LINKS AND CORRECTIONS: Support me on Patreon here (you lovely person): patreon.com/UnsolicitedAdvice701?Link& Subscribe to my Substack here for more of my writings (and my scripts): josephfolley.substack.com/ CORRECTION: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is Hungarian, not Czech. My apologies
Talking about books. How do you manage to read them all and make this video's? Workaholic much? Or a really fast reader? I am reading the gay science right now and i have to read every page twice on average to really grasp it
Your content always seems to be spot on......or maybe it is just my ego and how I am drawn to someone who see's the world in a similar fashion lol. Love your work.
The fact that I got an ad for an AI app meant to provide a simulation of companionship right in the middle of this analysis says a lot about the state of the world right now
Re-read Fahrenheit 451 as an adult and it was so depressing. Between the book-burning and discouragement of education and learning, we’re well on our way to creating a reality way too similar to the world of the book.
Not to mention the freakishly accurate prediction of how common fatal car crashes become. Take the recent Jack Doherty live streaming crashing his maclaren situation, for instance...
SM Alpha Centauri is a gold mine of quotes. "The managers always talked about having the view from 30,000 feet. The only problem with having the view from 30,000 feet, is that at that height, everyone looks like ants."
Alpha Centauri's lore feels like a real dynamic alternate history of humanity's future. In the Civ's series, technology is often presented as an achievement, something positive and utopic. In Alpha Centauri, the more you advance the more the future looks bleak and dystopic but no one can stop what they are doing because the only alternative is annihilation or worse. And then the game's narrative ended with a real cosmic horror ending.
😮 who on earth would harangue you for reading something intellectual to better yourself (not like you’re reading something that involves degrading porn or gratuitous violence).
I had that moment when it was brought up about how people gradually read 2 sentence summaries on books 😂 definitely saw the irony in watching a book summary
@ I can only understand this sentence in context with itself. once read in context with what I said, i cannot understand how you're trying to engage me.
Really appreciate that you don't draw specific, outright parallels to our current world outright but rather leave us to chart points ourselves and come to our own conclusions. It's the best practice to do during media discussion and analysis, especially for books like these, in my opinion.
nah, I like it when someone draws a conclusion/belief/opinions, etc. on what's good and bad and provide their evidence as to why they believe that. I believe Burning books is bad....why? Education is important to not repeat harmful mistakes, and books are perfect to hold the information we need to never repeat those mistakes. Protecting the environment is good. Why? We need it to exist comfortably and free of pain. But also, I hope I don't have to explain why.... If I do, then education failed, and now we will be harmed by that lack of knowledge by making painful mistakes... Is that hot stove gonna burn? Yes, No, I don't know. Only one is the truth, one is a lie, the other is a lack of knowledge. HOT stove. So yeah, you need to pick a side sometimes, you can't be neutral forever...that's just cowardice.
@@RSAgilitynot telling you what to think is not neutrality. Coming from someone who hates "centrist" ideology. I think he said exactly what needed to be said in this video. To spoon feed the thesis to us I think would be to undermine the point.
@theshockinglyeloquentdog9945 exactly this. It's good because he doesn't belittle the viewer, giving us information as it is, with no bias, so that we can infer the implications of what's being said, comparing it to how the world is without HIS input. It's solid. Not sure if I got my point across but
Only manipulators use vagueness and never pick a side, never giving you their opinions and evidence of why. I do like telling people what to think, mainly because: thoughts turn into behavior. Beliefs lead to actions. And if yours are wrong, your actions will be harmful. But by all means if you want to hear what makes you feel better, fine. I'll just tell you this then; "I don't know if that stove that's been on all day is hot or not, you'll have to find out for yourself, I can't pick a side or give you my opinions, that's how you learn, by forming your own conclusion, go "chart the dots"" 🙄
@@RSAgility that's disingenuous. It's more like, "I want to touch that stove" "It's been on all day." "Am I not allowed to touch it?" "You can do whatever you want but, I'm telling you the oven has been on all day."
I think the only thing that could turn out true from Fahrenheit 451 is not the persecution of book and them being burned, but the dilution of complex discourse being replaced by simple soundbites and basic rhetoric. Books still exist, but are made redundant in every day life.
not to mention, however, the disregard towards life itself; the story mentions not many people seeming to care that "children are so violent they kill each other", and other ways like is disregarded in that world. Welcome to USA 2025, it's already like that.
yes, the reality has become that books don't even need to be censored. All the debate around censorship of books today is just political circusry. No need to censor books while we get reports every year stating that less and less people bother to read. We've gotten to the point where people have to put TLDR summaries on one-paragraph commentaries because people can't even bother to read a full paragraph. We're already living in that reality.
@FlanaFugue Not everyone. We care very much. But when you have communities that are contrary, how do we stop it? Do we seize everyone and breakup the community?
Our hustle culture doesn’t want to allow people the time for complex discourse or reading an actual book (there still is much in books that isn’t covered on the Internet).
It’s truly remarkable that a graduate of one of the world’s best universities shares his knowledge, experience, and reflections gained during his time there. For (us) most people, access to such a high level of education is limited to written works, without the opportunity to feel what can be gained by engaging with this centuries-old tradition of oral teaching. Thank you!
I'm old enough to remember when my family first got a television set. My mother quickly became addicted to watching soap operas. She used say "oh, its time for my stories." I was curious about how those stories became "her" stories. She knew more about those TV characters then she did about her neighbors. Insidious thing. I'm also old enough to remember when MTV started a segment called "Liquid Television." It was a series of shows that were only 15 minutes long instead of 30 or 60. I was afraid it was going to become the wave of the future. "Aion Flux" got its start on the series. It started out as a animated comic book panel. Very little dialog. Fortunately it grew out of that.
Is it bad that I know infinitely more about the characters of the stories I like than the current state of my neighbor (who also happens to be my sister; counting childhood would be unfair to the shows so I’m not doing that lol). She is a drama queen though so I’m kinda glad to avoid her
43:25 I have a different interpretation of the repetition. Whenever I find myself saying the same thing over and over, it's normally because I can't fully form the idea that I'm trying to convey. I think Mrs. Phelps was feeling something, something that she couldn't express with her limited emotional vocabulary. To me, this screams as a cry for help. Her subconscious knows something is wrong, and it's begging to be let out, but the only thing she can do is pretend she's not worried and hope that her friends can say, "you're right, you don't need to worry. Everything is ok."
Similarly, The concept of repetition makes me think about stimming- sometimes it’s done to provide comfort or it’s just something that gets stuck in your head.
i’m 17 and i read the book when i was 15. i was reluctant to read it because i had a bias against “older” books but i was totally wrong. i didn’t understand the book back then, but i think i am understanding it now. i’m excited to watch this video !!
I firmly believe the way school teaches us to read and interpret books takes a lot of the enjoyment out of some of the classics. There is a crazy dark satire by Edgar Allen Poe called Loss of Breath that makes fun of how people used to declare someone dead in the 1800s and also a poem called The Bells that reads like someone got sick of hearing jingle bells one too many times. There is some enjoyment there if you just read them for what they are. With Shakespeare you can make a game of trying to see how much you can figure out what they're saying without consulting a modern translation.
im curious on why you had a bias against older books if u don't mind answering /gen. most of the time you'll find that these authors write about themes that are still relevant to this day
I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Bradbury after attending a posh little event in L.A. where he gave a great talk. He's really worth a read. The Martian Chronicles is another fantastic one.
I adore Bradbury. Even his book, "Zen in the Art of Writing," is packed with wisdom and philosophy. I still tell others about his love of cowboys as a child because it had such a profound impact on how I view my hobbies and time.
The irony of 451 is that the society and the people got rid of the books so as to erase differences and conflicts, but they still ended up in violence and the flames of nuclear bombs. Another thing is that the ending (and the whole novel) is totally pessimistic. The wise guys though keeping the books in their heads would do nothing on the ashes of the world. The logical continuation of the plot is The Book of Eli or The Road - burnt wastelands with stupid bloodthirsty creatures called humans. 451 is definitely my favorite book. I've read it 5 or 6 times since I first found it in a local library when I was 13. I reread it once in a while and what surprises me is that every time I find something new which really coincides with and reflects the experiences I've gone through. I mean at every moment and age there is something that touches me in a new, more powerful way. Thank you very much for the video! Really logical and thoughtful as usual!
This was perfect timing!!! Fahrenheit 451 was my free read book for English, and I needed a refresher video like this to help me with my project. Thank you so much!!
I had to do an essay on Fahrenheit 451 for my exam just last month, so opposite timing for me. But good for you. And better that I got to develop my own ideas about the book rather than what someone else said.
@Hello-cm8ebwell, I have to disagree with you there. Sort of. See, you have this view that every idea you hear you must absorb, or so it seems that way. You ignore the fact that this is exactly what all knowledge is. Other peoples ideas. That is what formulates our opinions. It is about taking these ideas, and working them into our philosophy, or, disagreeing with them and finding how they do not, in fact, fit within our philosophy.
@nohatheanimal I have to disagree with your disagreement. Sure all knowledge is only knowledge in so far as there’s consent on the truth of it (from one perspective) especially when that consent is shared, and seeking video content can be sufficient for transferring thought out opinions into our perspective, however it’s a very short fall into the numbing rabbit hole the creator of this video alluded to. To what degree are you personally engaging with the content is the real point that I want to commend the commenter you responded to. They seem to do exactly what I think you want out of a person which is to think about and formulate a view, their own view, based on the book and check others opinions with what they read. Of course, you don’t need a well thought out opinion in every little part of life. A well thought out frame work, as you point out, works great for getting by. This doesn’t mean we can’t waste our time trying to engage with material first hand. Especially via novel which are often well more thought out than a RUclips comment. In fact, engagement with difficult primary material is how you hone your own reaction to primary text and how a lot of new research or scientific revelations are made. I want to challenge you because I’m curious. I’m curious about the proposition of “working [ideas] into our philosophy” as if simple facts of our lives were enough to form a philosophy pre conscious awareness if this is a way to not accept areas which you may be misdirected or downright incorrect? confirmation bias exist for a reason because it’s adaptive and we recognize it as a bias because it leads us astray. Just like how this video primed me to be especially disagreeable
what’s funny is when i was in middle school, F451 was mandatory reading in florida at the time, and the state of that place now is astounding considering how many people were exposed to the dangers of extreme censorship
Man, I’ve been saying this for years, ever since I wrote an essay IN HIGH SCHOOL comparing the book banning and critical race theory legislation in Florida to books like Fahrenheit 451 and 1984. Keep up the good work, dude.
The best part of dystopian writing is when it shows how easily we can drift into an actual dystopia. Ray Bradbury was one of the many great Science Fiction writers who learned from the great editor John Campbell (Campbell was misogynistic and not a nice person, but he was a truly great editor. He didn’t send rejection slips, but letters detailing what could be done better, and many a story was published in his magazines after the author rewrote it to be better based on his feedback)
@voidmayonnaise yes, that's the definition. Now, from an artistic, or maybe let's call it a human standpoint, what is the purpose of a story such as this? I almost don't want you to answer because I'm already getting Destiny vibes from you.
@@voidmayonnaise"erm, wrong" I urge you to engage with people collaboratively rather than competitively. Quoting a definition you've found as though it "corrects" or counters someone's observation is a poor way to engage with a discussion.
This book used to be required reading in sophmore highschool classes where im from, this has been my favorite book ever since then, and it breaks my heart that no one even 3 years younger than me knows/remembers it now
The other thing that is happening is books are being made into movies that barely communicate the ideas in the books. Who wants to read when the movie is only two hours long? All the depth of the characters and the story are sacchranized.
I can barely stand movies anymore, I managed to spend such a long time away from them I can no longer appreciate them because there's always too many things going on that I can't even begin to understand even on a surface level unless I pause every 5 seconds. At this point books are the only way for me, though visual cues would be huge. I wish there was a picture attached to every single sentence or paragraph so when I get too confused I could just cheat a little so I don't have to burn the book even more passionately than Bradbury did in his story
You know, Fahrenheit 451 isn’t just about censorship-it’s about a society willingly numbing itself, choosing ignorance over knowledge, comfort over truth. Bradbury warned us about a world where people stop thinking critically, where entertainment replaces substance, and where the things that truly matter-books, ideas, meaningful conversations-are cast aside in favor of shallow distractions. It’s terrifying how relevant that message is today. And honestly, that’s exactly how my marriage fell apart. At first, we had depth, real conversations, real connection-just like how Montag once valued his world before realizing it was all a lie. But then, like Mildred drowning herself in empty TV shows and meaningless social interactions, my wife started pulling away. First, it was little things-ignoring me at dinner, scrolling on her phone instead of talking to me. Then it got worse. Late nights, ‘work friends,’ secretive texts. I should’ve seen it coming, just like Montag should’ve seen that his society was beyond saving. And when I finally woke up-when I finally realized what was happening-just like Montag clutching his stolen books in the dead of night, I thought I could fix it. I thought I could fight back. But nah, just like how the firemen burned everything down, the court system torched my entire life. She took the house, the car, my dog-my dog, bro-and left me with nothing but a foldable lawn chair and a crippling sense of betrayal. Just like Montag running from the mechanical hound, I had to escape it all, rebuilding from the ashes of everything I once loved. Anyway, crazy how prophetic Bradbury was. Society really is on a downward spiral. 10/10 great book and breakdown.
oh man, that sounds terrible.. I hope you are doing better now. It truly is very sad how constant srolling, texts, ig , tiktok, and even netflix rob us from so much time, rob us from our attention to the things that really matter. Not long ago I realised how from about 5 hours of company from my boyfriend when he would visit me, about 3 h were spent watching tv shows and the remaining hours were interrupted by mindless scrolling. I told my boyfriend that and now we are actively trying to actually be present, have a damn conversation.. and save ourselves of becoming two strangers who just happen to be together and enjoy senseless and useless entertainment. it kind of revealed to me that, with the silence of no distractions there might be some issues in paradise, but I would rather work on them than push them to a side and distract myself.
21:10 - Connection and contact when absent of reciprocation is fantastical projection. For a time, the individual can uphold a shared experience on his/her own, but eventually the absence of another cannot be ignored. It’s akin to thinking one’s echo is a call out from another only to learn you are alone.
How ironic, watching a video in this book instead of going through the laborious process of engaging with the text directly. It *is* easier and more entertaining, after all. Gotta feed my algorithm fed addiction to content somehow :) Great video as always though!
he always recommends people actually go and read the works he talks about, because he aknowledges he's not the last word on them. Seems like he just forgot to do so in this vid 😅
Yeah, I get the irony but Unsolicited Advice does provide additional relevant content and context that you wouldn’t get just from reading Fahrenheit 451. Ideally, you both read the book and watch this analysis (& maybe others).
I was 15, a freshman in 1996 when I picked Fahrenheit 451 as my yearly book report/essay (yeah, our high school had a yearly book report for its literature classes, we needed four credits to graduate) My mother said it was "too much of a book" for me to comprehend enough to report ton. My father was a little less apprehensive and even quizzed me about ideas and themes I did not write about. He was content enough to start suggesting other novels to me. This book was not on the suggested list ever, yet I chose it anyway and impressed my first year English/Lit teacher. Even won me an award. My favorite spin-off, though much more "simple" was the movie Equilibrium. Good video essay! I like dit.
I read this book my sophomore year of highschool right before it got banned. God this book has been living in my head rent free as we got closer to the inauguration
Hi unsolicited advice, I’m an actor who’s currently studying philosophy in college, and I discovered you through the video on Stendhal’s On Love. I borrowed it from my college’s library and loved what I had time to read before break. It got me into your channel and I’ve been enjoying your content a lot. I was already reading Myth of Sisyphus and love The Stranger and really enjoyed your videos on both of those books. Then, I saw you had videos on Werther and White Nights, and before watching your videos I read both just out of trust of the recommendation. I am very glad I read both so I just want to thank you not only for the inspiring philosophical content but also for informing my reading on my winter break :) I think all of it is making me a better human. Cheers!
I've seen the movie ages ago and found it quite alarming. I could never believe back then that we would come to an age with so many similarities to this.
I love your work. I’ve just been working an equation for the past 7 days and my brain is freaking fatigued and can’t handle the level of depth your current is right now haha. I’m leaving a comment for the algorithm so it doesn’t think I’m clicking off it before it finishes because I’m not interested. Amazing work btw! You are my favorite philosophy channel!
I definitely agree with the point you are making about censorship, but even Bradbury insisted this is not about censorship. It was a book about media and about “amusing ourselves to death” and also DISTRACTING ourselves to death. Books make you think. Screens make you follow.
I've been on about this for the last 20 years if not more probably more and people kept thinking I was exaggerating or over thinking the situation and now look where we are
In the digital age physical books are becoming increasingly less common are being done away without fire. Now it is your kindles and audibles which can be done away with a single key press. So Ray may be right.
Don't let yourself be compliant. Don't be afraid of causing trouble. Don't let yourself be comfortable. Now is not the time to be a meek bookworm, a quiet thinker, now is the time to be a nuisance. Now is the time to be everything the System hates and to be so proudly and loudly. Whatever you may have to sacrifice, remind yourself that the whole world has more to lose than you do.
When i see videos like this it makes me wish i could hang out with a person,ppl, like this. Theres so much of this i think about but feel alone often not being able to talk about these things with others. I have friends who i could talk to about this but i dont see them enough and its not the type thing you just bring up at the local bar. He describes the various philosophies of various characters in the book but i wonder where he comes from in his ernest ideas.
I also would love to have a group of people with whom I could discuss classic books and deeper ideas minus any other agenda. I was thinking book clubs might be good.
@@chikaka2012I’ve found the problem with a lot of book clubs (that read books I am interested in) is that they’re for retirees a lot of the time. I wanted to join my art museum’s club, but realized they meet at 1pm on a Tuesday. Starting my own would be nice, but I do not have friends or coworkers where I live, and I really don’t want to get into dangerous situations by involving complete strangers without any vetting.
And when they found our shadows Groups 'round the TV sets They ran down every lead They repeated every test They checked out all the data in their lists And then the alien anthropologists Admitted they were still perplexed But on eliminating every other reason For our sad demise They logged the only explanation left This species has amused itself to death No tears to cry No feelings left This species has amused itself to death Amused itself to death
John Conner: "We're not gonna make it are we....people I mean?" T-800: "It's in your nature to destroy yourselves." John Conner: "Yeah, major drag huh?" A very relevant quote that sums up yet only scratches the duality of man.
Such a powerful video! I sure hope it'll resonate with a lot of people. I definitely believe there's a lot of worth in differing ideas and books. I became obsessed with reading around 12 and read a book or two a week for years. I was called mature and wise for my age from that point forward. So many situations in my life that I went through with finesse were situations I'd recognize from reading and know how to navigate through. As a bonus all your english teachers will love you I believe thinking for yourself is one of the most important skills we have as humans and the state of the internet worries me.
I just wanted to thank you for the work put into editing the subtitles ❤its impressive how well they are synced to your speaking! I know it was a pain, but man, it makes reading subtitles easier, which I wasn't sure was possible!
So glad you covered this book. Crucial concepts to be talking about. Eerily too much like modern US with our social media and echo chamber news media. What bothers me, and what I wasn't able to see clearly until I did very intentional trauma healing and addressed systemic trauma.... It works so well when abusers use the fear of discord to discourage action or change. Once you are able to step outside of that mentality, you realize how unsustainably childish it is to believe in not doing something because you won't be able to address the consequences. Because it stays in a place of never addressing consequences (I live in the US with the US government, remember) and discourages anyone from being aware of any other options. What is best, is to equip people, ourselves, our children, with the knowledge of what to do, how to handle it, how to mend, how to address, how to create harmony.
Theres so much info packed in this vid i could rewatch it over n over to glean all the ideas and concepts. My brain feels like dry ground that cnt absorb all the rain coming down. But i was constantly making connections to very real world ideas and events. The numbing of ones mind thu labor that seems pointless but is necessary to support oneself economically and the subsequent reaction of seeking entertainment to ease the pain of unfulfilling labor. The reenforcement of daily routine proving to oneself that creativity and social acts are pointless to ones real life. Whats the point in political action and awareness when you have no real power in those areas anyway?
Read it about 15 years ago. When I became aware of twitch and the parasocial elements developing around livestreaming, 451 was the first thing I thought of. Gotta get a second screen to watch more of my friends.
Read this in high school over a decade ago and just got done rereading back in December. The most memorable and important idea, in my opinion, is when Beatty says that the people stopped reading on their own. Definitely made removing the books from society a breeze.
I read "Fahrenheit 451" as an adult and was immediately affected; so much so I watched the film as well as purchased the stage play written by Bradbury himself about twenty years after the book. The stage play was interesting in a good way because it shows some effects from the film adaptation, and vastly expands the Beatty character. It basically confirms what many readers think--that Beatty himself collects books. In the play he and Montag have a discussion in his library of hundreds of books. Great video essay and thank you for making it,.
It’s just so beautifully written, every sentence was like a poem. I think when I read it I was distracted by the incredible writing and didn’t take much on about the message. Also the robot dog that hunts them down was the main image I was left with when I finished the book! Perhaps I should reread.
We read this book in my English class this year. It was the first time since reading the giver that a book we had to read was something i was engaged in and really enjoyed. We also watched the movie after please save yourself the pain of sitting through that god awful movie.
We, the human species, have been continuously warned throughout history. But as you say, through the consent of the general population. That consent has always been induced through laziness, aka (It is as it is).
I am so glad these videos are long and go into great depths which is often required to understand something. It has also led me to re examine my life and how I too have succumbed to technological advancements. But no matter how much you consume RUclips shorts or reels it never does anything for anyone. This year lets be better and keep posting. Thank you so much for your effort this feels criminal to be free Thank you so much!!!
I literally just finished reading Fahrenheit 451 today, for the first time. (I’m a millennial but was late to the party on many classics) While reading it I could see the parallels to society today. So much junk entertainment, especially short form content, keeping everyone numb yet hooked to the “content”. Reading & literacy is declining, etc.
Sigmond Freud's nephew Edward Bernays envisioned a concept of akin to a happiness machine in which people are made to be preoccupied with fulfilling their personal desires by being a loyal consumer and relinquish being a conscientious citizen. This video about Fahrenheit 451 reminded me of Edward Bernays' vision for American society since he didn't trust the masses to run a democracy, only the wealthy elites.
Ray Bradbury is one of my favourite authors and I credit my Year 10 teacher for dystopia and making me actually read these genres. Fahrenheit 451 opened my eyes to my obsession for science fiction. It is deeply saddening that the world we have come to know is getting very similar to this.
Great breakdown of a classic. Though, looking at some of the comments, I'd have to disagree that we're living in that world or are even close to it. The evidence for that is the existence of this video itself. However, there is one aspect that is concerning. You were right that it didn't happen because `the government` suddenly made a power grab. It was a slow walk, in baby steps that society itself walked right into, vacant eyed with smiles. `That` is the more compelling concern for the future. The whole `idiocrasy` phenomenon. How it actually manifests though, remains to be seen.
Postman didn't take anime (basically animated graphic novels and books) into account when he wrote "Amusing Ourselves to Death." The use of philosophy, theology, mythology, psychology, and the overall deep reflective search for meaning in the most dire circumstances is why it's so wildly popular, captivating, and dominating media overall. In fact, if you did a deep dive on anime from a philosophical perspective, I bet you would not only grow to love it but also, it would help convey some of these very concepts visually, as well. For the same reason comic books always resonated with us, especially DC, they make us feel feelings we didn't even know we had!
On this podcast episode in particular or the only episode that I have watched on this channel so far, it is so evident that the whole material is made for a critical thinking practice, where we the viewers would implement a brilliant method that Alex O’Connor uses often when discussing the Christian bible with believers, with aim to logically explain to them how immoral the whole substance their belief consists of and how irrational it is the lack of morality when professed to be followed and practiced by humanity, Alex O’Connor does this like dissecting the whole text, chapter by chapter, verse by verse, paragraph by paragraph and so it goes, line by line even when necessarily applies. On this episode in particular, the book you chose to speak of and the story you tell us it is about, and the way you explain it to be what the author of the book attempts to imply to be of importance to his view in particular and the views of the peoples of the time that they hold vs the views that they should hold, the whole shebang is hot topic for Alex O’Connor’s style of book dissection that is perfect for a critical thinking writing exercise. Thanks for sharing, different than what I’d now since have been following your channel for a few months, would expect, what would be the presentation of Philosophy to the general public, in a way that you do it that has a little theatrical sprinkle that is just absolutely necessary for the delivery method of material like Philosophy where moral values is the fundamental principle of, along with the Literature topic’s spirit holding Philosophy to the grounds of study but presented in a way with that sprinkle that is particular to you that is pretty awesome therefore it kept me as a follower of the channel after the introduction to it done to some of us, by Alex O’Connor, on his channel Within Reason, via an interview that he’s done with you once, soo there a go 😊
Clones have a weakness Power and strength in diversity When judge on certain domains:- Cognitive ability, genetics, community, culture, environment, economics and ethics. In a biological culture, that is a mass of cloned singularities, what kills one clone kills all. To be curious, to go as far as to embrace the other or different can be interesting. To debate ideas and exchange information is so nourishing and satisfying. Let’s not all be the same 😊
I first read Fahrenheit 451 in 1999, my first year of HS. At the time I was already 3 years into early 'social media': telnet, BBS boards, javachat, etc. It was a different beast back then but when I read the very beginning of the book, I already knew: this is here. We're here already and we don't even know it.
Considering when the book was written and how well it depicts a dystopian society very similar to our own. It’s remarkable. Particularly the figure of the wife or girlfriend or whatever she was. Headphones in, away with the fairies. Popping pills, connected and disconnected at the same time. Such a perfect analogy. Also, listen to the prayer of the refugee by Rise Against. The song basically describes Guy being outside the city. It was one of the inspirations in the line of notes for that album.
first time viewer of the channel. this video randomly popped up on my recommended and my god, i haven't been this engaged in a video in SO long. As someone who's gotten so used to putting videos on in the background while playing games or doing another activity, this video was absolutely so refreshing and stimulating. Liked and subscribed as soon as I finished it! Amazing work.
it is crucial not to confuse individuality with individualism. Individuality refers to the unique, authentic expression of a person’s humanity-their thoughts, creativity, and capacity to contribute meaningfully to a collective. It is the recognition of a person’s distinct identity as part of a larger whole. Individualism, on the other hand, is a product of capitalist ideology, emphasizing self-interest, competition, and the prioritization of personal gain over collective well-being. While individuality is a vital component of human liberation, individualism isolates people, reducing them to atomized units disconnected from community and solidarity. In Fahrenheit 451, the state suppresses individuality by erasing diversity of thought and flattening human experience into conformity. Yet, it paradoxically promotes a shallow form of individualism, where people like Mildred obsess over personal pleasure and appearances rather than meaningful human connection. This distinction is central to a Marxist critique of the novel: true individuality thrives only in a society where collective liberation allows people to develop their full human potential, whereas individualism serves as a tool of alienation that reinforces systemic oppression.
i read this book for the first time when i was 17 years old; i’m turning 25 this year. i’d used fahrenheit 451 as a main example for my public speaking class on the debilitating effects censorship via book banning has on the general population 3 years ago and, seeing the very things i myself have warned people about happening before my very eyes, fills me with a profound despair. we are living in a generation of severe mis- AND disinformation because we are trying to wipe our histories clean and control the masses by refusing to listen to those seen as the “losers,” only ever reading the words that the “victors” write. we need to stop being afraid of the cruelties of humanity like this. we need to embrace the negative and criticize it because only then will we ever truly be thinking freely.
My elderly mother is just like Mildred. She and I once had an opportunity to watch behind the scenes, some really incredible Russian Ballet dancers rehearse but she got restless and said she had to get home so as not to miss an episode of “Mad Men”. It was quite frightening really. In her younger days she loves ballet and I don’t know what happened but she is addicted to tv and the characters. Spends hours telling me about what they do and what they say. 🙁
This book really sounds like America, overall, but particularly during the Red Scare. Especially with the raging violence in the country that is treated as a norm since it doesn't threaten the state itself. I was thinking manufacturing consent the whole time up to the point around 26 minutes where you mention it, and I'm glad you did
I took this to heart as a little kid. Never let go of it. You know how many people young and old have literally laughed while almost hitting me with their cars?
5:15 That’s kinda relatable… Not the stuff about people being numb to death, but the way in which people have mere surface level understandings of topics and are too blind by dissonance to understand seemingly… 7:35 Noise indeed! 8:40 Boy… This matches our world to a T with the taboos. 12:24 The irony being that their stance, as I am seeing you explain, being that if they explain their stance, then people are free to make their minds up on their own, and will inadvertently “prove” their point of view by choosing against their point of view, even though all they’re doing is disagreeing. “Truth is the only one divine thing that rules the world”, is my personal counter argument I just came up with in response to Hobbes idea that one person should rule the world, cause us humans are kinda not geared towards telling absolutes/facts, our emotions and even lack thereof, can get in the way…but there are ways around our flaws of course, such as honesty, kindness, being humble, having humility, not being sarcastic all the time, etc etc… Of course, sarcasm and our flaws have a right to be expressed, as otherwise, we might be none the wiser of their existence… and we need repetition, as that’s how we learn best.
Infinite jest is also a great example of the extremes of comfort, I love this topic. I’ve always compared a great empire always collapsing with the society we have right now
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CORRECTION: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is Hungarian, not Czech. My apologies
You always so based
Your fabulous 🎉🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤❤❤
Talking about books.
How do you manage to read them all and make this video's?
Workaholic much?
Or a really fast reader?
I am reading the gay science right now and i have to read every page twice on average to really grasp it
Your content always seems to be spot on......or maybe it is just my ego and how I am drawn to someone who see's the world in a similar fashion lol. Love your work.
56:45 Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is not Czech - he was of Hungarian origin living in the US
The fact that I got an ad for an AI app meant to provide a simulation of companionship right in the middle of this analysis says a lot about the state of the world right now
😅 so crazy. yep
yes!! and the constant sponsorships for this app that summarizes books in 10 minutes
I got one for an AI that is meant to give you social advice 😢
What has the world came to
yea, he mentioned the parlor and I audibly went "oh shit"
You get those ads because you’re watching porn.
Someone told me that, I don’t know if it’s true 😂.
Re-read Fahrenheit 451 as an adult and it was so depressing. Between the book-burning and discouragement of education and learning, we’re well on our way to creating a reality way too similar to the world of the book.
Not to mention the freakishly accurate prediction of how common fatal car crashes become. Take the recent Jack Doherty live streaming crashing his maclaren situation, for instance...
@@bedazzledmisery6969 crash, by jg ballard
But there is hope at the end where as 1984 has hope that ends up dashed against a stone.
@StacySalles55 our hope is fleeting, it seems.
Yeah except they don't have to burn the books now, they just have them all conform to the preferred narrative.
One of the quotes from SM Alpha Centauri, "Beware those who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he deems himself your master."
SM Alpha Centauri is a gold mine of quotes.
"The managers always talked about having the view from 30,000 feet. The only problem with having the view from 30,000 feet, is that at that height, everyone looks like ants."
Alpha Centauri's lore feels like a real dynamic alternate history of humanity's future.
In the Civ's series, technology is often presented as an achievement, something positive and utopic.
In Alpha Centauri, the more you advance the more the future looks bleak and dystopic but no one can stop what they are doing because the only alternative is annihilation or worse.
And then the game's narrative ended with a real cosmic horror ending.
I just got pissed on for watching a book summary about a book criticizing the simplification of media... holy meta
😮 who on earth would harangue you for reading something intellectual to better yourself (not like you’re reading something that involves degrading porn or gratuitous violence).
@@chikaka2012that’s the point
I had that moment when it was brought up about how people gradually read 2 sentence summaries on books 😂 definitely saw the irony in watching a book summary
That is ironic. That person is already halfway there in the sense of Fahrenheit 451 since they are like that lol
@ I can only understand this sentence in context with itself. once read in context with what I said, i cannot understand how you're trying to engage me.
Really appreciate that you don't draw specific, outright parallels to our current world outright but rather leave us to chart points ourselves and come to our own conclusions. It's the best practice to do during media discussion and analysis, especially for books like these, in my opinion.
nah, I like it when someone draws a conclusion/belief/opinions, etc. on what's good and bad and provide their evidence as to why they believe that.
I believe Burning books is bad....why?
Education is important to not repeat harmful mistakes, and books are perfect to hold the information we need to never repeat those mistakes.
Protecting the environment is good.
Why?
We need it to exist comfortably and free of pain.
But also, I hope I don't have to explain why....
If I do, then education failed, and now we will be harmed by that lack of knowledge by making painful mistakes...
Is that hot stove gonna burn?
Yes, No, I don't know.
Only one is the truth, one is a lie, the other is a lack of knowledge.
HOT stove.
So yeah, you need to pick a side sometimes,
you can't be neutral forever...that's just cowardice.
@@RSAgilitynot telling you what to think is not neutrality. Coming from someone who hates "centrist" ideology. I think he said exactly what needed to be said in this video. To spoon feed the thesis to us I think would be to undermine the point.
@theshockinglyeloquentdog9945 exactly this. It's good because he doesn't belittle the viewer, giving us information as it is, with no bias, so that we can infer the implications of what's being said, comparing it to how the world is without HIS input. It's solid. Not sure if I got my point across but
Only manipulators use vagueness and never pick a side, never giving you their opinions and evidence of why.
I do like telling people what to think, mainly because:
thoughts turn into behavior.
Beliefs lead to actions.
And if yours are wrong, your actions will be harmful.
But by all means if you want to hear what makes you feel better, fine.
I'll just tell you this then;
"I don't know if that stove that's been on all day is hot or not, you'll have to find out for yourself, I can't pick a side or give you my opinions, that's how you learn, by forming your own conclusion, go "chart the dots"" 🙄
@@RSAgility that's disingenuous. It's more like, "I want to touch that stove"
"It's been on all day."
"Am I not allowed to touch it?"
"You can do whatever you want but, I'm telling you the oven has been on all day."
I think the only thing that could turn out true from Fahrenheit 451 is not the persecution of book and them being burned, but the dilution of complex discourse being replaced by simple soundbites and basic rhetoric. Books still exist, but are made redundant in every day life.
not to mention, however, the disregard towards life itself; the story mentions not many people seeming to care that "children are so violent they kill each other", and other ways like is disregarded in that world. Welcome to USA 2025, it's already like that.
yes, the reality has become that books don't even need to be censored. All the debate around censorship of books today is just political circusry. No need to censor books while we get reports every year stating that less and less people bother to read. We've gotten to the point where people have to put TLDR summaries on one-paragraph commentaries because people can't even bother to read a full paragraph. We're already living in that reality.
@FlanaFugue Not everyone. We care very much. But when you have communities that are contrary, how do we stop it? Do we seize everyone and breakup the community?
Our hustle culture doesn’t want to allow people the time for complex discourse or reading an actual book (there still is much in books that isn’t covered on the Internet).
@@FlanaFugue The lack of appreciation of life despite it being easier to survive and more prevalent to live is a new phenomenon
It’s truly remarkable that a graduate of one of the world’s best universities shares his knowledge, experience, and reflections gained during his time there. For (us) most people, access to such a high level of education is limited to written works, without the opportunity to feel what can be gained by engaging with this centuries-old tradition of oral teaching.
Thank you!
Imo, THIS!
One of the reasons why politics & philosophy is a mess today, lots of quacks but none of the substance
I'll bet he took mostly online classes.
@@angusmcculloch6653but he went to Cambridge to study philosophy tho
@@angusmcculloch6653 Regardless, he seems to be actually educated in the topics and authors beyond just a college level.
Most of this stuff isn't learned in uni
I'm old enough to remember when my family first got a television set. My mother quickly became addicted to watching soap operas. She used say "oh, its time for my stories." I was curious about how those stories became "her" stories. She knew more about those TV characters then she did about her neighbors. Insidious thing.
I'm also old enough to remember when MTV started a segment called "Liquid Television." It was a series of shows that were only 15 minutes long instead of 30 or 60. I was afraid it was going to become the wave of the future. "Aion Flux" got its start on the series. It started out as a animated comic book panel. Very little dialog. Fortunately it grew out of that.
Now we have tik tok, RUclips shorts, where the videos are 15-30 seconds long.
@@biomassmoth Yeah. The Shorts really pissed me off when they came out. Now I can't stop watching them.
soup operas
@ I'm also old enough to start misspelling words I've always known how to spell. Thanks for the correction.
Is it bad that I know infinitely more about the characters of the stories I like than the current state of my neighbor (who also happens to be my sister; counting childhood would be unfair to the shows so I’m not doing that lol). She is a drama queen though so I’m kinda glad to avoid her
THIS IS LITERALLY WHAT IVE BEEN COMPLAINING ABOUT FOR THE PAST 5 YEARS
I mean, it's super hilarious you're making that comment on RUclips.
@@IRS-internal-revenue-service do you think LA fires were an accident? It was all to destroy the public libraries
5 years?
That's like holding a sign "the end is nigh" AFTER the apocalypse.
I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU MEAN
Oh … we’re you ? Sorry … I wasn’t paying attention …
43:25
I have a different interpretation of the repetition. Whenever I find myself saying the same thing over and over, it's normally because I can't fully form the idea that I'm trying to convey. I think Mrs. Phelps was feeling something, something that she couldn't express with her limited emotional vocabulary. To me, this screams as a cry for help. Her subconscious knows something is wrong, and it's begging to be let out, but the only thing she can do is pretend she's not worried and hope that her friends can say, "you're right, you don't need to worry. Everything is ok."
Similarly, The concept of repetition makes me think about stimming- sometimes it’s done to provide comfort or it’s just something that gets stuck in your head.
i’m 17 and i read the book when i was 15. i was reluctant to read it because i had a bias against “older” books but i was totally wrong. i didn’t understand the book back then, but i think i am understanding it now. i’m excited to watch this video !!
Lol when you're 30 maybe you'll be like me and only watch old movies. I can't even watch anything new anymore. Too skibidi
I firmly believe the way school teaches us to read and interpret books takes a lot of the enjoyment out of some of the classics. There is a crazy dark satire by Edgar Allen Poe called Loss of Breath that makes fun of how people used to declare someone dead in the 1800s and also a poem called The Bells that reads like someone got sick of hearing jingle bells one too many times. There is some enjoyment there if you just read them for what they are. With Shakespeare you can make a game of trying to see how much you can figure out what they're saying without consulting a modern translation.
im curious on why you had a bias against older books if u don't mind answering /gen. most of the time you'll find that these authors write about themes that are still relevant to this day
@@veevzdrawz8499bc he’s young and he thinks new means better
I read it this year as a 17 yo
Falling asleep with my AirPods in every night always makes me think of Mildred and her seashells
I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Bradbury after attending a posh little event in L.A. where he gave a great talk. He's really worth a read. The Martian Chronicles is another fantastic one.
I adore Bradbury. Even his book, "Zen in the Art of Writing," is packed with wisdom and philosophy. I still tell others about his love of cowboys as a child because it had such a profound impact on how I view my hobbies and time.
@KRAKENKRYPTED being that I'm a sr. copywriter who's north of 50, yeah - I dig that one too. 🤓
Our libraries have banned all ray Bradbury as they are indecent. It has only just began.
I absolutely loved The Martian Chronicles. A few stinkers but over all a great anthology.
The irony of 451 is that the society and the people got rid of the books so as to erase differences and conflicts, but they still ended up in violence and the flames of nuclear bombs.
Another thing is that the ending (and the whole novel) is totally pessimistic. The wise guys though keeping the books in their heads would do nothing on the ashes of the world. The logical continuation of the plot is The Book of Eli or The Road - burnt wastelands with stupid bloodthirsty creatures called humans.
451 is definitely my favorite book. I've read it 5 or 6 times since I first found it in a local library when I was 13. I reread it once in a while and what surprises me is that every time I find something new which really coincides with and reflects the experiences I've gone through. I mean at every moment and age there is something that touches me in a new, more powerful way.
Thank you very much for the video! Really logical and thoughtful as usual!
That first part what you said reminds me of the movie The Village by M. Night Shyamalan
This was perfect timing!!! Fahrenheit 451 was my free read book for English, and I needed a refresher video like this to help me with my project. Thank you so much!!
Ah glad to be of help! I hope you get something from it
I had to do an essay on Fahrenheit 451 for my exam just last month, so opposite timing for me. But good for you. And better that I got to develop my own ideas about the book rather than what someone else said.
@Hello-cm8ebwell, I have to disagree with you there. Sort of. See, you have this view that every idea you hear you must absorb, or so it seems that way. You ignore the fact that this is exactly what all knowledge is. Other peoples ideas. That is what formulates our opinions. It is about taking these ideas, and working them into our philosophy, or, disagreeing with them and finding how they do not, in fact, fit within our philosophy.
@nohatheanimal I have to disagree with your disagreement. Sure all knowledge is only knowledge in so far as there’s consent on the truth of it (from one perspective) especially when that consent is shared, and seeking video content can be sufficient for transferring thought out opinions into our perspective, however it’s a very short fall into the numbing rabbit hole the creator of this video alluded to.
To what degree are you personally engaging with the content is the real point that I want to commend the commenter you responded to. They seem to do exactly what I think you want out of a person which is to think about and formulate a view, their own view, based on the book and check others opinions with what they read.
Of course, you don’t need a well thought out opinion in every little part of life. A well thought out frame work, as you point out, works great for getting by. This doesn’t mean we can’t waste our time trying to engage with material first hand. Especially via novel which are often well more thought out than a RUclips comment. In fact, engagement with difficult primary material is how you hone your own reaction to primary text and how a lot of new research or scientific revelations are made. I want to challenge you because I’m curious. I’m curious about the proposition of “working [ideas] into our philosophy” as if simple facts of our lives were enough to form a philosophy pre conscious awareness if this is a way to not accept areas which you may be misdirected or downright incorrect?
confirmation bias exist for a reason because it’s adaptive and we recognize it as a bias because it leads us astray. Just like how this video primed me to be especially disagreeable
what’s funny is when i was in middle school, F451 was mandatory reading in florida at the time, and the state of that place now is astounding considering how many people were exposed to the dangers of extreme censorship
I finished reading this book the day Mr. Bradbury passed away. I put book down and Google what other books he had. Great man and author. RIP
That is ironic
Gentlemanly, uses captions, AND pins corrections in the comment section?! Holy crap I’ve never hit the subscribe button harder.
Man, I’ve been saying this for years, ever since I wrote an essay IN HIGH SCHOOL comparing the book banning and critical race theory legislation in Florida to books like Fahrenheit 451 and 1984. Keep up the good work, dude.
The best part of dystopian writing is when it shows how easily we can drift into an actual dystopia.
Ray Bradbury was one of the many great Science Fiction writers who learned from the great editor John Campbell (Campbell was misogynistic and not a nice person, but he was a truly great editor. He didn’t send rejection slips, but letters detailing what could be done better, and many a story was published in his magazines after the author rewrote it to be better based on his feedback)
Dystopia does not predict the future. It criticizes the present.
Dystopias are everywhere , they are the past they arent just about the future
@voidmayonnaise yes, that's the definition. Now, from an artistic, or maybe let's call it a human standpoint, what is the purpose of a story such as this? I almost don't want you to answer because I'm already getting Destiny vibes from you.
@@voidmayonnaise"erm, wrong" I urge you to engage with people collaboratively rather than competitively. Quoting a definition you've found as though it "corrects" or counters someone's observation is a poor way to engage with a discussion.
@@papabird4425 Yet...humans have survived calamities like volcanos, centuries of war, plague(real ones), etc.
This book used to be required reading in sophmore highschool classes where im from, this has been my favorite book ever since then, and it breaks my heart that no one even 3 years younger than me knows/remembers it now
The other thing that is happening is books are being made into movies that barely communicate the ideas in the books. Who wants to read when the movie is only two hours long? All the depth of the characters and the story are sacchranized.
Fahrenheit 451, the film
I can barely stand movies anymore, I managed to spend such a long time away from them I can no longer appreciate them because there's always too many things going on that I can't even begin to understand even on a surface level unless I pause every 5 seconds. At this point books are the only way for me, though visual cues would be huge. I wish there was a picture attached to every single sentence or paragraph so when I get too confused I could just cheat a little so I don't have to burn the book even more passionately than Bradbury did in his story
Fahrenheit 451 is my novel that I read annually. So moving and inspirational! Protect this book at all costs.
Or, better still, memorise it.
@@jasonharris8486I like the cut of your gib 8)
@@jasonharris8486Nice one! 😉
This is the book that I would memorize, may have to now
You know, Fahrenheit 451 isn’t just about censorship-it’s about a society willingly numbing itself, choosing ignorance over knowledge, comfort over truth. Bradbury warned us about a world where people stop thinking critically, where entertainment replaces substance, and where the things that truly matter-books, ideas, meaningful conversations-are cast aside in favor of shallow distractions. It’s terrifying how relevant that message is today.
And honestly, that’s exactly how my marriage fell apart. At first, we had depth, real conversations, real connection-just like how Montag once valued his world before realizing it was all a lie. But then, like Mildred drowning herself in empty TV shows and meaningless social interactions, my wife started pulling away. First, it was little things-ignoring me at dinner, scrolling on her phone instead of talking to me. Then it got worse. Late nights, ‘work friends,’ secretive texts. I should’ve seen it coming, just like Montag should’ve seen that his society was beyond saving.
And when I finally woke up-when I finally realized what was happening-just like Montag clutching his stolen books in the dead of night, I thought I could fix it. I thought I could fight back. But nah, just like how the firemen burned everything down, the court system torched my entire life. She took the house, the car, my dog-my dog, bro-and left me with nothing but a foldable lawn chair and a crippling sense of betrayal. Just like Montag running from the mechanical hound, I had to escape it all, rebuilding from the ashes of everything I once loved.
Anyway, crazy how prophetic Bradbury was. Society really is on a downward spiral. 10/10 great book and breakdown.
God bless you man
oh man, that sounds terrible.. I hope you are doing better now. It truly is very sad how constant srolling, texts, ig , tiktok, and even netflix rob us from so much time, rob us from our attention to the things that really matter. Not long ago I realised how from about 5 hours of company from my boyfriend when he would visit me, about 3 h were spent watching tv shows and the remaining hours were interrupted by mindless scrolling. I told my boyfriend that and now we are actively trying to actually be present, have a damn conversation.. and save ourselves of becoming two strangers who just happen to be together and enjoy senseless and useless entertainment. it kind of revealed to me that, with the silence of no distractions there might be some issues in paradise, but I would rather work on them than push them to a side and distract myself.
21:10 - Connection and contact when absent of reciprocation is fantastical projection. For a time, the individual can uphold a shared experience on his/her own, but eventually the absence of another cannot be ignored.
It’s akin to thinking one’s echo is a call out from another only to learn you are alone.
How ironic, watching a video in this book instead of going through the laborious process of engaging with the text directly. It *is* easier and more entertaining, after all. Gotta feed my algorithm fed addiction to content somehow :)
Great video as always though!
Its ok, we probably wouldn't have understood it as deeply anyways.
You can still read it. I've read it several times and get something mew out of it each time.
Meh I’ve read it when I was 14. I just wanted to see this fella’s take on it.
he always recommends people actually go and read the works he talks about, because he aknowledges he's not the last word on them. Seems like he just forgot to do so in this vid 😅
Yeah, I get the irony but Unsolicited Advice does provide additional relevant content and context that you wouldn’t get just from reading Fahrenheit 451. Ideally, you both read the book and watch this analysis (& maybe others).
I was 15, a freshman in 1996 when I picked Fahrenheit 451 as my yearly book report/essay (yeah, our high school had a yearly book report for its literature classes, we needed four credits to graduate) My mother said it was "too much of a book" for me to comprehend enough to report ton. My father was a little less apprehensive and even quizzed me about ideas and themes I did not write about. He was content enough to start suggesting other novels to me. This book was not on the suggested list ever, yet I chose it anyway and impressed my first year English/Lit teacher. Even won me an award. My favorite spin-off, though much more "simple" was the movie Equilibrium. Good video essay! I like dit.
I remember that movie
I read this book my sophomore year of highschool right before it got banned. God this book has been living in my head rent free as we got closer to the inauguration
Why it was banned?
@swatikumari1992 i live in Florida and ik they do lots of book bannings
Hi unsolicited advice, I’m an actor who’s currently studying philosophy in college, and I discovered you through the video on Stendhal’s On Love. I borrowed it from my college’s library and loved what I had time to read before break. It got me into your channel and I’ve been enjoying your content a lot. I was already reading Myth of Sisyphus and love The Stranger and really enjoyed your videos on both of those books. Then, I saw you had videos on Werther and White Nights, and before watching your videos I read both just out of trust of the recommendation. I am very glad I read both so I just want to thank you not only for the inspiring philosophical content but also for informing my reading on my winter break :) I think all of it is making me a better human. Cheers!
I’d also love a video on Beauvoir’s Ethics of Ambiguity!
There was literally no advice in here lol
@@kevinbissinger unsolicited advice is the name of the channel
unbreakable attention span for the entire duration. amazing work.
I've seen the movie ages ago and found it quite alarming. I could never believe back then that we would come to an age with so many similarities to this.
The movie is even a toned down version of the story, ironically becoming the same thing that the original novel was critiquing
listening to your essay while screaming “yes, exactly!” truly felt like a breath of fresh air. thank you. ❤
Loved the video as always, please dont refrain from making longer videos like this one! The more we learn, the better
Agreed. We need this better than short ones
This might be a bit much to ask but making a shorter less in depth version of the videos could help with accessibility
The best thing about me finding this channel is that it's rekindled my desire to read. 0:
I Spent 6 years studying English Lit and I don't read enough anymore.
I felt nothing when I watched this, same when I read the book. I guess I need to take some soma now while Huxley loses his mind
I love your work. I’ve just been working an equation for the past 7 days and my brain is freaking fatigued and can’t handle the level of depth your current is right now haha. I’m leaving a comment for the algorithm so it doesn’t think I’m clicking off it before it finishes because I’m not interested.
Amazing work btw! You are my favorite philosophy channel!
I definitely agree with the point you are making about censorship, but even Bradbury insisted this is not about censorship. It was a book about media and about “amusing ourselves to death” and also DISTRACTING ourselves to death. Books make you think. Screens make you follow.
I temper reading this in highschool in 2016, senior year.
I cannot believe my eyes today.
There's a part in the book in which Mildred essentially becomes the star of her own show. That predicts Facebook. Bradbury was a genius.
Don’t forget that he also predicted airpods with those “thimble-wasps”
He also said war would cease to exist by the end of last century
It could have@@AzzaTwirre
@@AzzaTwirre not in Fahrenheit 451. You are conflating...
He also predicted the Ukraine war because the book contains all the letters from the words "Putin", "attacks" and "Ukraine"
I've been on about this for the last 20 years if not more probably more and people kept thinking I was exaggerating or over thinking the situation and now look where we are
As odd as it may sound I have been looking forward to some longer content by you, so this makes my day!
In the digital age physical books are becoming increasingly less common are being done away without fire. Now it is your kindles and audibles which can be done away with a single key press. So Ray may be right.
Don't let yourself be compliant. Don't be afraid of causing trouble. Don't let yourself be comfortable. Now is not the time to be a meek bookworm, a quiet thinker, now is the time to be a nuisance. Now is the time to be everything the System hates and to be so proudly and loudly. Whatever you may have to sacrifice, remind yourself that the whole world has more to lose than you do.
How are you not burning out considering the quality, and consistency of uploads? Brilliant work as always!
When i see videos like this it makes me wish i could hang out with a person,ppl, like this. Theres so much of this i think about but feel alone often not being able to talk about these things with others. I have friends who i could talk to about this but i dont see them enough and its not the type thing you just bring up at the local bar. He describes the various philosophies of various characters in the book but i wonder where he comes from in his ernest ideas.
I also would love to have a group of people with whom I could discuss classic books and deeper ideas minus any other agenda. I was thinking book clubs might be good.
@@chikaka2012I came here to suggest book clubs :)
@@chikaka2012I’ve found the problem with a lot of book clubs (that read books I am interested in) is that they’re for retirees a lot of the time. I wanted to join my art museum’s club, but realized they meet at 1pm on a Tuesday. Starting my own would be nice, but I do not have friends or coworkers where I live, and I really don’t want to get into dangerous situations by involving complete strangers without any vetting.
And when they found our shadows
Groups 'round the TV sets
They ran down every lead
They repeated every test
They checked out all the data in their lists
And then the alien anthropologists
Admitted they were still perplexed
But on eliminating every other reason
For our sad demise
They logged the only explanation left
This species has amused itself to death
No tears to cry
No feelings left
This species has amused itself to death
Amused itself to death
John Conner: "We're not gonna make it are we....people I mean?"
T-800: "It's in your nature to destroy yourselves."
John Conner: "Yeah, major drag huh?"
A very relevant quote that sums up yet only scratches the duality of man.
I was looking for someone referencing Roger Waters' album! I absolutely love this song.
Thanks!
Thank you so much!
Such a powerful video! I sure hope it'll resonate with a lot of people.
I definitely believe there's a lot of worth in differing ideas and books. I became obsessed with reading around 12 and read a book or two a week for years. I was called mature and wise for my age from that point forward. So many situations in my life that I went through with finesse were situations I'd recognize from reading and know how to navigate through. As a bonus all your english teachers will love you
I believe thinking for yourself is one of the most important skills we have as humans and the state of the internet worries me.
I just wanted to thank you for the work put into editing the subtitles ❤its impressive how well they are synced to your speaking! I know it was a pain, but man, it makes reading subtitles easier, which I wasn't sure was possible!
So glad you covered this book. Crucial concepts to be talking about. Eerily too much like modern US with our social media and echo chamber news media.
What bothers me, and what I wasn't able to see clearly until I did very intentional trauma healing and addressed systemic trauma.... It works so well when abusers use the fear of discord to discourage action or change. Once you are able to step outside of that mentality, you realize how unsustainably childish it is to believe in not doing something because you won't be able to address the consequences. Because it stays in a place of never addressing consequences (I live in the US with the US government, remember) and discourages anyone from being aware of any other options.
What is best, is to equip people, ourselves, our children, with the knowledge of what to do, how to handle it, how to mend, how to address, how to create harmony.
Talking about gaining more knowledge whilst having pronouns in your bio is peak irony lmao
The they/them creature thinks it understands things
Theres so much info packed in this vid i could rewatch it over n over to glean all the ideas and concepts. My brain feels like dry ground that cnt absorb all the rain coming down. But i was constantly making connections to very real world ideas and events. The numbing of ones mind thu labor that seems pointless but is necessary to support oneself economically and the subsequent reaction of seeking entertainment to ease the pain of unfulfilling labor. The reenforcement of daily routine proving to oneself that creativity and social acts are pointless to ones real life. Whats the point in political action and awareness when you have no real power in those areas anyway?
25:52 my god this book just gets more and more relevant
Read it about 15 years ago. When I became aware of twitch and the parasocial elements developing around livestreaming, 451 was the first thing I thought of. Gotta get a second screen to watch more of my friends.
Read this in high school over a decade ago and just got done rereading back in December.
The most memorable and important idea, in my opinion, is when Beatty says that the people stopped reading on their own.
Definitely made removing the books from society a breeze.
Your videos were my first introduction to the vast world of philosophy. Thank you for making these videos. ❤❤
Thank you for watching them! I really appreciate it
My worst fear as an author is the lack of an audience, and this book illustrates it to an amazing degree
🎉🎉🎉🎉
There are other Ray Bradbury's that are so good; the Veldt is extremely relevant right now
I read "Fahrenheit 451" as an adult and was immediately affected; so much so I watched the film as well as purchased the stage play written by Bradbury himself about twenty years after the book. The stage play was interesting in a good way because it shows some effects from the film adaptation, and vastly expands the Beatty character. It basically confirms what many readers think--that Beatty himself collects books. In the play he and Montag have a discussion in his library of hundreds of books. Great video essay and thank you for making it,.
Man, the timing on this is crazy! I literally just finished the book a week ago. Such an insightful book and one that's unfortunately relevant today.
It’s just so beautifully written, every sentence was like a poem. I think when I read it I was distracted by the incredible writing and didn’t take much on about the message. Also the robot dog that hunts them down was the main image I was left with when I finished the book! Perhaps I should reread.
We read this book in my English class this year. It was the first time since reading the giver that a book we had to read was something i was engaged in and really enjoyed. We also watched the movie after please save yourself the pain of sitting through that god awful movie.
We, the human species, have been continuously warned throughout history. But as you say, through the consent of the general population. That consent has always been induced through laziness, aka (It is as it is).
Love your channel, you got me deep into philosophy to incorporate into my writing, and for that you have nothing but my best gratitude!
Currently teaching my 10th graders this book. It’s crazy how we’re turning into Bradbury’s society he imagined 70 years ago 🙃
I am so glad these videos are long and go into great depths which is often required to understand something. It has also led me to re examine my life and how I too have succumbed to technological advancements. But no matter how much you consume RUclips shorts or reels it never does anything for anyone.
This year lets be better and keep posting. Thank you so much for your effort this feels criminal to be free
Thank you so much!!!
Ah yes Fahrenheit 451 is a great novel this book sure seems relevant today thank you dropping another well done video ❤
This book becomes more relevant every single day. And it fills me with a hope that is often hard to harness these days
0:40 it's happened before and again I fear
I literally just finished reading Fahrenheit 451 today, for the first time. (I’m a millennial but was late to the party on many classics)
While reading it I could see the parallels to society today. So much junk entertainment, especially short form content, keeping everyone numb yet hooked to the “content”. Reading & literacy is declining, etc.
Sigmond Freud's nephew Edward Bernays envisioned a concept of akin to a happiness machine in which people are made to be preoccupied with fulfilling their personal desires by being a loyal consumer and relinquish being a conscientious citizen. This video about Fahrenheit 451 reminded me of Edward Bernays' vision for American society since he didn't trust the masses to run a democracy, only the wealthy elites.
The amount of effort you put into this video is evident and appreciated. Thanks for all you do.
sick man, started a pub reading group with this book
been thinking about it a lot lately
My favourite content creator has just dropped, let’s go
Ray Bradbury is one of my favourite authors and I credit my Year 10 teacher for dystopia and making me actually read these genres. Fahrenheit 451 opened my eyes to my obsession for science fiction. It is deeply saddening that the world we have come to know is getting very similar to this.
Great breakdown of a classic. Though, looking at some of the comments, I'd have to disagree that we're living in that world or are even close to it. The evidence for that is the existence of this video itself. However, there is one aspect that is concerning. You were right that it didn't happen because `the government` suddenly made a power grab. It was a slow walk, in baby steps that society itself walked right into, vacant eyed with smiles. `That` is the more compelling concern for the future. The whole `idiocrasy` phenomenon. How it actually manifests though, remains to be seen.
your advice is always solicited with me, thank you
Advice solicited with you? What does that mean exactly?
@cuiperindy2120 i tried to be clever but english isn't my first language ☹
Your statement made sense to me as a native English speaker
Thanks!
Postman didn't take anime (basically animated graphic novels and books) into account when he wrote "Amusing Ourselves to Death." The use of philosophy, theology, mythology, psychology, and the overall deep reflective search for meaning in the most dire circumstances is why it's so wildly popular, captivating, and dominating media overall. In fact, if you did a deep dive on anime from a philosophical perspective, I bet you would not only grow to love it but also, it would help convey some of these very concepts visually, as well. For the same reason comic books always resonated with us, especially DC, they make us feel feelings we didn't even know we had!
And 1000 episode series aren't exactly pure immediate gratification either.
On this podcast episode in particular or the only episode that I have watched on this channel so far, it is so evident that the whole material is made for a critical thinking practice, where we the viewers would implement a brilliant method that Alex O’Connor uses often when discussing the Christian bible with believers, with aim to logically explain to them how immoral the whole substance their belief consists of and how irrational it is the lack of morality when professed to be followed and practiced by humanity, Alex O’Connor does this like dissecting the whole text, chapter by chapter, verse by verse, paragraph by paragraph and so it goes, line by line even when necessarily applies.
On this episode in particular, the book you chose to speak of and the story you tell us it is about, and the way you explain it to be what the author of the book attempts to imply to be of importance to his view in particular and the views of the peoples of the time that they hold vs the views that they should hold, the whole shebang is hot topic for Alex O’Connor’s style of book dissection that is perfect for a critical thinking writing exercise. Thanks for sharing, different than what I’d now since have been following your channel for a few months, would expect, what would be the presentation of Philosophy to the general public, in a way that you do it that has a little theatrical sprinkle that is just absolutely necessary for the delivery method of material like Philosophy where moral values is the fundamental principle of, along with the Literature topic’s spirit holding Philosophy to the grounds of study but presented in a way with that sprinkle that is particular to you that is pretty awesome therefore it kept me as a follower of the channel after the introduction to it done to some of us, by Alex O’Connor, on his channel Within Reason, via an interview that he’s done with you once, soo there a go 😊
Clones have a weakness
Power and strength in diversity
When judge on certain domains:-
Cognitive ability, genetics, community, culture, environment, economics and ethics. In a biological culture, that is a mass of cloned singularities, what kills one clone kills all.
To be curious, to go as far as to embrace the other or different can be interesting. To debate ideas and exchange information is so nourishing and satisfying.
Let’s not all be the same 😊
God forbid
We are the United States, not the diverse states
I first read Fahrenheit 451 in 1999, my first year of HS. At the time I was already 3 years into early 'social media': telnet, BBS boards, javachat, etc. It was a different beast back then but when I read the very beginning of the book, I already knew: this is here. We're here already and we don't even know it.
Listening to you feels like a workout for my brain. Thank you.
This is the gold standard for RUclips captions.
Considering when the book was written and how well it depicts a dystopian society very similar to our own. It’s remarkable. Particularly the figure of the wife or girlfriend or whatever she was. Headphones in, away with the fairies. Popping pills, connected and disconnected at the same time. Such a perfect analogy. Also, listen to the prayer of the refugee by Rise Against. The song basically describes Guy being outside the city. It was one of the inspirations in the line of notes for that album.
Thank you Englishman with the handsome voice to calm my nerves after the U.S.'s inauguration today
first time viewer of the channel. this video randomly popped up on my recommended and my god, i haven't been this engaged in a video in SO long. As someone who's gotten so used to putting videos on in the background while playing games or doing another activity, this video was absolutely so refreshing and stimulating. Liked and subscribed as soon as I finished it! Amazing work.
I’m impressed. A young man well versed in philosophy and literature. So awesome.
it is crucial not to confuse individuality with individualism. Individuality refers to the unique, authentic expression of a person’s humanity-their thoughts, creativity, and capacity to contribute meaningfully to a collective. It is the recognition of a person’s distinct identity as part of a larger whole. Individualism, on the other hand, is a product of capitalist ideology, emphasizing self-interest, competition, and the prioritization of personal gain over collective well-being. While individuality is a vital component of human liberation, individualism isolates people, reducing them to atomized units disconnected from community and solidarity. In Fahrenheit 451, the state suppresses individuality by erasing diversity of thought and flattening human experience into conformity. Yet, it paradoxically promotes a shallow form of individualism, where people like Mildred obsess over personal pleasure and appearances rather than meaningful human connection. This distinction is central to a Marxist critique of the novel: true individuality thrives only in a society where collective liberation allows people to develop their full human potential, whereas individualism serves as a tool of alienation that reinforces systemic oppression.
i read this book for the first time when i was 17 years old; i’m turning 25 this year. i’d used fahrenheit 451 as a main example for my public speaking class on the debilitating effects censorship via book banning has on the general population 3 years ago and, seeing the very things i myself have warned people about happening before my very eyes, fills me with a profound despair. we are living in a generation of severe mis- AND disinformation because we are trying to wipe our histories clean and control the masses by refusing to listen to those seen as the “losers,” only ever reading the words that the “victors” write. we need to stop being afraid of the cruelties of humanity like this. we need to embrace the negative and criticize it because only then will we ever truly be thinking freely.
My elderly mother is just like Mildred. She and I once had an opportunity to watch behind the scenes, some really incredible Russian Ballet dancers rehearse but she got restless and said she had to get home so as not to miss an episode of “Mad Men”. It was quite frightening really. In her younger days she loves ballet and I don’t know what happened but she is addicted to tv and the characters. Spends hours telling me about what they do and what they say. 🙁
This book really sounds like America, overall, but particularly during the Red Scare. Especially with the raging violence in the country that is treated as a norm since it doesn't threaten the state itself. I was thinking manufacturing consent the whole time up to the point around 26 minutes where you mention it, and I'm glad you did
I'm going to read Fahrenheit 451. Excellent presentation! Some positive traits, and some progress to make. Thank you!
Media as Soma is a very apt comparison. And, "How Emotions are made" is indeed a very fascinating book. Very interesting video.
I'm studying dystopian literature at A-Level and we did an extract from this book just yesterday. What are the odds...
I took this to heart as a little kid. Never let go of it. You know how many people young and old have literally laughed while almost hitting me with their cars?
This book effected me so much as a young bookish teen i reread it years later with my kids when they were young teens.
5:15 That’s kinda relatable… Not the stuff about people being numb to death, but the way in which people have mere surface level understandings of topics and are too blind by dissonance to understand seemingly… 7:35 Noise indeed!
8:40 Boy… This matches our world to a T with the taboos.
12:24 The irony being that their stance, as I am seeing you explain, being that if they explain their stance, then people are free to make their minds up on their own, and will inadvertently “prove” their point of view by choosing against their point of view, even though all they’re doing is disagreeing. “Truth is the only one divine thing that rules the world”, is my personal counter argument I just came up with in response to Hobbes idea that one person should rule the world, cause us humans are kinda not geared towards telling absolutes/facts, our emotions and even lack thereof, can get in the way…but there are ways around our flaws of course, such as honesty, kindness, being humble, having humility, not being sarcastic all the time, etc etc…
Of course, sarcasm and our flaws have a right to be expressed, as otherwise, we might be none the wiser of their existence… and we need repetition, as that’s how we learn best.
Thank you Joseph for this analysis. Once I watched a movie adaptation of this roman, from 1966. I will read it when I find time.
Wow, I thought this was a climate change video but I got a free audiobook with literary analysis… and I’m thoroughly impressed.
"Without critical thought, we are at the mercy of a skilled sophist." 👏👏👏
Infinite jest is also a great example of the extremes of comfort, I love this topic. I’ve always compared a great empire always collapsing with the society we have right now