When I went to rehab I met a dude who said he quit crack while reading 1984, because the book was so good, and when he finished the book 2 days later, he went right back to crack.
Addiction is hard man, even if he was clean for a day that's a start for him to try to do better next time. He hasn't completely given up if he was in rehab, hopefully he does get clean one day
Terrifying indeed. I went through four copies of Citadel of the Autarch before finally reaching the end. My copies kept DISINTEGRATING on account of being soaked in PISS because I was so TERRIFIED.
Nah because they have zero political significance or correctness. I can say leftists or rightists are not skibid and not sigma. And don’t have the gyatt rizz needed for my gooning. Meaning I don’t approve and they don’t have my vote
Rote memorisation is akin to knowledge, education and learning all over Asia even today. To the point where companies have a true competency crisis because there are too many people with a lot of degrees and educational accolades but that is as a result of rote memorisation and simple tricks and not actually having a true understanding of concepts and the ability to dynamically deal with challenges to solve problems in creative and efficient ways.
Source? You’re right about the rote memorization part, but I haven’t seen anything about that causing issues for companies. Instead I’ve seen increasing competency issues in the west - especially the US - because of the strain that private capital puts on education
Language influences people, but just like programming languages, there is a base that is very rigid and doesn't change. For computers those are the 0 and 1s, for us it is the natural world with all of its rules and limitations. Every language has a root, and every language is a branch, there is a ghost in the languages.
Also, nearly all of the programming languages have exactly the same expressive power, called "Turing completeness". For any given procedure, if you can express it in at least one Turing-complete language -- that automatically means that you can express it in any other language that also happens to be Turing-complete -- even though it may take a few more words to do that. And the similar is true for natural languages -- when translating an idea, even if the target language does not have the right words to express the idea as concisely, you will still find enough words overall to at least explain the meaning in as much precision as you're willing to keep explaining.
The society in this book seems eerily similar to the Combine reign in Half Life 2, especially that bit about how the Lovecraftian aliens don't want to just kill humanity, but enslave and control them to an eventual assimilation into one hivemind being. Wonder if there was inspiration taken!
Interesting: Gene Wolfe was a Korean War vet who ended up writing a lot of very influential fantasy novels. Just like Glen Cook, a Vietnam War vet, who also ended up writing a lot of very influential fantasy novels. I wonder how many influential fantasy writers Iraq War produced.
Language control really sticks out to me whenever there's depictions of authoritarianism or in real life policy. I recently watched a video about Genie Wiley, a girl who was so abused and neglected that she wasn't ever able to truly understand language. By the end of it there's a quote from a psychologist saying "This is soul sickness". Being unable to express yourself to the point that you quite literally cannot formulate speech is horrific.
We feel, we think, and we must speak - through our hands, through our mouths, through our bodies. People talk about physical isolation as a form of torture - but a language barrier between yourself and the rest of the world is an isolation inescapable. Are you even real, when you can't interact with others? At least Genie could grasp new vocabulary, though syntax and abstract elaborations often eluded her. I hope whatever care home she is in now treats her with dignity, without looking at her as stupid or subhuman.
@@ayyylmao101 i agree. People think in words. I don't know how primitive man did it, but we've grown far beyond that point. Genie was so hopelessly isolated. And especially with her physical abuse, she wasn't even able to draw out what she experienced or thought. I doubt she'd even be able to grasp that colours have connotations or the very basic nuances of drawings and pictograms. Hopelessly shut in and her mind cemented into that state. Maybe one day if medicine can be made to repair brains and restore neural plasticity she could learn but I doubt that'd happen in her lifetime.
Very ironic you make this video now cause I got into trouble yesterday for linking one of your videos in the Many A True Nerd Discord server, which is crawling with leftist mods. They said you were a 'far right internet personality' because you called someone the r-word on social media and eventually straight up banned me for 'using alt right language against members'. I hate how a good portion of the internet is like this now.
That's wjy i don't hang around those "Leftist" despite be fairly far to the left myself. Nothing Alt Right about this dude. This is a great video, informative video, those people are just close minded jerks living in their echo chamber.
Considering how corrupt the Catholic church is, the protestant angle on Sola Scriptura becomes far more understandable. But yes, generally speaking you don't want to strip cultural historical context from the text.
@@JOSEPH-vs2gc german elite nobles used protestantism as a excuse to steal lands for the church. Even Martin Luther abandoned the Reformation. But in the in the long game i think catholicism was the best interpretation. Look at what came from protestant countries? Fascism, Communism, Late-stage Capitalism, extreme individualism, destruction of any cultural roots and family, all the modern problems have deep roots in the North of Europe and America. In the end catholic countries maybe poorer and have less power but at least they have their souls intact. And at least they don't have 1000+ splinter groups.
@@JOSEPH-vs2gc every big organization in the world has some sort of corruption in it, doesn't justify sola scriptura in any way. Sola scriptura was made by a man who regretted everything he had done in his death bed.
@@JOSEPH-vs2gc whats more difficult is: the Catholic church compiled the books of the Bible, so, in a way, they have more authority in what the Bible means than the protestants. Most protestants Bibles have 7 (or was it 6? idk) books less than the Catholic one, and on the same Bible it says: you must not remove nor add words to the Scripture. Yet the protestants have 7 books less, or are the catholics that have 7 books more? Who knows.
@@ryuunosuk3 The books taken out are apocryphal, meaning they have historical and educational importance, but NOT necessarily Divine or doctrinal importance. Here's an example: One of the books, i think maccabees, shows jews praying for the dead. This is something christians Do Not do (i don't think the torah following jews do this either). I would not pray for the dead myself as a christian. Some catholics however do this. This is one reason why protestants took these books out. We still take Maccabees as important historical reference and glean from it, but not doctrinal or divine.
Wolfe is great. The real magic of 1984 is not portraying some authoritarian society but that it's about language control and semantic shift that was very prescient by Orwell. You see people do this all the time even to themselves to their own detriment and a general shifting of the goalposts where society and conforming to what is politically correct is concerned. It is interesting to think how semantics are not contained in the ink on a page but in a social web
That is an insane quote by Chomsky. Like it's literally impossible for any trait in any organism given that populations have differing amounts of shared ancestry and traits are genetic. He believes it and things like universal grammar to deny an adaptive emergence of cognitive traits which being caused by a different frequency of alleles would necessitate group and individual difference. He instead believes it happened by a chance cascade of cosmic rays and is basically seared into humanity in a way that defies all science of genetics and behavior. It's also quite bizarre because genes don't care if they're affecting skin structure or things that would affect running economy or the brain, yet people like him ostensibly believe the brain is a black box equally capable in all people...except for the obvious cases like say people with severe genetic disorders even though the physical reasons for those differences could just as well exist to a less severe degree between other people without such disorders.
With 1984, the dystopia regime limits and controls information. In "Brave New World" isn't the population flooded with so much inane drivel and garbage that the average individual can't discern what is important and what is meaningless?
For a less serious example, there's that episode from Star Trek TNG where a whole race only speaks in references to past events. Think it was called Darmok
I really like this video and everything you said both specifically about the book and about the related topics. You've sold me on the book and I've sent this video to some of my friends who I think would also like what you present here and may find the book interesting as well
Have to point these out. Regarding those friendly vs harmful idioms at 0:45 in the video. 'Walking on eggshells' is not synonymous with 'walking on broken glass.' 'Walking on eggshells' means having to be overly caution about one's words or actions, usually on account of some highly reactive situation. 'Walking on broken glass,' is not nearly as well defined nor understood, with some claiming it means heartbreak, others saying punishment, some suggesting it just describes pain, a painful process, or unavoidable hardship, and still others saying that it is merely a poetic turn of phrase who's meaning depends entirely on context. I once heard someone put it like this. "You walk on eggshells to avoid the issue. You walk on broken glass once honesty becomes the only way forward." I don't think any of those are the correct official meaning of the phrase, but just possible interpretations. It's really sad that some people are actively trying to limit the scope and expressiveness of language, and just that much more tragic that it seems these same people don't even have well developed language comprehension skills to begin with.
The imagery also puts two different and opposite meanings into your head. Eggshells are so fragile the only things that will be broken are them if you walk on them. You have to be careful for their sake. Whereas broken glass can easily cut your foot open, you have to be careful to protect yourself.
Read the book of the new sun during army service about ten years ago. Afterwards, I let most of the guys who like books in my unit read it. We talked about it, from different perspectives and understanding. Loved it or hated it, all had something to say about some unique part of it that stuck with them, whether it was story, characters, writing, ideas etc... Gene Wolfe's a genius
After posting 1984 and getting some good bulk requests, I had FBI physically going to my editorial heads home for my publishing company asking for EIN's, addresses, criminal history of the company, ect. I called in to their field office in boston and happened to get the attention of the same agent, they became pretty rowdy and threatened me saying I was from now on forwarded on a federal watchlist for "terrorism", so silly.
Well 1984 has been banned a lot in the US because it has been interpreted as pro-“communist”. It is not, because the average American usage of that term is meaningless. It is written from pro-marxist, and anti-marxist-leninist view, in the sense that Eric Arthur Blair viewed the two position.
@@alfredandersson875 I always thought it was an anti-communist book lol, I don't know anyone who ever banned it though. Ironic the northeast banned it, if this is the case that the field office is in Boston, assuming they are in Mass.
Absolutely hilarious to think about the 1984 as a "pro-communist" book given that Orwell have been describing literally the England of his days lololol. 😆And nothing changed since then. 🤣
The Hebrews passage is about the Holy Spirit, and in this context of early Christianity amongst the Hebrews, it means that you will receive a second conscience if you take the new covenant with God through Christ
BOTNS Ascians! Edit: i fucking knew it! 2:00 Fantastic book, makes 1984 look like dreamland. The scene where Sev goes to sleep in the middle of an ascian march, only to wake up hours later and still be surrounded by countless marching Ascians really stuck in my mind. However, there is a silver lining. Wolfe practically denies the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, meaning that even the Ascian language cannot completely control the minds of its subjects eho still manage to talk on a range of subjects even if its just by slogans Glory to the group of seventeen
The issue I take with the 1984 approach is that it posits this literal and obvious subjugation as the ultimate subjugation. The worst society is the one where the government openly restricts words and the like. It just becomes a critique of other cultures, particularly eastern ones who have different ideals and sentiments. The fact that China bans discussion on Tiananmen square is clearly the worst and ultimate subjugation, right? I just don’t think that’s the case. I think the most insidious society is one where the people honestly and truly believe that they are free and are totally unable to recognize their own subjugation. They have full access to all words and means of expression and so surely they’re free? Right? Yet the media and government created subtle yet powerful narratives and views that dictate the outlook of the people, and they’re just non the wiser. Westerners live in a bubble and contrary to what they believe, are probably the most ignorant and brain washed people on the planet. Yet they believe the polar opposite. In China, the people know what the government bans. They know where it stands and what direction it wants to lead the people. In the west, the people don’t know, in fact some believe that the government has no agenda and isn’t pushing the people anywhere. There’s no obvious state media and so they think we are free. Unaware of how the media apparatus works. I the worst subjugation looks like freedom on the surface. That’s what we have in the west right now.
I think you should read 1984 again. The proles do live more freely as you describe. When Winston is tortured, the last thing they do is convince him that he really does love the party.
@@robertmarlow6674 I understand that the citizens think they’re free because they are ignorant of what freedom is. But 1984 is primarily about communism and the real world action of banning certain things from the public conscious. It’s meant to represent the repressive eat against the open and free society of the west. And what in saying is that to subjugate someone, it’s not about placing them in chains and erasing from their mind the concept of chains. In fact true subjugation won’t involve any chains at all. 1984 is about warping the perception of subjugation. And im saying it’s really establishing a false dichotomy of what subjugation even is or what it looks like
@@robertmarlow6674 yeah but the paradigm at play is the idea that the people are brainwashed through intense social manipulation. Literally outright banning words and form of thought. I’m saying that in real life, the most powerful form of control doesn’t do anything such as that. It’s much more subtle.
Just started reading Book of the New Sun like 3 days before you posted this. Get out of my fucking walls. I knew that based on the title you wouldn't just be talking about 1984 so as soon as you started talking about thought control via language, I knew you would bring up Ascian language.
I feel the worst sci-fi dystopia would be terminator or one where everyone is digitized and their digital consciousness is tortured constantly forever with time slowed down and on forever in total isolation from eachother, like "I have no mouth and I must scream" but for the whole world
Incredible video! I am amazed, man. As an Orthodox Christian, I highly highly value and thank you for your respect of the Church Fathers and the understanding of the context of the interpretations of Scripture and history. God bless you!
As the power of the hydraulic press crushes unformed potato granules into the hyperbolic paraboloid, so can the power of language crush the unformed human spirit. We mortals are but pringles
Pleasatly surprised by the part about differences of interpertation of the christian faith, great work, didn't expect you to take a deeper dive about "sola scriptura" and church history
I mean right now in the modern world if you live in a first world country you are at a near peak for standards of living across all of human history, assuming you did well in school went to college and got a decent job.
I'll be checking this book out for sure. You've sold me. As a Christian and big sci-fi fan, I really enjoyed all the elements of this video. It's neat to see so many of my passions in one piece. Thank you.
17:07 Slight critique, Sola Sciptura doesn't mean not looking at the Church Fathers interpretations, it means giving no power to traditions not found in the text of scripture, even after interpretation
Intriguing analysis! Though as a Protestant I must give a slight correction to your portrayal of our theology. Sola Scriptura doesn’t mean that you can use any other sources for context, rather, it just means that the scriptures are the only infallible source. Most of us do read the works of the church fathers and we compare their views and insights to each other (as many had different opinions on different sacraments). And as any good Christian we seek to understand the history and context behind the scriptures to understand them better and answer any questions. Protestants view ourselves as returning to the routes of Christianity rather than doing away with history and tradition altogether. And while yes, some people do cite that passage in Matthew for why we don’t call pastors “father” it’s mostly down to semantics at the route. Jesus was a spiritual father, but he was also called a shepherd, which is where the word “Pastor” originates from. Good video, but I thought I’d just throw my two cents into the ring.
Go read the book to anyone who hasn't before finishing this video. My memory is perfect. Also it is only 950 pages long. It is quite short for what it is.
Nah i think a worse system is one in wich everyone both the rulers, perpepators and the common folk help to intensify and spread the opression and anything that helps said opression; with all of them being aware of the toxicity and horrors of said opression, being given differents feelings and reminders that simply is inevitable. Even when they are outside of their own system they can only see anything outside of it as an anomaly or as something that will eventually become the same as their opressive system.
not only does language influence thoughts but language like newspeak and ascian also limit the critiques that can be made about society. They cant properly express what they dont like about their respective societies
Great video, I hope you keep doing more about things you enjoy and/or works of art people may not have heard of. Another video about this book would be great as well. I feel like you could've gone further into how the Ascians/newspeak relate to us (as our modern society and how it's changed) but maybe I just want more ShreddedNerd, who knows :)
Behind everything some further thing is found, forever; thus the tree behind the bird, stone beneath soil, the sun behind Urth. Behind our efforts, let there be found our efforts. Let no one be idle. If one is idle, let him band together with others who are idle too, and let them look for idle land. Let everyone they meet direct them. It is better to walk a thousand leagues than to sit in the House of Starvation. One is strong, another beautiful, a third a cunning artificer. Which is best? He who serves the populace.
Authoritarianism on this level is more akin to horror to me. I see it happening everywhere, all day, every day. As someone who considers himself an artist, who loves poetry and cinema and illustration, knowing how insidious the creep of political correctness and language control is terrifies me.
Gene Wolfe's ascian language is actually a counter to the hypothesis, since one of the Ascians Sev meets is able to discuss and express deep concepts and tell stories just using slogans with context.
Let me know your thoughts on the editing for this one
Make Soyjak lore V3
the editing was pretty solid. thanks for the book recommendation.
i understood it therefore its good. Sadly this isn't the same video a 3rd time, so all of your effort is wasted.
I'm about 4:30 mins in, think this video will need a couple watches to absorb it all 😮
5:15 I like the random pattern interrupts and change of pacing, it's keeping me on my toes 😊
When I went to rehab I met a dude who said he quit crack while reading 1984, because the book was so good, and when he finished the book 2 days later, he went right back to crack.
Addiction is hard man, even if he was clean for a day that's a start for him to try to do better next time. He hasn't completely given up if he was in rehab, hopefully he does get clean one day
Sad
That's because he realized life is meaningless at the end.
What were you in rehab for?
@@josedorsaith5261 Adderall & Alcohol but to be frank with you I only had an addiction to the first one.
I just googled this book and one of the first results was an article calling it the "Dark Souls of books"
Metal
@@stronensycharte64 No, its cringe.
That's funny. I finished the fourth part of the series about a month ago and that's exactly what I thought.
Why are fromsoftware fans so pretentious and annoying about the difficulty in their video games?
@@theequalizer694
“Ooooh, game hard! Game hard therefore good! Ooooohhhh!!! The boss fights! Aaaaaaahh” 😮😮😮
Nerd dropping the hardest Mandarin
大海航行靠舵手。习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想！
i wonder whether he learnt it at school or on his own.
@@borscht7743 he's australian, it's his native language
He used AI with his voice
Terrifying indeed. I went through four copies of Citadel of the Autarch before finally reaching the end. My copies kept DISINTEGRATING on account of being soaked in PISS because I was so TERRIFIED.
Maybe you need to call an urologist.
That's not fear dude. You have cancer.
Dang bro how much water do you drink?
*IM LITERALLY SHAKING RN*
Literally 1984.
Wake up, it's 1984
Wake up, but we've been here before
Wake up, it's 1984
Wake up, but we've been here before
literally.
Literally 1984
Literally 1984
Lit
Millions must learn
Billions must understand
Trillions must be enlightened.
billions even
@@casualspawnpeeking3680 Trillions, I must even say
Quadrillions must notice
is skibidi toilet sigma fanum rizz considered newspeak
These terms were likely engineered by a tavistock think tank so maybe doe
Nah because they have zero political significance or correctness. I can say leftists or rightists are not skibid and not sigma. And don’t have the gyatt rizz needed for my gooning. Meaning I don’t approve and they don’t have my vote
Based
Pretty close but not quite. It's more like the far-left instead of the brain rot for gen alpha.
Not really, no
Rote memorisation is akin to knowledge, education and learning all over Asia even today. To the point where companies have a true competency crisis because there are too many people with a lot of degrees and educational accolades but that is as a result of rote memorisation and simple tricks and not actually having a true understanding of concepts and the ability to dynamically deal with challenges to solve problems in creative and efficient ways.
A thinking man is a man who can ask the most feared question.
'Why?'
so that's why
Interesting. Thats the west's advantage. Creativity and dynamism
Source? You’re right about the rote memorization part, but I haven’t seen anything about that causing issues for companies. Instead I’ve seen increasing competency issues in the west - especially the US - because of the strain that private capital puts on education
@@reggie6230 why?
Language influences people, but just like programming languages, there is a base that is very rigid and doesn't change. For computers those are the 0 and 1s, for us it is the natural world with all of its rules and limitations. Every language has a root, and every language is a branch, there is a ghost in the languages.
It is the natural world and the way it has shaped our genes. We are not blank slates. The very notion is preposterous.
Also, nearly all of the programming languages have exactly the same expressive power, called "Turing completeness". For any given procedure, if you can express it in at least one Turing-complete language -- that automatically means that you can express it in any other language that also happens to be Turing-complete -- even though it may take a few more words to do that. And the similar is true for natural languages -- when translating an idea, even if the target language does not have the right words to express the idea as concisely, you will still find enough words overall to at least explain the meaning in as much precision as you're willing to keep explaining.
@@Delfigamer1 and if you're noam chomsky the turing test is recursion apparently
Gemmy, no coal to be found here
Doubleplus content, no wrongthink at all indeed.
twitter immigrant
@@jamieevans3666what does this mean and how do you know?
@@jamieevans3666 coal
@@jacobfloyd3410 brim
Bro Cooked real hard with this one
The society in this book seems eerily similar to the Combine reign in Half Life 2, especially that bit about how the Lovecraftian aliens don't want to just kill humanity, but enslave and control them to an eventual assimilation into one hivemind being. Wonder if there was inspiration taken!
I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case
Welcome.. Welcome to City 17.. You have been chosen or chose-
You are charged with: Anti-Civil Activity, Level 1
Interesting: Gene Wolfe was a Korean War vet who ended up writing a lot of very influential fantasy novels. Just like Glen Cook, a Vietnam War vet, who also ended up writing a lot of very influential fantasy novels. I wonder how many influential fantasy writers Iraq War produced.
This is a pretty nonsensical comparison given the stark difference in numbers and recruitment practices.
@@Jafar545 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
0 everyone who fought in iraq just claims they have "prsd" and cry when fire crackers go off 😆
@@Jafar545 There is no real comparison there, but ok.
Anyone of worth sent to Iraq met their end peacefully on a ziggurat out of the view of prying eyes.
Language control really sticks out to me whenever there's depictions of authoritarianism or in real life policy. I recently watched a video about Genie Wiley, a girl who was so abused and neglected that she wasn't ever able to truly understand language. By the end of it there's a quote from a psychologist saying "This is soul sickness". Being unable to express yourself to the point that you quite literally cannot formulate speech is horrific.
We feel, we think, and we must speak - through our hands, through our mouths, through our bodies. People talk about physical isolation as a form of torture - but a language barrier between yourself and the rest of the world is an isolation inescapable. Are you even real, when you can't interact with others?
At least Genie could grasp new vocabulary, though syntax and abstract elaborations often eluded her. I hope whatever care home she is in now treats her with dignity, without looking at her as stupid or subhuman.
@@ayyylmao101 i agree. People think in words. I don't know how primitive man did it, but we've grown far beyond that point. Genie was so hopelessly isolated. And especially with her physical abuse, she wasn't even able to draw out what she experienced or thought. I doubt she'd even be able to grasp that colours have connotations or the very basic nuances of drawings and pictograms. Hopelessly shut in and her mind cemented into that state. Maybe one day if medicine can be made to repair brains and restore neural plasticity she could learn but I doubt that'd happen in her lifetime.
Very ironic you make this video now cause I got into trouble yesterday for linking one of your videos in the Many A True Nerd Discord server, which is crawling with leftist mods. They said you were a 'far right internet personality' because you called someone the r-word on social media and eventually straight up banned me for 'using alt right language against members'. I hate how a good portion of the internet is like this now.
That's wjy i don't hang around those "Leftist" despite be fairly far to the left myself.
Nothing Alt Right about this dude. This is a great video, informative video, those people are just close minded jerks living in their echo chamber.
Coaly
Cognitive dissonance is now the rule, welcome to the mass psychosis
i feel you on that last part
Real shame, I love MATNs Rome TW series
Thank you for appreciateing these fringe niche slow burn no jumpscare horror gems!
Came for a book recomendation and got a critique of sola scriptura and the protestants. Thank you ShreddedNerd for such a gold mine of a video
Considering how corrupt the Catholic church is, the protestant angle on Sola Scriptura becomes far more understandable. But yes, generally speaking you don't want to strip cultural historical context from the text.
@@JOSEPH-vs2gc german elite nobles used protestantism as a excuse to steal lands for the church. Even Martin Luther abandoned the Reformation. But in the in the long game i think catholicism was the best interpretation. Look at what came from protestant countries? Fascism, Communism, Late-stage Capitalism, extreme individualism, destruction of any cultural roots and family, all the modern problems have deep roots in the North of Europe and America. In the end catholic countries maybe poorer and have less power but at least they have their souls intact. And at least they don't have 1000+ splinter groups.
@@JOSEPH-vs2gc every big organization in the world has some sort of corruption in it, doesn't justify sola scriptura in any way. Sola scriptura was made by a man who regretted everything he had done in his death bed.
@@JOSEPH-vs2gc whats more difficult is: the Catholic church compiled the books of the Bible, so, in a way, they have more authority in what the Bible means than the protestants. Most protestants Bibles have 7 (or was it 6? idk) books less than the Catholic one, and on the same Bible it says: you must not remove nor add words to the Scripture. Yet the protestants have 7 books less, or are the catholics that have 7 books more? Who knows.
@@ryuunosuk3 The books taken out are apocryphal, meaning they have historical and educational importance, but NOT necessarily Divine or doctrinal importance. Here's an example: One of the books, i think maccabees, shows jews praying for the dead. This is something christians Do Not do (i don't think the torah following jews do this either). I would not pray for the dead myself as a christian. Some catholics however do this. This is one reason why protestants took these books out. We still take Maccabees as important historical reference and glean from it, but not doctrinal or divine.
Wolfe is great. The real magic of 1984 is not portraying some authoritarian society but that it's about language control and semantic shift that was very prescient by Orwell. You see people do this all the time even to themselves to their own detriment and a general shifting of the goalposts where society and conforming to what is politically correct is concerned. It is interesting to think how semantics are not contained in the ink on a page but in a social web
5:37 I was taken aback by how good his Mandarin was.
judging by your username, are you really the Sanguinior?
His mandarin is so good it’s even glowing doe
Bro suddenly activated his heavenly mandate
The more meta commentary on this channel is actually really refreshing and always insightful. Love to see more videos like this Nerd
That Flouride stare….
i love drinking flouride.
Ahh yes, very common around the south
Shredded Nerd read Book of the New Sun? Confirmed Chad.
That is an insane quote by Chomsky. Like it's literally impossible for any trait in any organism given that populations have differing amounts of shared ancestry and traits are genetic. He believes it and things like universal grammar to deny an adaptive emergence of cognitive traits which being caused by a different frequency of alleles would necessitate group and individual difference. He instead believes it happened by a chance cascade of cosmic rays and is basically seared into humanity in a way that defies all science of genetics and behavior. It's also quite bizarre because genes don't care if they're affecting skin structure or things that would affect running economy or the brain, yet people like him ostensibly believe the brain is a black box equally capable in all people...except for the obvious cases like say people with severe genetic disorders even though the physical reasons for those differences could just as well exist to a less severe degree between other people without such disorders.
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was getting people to focus on Orwell's book "1984" and forget about Huxley's "Brave New World".
With 1984, the dystopia regime limits and controls information. In "Brave New World" isn't the population flooded with so much inane drivel and garbage that the average individual can't discern what is important and what is meaningless?
For a less serious example, there's that episode from Star Trek TNG where a whole race only speaks in references to past events. Think it was called Darmok
4:34 oy gevalt! This sounds so familiar…
👃🏻
Hava...
HHNNNNGG I'M NOOOOTICING!!!!!!!
8:58 did he also steal the chaos emeralds
I really like this video and everything you said both specifically about the book and about the related topics. You've sold me on the book and I've sent this video to some of my friends who I think would also like what you present here and may find the book interesting as well
Im about to blow your mind. This puts new meaning into the meme. People die when they are killed.
Have to point these out. Regarding those friendly vs harmful idioms at 0:45 in the video.
'Walking on eggshells' is not synonymous with 'walking on broken glass.' 'Walking on eggshells' means having to be overly caution about one's words or actions, usually on account of some highly reactive situation. 'Walking on broken glass,' is not nearly as well defined nor understood, with some claiming it means heartbreak, others saying punishment, some suggesting it just describes pain, a painful process, or unavoidable hardship, and still others saying that it is merely a poetic turn of phrase who's meaning depends entirely on context. I once heard someone put it like this. "You walk on eggshells to avoid the issue. You walk on broken glass once honesty becomes the only way forward." I don't think any of those are the correct official meaning of the phrase, but just possible interpretations.
It's really sad that some people are actively trying to limit the scope and expressiveness of language, and just that much more tragic that it seems these same people don't even have well developed language comprehension skills to begin with.
The imagery also puts two different and opposite meanings into your head. Eggshells are so fragile the only things that will be broken are them if you walk on them. You have to be careful for their sake. Whereas broken glass can easily cut your foot open, you have to be careful to protect yourself.
1984 was meant to be a warning not a hecking guide book
I think this one will save the west☝️
@@WhiskeyPete you've earned this upvote friend
Read the book of the new sun during army service about ten years ago. Afterwards, I let most of the guys who like books in my unit read it. We talked about it, from different perspectives and understanding. Loved it or hated it, all had something to say about some unique part of it that stuck with them, whether it was story, characters, writing, ideas etc...
Gene Wolfe's a genius
After posting 1984 and getting some good bulk requests, I had FBI physically going to my editorial heads home for my publishing company asking for EIN's, addresses, criminal history of the company, ect.
I called in to their field office in boston and happened to get the attention of the same agent, they became pretty rowdy and threatened me saying I was from now on forwarded on a federal watchlist for "terrorism", so silly.
Well 1984 has been banned a lot in the US because it has been interpreted as pro-“communist”. It is not, because the average American usage of that term is meaningless. It is written from pro-marxist, and anti-marxist-leninist view, in the sense that Eric Arthur Blair viewed the two position.
@@alfredandersson875 I always thought it was an anti-communist book lol, I don't know anyone who ever banned it though. Ironic the northeast banned it, if this is the case that the field office is in Boston, assuming they are in Mass.
Absolutely hilarious to think about the 1984 as a "pro-communist" book given that Orwell have been describing literally the England of his days lololol. 😆And nothing changed since then. 🤣
@@redline1916 it's more generally anti-aurhoritarian. Animal Farm, on the other hand, is explicitly anti-communist.
The Hebrews passage is about the Holy Spirit, and in this context of early Christianity amongst the Hebrews, it means that you will receive a second conscience if you take the new covenant with God through Christ
BOTNS Ascians!
Edit: i fucking knew it! 2:00
Fantastic book, makes 1984 look like dreamland. The scene where Sev goes to sleep in the middle of an ascian march, only to wake up hours later and still be surrounded by countless marching Ascians really stuck in my mind.
However, there is a silver lining. Wolfe practically denies the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, meaning that even the Ascian language cannot completely control the minds of its subjects eho still manage to talk on a range of subjects even if its just by slogans
Glory to the group of seventeen
Incredible how quality this channel manages to continuously be.
2:37 😂😂 What was that monocle wearing chicken monstrosity?! 😂
The issue I take with the 1984 approach is that it posits this literal and obvious subjugation as the ultimate subjugation. The worst society is the one where the government openly restricts words and the like.
It just becomes a critique of other cultures, particularly eastern ones who have different ideals and sentiments. The fact that China bans discussion on Tiananmen square is clearly the worst and ultimate subjugation, right?
I just don’t think that’s the case. I think the most insidious society is one where the people honestly and truly believe that they are free and are totally unable to recognize their own subjugation. They have full access to all words and means of expression and so surely they’re free? Right? Yet the media and government created subtle yet powerful narratives and views that dictate the outlook of the people, and they’re just non the wiser.
Westerners live in a bubble and contrary to what they believe, are probably the most ignorant and brain washed people on the planet. Yet they believe the polar opposite.
In China, the people know what the government bans. They know where it stands and what direction it wants to lead the people. In the west, the people don’t know, in fact some believe that the government has no agenda and isn’t pushing the people anywhere. There’s no obvious state media and so they think we are free. Unaware of how the media apparatus works.
I the worst subjugation looks like freedom on the surface. That’s what we have in the west right now.
I think you should read 1984 again. The proles do live more freely as you describe. When Winston is tortured, the last thing they do is convince him that he really does love the party.
@@robertmarlow6674 I understand that the citizens think they’re free because they are ignorant of what freedom is.
But 1984 is primarily about communism and the real world action of banning certain things from the public conscious. It’s meant to represent the repressive eat against the open and free society of the west.
And what in saying is that to subjugate someone, it’s not about placing them in chains and erasing from their mind the concept of chains. In fact true subjugation won’t involve any chains at all.
1984 is about warping the perception of subjugation. And im saying it’s really establishing a false dichotomy of what subjugation even is or what it looks like
moldbugpilled
@@robertmarlow6674 yeah but the paradigm at play is the idea that the people are brainwashed through intense social manipulation. Literally outright banning words and form of thought.
I’m saying that in real life, the most powerful form of control doesn’t do anything such as that. It’s much more subtle.
@@peatythyroid Pretty much. But it was Noam’s chomskys manufacturing consent that planted this seed in my head
Literally... Brave New World?
I love the subtle bits of O'Donnell's sound you add to your videos🫡
Current Utube is like this with newspeak. It's gotten real bad the past few years.
unalive
@@jess648 Lol that one is super pervasive. Like damn youtube, let me say "Kill, die, suicide, murder" etc.
@@jess648[REDACTED]
pdf file
the most shocking part of this video is that nerd can speak mandarin perfectly
Just started reading Book of the New Sun like 3 days before you posted this. Get out of my fucking walls. I knew that based on the title you wouldn't just be talking about 1984 so as soon as you started talking about thought control via language, I knew you would bring up Ascian language.
when the medieval fantasy is actually far-future sci-fi
I feel the worst sci-fi dystopia would be terminator or one where everyone is digitized and their digital consciousness is tortured constantly forever with time slowed down and on forever in total isolation from eachother, like "I have no mouth and I must scream" but for the whole world
You partly described Roko’s Basilisk with that second one
@@TypeZeta2 I was actually thinking about that a bit as I wrote it lol
I'm surprised by the mention of the Book of the New Sun. It and the whole Solar Cycle book series are my absolute favourites.
The story sound like if a "I’m 14 and this is deep" wrote a book.
Incredible video! I am amazed, man. As an Orthodox Christian, I highly highly value and thank you for your respect of the Church Fathers and the understanding of the context of the interpretations of Scripture and history. God bless you!
You dont even need to have seen the previous 1983 films to have a good time either
As the power of the hydraulic press crushes unformed potato granules into the hyperbolic paraboloid, so can the power of language crush the unformed human spirit. We mortals are but pringles
1:32 is It just me or does that look like the Halo Magnum?!?!!
No, it’s a one for one copy of a smart pistol from cyberpunk
Been loving these more philosophical videos, keep them up!
2:38 thank you for waking up my entire family
This book changed my vision about the world completely, really good book
We must exist beyond that which can be put to words
I want you to be speaker of parliament of my country, your emo and terrifying voice is genre defining.
There are expressions of the soul that predate vocabulary. Ultimately, any words removed will return in time.
This lowkey expanded my brain
Every time you show the author. I can't stop thinking of "he look like eggman"
He invented the Pringles can. And turned into that character later in life
“Before these well intended fools realized, it was too late. Freedom is not the natural state of man.”
Divin Stack, DoTR
Pleasatly surprised by the part about differences of interpertation of the christian faith, great work, didn't expect you to take a deeper dive about "sola scriptura" and church history
George orwell predicts speech to text invented while email is still a distant technological dream
The Australian knows Chinese (idk what kind), they really ain't beating the Chinese colony allegations.
Wouldnt be horrible to live like that?
Not like the Perfect life we have in the real world right? (Sarcasm )
I mean right now in the modern world if you live in a first world country you are at a near peak for standards of living across all of human history, assuming you did well in school went to college and got a decent job.
I'll be checking this book out for sure. You've sold me. As a Christian and big sci-fi fan, I really enjoyed all the elements of this video. It's neat to see so many of my passions in one piece. Thank you.
Now i wonder: How do people flirt in Ascian?
I love Sci Fi fantasy with an eternal passion. I'm conflicted on finishing this video because now I want to read this book.
Read all of gene wolfe
Aztecs cutting out a heart, Cartels doing the same today. Culture or nature? Maybe portions of both.
Ancestral instinct
Subhuman genes
At least the Aztecs did it with the intention of pleasing their gods, Cartels on the other hand pleases to nobody
What make you think ripping out hearts is genetic? This sounds really stupid
@@victorpedrosoceolin3919 why do you think it sound stupid, you didn't explain
17:07 Slight critique, Sola Sciptura doesn't mean not looking at the Church Fathers interpretations, it means giving no power to traditions not found in the text of scripture, even after interpretation
Sola scriptura was made by a man who regretted everything he had done on his death bed
I love ALL of Wolfe's *Sun series. They are all superb.
Always happy to see Wolfe's stuff recognized.
Currently reading sword of the lictor, will come back when i finish the book!
I love this notion. Language and thought go together logically
Intriguing analysis!
Though as a Protestant I must give a slight correction to your portrayal of our theology.
Sola Scriptura doesn’t mean that you can use any other sources for context, rather, it just means that the scriptures are the only infallible source. Most of us do read the works of the church fathers and we compare their views and insights to each other (as many had different opinions on different sacraments). And as any good Christian we seek to understand the history and context behind the scriptures to understand them better and answer any questions. Protestants view ourselves as returning to the routes of Christianity rather than doing away with history and tradition altogether.
And while yes, some people do cite that passage in Matthew for why we don’t call pastors “father” it’s mostly down to semantics at the route. Jesus was a spiritual father, but he was also called a shepherd, which is where the word “Pastor” originates from.
Good video, but I thought I’d just throw my two cents into the ring.
Imagine if 1984 hadnt been written.
We still have Brave New World.
@@marko-gj1uj those are very different books
Ty, been looking for something new, love dystopia
Go read the book to anyone who hasn't before finishing this video. My memory is perfect. Also it is only 950 pages long. It is quite short for what it is.
"Cunning linguists"
I'm sure that's what he said
This guy has to be the smartest person/commentary channel on here. Wtf, the things he be saying, wow
Nah i think a worse system is one in wich everyone both the rulers, perpepators and the common folk help to intensify and spread the opression and anything that helps said opression; with all of them being aware of the toxicity and horrors of said opression, being given differents feelings and reminders that simply is inevitable.
Even when they are outside of their own system they can only see anything outside of it as an anomaly or as something that will eventually become the same as their opressive system.
You just described the Cathedral.
And we are living in it.
I think youtube blocks spectic words 1984
not only does language influence thoughts but language like newspeak and ascian also limit the critiques that can be made about society. They cant properly express what they dont like about their respective societies
Great video, I hope you keep doing more about things you enjoy and/or works of art people may not have heard of. Another video about this book would be great as well. I feel like you could've gone further into how the Ascians/newspeak relate to us (as our modern society and how it's changed) but maybe I just want more ShreddedNerd, who knows :)
1:32 is that the hjke-11 yukimura from cyberpunk 2077? Why is that in a political cartoon???
They where ahead of their time lol
another day in california
Calefornia..
Behind everything some further thing is found, forever; thus the tree behind the bird, stone beneath soil, the sun behind Urth. Behind our efforts, let there be found our efforts.
Let no one be idle. If one is idle, let him band together with others who are idle too, and let them look for idle land. Let everyone they meet direct them. It is better to walk a thousand leagues than to sit in the House of Starvation.
One is strong, another beautiful, a third a cunning artificer. Which is best? He who serves the populace.
It is real life- I mean, The book of the new sun, of course!
interesting topic, i like the visuals and editing
Authoritarianism on this level is more akin to horror to me. I see it happening everywhere, all day, every day.
As someone who considers himself an artist, who loves poetry and cinema and illustration, knowing how insidious the creep of political correctness and language control is terrifies me.
Authoritarianism is merely a tool they managed to conquer to do what they want.
That’s not THE problem
Oh neat I'm already subbed lol great video
erm. What the sigma ?
erm. What the sigma ?
I banish you back to UA-cam kids! Leave foul creatures!
Fr 🔥🔥🔥
This is the last video I expected to be talking about Sola Scriptura lol
A slow burn spine tingling genre redefining kino
>tranime pfp
We make out yes? Yes I top?
I love the Evangelion clips lol
Sapir-Wharf is largely discredited except in very weak cases
buh-buh orewell 1894!!
Wikipedia is not a reliable source of information
Gene Wolfe's ascian language is actually a counter to the hypothesis, since one of the Ascians Sev meets is able to discuss and express deep concepts and tell stories just using slogans with context.
I always think Wolfe died some 50 years ago, because the quality of the writing is just timeless.
Make Ascia Great Again.
I thought this was gonna be about Brave New World
I read book of the new sun only recently and then you drop a wolfe video...