have grasped the concepts of both afterlife's (Heaven and Hell) interpreting a message from writers, other experiences, books, and even god his self, you do what most creators are afraid to do, and you have my utmost respect, this was a very well put together video, thank you, this doc didn't waste my time, it gave me a purpose on how I could better subject it.
Thank you, Solar sands
It's a shame we live in a world you need to put an ad in this piece of art just to pay the bills. I am grateful to be able to watch this for free. Astounding work, top to bottom
Always has been the case, "content" has never been free.
On the flipside how much would you have paid to watch this video?
@@MungoThorne it's almost as long as a movie, so easily the price of a cinema ticket. But what I meant is that his work is so great that putting an ad on it is like a scratch on a diamond. There's not much to do about it though, it isn't like someone is gonna pay him to do make adfree, nor the patreons are gonna be enough (I guess)
@@ano_nym neither i claim it should be. It's just sad that yt wont monetize him and his patreons aren't enough (i guess)
Are you a demon worshiper
i love bosch’s “garden of heavenly delights”, how seemingly satirical it almost is, because our pleasure equates to pain and punishment, according to the triptych and outer globe painting.
also really enjoyed dante’s “inferno”, me and a friend read it in high school physically and it was so fun and freeing from the mundane routine of schooling.
Great observation. Suffering and pleasure are two sides of a spinning coin that never lands.
the worst hell is being forced to watch every 15 sec unskippable ad.
This video is definitely a top contender for most severe existential crisis
I thought for sure you'd mention the idea of using drugs that lengthen perception of time so prisoners could serve sentences longer than normal human lifespan. If that's not a man-made hell, I don't know what is
That’s one that *really* fucked with me, especially after I read King’s “The Jaunt.”
The idea that something like that could actually exist in reality chills me to my core.
Wasn't there a black mirror episode about this concept?
i'm more concerned with simulating consciousness or full dive vr. if we ever get to that level of advancement it will truly be hell
think there was a star trek episode where a guy commits a crime on an alien planet and they stick him in a simulation to serve out a very long sentence in hours, horrifying thought
I'm pretty sure at a certain point you'd develop a tolerance to the drug. They'd have to exponentially increase the dosage, at some point the high dose would just kill you.
That was EXACTLY my thoughts on infinite punishment. it's not fair, even for the worst of people.
"I went to hell. What I saw was indescribable" Okay, HP Lovecraft.
I have a theory that Lovecraft was just bad at writing descriptions
I feel like solar sands has gotten more and more philosophical
Yeah the kind of content that is like a compendium but with unique content that we’ve never heard of.
should’ve seen him on Twitter the other day LOL
His videos started getting better when he veered away from picking on deviantart artists lol
Indeed
Solar scripture
In 3 days it's this videos 1 Year anniversary
Luckily, people tend to forget that memory is based on physical processes. Live long enough, and you’ll literally stop remembering entirely the experience of living long enough ago. And that’s great!
You just made me imagine a heaven that is watching your all-time favorite movie for the first time, having your memory wiped, and then watching it again endlessly.
The act of forgetting, erasure of memory, is the only antidote to the inevitable suffering of any form of experienced eternity.
@@NextLineIsMineWhich ironically would mean Heaven is eternal dying, not eternal life
@@xaf15001 as long as the dying doesn't hurt, it doesn't sound that bad ngl
Yup, that's the Alzheimer's joke - you can watch the same favorite movie forever... unfortunately here on Earth one suffers greatly because you can't remember who people are, how the things around you function, etc. That's close enough to hell for me...
I feel like that would be part of torment of hell, to be there so long that suffering is all you know and remember, with only a passing sense of nostalgia to remind you of the world above
Depictions of Hell are one of my favorite things when it comes to art
Is that what you call your selfies
@@KennysstanWhat?
Same
@@brandonandujar2289cope harder bro
Then you will love the video "I asked an AI to Show me hell" by Qxir.
Is there a hell?
tech bro: "not yet."
In Part III, the chilling finale of that Black Mirror episode played on a loop in my mind, where the protagonist’s digital twin was condemned to an eternity in the simulated universe, experiencing a thousand years in just a mere second of our time, while the creators casually departed for their Christmas holiday. This moment was a profound exhibition of cruelty, a mind-twisting scene that has etched itself into the fabric of my memory as the most impactful of the entire series.
Same. It was the most terrifying fate of any character in Black Mirror, and it awakened an existential fear in me.
I only watched the first episode, so the shit people describe from this show always feels so incongruent with what I've actually seen lol. This is some horrors beyond human comprehension and yet the show chose to lead with... whatever that first episode was.
yeah that concept is so horrifying. a minute of your time while others suffer millions of years. scary shit.
@@plebisMaximus as someone who has never seen the first episode but watched almost everything else, you might've done it wrong, lol
@@plebisMaximusvery first episode with the pig sex scene is NOT reflective of what the show is. It’s anthological so each episode is independent of the next and some are WAY better than others is the truth. Black mirror is actually not a good show. It has REALLY good episodes and then some that even I don’t remember lol
one of my favorite tellings of what hell could be is from the short story “a short stay in hell.” the thought of being stuck in an infinitely growing library, filled with the stories of all of those who have lived, is so unique. it really drives in the idea that hell is personal, it is what we sculpt ourselves. another thing that really adds on to the “time” aspect of hell is the game everhood. although it takes place in a heaven-like world, the characters are all mad and in pain, as they are all immortal.
came here to comment about that story. The way it makes you understand a fraction of what an eternity might feel like has never left me
I take issue with the video's wager. You either win, infinitely lose, or cease to exist. But wouldn't heaven be "infinitely win"? You'll experience joy and heaven for an infinite amount of time. He completely ignores that aspect. So if the odds really are akin to picking a single atom in the universe (10 to the power of 80), I'd probably take that bet. I'd need to know more information about heaven and hell, but I think I would do it. The odds of someone picking the atom that sends them to hell are so ridiculously small, they're essentially/effectively zero.
@@Zidbits Look at how the universe operates even outside our insignificant dot of a planet. There is existence and destruction. "Pleasure" is a rare phenomenon while suffering is infinite. Hell is everywhere you look, it's Heaven that's winning the lottery. My bet is on everyone going to Hell with the exception of a tiny few chosen at random. The monk who spent his whole life meditating and working for the betterment of the poor has the same chances as Hitler of getting there. What you do in life doesn't matter in the slightest.
I very rarely comment on anything I run into on YT, but I feel your work here deserves recognition. Although by its very nature infinity is too difficult for most minds to fully comprehend, your linear progression from the human infancy of absolutes with all its gratuitous focus to the halls of higher learning and scientific rationale that don't even mention fire or spikes or anything, you arrive at Zappas Crux of the Biscuit. No it's not the apostrophe, it's time. And your dispationate delivery and measured pace all contribute to the strength of your effort. Fantastic.
I'd only add that I believe these shells we move around in and live and die in no way allow us to properly conceive infinity in any way near what, when the lights go out, we all, the good, the bad, and the ugly, have that face palming aha moment and exclaim Ohhh!
...and then you'll have a tiny aw crap moment when you look back in embarrassed frustration on the time you spent fearing he'll, or anything else for that matter.
So thank you for this great video. Nicely done.
Here's another one to think about:
How much worse is the most moral person in hell than the least moral person in heaven?
oh... interesting question. maybe depens who you sent up and down.
If a Hell or Heaven is individualized in some way -- how much *better* is the most moral person in Hell than the least moral person in Heaven? Because maybe it's better to do the wrong thing for the right reason than the right thing for the wrong reason?
Not exactly what you're looking for but the Bible has the story of Saul and David. Saul was chosen to be king as the best of the worst and after his first fuck up God chooses David who is the worst of the best to work under Saul as the secret true king.
Long story short Saul goes off the deep end and does everything wrong. David later usurps him and after being rewarded he slowly falls as well. David tries getting his most loyal soldier killed while he bangs his wife. I forget how David died but I know he was also punished.
I don’t believe the qualification of whether or not you go to heaven or hell is a measure of morality. Just that people that go to heaven tend to be more moral than those who go to hell.
as a kid i never really understood the idea of hell, the idea that you could experience infinite suffering for a finite crime seemed so odd to me , it seemed almost unfair
It is technically unfair, but so many things in life are. Like people who spend their entire lives suffering hardship and poverty despite never having harmed another person, because the main factor that led to that was being born to poor parents.
In the Orthodox Christian understanding, Christ decended into Hades, broke down the gates, crushed Satan and brought all the righteous with him to heaven, preachng the Gospel to the dead. Hell is experiencing God's love but hating it, because, the person had hated the love of God during their life. Whereas Heaven is experience God's love and being energised and embrasing Him as you have in this life. God is present everywhere and fills all things in his energies, he's compared to a "consuming fire". Thus, when we die, we are in his presence and experience His unfiltered, unhindered love which consumes and hurts us if we hate Him like fire. Or energise us and indwell us if we've communed and loved Him during our life like metal that glows orange in contact with fire.
For now though, all souls who've rejected God or not known him are in hades, they can be brought to the kingdom of heaven by praying for them, if they heed to the prayers and are willing to have communion with Him. This is all possible until the final judgement of Christ.
C.S Lewis - "Great Divorce" is close to the Orthodox view where there's a bunch of people taken in a bus to Heaven and Hell. When they go to Heaven, the wicked experience it as Hell, because they hate the beauty and the sound and the goodness. It's not the lake of fire, to them the Good becomes evil, the grass becomes shards of glass to them, because it's too beautiful and they hate it. Christ's "Harrowing of Hades" is the restoration of our nature and that's why everyone is ressurected on the basis of Christ, even the wicked. It doesn't mean everyone is saved though, because it depends on everyone's own mode of willing and use of the Human nature they've been given, if it's missused by vice and the virtues aren't recapitulated, they'll have an experience of ever ill-will, rather than ever-goodwill. The experience isn't a sort of "burning lake", but God Himself because the wicked hate God, so what torments them is the presence of God. Those who die without knowing God are told the Gospel, about the Kingdom of Heaven in hades when they die.
No amount of pain we can inflict in our short lives could ever justify that sort of thing, just as i think the concept of eternal happiness to be dumb, i think the same with eternal suffering. If you feel one thing for long enough, it starts to mean absolutley nothing. Eternal contempt, and peace seems much more logical. you cant feel bad without good, and you cant feel good without bad. Granted, i am Hindu so the idea of life death and brahma has influence on my view of the linearity of the concepts of heaven and hell but i still think that the way its viewed is flawed
@@YvngKrishna What alternative would you provide?
@@YvngKrishnaI mostly agree with you, except for pain/suffering. Sure, you can kind of distract yourself or try to mentally leave your body, whatever, but the experience of pain KEEPS being painful, because pain is often trying to alert you to fixing something (in the physical sense).
I don't know, to me, pain doesn't get easier to cope with just because you're used to it. Growing up in one of those "house of horrors" situations with an abusive hoarder, I can say that pain can be normalized but I don't think you can get used to it, if that makes sense.
I just have to say I really appreciate the level of reality you bring to your videos. The topics aren't UA-cam monetization friendly, let alone safe in general. They're dangerous topics that most people are scared to think about. It's artistic and I really respect that.
a thing that came to mind about hell being all pleasure and no real struggle etc was the show The Good Place, which explores this idea through comedy
As a student in Italy I used to hate the Divine Comedy (to be honest I used to hate anything related to school). Luckily I grew up to become a book worm, and in the last 4 decades my love for La Divina Commedia just grew stronger and stronger. I tend to read it (all of it) every couple of years. It's an absolutely stunning masterpiece, in my opinion the best work of poetry my country has ever produced, and one of the greatest literary works of art in human history.
Not an easy read, especially the Paradise, but it's totally worth every drop of brain sweat!
I also feel so lucky that I can read it in the original language, which is the most awesome thing because it also sounds unbelievably good.
love how all your videos are bangers now. You've come a long way from your early days, thanks for providing incredible video essays!
The way you weaved video games into this reminded me of a Jacob Geller video. This is such a good one man. Well done
Not only that, I'm pretty sure Jacob Geller has spoken about SOMA in one of his videos before, with a somewhat similar take. The theme and "moral", for lack of a better word, of this video just generally remind me of the kind of videos Jacob Geller makes.
Very much felt like a Jacob Geller video -- even to the point of ignoring obvious connections in other media in order to cram in more video games. Surprised he didn't mention the Black Mirror episode even once.
@@DX795Q which episode would that be? Demon 79?
@@petrikorWhite Christmas I think.
One more thing I'd like to say:
Being good is not about doing bad things to bad people. Being good is about preventing bad things from happening in the first place.
Not necessarily, though I understand the point you are making. I'm not that well educated on this subject, but here's my thought.
Good actions (or will) can have negative consequences. According to Kant, good will is justified by the action, itself, rather than the consequences. So, a good action can have a negative outcome and a bad action can have a positive outcome.
I think your perspective falls under consequentialism: "Being good is about preventing bad things from happening."
Consequentialism states that morality is only a matter of the consequences of the action. So, if you have a positive outcome, that means that your action was good. If you have a negative outcome, then your action was bad.
Ethics is quite interesting and fun! Lots of different perspectives and ideas spanning across the history of humanity.
@@kwaitefuni9152punishment treats a symptom, not the cause
But what about doing bad things to bad people in order to prevent them doing bad things in the future?
What a poignant statement that means literally nothing. "You don't punish bad people, you just stop the bad things from ever existing its just that easy bro. If you tried hard enough nobody could ever do crimes."
@@trustytrest The point of their statement, as I see it, is that "revenge" isn't good. That doing bad things isn't justified or by itself good if you do it to bad people.
You might have to do bad things do bad people sometimes, for example in order to prevent them from doing more bad things, or to act as a deterrant for bad things being done. But the good of these actions would not be just in the fact that you're punishing the bad people, but in the fact that you're preventing more bad things from happening.
“God’s Demon” by Wayne Barlowe has some really awesome illustrations by himself, which depict demons and other supernatural inhabitants of hell more like a cohesive world with its own biology, culture, and history. Barlowe was also the creature designer for projects like “James Cameron’s Avatar”, “Pacific Rim”, and “Hellboy 2004”
When I think of hell, I think of Made in Abyss. Children used for experiments, given immortal bodies capable of withstanding infinite punishment, and used as disposable shields that let a person temporarily ascend from hell by transferring ones own punishment onto someone else.
Having the bones and flesh stripped away, leaving only vital organs, feeding them lies to inspire loyalty and not only accept the horror but to crave it, all so they can be used as a way for a madman to avoid the torment he himself deserves.
The Abyss is cruel and unjust, torturing those unfortunate or foolish to have entered it, and it serves no purpose whatsoever except to embody the very idea of cruelty.
Bowdrewd is the Devil himself in the guise of man, and if there's any justification for the existence of the hateful reality of the Abyss, it's so THAT walking atrocity can eventually face his judgement within its depths.
Man this whole video I was thinking of that, trully one of the best portrayals of hells ever
The series reminds me of Annihilation, Mystery Flesh Pit, and Roadside Picnic/Stalker in terms of cosmic horror setting and its occupants' careers involving touring the unexplainable and suffering in the process.
I find the Abyss fascinating in its mysterious eerie beauty. The sunlight poured down by the forcefield that brings nutrition and warmth throughout most of its interior illuminates the very curse that same forcefield brings to its residents should they try to ascend ten meters. It's much like an Eldritch pitcher plant if it was a gaping mouth that's deeper than the Mariana Trench where the bottom is as of yet unseen- a man-eating hole that discourages its prey from leaving. Even the strains of ascension reminds me of decompression sickness. It has its own ecosystem filled with fantastical monsters and flora that the people on the surface try to both survive on economically and against for the sake of adventure and ancient relics. Delvers are hailed as martyrs by the locals, even when they're marching to their probable deaths. The greatest of their ranks are seen as less human and more monster, as one sacrifices at least some of their humanity the more one explores.
I really liked the display of art being in a black void. That one small touch makes it feel like a curated experience
40:00 the philosophy Peter Singer goes even further, not only the rich,but ordinary people are imoral.(as even ordinary people can help a little but chose not to, out of convenience) to him charity is not generosity but obligatory,in the same way you must no kill,or when someone is falling and you can save them by standing your arms.
And honestly i have no response that doesn't make me sound selfish or evil as hell lol.
He uses a brilliant analogy of a drowning child in front of you, but you’ll have to ruin your $100 shoes to prevent them from drowning. Probably 99% of people would save the child, but not saving it is essentially the same as not donating to charity.
This was one of the most thought provoking pieces of media I have ever watched. It's truly astonishing that UA-cam of all places houses this masterpiece of human creation
Another example similar to the jaunt is the long dream by junji ito, where a man’s dream grow progressively longer
In retrospect, this is his most grim video but also his best imo.
Ahh yes... the DMV. What a wonderful analogy.
Great content as always. Don't ever stop man. Your video essays are so damn intricate and so damn inticing. Perspectives open, and you kinda help me see alot of things from different views from all of your videos.
Cheers mate!
I find Solar's videos about horrific tortures and hellish punishments to be calming and relaxing while his videos about AI disturb and shake me to the core, and I can't tell if this says more about me or about our current society.
It might be because Ai is something that seems more real and is more likely to effect you
Both. Both is good.
(edit: neither ai nor torture are good things, im quoting a meme)
Are you a low tier artist or something? They are pretty much the only ones I have seen that upset about AI.
@@ano_nym AI probably steals more from "high tier artists" because of the quality of their work being desirable. Why wouldn't they be more bothered?
@@ConiferConnieTreeCow High tier artists still get jobs anyways.
Also, what AI does with art is no different than what humans do. Every artist takes inspiration from other artists, even if subconsciously. AI just does that more efficiently
when dante said “This party’s gettin crazyyy” that really moved me
As someone who's currently writing my own circles of hell, seeing this video in my notifications made me very happy.
How is it going?
And are you planning to publish it?
this was a perfect video for that he presents so much great hell material in this
@@incoerenza4331 Going pretty well, if slowly; and uh.. I plan to post the Google document online if that's what you're asking.
No way, I was just putting together my own underworld as well!
@@purplehaze2358 Cool. Can you give us any details?
I'm glad to hear your take. As a christian, I'm always baffled that so many people can be so blase about hell. If you believe in it, why wouldn't you be absolutely terrified of it? And how could you want anyone else to go there for eternity, even the worst of people?
I was never raised Christian, so I never understood why Christians were so hellbent (lol) on converting non-Christians. This comment gave me a new perspective, thank you.
That’s why we have to share the gospel brother.🤗
Now I'm going to theology school, and I'm wondering if Solar is holding his cards close on his own opinion: Hell *is* dumb. But also, everything we teach about it is arguably imagery to guide people. Solar read and even cited C.S. Lewis's *The Great Divorce* and that describes Hell as infinite self-inflicted isolation - it's not a punishment imposed, but a bad idea clung to by pride. This conception is no longer an infinite cruelty. So, from the Christian perspective, the despair is not so great, and I wonder if Sands doesn't feel the same way outside the context of this vid.
People just rely on Gods mercy which they hear so much about which is what angers me the most. They expect that a creator who they never cared about to save them at the last minute. It’s like one friend never caring about the other, never talking to them, never wondering about them, just never CARING, and then expecting to show them grace when they get into trouble. Why should that friend? Would we call a relationship like that with others healthy? Of course not. So why does the average person do this to God? They expect his mercy and love when they never even cared to ever think about him before. Hell is just a place where God isn’t. If you never cared about God in life, he’s not going to force to you be with him in death.
@@TheKnoxviciousBut isn't that his whole thing, that he died for our sins n everything? I'm not christian but as you said most people probably take heaven for granted so there's no need to worry about going to hell themselves I'd imagine
Real hell is people and circumstances. In that sense, we can all visit if we want to.
If your goal was to meet hitler, though, I got good news.
I highly recommend watching Wendigoons Series going through the Dantes inferno, purgatario and paradisio. It gives so much more context to alot of ideas in the Writings of Dante if anyone found the concepts here interesting
I know this is a serious video about religion and eternal torment, but I cracked a smile when Solar said "999,999 balls". I have the sense of humor of a 12 year old boy.
No u
Dont worry, me too
oh hi bob
This implies that there is a minimum of one person in this group with only one testicle
This is definitely something ObamaMpreg would say.
Having thought about it some more, Hell really is the perfect representation of mankind's wrath. When a human well and truly hates something, to the point of completely dehumanizing them, we want them not just to disappear, but to suffer. To suffer well and truly, either eternally or for so long that it may as well be eternal. We don't just want them to kowtow for any misgivings, we want them to be in complete unending misery for whatever they did to slight us. Anything from a personal offense to simply being part of a group we consider "bad". Absolutely no empathy for whatever they're going through, just a sadistic kind of antipathy.
Hell is the symbol of just how unforgiving and ruthless humans are, well and truly beyond any other creature's malice. A beast would simply want to maul you and kill you, and then you are no longer a problem. A human, being crueler than any heast, wants their enemy to agonize even past death, so that not even death is an escape to their torture.
Why are people this way? Is it because we have an inherent belief that "life is suffering", and we feel bitter that our slain enemies get to escape that suffering?
This comment is so underrated. There's no crueler creature to exist in this world than humans, themselves.
@@malakibaskerville2190 Not sure I agree, because you shouldn't confuse belief in hell with liking that hell exists. Most people believe in hell just because they were taught it, and don't like it, and don't understand why the punishments should be so harsh.
I thought this was just going to be an art analysis and critique of existing work but the way you brought that all together into the final thesis of "eternity is hell" was masterful.
about a third through the video and I had this thought about your content generally. I really appreciate that you're clear when speaking from the heart and a place of emotional resonance, and only try to justify it to the extent of arguing your perspective, rather than trying to argue that this perspective is somehow factual or on the "right side", and also without explicitly having to say "this is my opinion". it is such a relief to be able to listen to people's thoughts online and not feel attacked or challenged constantly, thank you
It always struck me odd that the punishment for genocide is eternal suffering in hell but so is adultery, lying etc.
The book "Johnny got his gun" from Dalton Trumbo, that inspired metallica's "One", is, to me, the most scary depiction of hell/torture I've ever read. It is like "I have no mouth, and I must screen" but much more terrifying for it's reality and for how well written it is. If you are in the mood to feel bad, it is a amazing and contemplative read. And if you read it, remember what was said at 51:34 "what makes hell , Hell, is time."
Man the story of the Dante brothers making their way to mundus to make the devil cry is one of my favourite stories
Ive had this video in my watch later playlist since it came out. Now that I finally have some time to watch and enjoy it fully, I just wanted to say how much I appreciate the work and thought you put into every video. Ive loved growing up and changing along with this channel. Keep up the amazing work!
This is one of the greatest videos out there, and it really touches some of the thoughts I had for a long time now. I used to be horrified of an idea of a afterlife. I didn't matter what afterlife, just the idea of existing forever even in the most pleasures conditions, is a scary one. To continue existing forever is the worst thing that could possibly happen to someone, if its even possible.
I grew up a bit since then. There are things that the human brain cannot understand, and this is one of them. If an afterlife is real maybe there's some things that will change the experience there or the comprehension of it. and there's no afterlife, I wouldn't even know. I also can't really change it so I don't worry about it, but... what if it is all real?
In the Bingo cage thought experiment: You've said that Hell is the ultimate loss state, then conclude that it is imperative to avoid it, so the correct choice is to stop existing.
What about Heaven? If Hell is the ultimate loss state, you'd need to consider Heaven as the ultimate win state. You could argue that it is equally imperative to achieve it. Thus, the correct choice is to play, no matter how small the chance of winning is.
I cannot help but feel compelled to play even if the ods were 1:1. I find my personal Hell to be life based around avoidance of loss, instead of just enjoying it as much as possible.
This is what went through my mind as i was watching that segment of the video. If the odds were 1:1 and you gambled an infinite amount of times, then you'd win exactly 50% of the time and lose the other 50%. That obviously breaks the rules of the video since you only get one shot, but it means that for a 1:1 ratio, there'd be a 50% : 50% chance for hell or heaven. Similarily, if there was a 1:2 ratio there'd be a 33% : 67% chance for hell or heaven, meaning that the average person would experience 33% of hell and 67% of heaven. If the pain from hell is equal to the pleasure of heaven, then the average person with a 1:2 chance would experience 67%heaven + 33%hell = 67%heaven - 33%heaven = 33%heaven. This makes sense because if the ratio was 1:infinity, then the chance of hell would be 1 divided by infinity which is equal to zero and the average person would experience 100% of heaven.
The cost of losing far exceeds the cost of winning. Can any "ultimate win" truly surpass an "ultimate loss"? Solar Sands argues no.
Personally the correct move is to not play. IMHO, either state leaves you numb, with no room to grow. Why play at all, if you cannot do the very things that define your existence as a human. A constant, unchanging state of pleasure or pain, happiness or torture, health or injury, and there is no substantial change that allows you to really surpass your current limits, or to age and mature. That's what we do as humans, and our boundaries and limits define us. Take that away, in the static, unchanging afterlives, and you take away the only context we are defined to exist in. Why even bother?
This makes zero sense. We are accepting in this thought experiment that Hell can exist as eternal torment, but we cannot accept that Heaven exists as equal eternal pleasure? Why? I get that you (and Solar Sands) are personally interpreting both concepts as inherently bad because they are eternal. Can you at least agree that if you do not accept eternity as inherently bad, then your argument falls apart?@@FullCircleStories
Had to scroll way too far to find this.
@@blahthebiste7924that eternal torment for a finite life is bad is one of the foundational points of the discussion why are you even asking in the first place of course we all agree this is a fucked up thing.
gotta say, this was your best video so far. Quite insightful and well produced, a very pleasant suprise
Let's not forget the greatest journey to Hell. Chapter 7 of Super Paper Mario, when Mario, Luigi, Bowser and Peach all die and go to hell, only to travel all the way up to heaven
and then the heaven level was hell to PLAY 😅
"Hell is real and humanity will bring it" is perhaps one of the most terrifying thoughts one could imagine.
There's a concept in Protestant Christianity called "Total Depravity." It simply means that humanity, without the guidance of God, is capable of performing the most heinous and and dispicable acts possible. What's particularly terrifying about this is that there's no apparent "bottom" to this depravity. The most despicable and depraved human possible will never exist, because someone will always sink lower.
Hell is perhaps, not simply God's just wrath, but the ultimate hubris of humanity. Not a realm separated from our current reality, but the destiny of our reality, driven only by the corrupt will of Man.
This video led me to read The Jaunt and pick up Soma ($2 on the PS store), so thank you. Truly excellent work, one of my favorite videos of the year!
ive actually been wanting to write a story that sees a character go through hell, hopefully this can give some inspiration
Me too thats why im here. I hope you and i both finish our stories :D
Absolutely amazing video! Terrifying and thought provoking!
One thing that you could have talked about too is Roko's basilisk, and how the fear of hell could lead to it (but I guess you came to the same points using other examples).
Another thing I've thought a lot about, which you also briefly mentioned between the lines, is how the idea of hell might come from reductionism, and simplying the world and people around us into groups of good and evil, instead of facing the truth that the world, its people, their decisions and ideologies are complex, and might just be the results of cause and effect. Instead of categorizing people as inherently good or evil, and deserving of punishment or not.
And I also love the fact that you brought up how simply eternity (even if in a heaven) could be considered hell. It's something I've thought a lot about, which none of my friends seem to agree with.
But these are just minor things and ideas that pop up when watching something as philosophical as this video.
Great work!
have you considered why he would decide to not talk about it if he knew about it?
Dang good comment right here - the imposition of a value duality on everything is something that messes with my life and the lives of many others. It's so hard to keep nuanced perspective on things, and so tempting to abbreviate them to "sucks" and "rocks". It prevents true understanding of things and people. That's hellish right there.
I really related to your point about how too much time is truly the most terrible thing someone can experience. The movie “The Tale of Princess Kaguya” by ghibli really put that into perspective for me. What’s the point of living if your experiences aren’t mortal? Is infinite happiness really worth it when you’ll eventually do everything there is to do? It always freaks me out when people are trying their hardest to extend the natural human life (I’m talking like way past 100 years extended.) if people find the key to immortality, they will be the ones suffering simply because they are scared of the unknown. Humans are always trying to figure out the unknown but death is just an occurrence we will all have to deal with at one point. Living life day by day and doing what makes you happy is enough in my opinion. There are supposed to be ups and downs, and there are definitely supposed to be unknowns.
30:45
the saying about the little bird and the mountain is a quote from a Brothers Grimm tale, the Shepherd Boy. it's also similar to the imagining of 52!, the number of ways a deck of cards can be shuffled, by Scott Czepiel:
"Start a timer that will count down the number of seconds from 52! to 0. We're going to see how much fun we can have before the timer counts down all the way.
Start by picking your favorite spot on the equator. You're going to walk around the world along the equator, but take a very leisurely pace of one step every billion years. The equatorial circumference of the Earth is 40,075,017 meters. Make sure to pack a deck of playing cards, so you can get in a few trillion hands of solitaire between steps. After you complete your round the world trip, remove one drop of water from the Pacific Ocean. Now do the same thing again: walk around the world at one billion years per step, removing one drop of water from the Pacific Ocean each time you circle the globe. The Pacific Ocean contains 707.6 million cubic kilometers of water. Continue until the ocean is empty. When it is, take one sheet of paper and place it flat on the ground. Now, fill the ocean back up and start the entire process all over again, adding a sheet of paper to the stack each time you've emptied the ocean.
Do this until the stack of paper reaches from the Earth to the Sun. Take a glance at the timer, you will see that the three left-most digits haven't even changed. You still have 8.063e67 more seconds to go. 1 Astronomical Unit, the distance from the Earth to the Sun, is defined as 149,597,870.691 kilometers. So, take the stack of papers down and do it all over again. One thousand times more. Unfortunately, that still won't do it. There are still more than 5.385e67 seconds remaining. You're just about a third of the way done.
To pass the remaining time, start shuffling your deck of cards. Every billion years deal yourself a 5-card poker hand. Each time you get a royal flush, buy yourself a lottery ticket. A royal flush occurs in one out of every 649,740 hands. If that ticket wins the jackpot, throw a grain of sand into the Grand Canyon. Keep going and when you've filled up the canyon with sand, remove one ounce of rock from Mt. Everest. Now empty the canyon and start all over again. When you've leveled Mt. Everest, look at the timer, you still have 5.364e67 seconds remaining. Mt. Everest weighs about 357 trillion pounds. You barely made a dent. If you were to repeat this 255 times, you would still be looking at 3.024e64 seconds. The timer would finally reach zero sometime during your 256th attempt."
These are truly some of the best videos on UA-cam. Never sacrifice this integrity for anything, and continue to grow even better. Godspeed. 👑
That bit in Apocalypse of Peter about the damned no longer suffering "On the day of Christ's resurrection" might be referring to the final resurrection of the dead mentioned in the gospels, several of Paul's letters, and finally in Revelation at the very end of the canonical scriptures. This would essentially be a form of universal reconciliation in which hell is temporary and punitive rather than eternal and vindictive. Though, a difficulty of that interpretation would be that Revelation itself portrays sinners at the very end of the world, just before the resurrection, entering into eternal hellfire. Still fascinating as a concept though.
Also those whole "I went to hell for a couple minutes and it was crAAAaaAaAaZyyy!!!" stories are directly contradicted by Christ himself telling the parable of Lazarus, in which the rich man asks God to send back his warning to his brothers so they don't have to go to hell, and God says that if they didn't believe the prophets or Christ himself, they wouldn't believe an emissary from the dead either. Why so many christians insist on contradicting their own scripture in a very cheap attempt at evangelism, I will never quite understand.
Thank you for bringing more attention to SOMA, I found that it mysteriously installed itself on my PS4 one night and though it didn't seem like a game I would've given the chance, it quickly pulled me into those thought experiments and left me thinking about it for weeks. It easily became one of my favorite psychologically intriguing pieces of media and it kills me that it's almost completely unheard of.
How did it install itself??
@aperturechromakey72 I brought my PS4 to my friends house in like 2018-2019 and when we booted it up the first thing on the dash was SOMA which creeped us out considering the logo. That's the only time something like that has happened. My guess is it was a promotion for Playstation Now at the time
Pascal's wager is such a "gotcha" thing that completely fails to address what happens if you worship the wrong god for example, or worship a god that hates being worshiped.
I imagine pascal was referring to the Christian god, but still a good point
@@gecttakhla4249 Yes but that already assumes that this God exists and is the only one rending the whole "wager" pointless
That's not Pascal's point. He is not addressing an individual who is examining all religious paths. He is addressing someone contemplating Christianity or Atheism. If you are caught between Christianity and Atheism, and you believe the evidence on both sides to be compelling, the obvious choice is to take a risk and go with the Christian element. If you are examining Islam, Christianity, Atheism, Hinduism, ect. Pascal's Wager does not apply to you because he did not intend it to be used in that circumstance.
@@Benjamin-ey9jg but it's used as a religious gotcha when it's a false dichotomy. You basically need to already believei n christ to come to the question of christianity vs atheism while ignoring everything else.
23 minutes in hell is a fun party game where you get locked in a closet with a league of legends player
The opposite of love is not caring at all. There's a saying that hate is one step away from love, and that's because even if you hate someone,you still feel something about the object of your hatred. Not caring for them absolutely is worse.
I say hate and love are two sides of the same coin because when you hate and love someone they both live in your head rent free haha
One of my favourite depictions of a katabasis is in The House That Jack Built. I think its the first time I've seen a descent into hell without feeling any remorse for the damned individual.
This video is tremendously well made, ESPECIALLY that ending. This should have way more views than it does. 👏
Really glad that you touched on loss aversion, The Jaunt, I Have No Mouth and SOMA when covering eternity. Its a terrifying concept that I wasn't expecting you to cover for this vid
Your production quality gets progressively better with each new video. Keep up the good work!
This video was absolutely incredible. I just can’t believe the calibre of the content you create. Thank you so much for putting so much effort into your videos man. Brilliantly-edited, smart dialogue & segues, awesome narration. And such a cool concept!!