Comment Responses: Thinking With Others 

We miss you already!

Mom: Watcha doin’? Me: *Oh, I’m just sitting here hoping for [some sort of] a revival.*

Sad to see this channel go, but very excited to check out what you do next! Seriously, this channel inspired me so much, thank you!

Thanks for all the ideas 💡

See you Space Cowboy

I still miss this channel. Especially now with how crazy everything is these days!

RU-vid won't be the same without you. That intelligent yet humble voice of reason is something I will deeply miss.

I think I will mourn the loss of this show forever. It's been my favorite EDU channel since it started and will always hold a special place in my heart. Thank you so much. Now if you'll please excuse me, I'm going to watch them all again from the beginning. See you around, Mike :-) Good luck with everything.

First, and dude thank you so much for everything you poured into this channel, it was an amazing journey

Just remembered this channel after a few years and checked in. Really miss the content. :(

I would highly recommend Dylan Marron's new podcast "Conversations With People Who Hate Me." It really shows the believing game at work from a social justice aspect, where he holds a civil conversation with individuals who have sent him hate messages and seems genuinely interested in their beliefs. They do not end the episodes absolutely agreeing with each other, but they each see the other's perspective and are able to put themselves in the lives of the other individual. Thanks for all the great ideas over the years, this show has really changed my life and introduced me to a whole new field I may even major in. Can't wait to see whatever you do next.

mike and all of idea channel crew, thanks for everything you guys give into making every.single.video in this channel you know... it was an amazing journey with you guys!

RIP PBS Idea Channel. Will always appreciate what you have brought into the world and am exited to see what the future has to bring

Thanks for all the wonderful ideas. I look forward to your next endeavor is. Thanks as well to everyone who helped make this show a reality.

So long and thanks for the memories. One of my favorite channels, and I'm gonna miss it. And yay I didn't know you did crash course mythology. Gonna try to listen to your podcasts,etc.

Yay! Glad to hear the updates on Crash Course and Reasonably Sound! And thanks for all the links to people and books and podcast etc. along with the thinks over the years. Happy literal and metaphorical trails, dear Idea Channel people. May you live in well-being! 👏

Thank you for everything, i'm gonna miss this channel :( Hope to see whatever you do in the future! Hasta siempre viejo, saludos desde Argentina

Its been 4 years and I miss this guy

It's been a blast. Thanks to the entire team for the last 5 years, and health, happiness, and good times to all of you in your futures!

Thank you for everything guys. You will seriously be missed! I've honestly learned so much from watching this show over the years and I look forward to seeing what you create in the future. Also, on the topic of the believing game and changing the minds of people, I think this is really beautifully executed in Conversations With People Who Hate Me. It's not about changing minds per se, but having a dialogue. While I don't think this approach is appropriate for every person or in every conversation, I'm still super impressed by how well they do it.

Thanks for the vids

Sad to see you go, but glad to count myself as a fan for life. See you on the next one.

While I never really commented that much, I really loved this channel and just want to say it's been a pleasure to watch these.

Best channel ever. I've really enjoyed every chance to think with you, folks. Really gonna miss it. Thank you for all of your hard work, Mike.

Damn I still miss this channel

Its sad to see Idea channel end but I'm glad(and thankful) for the contributions its made to my life. Its great to see modern day philosophers and I'm just glad that Idea Channel ended on an up note, and not by being forced to drink hemlock.

Thank you for everything !! DFTBA

I love this show/channel and I don't know if the hole in my heart will ever in the shape of this channel will ever be filled. *insert the end of the world by Skeeter Davis*

Thanks for the memories, man. Look forward to seeing you in your future endeavors!

I'll watch this one later. I'm just not ready

Thank you for Idea Channel

It’s been 8 months and I still miss this channel so much :(

So this is the end. I'm not ready for this...

Can't wait for the next episode

I never thought a RU-vid channel closing would make me cry. Sail on, Mike and Friends, I hope I see you again.

Why am i so teary eyed. Fantastic Arrr content, will miss it dearly.

Thank you so much for inspiring me and helping me think through some of the oddest questions on the Internet. You are truly great.

Thank you for entertaining me and giving me some things to think about from time to time I wish you the best in all of your future Ventures it's been fun

After all this time, I still come back to this channel :(

Aw man i forgot all about this channel, feel like we could use this channel now more than ever.

So long Idea Channel, thanks for all the thinks 😭

Got to watch it right before bed. Now I can cry myself to sleep in peace Good night, Sweet Thinks

im gonna miss this show

So long, and thanks for all the fish!

Can I say how touching is that even in this, the last comment response video, instead of just going through the massive amount of thankful and sad comments crying for the end of the channel, you still shared your thoughts on the more discussion oriented comments left, you still talked to us about your opinions in the more controversial points of the last video. Even in death, the Idea Channel Comment Response Video never forgot its original objective. Thanks for everything, with you going away standing proud I can see a mass of more critical thinking channels, both old and new, getting traction. The critical thinking and in depth analysis of popular culture is not over, this is just a turning point. So can't thank you guys enough. You were wonderful hosts of this weird, discussion hungry community

Good to see a 99PI recc! Going to miss this channel. I feel it's played a genuinely significant role in my development as a thinking human being. Thanks so much Mike and everyone else!

I have spent years watching these videos and never commenting. I regret it a little bit now, but I have always been happy and eager to watch these videos. You have taught me a lot over the years. While I'm not great at the science side of things, I will keep exploring ideas and putting those discoveries out there somehow, someway. Thank you. We miss you.

I already miss you. I'll keep showing your videos for my students forever. Thank you

Wisecrack can only fill the hole Idea Channel left partially. Miss you guys.

So long, and thanks for all the zhaifs.

I'm so sad that this amazing channel is coming to an end, but I wish nothing but the best for you Mike! (and everyone else that worked on the show)

'f course I'm not crying! Just got a zhaif in my eye... Thank you so much for this amazing ride. It has changed my life in more than one way and lead me to meet extraordinary people. Best to you all in your future endeavors!

Hey Mike! I had two thoughts on this episode. Well, three, but the third is just a sad face emoji. First was adding another example to your defense of the Believing Game. I think getting concrete helps bring the point home. DragonCon is a big convention in Atlanta that takes place every Labor Day weekend. It has many tracks in the sci-fi, fantasy, comic book, and science realms, among many others. I spend a lot of my time in the skeptics track, which talks about promoting critical thinking and scientific literacy. There is also a paranormal track, which is essentially the exact opposite of the skeptics. They talk about ghosts, aliens, conspiracy theory, and so on. Twice over the years I've made time to go to one of their events to get a firsthand experience of their world. What I have come away with is a much better and concrete understanding of what they're doing and where they're coming from. People there are always sharing their stories of what unexplained thing happened to them. They just want to be heard, to be believed. Presenters are using what they consider to be good science to come to their conclusions. Ultimately, these folks just want answers, meaning, and control over their experience in the past or their worry about what's coming in the future. (Of course with caveats that I'm just taking a light sampling of the crowd and know they're not all the same.) This has concretely changed my willingness to bash them when given the opportunity. My empathy has expanded too far to allow me to confront their ideology with anything but care and consideration. I strongly believe their conclusions are wrong, but my posture towards them is different. That's what the Believing Game can give you. Second is on your concerns about triggering a backfire effect on people, so you instead listen to people's opinions and share you own without getting confrontational. You might be interested in a growing movement in the atheist/skeptic/critical thinking crowd called Street Epistemology. The most prominent figure on RU-vid right now is Anthony Magnabosco. I highly recommend watching a video of his. He asks strangers to chat for 5 minutes about a closely-held belief, but all he does is ask Socratic method questions leading them to explain, as best they can, their justification for the belief. He is extremely conscious of body language, understanding people as well as he can, and helping them decide if their belief is justified. He considers it a big success if he does all this without his partner even knowing his position on the subject. Even in your last video, you're spinning off new threads of conversation. Thanks so much for creating doses of thoughtfulness week after week. I think I took you for granted for a while, like a piece of the RU-vid or internet infrastructure, constantly mashing up ideas or processing the web's zeitgeist. But you are a human who, alongside his team, were doing incredible work for a long time. It's instructive to always remember that. Thank you.

real cool of you guys to do these things, thx

The best way to convince someone that I have found is to demonstrate that their view is not an extreme one and that your view is not that different either. In a way, to change a mind means changing the discussion. Rather than discussing the usual points, demonstrate empathy towards a moderate version of the 'opposition'. 60% people are responsive when they are treated as the more reasonable version of an extreme argument. For example, let's say I'm talking to a pro-life advocate on Facebook. Rather than argue against them, I explain that I'm not for an extreme version of pro-life, but I'm sympathetic towards the idea that there are situations where a frivolous abortion has more risks than letting it happen. That I agree that the fetus does have a right to live even before birth. I then inquire whether they are okay with the pill. I suggest that they are probably okay with medical emergencies voiding any reservations about abortion. I establish a timeline where I scale their cut-off point for where they think the autonomy of the mother is the determining factor and when the Hippocratic oath demands a doctor to choose the mother's well-being over her desire for an abortion. And whether, if at all, the law should come into this. Most of the time I put in this effort, I can demonstrate that their thought is independent from pro-life politicians. That they do not argue for new laws, but against the extreme version of new laws that they think swings too far the other way.

Just a reminder I miss this show

Idea Channel had just the perfect blend of analyzing pop culture with high brow ideas and a host that kept it fun, thoughtful, and engaging. Thank you to you and all the Idea Channel staff for all of the hard work and wonderful episodes over the years. I will miss you and this show!

Well, it's finally done. I held off on watching this true finale for such a long time because I simply wasn't ready to lose Idea Channel. This show has helped me immeasurably in my endless quest for self improvement and while I will continue along that journey not alone as the world is full of brilliant companions along the way, it is a sad thing to lose any companion. I do not know Mike or the overwhelming majority of you out there, but I just wanted to wish you well on your own journeys. I hope our paths cross again with fresh and fascinating ideas to share.

I really wish I found this channel sooner. BTW, I found this channel 3 years after it ended. All I have left to do at this point is hope for some sort of reboot. 😢😢

I've been watching this channel since the beginning. Mike & Friends, thanks for all the thinks, and full speed ahead!

I'm a usual lurker, but I want to thank you for everything, Mike. It's been a wild ride. Thanks for all the thinks.

Thanks for all the videos! It feels weird and sad knowing that I won't see idea channel popping up in my notifications. Loved this channel and everything it stand for.

Thank you very much, Michael, for all the things you said and made us think about. The show will be missed

after countless 'first' comments, piatos wins the game by choosing to be last. next level.

I still miss this show

I am so happy to have seen you succeed. The most beautiful thing I've seen coming from this channel didn't even come from this channel, but from it's community. I can't believe the "Idea Project", a new RU-vid channel is a thing and I think it's the most beautiful thing that could have followed this considering it's exactly what this channels goal was. Making people think together and the Idea Project, a community driven Idea channel is the best thing that could have sprung out of this.

That "not so open-minded your brain falls out" is a quote from comedian Tim Minchin. He's great. The quote itself is from a poem he did called "Storm".

Rest in peace idea channel! I am sad to see you go but so happy for all the time i spent thinking here! I hope you all succeed in your future endeavors!

Good luck to you and your team with whatever projects you pursue next. I'm going to miss this series, it's been a trip.

So long and thanks for all the vids

Miss this channel so much

Here's an idea; I feel this was the most Idea Channel way to end this wonderful experience. Mike is providing the theoretical framework without promoting too much of a "cult of personality" to allow a discussion to flourish throughout the community and reflect the mode of the "vox populi" through a conversation. It's really hard to write how much this show and process has meant to me and, I believe, the larger PBS Idea Channel community. I think this taught us a model to have a healthy discussion online with other. This friend of the show is heartbroken but happy we had this chance.

I discovered this channel not long ago, and I'm sad that it's over... but I'm very glad that you made this! I really liked your content and all the effort and thoughts put into it. I wish you the best now and in the future, and in your new projects! Meanwhile, I'll be watching your videos that I missed, and enrich myself as much as possible with them. Thank you.

looking forward to seeing you in the future!

Thank you for everything!!!!

I didn't watch every episode. But every one i did watch was great and made me think. Thank you.

Absolute best way to kick off my Friday morning. Thanks for everything, I'm going to miss the show but I'll definitely be sticking around through other corners of the internet. I hope the community sticks around too, because it's always been an oddly open and civil piece of the internet to escape to when I want to have some thinks :)

You will be missed. Thank you for the great show

Thanks for all the interesting topics that made me think and grow as a human being. The work you did here was truly inspiring and worthwile. I can't wait to see what you do next. Good luck!

:( I wish you guys well on your future endeavors. On the plus side of the show ending, I may actually get the chance to catch up.

I still can't process this is over. Honestly, I've never cared about a RU-vid channel this way. Thank you so much Mike and the whole team!

"I think a lot of times people feel like they're poisoning themselves or like they're showing some sort of vulnerability by momentarily taking on the ideas of their opponents but I think that -you know- the people who do the most interesting intellectual work are people who are able to sort of see things from both sides and who are able to able to play this this game of believing things."

It's been an honor experiencing this with you (Mike and the people watching)

You almost made me cry, but the main thought after finish watching this video is lost, what it means to lose and why we as human beings hate to lose anything we love, I try as hard as can to remember myself that change in this world is inevitable, but the sadness I feel inside me feels real and overwhelming, but what I love about this final episode is that it makes me think about change and death in a deep way due to me being emotionally attached to this show and for that I salute you! thanks for everything and goodbye!

Hi Mike and everyone else. I know this won't be responded to in a future idea video, but I still hope it reaches your eyeballs. I just wanted to relay what I found to be an amusing coincidence just now while watching this video. When responding to Brandon Allen-Trick's comment at 24:54, you say "It's better to have idea'd and lost than to have never idea'd at all... that's how that goes, right?" I am currently re-reading a webcomic I enjoy, Gunnerkrigg Court, and was going through it while watching this video in the background. When you were responding to the afore-mentioned comment I was at this page: www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=641 which involves an exchange that goes "Better to have loved and lost than to be... dead or something." "I don't think that's how the saying goes." That's all. I found it funny. Thought maybe you would also. Best of luck with all future idea-ing!

My last comment on an Idea Channel video will be a link to my Mike saying Pizza compilation ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-YYBvXmszKVQ.html

I'm not ready for this, it's too soon my dude, but at any rate, Godspeed my man, might you have great success on whatever comes next

Will say, the summary of Elbow's explanation of the Believing Game, and how "belief" is distinct from "acceptance", sounds far more useful and epistemologically sound than the video before. (I suppose I could contend that "belief" without "acceptance" is not actually "belief", but that may well be just a semantic quibble.)

Thank you for everything, Mike. I've had a great time.

I don't think I've ever commented on an Idea Channel video before, but I have been watching for a long time. While I am very sad to see Idea Channel end, I look forward to seeing what you will do next. Thank you for being one of the most fascinating and thought-provoking RU-vid channels.

Thank you Idea Channel, for believing that common people are capable of complex thought. For not treating us as stupid but challenging us to think more. I will sincerely miss you.

Thank you for everything Mike.

Not gonna lie, I sat with this open for a while before actually watching it. Thanks for everything Mike/Idea Channel.

Your channel literally made my life different, i was very frustrated when i started my life on the University, everything was so rigid so serious, i couldn't think the way i wanted to, i wasn't allowed to think things just because i wanted, i had to think complex things. I almost quit University beacause i felt that i didn't belong there. Your way to think and explain things made me belive that there is room for everybody on the great house of critical thinking, and for this i thank you Mike. I wish y'all on the Idea Channel my best wishes.

Thanks for everything

I can't unsub from this channel.... I already clicked the doubly doo.....

Has this really been just three years?

I might have disagreed at times, or agreed wholeheartedly at others, but the one thing I'm going to miss more than anything is the anticipation. I looked forward to Idea Channel video every week for this chance to partake in a vicarious experience that I cannot get from "RL" because so many of those that I know in person just don't have the desire, the time, or the energy to go down intellectual rabbit holes just to see where we'd go. Often times I've felt so isolated for "overthinking" things, and Idea Channel gave me in some way, a sense of belonging. I'm going to miss that. But I suppose all good things... It's a magical world, Mike, ol' buddy. Let's go exploring.

;~; What a legacy to leave behind. I'll always miss that album-covered room/set. Good luck to everyone on the team for future endeavors and projects!

Watching this channel was an eye opening experience.