Reply to professoranton.mp4

[megaralee]

“Of all writings I love only that which is written with blood. Write with blood: and you will discover that blood is spirit.” Friedrich Nietzsche

[SewerCorn]

This man is dumb.

[tranquil87]

@WiseMonkey888 Your videos, along with MrCropper's, are some of the most annoying I have ever had the displeasure of looking at. You are a bore, unbelievably pompous and an awful troll.

[warmwarmerdisco]

ANTON RULES

[bluetoebeing]

Randyhelzerman, could you show me a video of an idea that you created?

[randyhelzerman]

@bluetoebeing On my homepage, there is a playlist which gives some original arguments as to the possibility of free will. Also, in my video "The Diagonal Argument against reductive materialism" I present an argument against the classic unity of science-style material reductivism, which is, as far as I know, original.

[changetheoscar]

i dig anton's material, and many of things that he was saying was new and a breath of fresh air to me. But I agree, it looks like creativity is the only way forward - then we are really getting at "profanton". Although, one of his ideas is that there is no individuality, we are a collection of minds...and now you are part of his, and also mine.

[fc007]

What does it mean to read too many books?

[kensho123456]

He is REALLY addressing it all to potential students for his failing university - so he does not care whar we adults already know.

[TheJokest]

the bigger picture you could be blind to is that anton is far from serious. original or not, he contributes wisdom

[AmericanAscetic]

This is quite an exchange. Both professoranton and randy together make a compelling sort of narrative. Each playing their part to communicate the real and practical uses of original thought rather than in simple blind exaltation of it.

[koenichfuerst]

I'm certainly guilty of reading too many books. :-)

[yupper99]

I am on Youtube because I don't have cable. But seriously, you are talking about different forms of media (internet, television, books), and worse, the overriding value you are attaching to them is "entertainment." Frankfurt schooled much? Lastly, as Anton already mentioned, your analysis would benefit from a better understanding of the so-called "author function" that problematizes the very narrow modernist understanding of "originality."

[randyhelzerman]

Hi Yupper99, if you could tell me which part of my videos led you to believe I was giving overriding value to entertainment, I'd apreciate it--as far as I recall, I never mentioned anything about entertainment at all. I don't advocate the creation of more entertaining videos, I advocate the creation of more original videos. Most people do have cable, so unlike you they are not forced to watch Youtube--you have to give them something they can't get anyplace else.

[yupper99]

Your criteria for determining what kind of video you consider to be "original" is clearly based on its ability to "entertain." But do you understand what Anton means when he problematizes the "authorial function"? And contrary to your belief, the majority of the world's population do not have cable television (but I do not have cable by choice). Incidentally, is that what you think "new media" forms like the internet is doing? "Supplementing" traditional forms of media? This might explain a bit

[randyhelzerman]

Hi yupper99, I still don't understand why you think that my criteria of original is the ability to entertain. You can do a quick experiment yourself: go to my channel, and click on "most viewed". Of my 25 most viewed videos, only 2 were made for entertainment, the rest are just me droning over powerpoint. I call them original because they are things I did. My definition of free will, for example, was not used by anybody before me. The nondeterministic neuron which I showed (cont)

[randyhelzerman]

(cont, to Yupper99) was not discovered by anybody before me. My theorem against reductive materialism was not proved by anybody before me, etc etc. And those are all among my most popular videos. I think I understand prof anton's point, and as I say I am sympthetic to it, but if nobody ever had any original ideas, then why are we living longer now than we did 10,000 years ago? why can we cure more diseases? Why are our computers 2x faster every 18 months? (cont)

[randyhelzerman]

(cont, to Yupper99) In fact, I do believe that disbelieve in "authorial function" can be used as an excuse not to try to come up with original ideas---its ok that all i do is read everybody else's books, because there's no way to write new ones anyways. But this is a sad trap to fall into, because everybody is blessed with creativity and can bring something new--perhaps incrementally new, but new nonetheless-to the conversation. I think prof anton tragically sells himself short.

[yupper99]

I don't think you get what is meant by "author function"--which is itself not an original concept but is often sourced to a series of "cultural" or literary critics like Foucault and Barthes. The point I am making is that we are all both "original" and "not original." Since none of us exist in a vacuum, we can never claim that our "ideas" are not influence, inspired--indebted, if you will--to other people. But even if we absorb other ideas, our interpretations and (re)articulations are our own.

[yupper99]

The second point is that Anton seems to be articulating himself in the plainest way he knows how in his videos. They come across as more elementary than even introductory lectures. My sense is that this is in line with the overall intent of his channel, which is not to share his "original research", but to tap into Youtube viewers to promote more sophisticated engagement about certain topics and debates as would be expected in a classroom setting. Frankly, I think it's a lost cause.

[yupper99]

So in essence, he isn't speaking to "peers" or "colleagues." But as he is trying very hard to not "talk down" to people, he inevitably end up having to do so. I get the sense he has a rather romanticized perception of academia as dominated by reasoned "intellectual exchange" rather than by egos....

[yupper99]

If he actually understands that's largely an illusion (that is tied to the distribution of some very real material, economic, and social privileges and resources), he might actually start to understand how this place works....

[natedaug1]

@yupper99 Two things, and I totally agree with you. First pointing out someone's hypocrisy does not invalidate their argument like this video tries to do to professoranton. It is called the "ad hominem tu quoque" logical fallacy, which stands for "you too," in Latin. Lastly nothing is ever really original, Heidegger wrote about two things historicity and hermeneutics, with the first one meaning everything basically has a time and place. The second meaning we are always interpreting

[yupper99]

@natedaug1 wow...my response was like..a year ago :) I'll tell you what agitates me about this video, as well as the anton video he is replying to. They both make some really bad sweeping assumptions and simplistic arguments about new media, as if they have had no contact with media theories or com/cult studies (and I think that is in fact the case), So by Randy's argument, track remixes are not 'original', photography is not 'original'..hell, there is nothing 'new' about 'new media.'

[natedaug1]

@yupper99 how the world is through a lens. Lastly just think of language, did we create the language we use? Language has been created for us before our own existence, so coming up with something "original" is literally impossible since we are bound up by the limits of language.

[yupper99]

@natedaug1 PAnton's video that Randy is replying to is equally bad. Anton seems to be under the impression that (new) media should facilitate the emergence of some global agora that lives up to a Habermasian ideal speech situation. It troubles him to no end that 'haul videos' receive far more visitor hits than videos that involve (mostly pseudo-)intellectual debates. This is an incredibly silly and naive view about Youtube, video-sharing websites, and new media in general.

[natedaug1]

@yupper99 Yeah, I guess I don't think though there is anything psuedo-intellectual about Professor Anton.

[yupper99]

@natedaug1 I wasn't so much referring to anton's videos as pseudo-intellectual, but the kind of repetitive debates he seems to reference a great deal in his videos (at least the ones I watched a year ago) made by other youtube users, you know the "atheists vs theists" debates where the tubers drop a lot of names without really any grounding in the intellectual traditions in which these authors' texts become meaningful.

[natedaug1]

@yupper99 Yeah, you might be right. I guess I just really like Professor Anton.

[yupper99]

@natedaug1 Randy seems annoyed by anton's rather elitist attitude about youtubing, which I quite agree with. a simple chastisement about 'haul videos' as trite simply misses the point., and also completely miss the point that in new social media, the user -is- the product. but that critique got lost somewhere in this video, about the time where randy started talking about 'originality' and authorship. *shrugs* whatever, this is youtube, not a peer review journal article.

[tyrbolo]

LOL there is also a danger in converting everything said into metaphorical rhetoric

instead of accepting it at face value.

It is an academic disease, which becomes totally

ridiculous when applied to primitives.

GRIN

[crazycat1984]

I think both yourself and ProfessorAnton make valid points. Where I personally disagree with what you have presented here is, the assumption all his viewers are familiar with the same things you are. I do agree that using the YT medium to expand, and create ideas is very powerful, but lets not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Theres a lot of value in introducing people to content. To pass off all writings of the past as "old hat" isn't a fair evaluation. Thats my thoughts anyways.

[pfarabee]

One of my favorite scenes from any movie comes from Razor's Edge, when the hero seeks out monks of Tibet looking for enlightenment. He takes with him all his books on philosophy. The monk tells him to go to the top of the nearby mountain, where he will find a lean-to with wood for a fire. He is to sit and ponder and wait for a sign to come back down. The monk tells him to be sure to take his books with him, as he will need them.

[pfarabee]

The hero does as he is told, and sits by the fire and reads. Eventually, the fire goes out.. there is no more wood and he shivers. Then, a huge smile forms on his face, and he tears his books to pieces to make a new fire.

What did he learn? There is no secret of wisdom that you need a book to discover. The ones who wrote them are no wiser than any of the rest of us. And the sign to come down from the mountain? It's really cold up there.

[Newton1692]

This was a bit harsh randy. But there was something about Anton's videos that left me unsatisfied and maybe it was that they were unorignal. Lord knows the reason I don't make videos is because they always feel like channeling some dead philosopher who said and understood whatever I am talking about better than I could.

[randyhelzerman]

Hey Newton1692, great to know you are still out there! Yeah, I agree, this video was harsh, probably one of my harshest. Rewatching it, tho, I don't really make any accusations against Anton that he didn't make against others in the vid I'm replying to. E.g. he pilloried people as being "good shoppers", proud of their ability to pick out an item "from a selection of items", but of course, he prides himself on being able to walk into Barnes and Noble and being able to pick out the best books.

[randyhelzerman]

(cont, to newton1692) but yeah, it sounds so much harsher on my lips than his, and I wish I could have phrased it better...

[bubonicnate]

Good luck Randy!

Hope you are doing well.

[FistfulofDicks]

"New" stuff isn't worth shit if it's shit.

[PianoIsTheRemedy]

Fantastic video, Randy.

[randyhelzerman]

thanks P.I.T.R.

[mothartrucker]

Some people have never read a book in their entire lives so speaking of subjects that have been said or written about before is not such a bad thing when you think about it. ;)

[Boucrate]

When are you going to do your dance?

.... lol! And what you say ain't crazy at all;-)

[randyhelzerman]

touche' Boucrate :-) I'll dance anytime you are playing the guitar :-)

[Sherwulff]

the same academia the prof is steeped in also applies to zorio, another intellectual here on youtube. how to reconcile advocating the one and attacking the other?

[randyhelzerman]

Hi Sherwulf, good question; of course Zorio is still a student, but its quite true that as he progresses in his studies we should expect to see a higher and higher ratio of original content.

[Sherwulff]

@randyhelzerman Becker, Schmecker, Fecker, Pecker; yes, I agree with you but i guess he's got books he needs to get mailed out of the basement. long live zorio.

[Sherwulff]

@randyhelzerman Becker, Schmecker, Fecker, Pecker; yes, I agree with you but i guess he's got books he needs to get mailed out of the basement. long live zorio.

[FriendOregon]

So your most popular videos are your OWN ideas? However professor Aton's videos are not his OWN ideas?

Yep....

[randyhelzerman]

Hi FriendOregon, as I said in the video, youtube gives you lots of tools so you can see which videos of yours poeple are watching, and even what parts of the video people are paying the most attention to, and where they are zoning out. The data clearly show that my post popular videos are those in which I've presented my own ideas. I strongly believe this would be true for professor anton as well, which is why I encouraged him to make some videos with new original ideas.

[FriendOregon]

I see. Yes new ideas are always good.

However, I don't think there is anything wrong with old ideas. As long as they haven't entered into the debate for a while and wheren't totally debunked previously.

[davius4321]

I am wondering if that can be the only explanation. Originality as the mediator of attention! Maybe you were more excited in the presentation of your ideas, or maybe you were more clear or had a more successful build-up. Maybe these other factors can only be achieved through creativity.

[randyhelzerman]

Perhaps these are also factors in favor, but those are harder to measure and quantify.

[NamelessCommenter]

You might find this interesting: preview.tinyurl . com /yojqo5

It's specifically a critique of copyleft (for not going far enough), but it also discusses originality.

[trick0171]

Brilliant critique!!

I think the professor's idea of "book culture" is to absorb and rehash a specific type of (existentialist)book he deems as "better" than others. He also does so in a way that avoids a more analytical approach to reasoning.

[nagchampafreak]

Randy, man, you should do a vid on the people you like/watch on youtube. maybe youve already done one like that. i think it would be interesting though.

[randyhelzerman]

not a bad idea nagchampafreak.

[2bsirius]

Thanks for feeding my Randyhelzerman addiction...I was in complete full-blown withdrawal!

The best line in the video IMHO was:

"This is NOT macro-media; it's micro-media."

I'm a book culture glutton myself...I'm a compulsive consumer of BOOKS...I can't stop myself! Yesterday, for example, I spend the last of my grocery money on a special order book "Mind and Nature"....Please somebody stop me before I buy another book!

Addiction ain't pretty!

GREAT VIDEO!

[dewinthemorning]

Hello, fellow compulsive comsumer of BOOKS! My main problem with my addiction is, space to stack them.

[2bsirius]

Exactly!

I fully expect to die as a result of a book avalanche in my bedroom!

[nagchampafreak]

@2bsirius that is a perfectly respectable way to go.

[randyhelzerman]

Hi 2b, but you write for a living, so in your case its just not consumption...like eating calories, the problem comes when the calories input and the calories output arn't in ballance...I'll make another vid about this point...

[pfarabee]

I seriously hate to read. The reason is that I love to read.  Literally, I will go days without breaking for anything other than basic survival needs. Once I pick it up, it will be read before I put it down.. makes holding a job a little difficult :P

[timeofwonder2009]

Welcome back!

[randyhelzerman]

*chuckle* thanks timeofwonder2009.

[Stargazer5781]

Great response. I think these are productive comments for many youtubers.

[nagchampafreak]

lol im diggin the stripy beard. thats all i have to say lol

[randyhelzerman]

ha, yeah, this has been a tough year, and I have accumulated quite a bit of grey hairs :-)

[nagchampafreak]

sorry to hear its been a tough year. good news is a new one is right around the corner yay! I only have one month left to finish all the things i was going to do THIS year hahaha. but anyway, you look more wise. so thats a bonus whoot lol

[Mjhavok]

I don't think there is anything wrong with him telling people about books he thinks are important and discussing some of the ideas held within them. I do get your point however and to some degree I agree with it. Also, he has written at least one book that I know of and I assume he has talked about the ideas he has in that.

[randyhelzerman]

Hi Mjhavok, yeah, I actually hope Prof Anton comes back and proves me wrong, saying something like here are 5 videos which contain completely new stuff, and I find to my delight that I really like. I could have missed something, after all.

[Mjhavok]

It could happen. I know I haven't watched all of his videos.

[regratex]

5:52 - 6:01 

not 6:03 though.

just a thought.

[TRAGlCHERO]

Your assumption that we've all read the same things, had the same interpretations, or came to youtube for the same reason escapes me.

That point aside, I doubt professor Anton came here to amuse people, increase his popularity, or break new ground. As he said in another video he cares about promoting book culture. To get people to pay attention and engage with some central questions and ideas.

As for creativity. . . show me someone who had an original idea and I'll show you a thief.

[randyhelzerman]

Hi Tragichero, where did I say that we had the same interpretations or came to youtube for the same reason? Why do you attribute that to me?

[Diacorda]

I think I get what Tragic is saying --you characterized youtube consumers as looking for something new and creative. But that may not be the motive for many people.

For example some people would be glad to get essentially the same content in a youtube video that is also available in book form --but with preference for a visual digested format.

[Diacorda]

Also what the prof is proposing is not just about the book reading --its about being able to interact with the text _and_ other people from all over the digitally accessible world, with there own interpretations, the sharing of which can provide new insights into the texts and real life applications, as well as create a community of learners, a cerebral fellowship unavailable locally.

These are added values that integrating book reading and youtube can offer.

[randyhelzerman]

Hi Diacorda, perhaps that's what Tragichero mean, but the statement wasn't just a blanket statement with no evidence to back it up--youtube gives you many tools to help you determine which videos people are watching, and why they are watching them. The data clearly show that my most popular videos are the ones which have the most original content. What will happen is that a video will get passed around on a mailing list, for example, and people will remark that its something they've (cont)

[randyhelzerman]

(cont, to diacorda) Of course, people come to youtube for all kinds of reasons, but the data support my statement, I wasn't just pulling it out of my bellybutton :-) Sure some people prefer to watch a video than read a book on the subject, but my data don't indicate that most people are watching my vids for that reason.  (cont)

[randyhelzerman]

(cont, to diacorda) w.r.t. profanton proposing being able to interact with the text, etc, I think the way he phrased that spoke volumes--"we're gunna have actual text of people".... what--as opposed to the fake texts from fake people people are posting videos here? But its kind of my point, what the world needs now is not more engagement with our old texts, as if a more close reading of the Bible is gunna save us. We need more new ideas.

[Mjhavok]

"you characterized youtube consumers as looking for something new and creative. But that may not be the motive for many people."

Indeed. Look at the most popular videos. It is MTV-tube.

[TRAGlCHERO]

Well throughout the video you make a number of sweeping generalizations. It might have made more sense if you replaced "we" for "I".

2:05 "think about it this way, somebody comes to youtube. Why are they spending their time on youtube... people are coming to youtube because they want to see something nobody has ever done before. That's really what they're looking for."

I take that to mean you think everyone comes to youtube out of novelty (in the narrow sense you imply in the video).

[randyhelzerman]

Hi Tragichero, well, like I mentioned in the vid, youtube gives you a lot of tools where you can see which videos people are watching and find out why they are watching them. So my statement wasn't just a broad generalization, but it was grounded in the data. What happens is that somebody posts a link in a mailing list, or something like that, and you can see what people are saying about it, things like "this new new to me' etc.

[TRAGlCHERO]

4:22 "What you're doing is not really giving us new stuff... you're like echoing stuff that came before."

5:08 "We haven't seen professor Anton yet, all we've seen is echoes of other books that we've already read. We have the same books you do."

I don't see his presentation of the ideas as an echo. For example, subtle features of language and emphasis which are absent from the text, different points of contrast, and so on. It's not as one sided as you make it out to be.

[ProfMTH]

Well, this is the first I've heard of Professoranton, but he seems to be quite a kvetch. That said, if his kvetching gets us a new video from the great RandyHelzerman, I say kvetch away, Anton. ;-)

[randyhelzerman]

lol prof your making me blush :-)

[ThePointlessPoint]

yeah, he seems to have gotten a little bitter and angry recently.

not attractive

[Mjhavok]

I found it entertaining. I think he should try to be a bit more scathing in his future videos.

[melsbasketcase]

People do not respond to my videos on books and they respond more so on videos where I am telling stories about my life. But I am part of the people that are here watching the interactions and drama.

[randyhelzerman]

Yeah, I was thinking about your channel too. Where else would I have learned that Ayn Rand was talking about Fantasia when she was comparing Kant with a belly-dancing hippo?

[randyhelzerman]

Your channel is another prime example of content which can only come from you. Creative sparks...little points of light in the darkness.

[americanmuslimgirl]

I hope you never take the time to tell me what is wrong with me! Three of the videos in the related videos to this video are The Beatles "No Reply." It's always fascinating what gets put there.

[randyhelzerman]

haha americanmuslimgirl, yeah this is probably one of my harsher videos. But your channel is actually a prime example of what I'm talking about: where am I going to learn about what its like to be an ex-morman convert to islam?? The mass media certainly isn't giving us a true picture of Islam in America (or anywhere else in the world). If I want to know about that, I have to go to your channel, you can give us something nobody else in the world can.

[Diacorda]

lol that was about as harsh as organic soap lather

[randyhelzerman]

:-( yeah, I regret it came across as so harsh, but I didn't know how to engage him in the kind of way he seems to want to be engaged without saying it like this... yeah I'll never be a politician :-)