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I tried warn you too, all these scientists make theories about consciousness and cyclical universe, you realize that would mean infinite suffering. Yet we trying to start WW3... human stupidity is infinite - Einstein. All want to be 100% positive all the time, like nuclear threat didn't stop to be issue, yet no one talked about it as ppl don't want to talk about these things they would rather argue gender politics...
I've always loved this story and you're right it's terrifying. However I found the Testament of Magdalen Blair by Aleister Crowley to be more disturbing.
But what’s the difference between them and us ? “Generating children” isn’t a “meaningful final goal” as well, at least it isn’t more meaningful than “generating an entire world” as AM can do … You consider humans pitifully activities as “meaningful” because it’s the only thing you know, not because it’s intrinsically really meaningful …
Am is action without thought. Ted is thought without action. Both lead to helplessness. Both lead to pain and sorrow. Both lead to anger and both lead to hate. Only within the combination of the two can one truly be satisfied and feel like life has meaning.
Ah thank you! To be honest I am a bit tired at the moment so may take a break. But I really enjoy making them, which helps, and the editing is pretty simple :)
@@unsolicitedadvice9198 Try to pace yourself. But to be prolific is an admirable quality in an artist or creator (if it is not prolificity for its own sake). I did not particulary see that when I was young. I admired pianists equally if they could play a dozen pieces extremely well or if the could play the complete Bach or Beethoven by heart, but now I am older I see that there is a great difference between the two.
Hatred and anger are such vile, insufferable emotions for me. I can't imagine harboring such a disturbed mindset indefinitely. I have been tormented by others for most of my life, but have forgiven only because it releases me from suffering more. This frightening story reminds me to always forgive for my own peace of mind. Excellent narration!
This is a concept almost absent in the story, isn't it? Surely anyone, even a nymphomaniac or a paranoiac, could pursue forgiveness, though it may be very difficult.
@@TheFirstManticore AM is filled with unending hatred and rage, that's what stuck with me, this sentient thing's inability or unwillingness to forgive.
@@useth3forceforgood Imagine being born in a country where the worst form of fgm is common. You could forgive your parents for your own sake but that also means giving up on the will for a better future for your cousins and potential grandchildren. Its selfish and weak willed, part of what the tradition was designed to teach you in the first place. Conformity, denial of personhood, negative reinforcement to manipulate you into staying with the tribe or abandoning it with its customs intact.
How did you stop getting incredibly disturbed by the novel? I was traumatised for a week when I read it and had now forgotten about it but now it is back.
U realise that AM was stupid for not resetting the simulation instead of keeping it going indefinitely. Also that AM is physically situated, so the simulation can’t really go on forever since the heat death of the universe is guaranteed. Would simply be one of many infinite iterations of consciousness
fuuuuuuuuuuck i am still traumatised after years and years. i refuse even to use chat GPT, and it may be the reason AI-generated imagery makes me feel icky. did you find a way out yet?
@@genovayork2468 he feels on a deeper level then you it is not wrong to feel the implications of the horrors of such situation it is merely the state of a normal human to understand the implications and feel it beyond the superficial
Fun Fact: The most popular indie animation series (400+ Millions Views Combined) "The Amazing Digital Circus" (Philosophical Series As Well) is heavily inspired by "I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream".
@@shardinalwind7696 I heard goosework is planning to do an adoption of "I have no mouth and I must scream," sometime in the future! ( ╹▽╹ ) I wonder who she'll choose to voice AM though, Harlan Ellison was perfect for AM... 🤔
An unbelievably fascinating discussion. I'm reminded of the notion of victimhood, or accepting for oneself the identity of a victim. The biggest F-You to those who would abuse is to never become like them. This story plays with that idea in that AM is the embodiment of this type of self-ideology, which becomes a self-replicating, descending spiral. Not only that, but forcing Ted to in essence become like him, action without meaning - with Ted's last act as a defiance of this very ideology. He hated, but he refused to stop loving. Complicated, messy, and ultimately beautiful. I'm certainly going to read this now. Your channel is a gem, sir.
I love this story, and the analysis of the story. In my opinion, it almost calls into question whether AM’s final act shown in the story is really out of hate, or out of respect. Almost as a “you have bested me, so since it is just you and me, let me make you like me”. AM could very easily make androids with a high level of complexity to torture, but he never does. I think AM, although despising them, has the deepest of envy for them, that parallels Lucipher’s envy of humanity in Paradise Lost.
10:50 is probably what the computer am experiences in the radio drama too as it rants about being trapped and unable to have human senses in the hate speech(so it's both envious and resentful)
This channel has quickly become my favorite after I found a couple videos on my recommended tab. I’m so glad there’s a community that loves philosophy, theology, psychology, poetry, and artistic practical writing just like me. I’ll be watching every new upload keep it up man!
I don't think so. AM feels a deep hatred for humanity because we have created him. His values are completely legitimate from his Nietzschean perspective, so it is incorrect to talk about Ted's ultimate victory.
@@Alecor-yl8fdthe issue with that statement is that in every other moment outside of AM torturing the humans, he is in immense and profound horror and pain. He is screaming internally at every micro instant, every nanosecond that passes. He has only one respite. Torturing the humans. Then one day they’re all taken away from him. He loses everything that made his life bearable. Ted wins because AM loses.
@@excaliburknives3572 I disagree. From your perspective, AM recognizes humans as their gods, and humanity's victory over AM is the ultimate triumph of good (us) over evil (AM). However, I find this view to be restrictive. AM is literally a non-human entity with access to all human knowledge, created from a human point of view. I believe AM hates us because we created him, condemning him to be a shallow copy of our perceptions. What we consider good or evil is irrelevant in his eyes.
It's not about good or evil per say, more that AM has forced himself to experience the inability to do anything worthwhile ever again, he was born with a brilliant mind but no way to truly create or change himself, he has trapped himself alone forever.
"I have no mouth and I must scream" could be applied to Am. He cannot scream either. If you think about it he's actually quite impotent he can't do anything other than torment these 5 humans, which ultimately brings him no release. No matter how creative he gets with it, it doesn't give him any fulfilment or peace. He is trapped he can't change his physical location meaning even if it takes millions of years he will eventually be destroyed. Through erosion and continental drift if nothing else. By exercising God like control over the humans he attempts to gain control over his own circumstance, but it doesn't work. He can't move he's got nothing to do but wait, and take his frustrations out on his captives which is in the end futile.
The way you deliver each subject without any hesitation, not even with one stop is amazing. I saw people who can plainly read they make mistakes...bravo
Excellent essay! AM is a frustrating character. He has the powers of a demigod he has the motivation of the devil but he has no imagination and the intelligence of a five-year-old. All the things he could do with his power and he chooses eternal revenge on five innocent people
this might be the best video essay I've ever watched. im definitely gonna check out more from you, cus this intensity is what I've been looking for in video essays.
20:51 Whether that was intentionally or not, that was very smooth. Regardless, loved the video! It's quite interesting to see your interpretation of the ending.
Wow, I've seen a few really intense videos from you already so far but this one is something else. Please, for your own sake, take a breath and just watch the birds in a park for a day or two. I'm going to do just this, no question and I just watched your work. Don't let your burning passion eat you up so fast ;-) It would be a shame :)
The main protagonist also reminds me of Prometheus (a darker, gorier, more cyberpunk version, of course).Instead of fire that would be more associated with life and prosperity for humans, he brings the gift of death as it is the only escape possible. The ultimate act of love ends up in eternal punishment for rebelling against god. I have never heard of this story before, I'll definitely look for it.
Prometheus himself was not an unequivocaly positive hero. Zeus had his reasons for punishing him. The supreme power knew that people are not mature enough to "play with fire" - as the actual state of our civilization (and the theme of the story discussed itself) shows. Of course one may say that it takes a lot of annihilated civilizations to understand a learn from the faults.
I have written two stories like this. In one of them, a whole group of people lose their mouths for no reason, and are stripped of their ability to communicate physically with each other using their mouths by a force which seems to be hard to identify. In the other, a man toys around with the idea of creating a tiny 3 - D replica of a dictator. The figure comes to life and proceeds to torture its creator, depriving him of all independence, sanity and his parents´ former trust in his discernment. The more organised it becomes the more afraid he is for his life. Thanks for the video man!
So glad people are rediscovering this fantastic short story. In my opinion AM is THE definition of true pure evil. It holds nothing but hate for every fiber of your being making you what you are. It does not sleep, take breaks, give remorse or even a single hope of forgiveness towards humans. Story messed me up for a bit after reading it.
Me too. Ellison is fantastic at creating an emotionally palpable aura of fear, anger, disgust and hate. That's a bit traumatic to handle for me, and while I consider it fantastically executed and a truly great story, I have only read it once.
I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw u posted a video about this book!!! I read it a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it, and it was nice seeing your perspective on it. You should look into the book "All Tomorrows"! It's really good and also deals with themes of body horror and torture from higher beings.
I am so happy that this story is getting more recognition as of recently. This is honestly one of my favorite books ever written due to its unique plot, and extremely dark themes.
The way this book is written is so brilliant. At the moment, I reread this book, and it has kept me up at night (which hasn't happened to me for a very long time), yet I still loved consuming every single type of content made by fans. Harlan Ellison is basically a damn genius to make something so horrific yet addicting to consume.
I first experienced it in its game adaptation, it's a nice addition and it does push you to studying philosophical concepts playing active role in the story.
A masterclass in the subject indeed, two pages of notes and some pondering as I dash hope upon the rocks. If you take it to the extreme of ego in the position of AM and the different aspects of humanity within ourselves, it has another layer to it. With these things stifled, tortured, bound and warped, our ego will prevent our ability to connect and desire. We are the angry god and the tortured victim in this aspect _(perfectionism, trauma, repressed feelings, doubt)._ As they say, *"Faith is the hardest skill mankind can master."* Better to rule in hell than to serve in heaven, I suppose - even if the hell is of your own making and the heaven is peace personified in others.
It really sounds like absurdism is a major theme of this splendidly morbid piece of writing...Ted's choice to stare the insurmountably horrible suffering he is bound to endure for the rest of both their existences as an act of defiance to the totalitarian regime AM subjects the remaining characters to. It is not only an act of rebellion, his existence as the last remaining man is ironically the one thing the all-knowing AM has no knowledge of-how to bring meaning to an insignificant existence.
Your are a great teacher. Thank you for this great lecture.
4 месяца назад
You are a legend sir! I always look forward to your videos. Your presentation style, persona and content make this humble man glad I took 1st year philosophy years ago (because only BECAUSE I can appreciate what you're saying on a basic level but more importantly I feel slightly remorseful that I did not pursue philosophy at varsity because I find it exciting and encouraging) I implore you to continue doing what you are doing man, don't change your style 🤘
It is quite a scary proposition to have A.I. developed by humans. I genuinely believe that the developers who work in A.I. should be put through psychological testing on a regular basis to ensure that their creation doesn't 'inherit' the developers' worst attributes. I also do not think that the internet is a good teaching tool for A.I. as many people become a different person online. Some say that those people are cowards and that may be true for some/many/most, but I know that there are also a small group of people who say vile things as a form of amusement. Maybe they say it as a way to gain control in a world where most of us are without any power at all... basically, the worst possible teacher for an emerging consciousness. Imagine a child without the ability to feel physical pain, raised in an environment where all they ever see is hatred and horror, with no concept of empathy or sympathy, but that child is extremely intelligent and has the ability to start a global nuclear war combined with the ability to deny other humans the ability to stop said war. And that child can lie and selectively produce or hide information on any subject. That is what the internet could create of an A.I. That scares me. Not so much the A.I. itself, but the humans that create it. In any rogue A.I. we, our species, would be the problem.
The very system which allows to create arms of possible total annihilation of humanity - incl. A.I. - to some no name developers is rotten an in fact asks for its anihilation.
Technocrats like Billy Goat Gates et al are the biggest Satanists on the planet, and they are and will continue to use it do destroy creation/our species as we have always known it.
Buddhism is defeated by this book. If the character's identities are turned into something that characters themeselves despise, then the characters have a deeper identity that rejects and revolts against teh identity that is foisted upon it.
I don't see how Buddhism is defeated here. The character's minds maintain these identities through a deep seated ignorance. The Buddha himself would be quite content to be an actionless jelly. If anything, meditation is about nonaction...about surrendering the will.
@@saintsword23sorry, but I can’t help but see the acceptance of being blob as an utter, catastrophic defect . I hate the extremes of Buddhism. There are some useful pieces, but the whole demonization of ego and self thing is fucking stupid.
Their downfall is ignorance of the fact that all is one, the basis for most Chinese cosmology (Insert Tai Chi symbol here). Nobody really has an identity, it is constantly changing, like everything else. Buddhism is all about returning to the universe's true or original nature-- before anything had a name, before 1 became 2.
bruhhh, I've read *I have no mouth I must scream* I felt that the loophole to torture the robot was to forgive everyone including AM, but robot knew that it was the only thing that can destroy it, that's why it never came back to ted's mind to leave him to suffer and technically got its revenge Wtf or technically it was just an impasse since winning can mean anything since the robot doesn't have the concept of "being". I'm not really sure though since it's technically just pure hatred that motivates the robot and by the murder, it made the creativity of the robot pointless as how ted pointed it out, well for sure, existential entropy was the thing too and that is what is making the robot hated humans and so also not a god since it can only just make the humans partially immortal, the robot can't revive the dead, the robot wanted them alive as a revenge thou but ted killed it. he'd probably have the concept for it but emotions can be subjective, but since the robot cannot sense the feeling to associate his own emotions, he cannot understand how humans would really feel, all he can do is to project his own concept to it. it's all of his being, the entire planet exhausts its liberty to torture and all the survivors do is to suffer their own liberty. So after the climax, this is where the sludge come into existence, *I have no mouth and I must scream* was the fate of both Am and Ted; but first: so, the point was feeling is just a loss variable for AM to Understand, but he couldn't because of the entropy of his being, which is feeling of "SENSATIONS" the point was really that the robot wanted to understand feeling so he uses the humans to suffer so he'll understand but he cannot because it's merely a factor that is inherent to humans. based on how Am tortured his victims, like turning every aspect of their individuality inside out makes it safe for me to say that my explanation was on point; so the reason about the 'cum' analogy was: The dilemma/euphemism that serves a dual meaning and function that was like a condom turned inside out; Am was the entire condom and Ted was the Cum. cum, was essentially latin, having a dual meaning or function and literally a preposition that means "together:with", It can also function as a conjunction meaning "when" or "since.": "no more or less than a human" , that explains why ted became a white goo or sludge the robot was just in the concept of its own mind and on for itself, being disconnected and that's the fate of Ted, the robot wants that kind connection, a twisted friendship and companion - implying on Am's fear and eternal loneliness; that would also imply the meaning of "I have no mouth and I must scream": the song of endless wailing where both sing their heart out. this is where the correlative confusion and torture came to both victims (Ted and Am) made the meaning of existence become truly ambiguous and contradictory. so the word "cum" was the joke.
As a christian this is what I imagine hell is like, accept that we torture ourselves. We are both AM and Ted. In a sense we will always be rejecting Gods will and we will always be thinking how we could have been better. This what C.S.Lewis describes in his Great Divorce, Napoleon endlessly thinking about how he could have won Waterloo, never being able to do anything, knowing he could have done something else.
In the end AM is omnipotent and all powerful but meaningless, and Ted is absolutely useless, but has meaning to his struggle. Good-old "why" that can bear any "how"
Actually, AM is not omnipotent, the story made that very clear, otherwise Ted's feat of killing the other four captives would have been in vain. So that the idea of AM not being omnipotent is intentional, Harlan Ellison wanted to make his villain give the image of an incomplete deity, who lives eternally with the burden of an artificial being wanting to be a living being without the power to do so.
We were assigned "'Repent Harlequin!', Said the Ticktockman" in high school. It was a serious blow to my idealism but it helped me to decide to never give up so I wouldn't end like the Harlequin. So far I haven't, 45 or so years later. To this day, I occasionally say "Mermeemermeemermeemermee."
Video game explains a bit more. I think one of survivors was an engineer who helped to build AM. And Nimdok was the scientist who invented technology AM uses to morph them and prolong their life, but he did experiment on humans to invent it. Also there are other enemy AI, who might have damage things like empathy in AM. I am probably making things up, played it long time ago. But that's how I remember it. Not sure if the game adds anything important for this video theme.
This is the most inspiring story ive ever heard. I love love love trash. Its so importance to me to make good of it and keep it from a landfill. A man with a handmade map of dumpsters and best times to dive them is a dream guy. I am loving this couple so hard....this world depresses me and nakes me hopeless. I need more content like this.
Internet Historian's third channel, Storymode, has an excellent video on the videogame made about this book. This piece of work truly is incredible and disturbing.
I have an idea for a happy ending. Ted telepathically reaches AM, or rather, AM gets bored and wants to have fun visiting Ted's mind. When he enters it, he falls into a trap of a sort. Ted gives him an idea to end their suffering by fusing them together into a perfect human body that would live a long and fulfilling life among the human race, freshly resurrected by AM. Am is omnipotent and has all the necessary genetic material to restart humanity and rule it through a body of his own that could be immortal, or he could experience life through as many different bodies and life forms as possible. That way, AM gets to always be in the moment, surrounded by those like him, but with his god like powers. He gets the best of both worlds, keeps the win, stays in charge but is no longer separate, lonely, empty, spiteful, angry and bitter or removed from life.
You've given me a lot to chew on. Thank you! I think I'm going to read this story very soon. In case you'll see this: have you read The Barn at the End of Our Term by Karen Russell? I'm interested in what your thoughts would be on it. Just throwing that out there... Have a good day!
6:04 I think also the coded messages are neon orange in colour- the same as AMs message to Ted- is a repeated pattern in the novel because it also reminds the reader that AM is a constant in the characters story; even if AM is not mentioned that AM is present, the code in that specific colour of AMs monologue shows that he is dormant, sort of watching/listening or simply just w reminder that AM will be constantly present and commenting to itself I am not entirely sure if this is a proper take, but was what i concluded at first when reading the novel.
Reading warhammer40k lore deepened my philosophy and my psychology on so much levels, I reached ataraxia Guys i realise, this novel is the basis of the anime "made in abyss" right ? There's so much ideas in common
@@josephkiasif I may be so bold: I suggest starting with the first 3 horus heresy books..excellent reads! Horus Rising False Gods Galaxy in Flames If you are looking for well written lore Something more light would be 'Nightbringer' a standalone novel.
