The Unbearable Loneliness of Being Right on the Internet - Live at Skepticon Australia 2017

Captain Disillusion creator Alan Melikdjanian frantically lectures a skeptical audience on how to never make any mistakes as a KZbinr.
Recorded at City Recital Hall in Sydney, Australia, during Skepticon 2017. Footage courtesy of Think, Inc.
Please consider supporting my videos on: / captaindisillusion

[@stevenjeffries7951]

Wow, it's rare to see Captain D in full human makeup. This must have been a big deal for him.

[@cloudyyt5799]

Steven Jeffries Full *HUMAN MAKEUP* MAKEEEEEUPPPPP LOOOOLLLL

[@swiggly46]

It's hard to even imagine how much time it must've taken 0_0

[@droid16beta97]

@@swiggly46 Ikr, it's super realistic

[@swiggly46]

@@droid16beta97 I actually can't tell that he isn't a human 0_0

[@whoami5960]

@The Dialkira hi welcome to the joke

[@oltro15]

“Most experts agree that 1 is a number.” -Captain Disillusion

[@awpmerst]

stick to what you know!

[@twintyara6330]

@@awpmerst yo lmao I'm dying

[@epicphail2926]

Twin Tyara rip

[@Ethan-gw6mi]

But Captain didn't say that. Alan did.

[@Jivvi]

"Most"

[@TierZoo]

Wow, not only are you a great content creator, but a truly gifted public speaker.

[@legomen1010450]

TierZoo hey, you're here and you aren't bitching him out for being feminist! Another channel I can stay subbed to without any guilt.

[@jlpz24]

Oh shit tier zoo watches Captain disillusion that’s awesome

[@dastyp4771]

Mind = Blown

[@Charliemmag]

TierZoo stop and go make more videos pls!

[@theSato]

@Vladimir Lenin - why is *that* unrelated issue the thing you choose to bring up here? Seem to me like you are a bit overfixated on some random (irrelevant) issue..

[@noahwilliams8996]

Oh, I see. You intentionally made those mistakes for this talk.

[@JordanBeagle]

He's 4 dimensions ahead

[@PaleGhost69]

Art is a lie. Nothing is real.

[@TheBluePhoenix008]

He's 4 parallel universes ahead of us

[@MisterK-YT]

Ur all dumb, he didn’t make the mistake on purpose. And one can’t be any dimensions ahead of anything because being “ahead” of someone takes place IN a dimension. ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ [Before you r/woooosh me, I’m obviously making fun of someone who should get woooosh’d. I’m preemptively wooooshing a wooooshable person. In fact, if you don’t read this hidden part of my comment, thought I was being serious, and commented to tell me “it was a joke m0r○n,” then I’ve essentially woooosh’d a wooooshworthy would-be-woooosher by imitating a wooooshable-but-not-yet-woooosh’d person! a future wooooshee, if you will.]

[@mihailmilev9909]

@@MisterK-YT reddit moment

[@kevinbparry]

Thanks for including my mirror ball bounce!

[@pepn]

Are you doubting the always right cap'tain D ?

[@ethand5703]

Ay my dude

[@scrapjimothy8988]

You're welcome

[@Coalemos]

No, that was fo reelz.

[@CIRCADES]

Kevin Parry Hey, amazing work on Kubo and the Two Strings! Probably my favourite animated movie of all time!

[@smartereveryday]

One of the most important videos on the internet. It goes both ways.

[@HassanSelim0]

Is that the "verified people talking to verified people" thing but on KZbin? :D

[@jaytonhawkins2872]

Destin, why did you even need to watch this? Your humility shines through all your work. I most appreciated your candor on the video about your interview with President Obama.

[@MindChamber]

He sounds like a Vorta.

[@ieet]

... ... ... besides me being ashamed that I know what you are talking about, he actually does sound like a Vorta.

[@MrFerGi]

I don't know for sure, but I believe Destin was the one that sent him the message on Twitter featured at the last part of his presentation.

[@aSongScout]

It's one thing to have some self-deprecating humor (like the joke at the beginning that you're just some guy who films videos at his parent's house), but this took it another level. It takes a lot of humility and self-awareness to create a presentation that mainly details with highlighting embarrassing mistakes. The message I got out of your talk is that skepticism can sometimes lead to an inflated ego and refusal to admit error, which ironically makes someone a worse skeptic. Being aware of your limitations and open to correction is a better path forward, because in addition to being skeptical of other things, you should also be able to be skeptical of yourself.

[@smaakjeks]

+aScongScout Exactly! It's to our own benefit in two ways: 1) We are less encumbered by our pride to get to the facts of the matter 2) We appear less like dicks to others Win-win!

[@NetAndyCz]

Someone gave an example of university professor who had his hypothesis and tried to prove for a decade before being proven wrong. He thanked the person who proved him wrong (instead of stubbornly clinging to his hypothesis) for letting him know the truth, which is exactly how the science and critical thinking should work. Sometimes you are wrong, but when you are honest about that you value the truth more than being right.

[@nonamebob8012]

aSongScout beautiful comment...

[@chimkinNuggz]

That explains h3h3 and their high horse

[@wesclayton]

looks like end of your comment got cut off.

[@Rubikari]

You almost look human! Nice job on that makeup!

[@maelgugi]

I think he used CGI too

[@vgarzareyna]

@@maelgugi is it CGI? I think it is more like post-production

[@martinrages]

No he used vfx

[@alkalaid6850]

Please shut up and let me enjoy.please stop making this joke he is not human it is not funny😤😤

[@sebastiangudino9377]

@@alkalaid6850 It is objectively pretty funny

[@JohnJones1987]

6:55 - "These glasses don't even - oh wait - these glasses don't even have frames!" God, i love you.

[@OrangeC7]

I wouldn't be surprised that if I said anything in response to this I would immediately get a response saying I'm a retarded child.

[@Nosiu]

It's a take on Will Stephen's TEDx talk joke.

[@mav6771]

I would think it's a take on James Randi's talks. He's been doing the frames + fake mic routine since at least the 90's (Here's one from a 2001 lecture kzbin.info/www/bejne/p6HIf2Z6i9yearM )

[@Not-TheOne]

Yeah, saw him do it.

[@BradenBest]

red tater tot chile

[@gregfletcher2360]

Alan has such an incredible skill in turning a potentially boring slideshow talk into an entertaining and yet still informative experience. What a legend!

[@GenJotsu]

The unbearable Truth of it all is; people would rather pretend they are right, than admit they are wrong.

[@BT-nv4ck]

a la the skeptic community

[@jblue1622]

And the irony is that you believe this opinion of yours is most likely right

[@SpeedyThingGoIn4]

that's Truth, with a capital T

[@Predated2]

To be fair, its hard to see why and when you are wrong. It either takes time or something that is undeniable to see that you were wrong. Sometimes the thing you consider to be right fits seemingly a lot better than the thing you considered to be wrong. This is why flat earthers exist for example. The horizon is flat, you dont see any bulge, and most of the things can be explained away if you make them small enough. Add to that that they think certain things right now would be impossible on a round earth(like a flat horizon and seeing buildings over quite a small distance) and you have someone who think they are absolutely right. Not having more than a basic understanding of science and technology, and you have people claiming that a composite photo made in photoshop(or anything that went through photoshop, even if its meant to make it slightly brighter) equals a fake picture. I blame everyday society where people get explained that a fake picture was photoshopped rather than altered through photoshop. Or that people expect other people to instantly understand what words like 'composite' means. Sometimes, people are wrong, for all the right reasons and we have no one but ourselves to blame.

[@emilen2]

Mostly true, especially for political opinions.

[@fae2fae]

I'm part of the 4% in your female viewership and I just want to say how much you've inspired me to pursue visual effects. You're an awesome content creator and I'm honestly baffled by your complete honesty towards the people you presented to. Thanks for being here Captain D, hope to see another episode!

[@C0deH0wler]

Your comment is the seed in which Positivity invades this comment section :D

[@migkillerphantom]

Just because your pony fursona is female doesn't mean you are

[@siruno5604]

migkillerphantom don't be the typical idiot sheep blinded by a fake hatred born in Internet about some groups of people or sub cultures

[@migkillerphantom]

Rommel Torres don't confuse educated disdain for blind hatred.

[@fae2fae]

I actually am female. Not talkin bout my "pony fursona". Have a nice day!

[@FoodieFindings]

I love how he subverts the expectations of a typical conference presentation, with simple things like his image as live video being sucked into the singularity, I've never seen anything like that before. He's a genius.

[@hamishdouglas8780]

yep he's a true creative

[@toastmastersmldclub51]

I've only discovered CD a few days ago, and I can tell he's really talented. But seeing what he's capable of pulling off, I'm not guaranteed that was a live video shot. And the more I think about it, I'm starting to question if the computer was nothing more than a stage prop. If, and that's a big if, the audience was shown the desktop on stage, he opened a .mov file; a video file. Running on this assumption, the clicker then was a prop. The whole presentation was timed out, and the animations were running for a preset time. CD's responsibility was to keep his live parts of the speech within the time limits of the already running animations. My reason: Within seconds, CD appeared on the above screen (as a webcam) without a new application opening up while a video file was playing and CD didn't touch any of the keys on the computer. If it wasn't live, the webcam bit could have been made prior to the conference, during the run-through, or edited in after the panel was over. And if I am wrong? Then, there was a team working off-camera. I can imagine a camera set up stage left doing a close-up shot right above the lid of the laptop and an A/V team controlling everything, but who had overlooked the second camera's video sync. Regardless, I have to give it to him on his showmanship. He's really good.

[@realtimberstalker]

​@@toastmastersmldclub51 I think you're thinking about this a little too hard. You can play videos in a presentation. That whole singularity sequence is prerecorded video.

[@allisons6910]

​@@realtimberstalker 😐😐😐😐 What happened to learning from the main message of his whole speech? Resist that urge to deny & justify. All that was required if you didn't want to include any social interaction would have been the 3rd sentence. However, I'm sure you can rewrite it with the 3 H's applied to your comment.

[@realtimberstalker]

@@allisons6910 And I’m sure you can too.

[@Gundesalf]

I'm extremely disappointed... that I just discovered your work a week ago. So much catching up to do.

[@Random_YT-Username]

Heimrich Gundesalf congratulations, I say subscribe to Captain Disillusion on random KZbin videos instead of Sub. to Piwdeepee.

[@misshooman]

Hope your done catching up :)

[@kyleb8117]

I'm in the same boat. KZbin algorithm really did me dirty.

[@zephh_sk]

"I am a feminist... my girlfriend is a girl, for god's sake". Imma have to use this one at some point, sorry.

[@foxtro7]

Meggy McKechnie Yeah, saying you’re a feminist is a political statement, given that feminism is a political movement and all. I’m not sure where you’re getting the whole “anti-science” thing, but based off that and the “proud non feminist” comment, I’d hazard a guess that you’ve fallen down the anti-SJW rabbit hole. You’re likely being radicalized by the content you consume without realizing its effect on you. I mean, from your profile pic and name, it seems you’re a woman yourself and you are proudly denouncing a cause that supports women’s rights. You really shouldn’t try to form political opinions solely based on the cringe compilations you’ve seen. I fell down the same anti-feminist hole you did a number of years ago, and I’d recommend you look up some information on logical fallacies (especially strawmen) so you can recognize them in arguments, and then take a look at videos made by people on both sides of the argument (I’d recommend Hbomberguy, Shaun, Innuendo Studios, and Big Joel). Don’t let yourself be brainwashed.

[@dutbud9049]

​@@foxtro7 ​ @Foxtrot "Don't let yourself be brainwashed, look at all of these far-left KZbinrs to brainwash you instead" Wow, great advice! Being "anti-SJW" is common sense, SJW's will and always have been mentally deranged. "Feminism" has went to shit since it's third-wave and has devolved into exclusionary bullying "I fell down the same anti-feminist hole you did a number of years ago" God, what a condescending asshole

[@icedmorning7610]

@Dutspice Anti-SJW seems like common sense while you are Anti-SJW. A few years back I thought that all SJWs and Feminists were crazy, that they hated men, or really anybody who didn’t belong to a minority. I even starting thinking that all liberals were like this, including to an extent my own family members who are liberals. Foxtrot is right. But you don’t realize that you are in a hole until you get out. He wasn’t trying to be condescending. He was trying to be compassionate.

[@tristandreemurr8755]

Everyone here has either been "r/wooosh"ed or just took this a *tiny* bit too seriously....

[@dutbud9049]

​@@icedmorning7610 Which is basically true. When people talk about SJW's and feminists they are referring to the extreme batshit crazy cult that cancel and ruin people's lives over a twitter comment, not people who want equal rights. But hey, guess I'm just a sheeple that hasn't opened my second asshole and ascended to see the true light yet

[@br34ks00n]

I just wanted to say Thanks for putting me in your presentation! I was one of the people in the Halloween costume photos. Thank you for all of your hard work over the years and I'm glad you're at 2 million subs! Finally got the audience you deserve. Also thanks for making The Undebunkable. I watch it all the time because it makes me feel better about how to handle the Misinformation War that's going on. I show it to friends and family to make them feel comfortable about being wrong and understanding that you will feel better if you just accept that you can change your mind with new information. Thank you, Captain!

[@DrMcFly28]

So... THAT'S why the top half of Alan's head looked so familiar!

[@SimonButler]

I think I've seen you acting awkward as Alan so often that it makes how smoothly you pull off your timing in these live performances even more impressive. And I feel you've really solidified yourself as a performer, because these integrated live action and VFX performances are really impressive.

[@narryg]

You put way more effort into editing these conferences than you have to. Always a great watch.

[@ericbazinga]

SmellyFeetYouHave That's Captain Disillusion in a nutshell: Overdoing it. (In a good way.)

[@Tudumanu]

It is awesome to see that type of presentation! the black hole part was superbe!

[@BT-nv4ck]

Oh hey I see you on Vinesauce streams lol

[@LaughstashTv]

Proud to be one of the 4% female viewers! 😎👍

[@ShoulderMonster]

I had no idea there were so few of us! I thought at least 20-30%. v_v

[@LaughstashTv]

Strawberries777 ‪‪ me too!

[@VinelandVinny]

LaughStashTV nobody cares, you arent special

[@ShoulderMonster]

prominentturkey I mean, in this case 4% out of 100 sounds pretty close to the definition of special... And she did get quite a few likes, so people do seem to care at least a little... It's all superficial yeah, but y'know. ¯\( ⌯᷄▿︎⌯᷅ )/¯

[@LaughstashTv]

Did we just become best friends?! :D

[@JaxsonGalaxy]

Instantly after the video was over I came down to the comments section to see if anyone has posted the incoming "it's not 'degrees Kelvin' it's just 'Kelvin' since it's not an arbitrary scale!" But no, I didn't see any. It's almost like everyone watched the video and took it to heart. Losers. AAAHHH! THE BLACK HOLE! AAAHHH!

[@tomenright4400]

I made the comment right I away, I got u fam

[@sydnerella24]

Eh I give him a pass since English isn’t his first language

[@jackofshadows8538]

Watch the h3 podcast. He explains that when his parents defected the USSR in '89 - he was only 9 then - the Soviets would often send the family of 'ex-Soviets' to where their family had defected to and since it was USA the KGB weren't even going to try to 'retrieve' them. If it had been Argentina or somewhere in Africa then the KGB wouldn't hesitate. But by the time the USSR was supposed to arrange for passports for Alan and his Grandad to go to New York, the USSR had crumbled apart and Latvia & the other smaller satellites of the Soviet Bloc were ignoring orders from Moscow and Alan [Capt Disillusion] & grandad were given papers to leave for New York by Latvian authorities, independent of Soviet authority. The USSR had, in effect, dissolved by then. In the time he knew his parents weren't coming back he knew that he had to learn English so between ages 9 and 12 he pretty much learnt a lot of english and how bloody easy it is because it's so adaptive.

[@sydnerella24]

dava noncom i was joking and have watched the podcast, no need for an essay on a subject that doesn’t matter at all.

[@jackofshadows8538]

ok, sorry.

[@poloMpolo]

Thanks. I just hung up on someone trying to tell me I made a mistake. This video is actually so big to me right now. You are truly one of a kind. Thanks again

[@mumblernumber7213]

And that is where you're wrong.

[@adm2204]

So, did you call them back and apologize? :D

[@ariesegamesofwar9042]

no bcuz he is wrong

[@pattyvilleTV]

LOL you didn't watch until the end i suppose.

[@adamtichy8008]

hej a co jsi udělal za chybu?

[@lulu4882]

Wow, the level of humility in this talk is very admirable. Upping my Patreon pledge. I applaud the integrity you showed by distancing yourself from the KZbin "skeptic" bubble, knowing full well how fucking obnoxiously their followers would react. I agree that skepticism-not-fully-committed-to results in pointless echo chambers, and your devotion of an entire presentation to pointing out your own mistakes to demonstrate how easy it is to fall into this trap is very respectable.

[@VinelandVinny]

lg ft his vortex bit was very hippocritical and frankly just a shitfest that the slide would have been better without, the anita bit too

[@hellboy6507]

prominentturkey that's part of the joke.

[@hellboy6507]

Yagi Yeah, that's part of the joke. The whole schtick is part of the comedy. The Title of the video is intentionally arrogant, the whole presentation to the audience, ie telling them how to make their content, is also incredibly arrogant. Calling out other people for their supposed arrogance is supposed to be incredibly hypocritical. His ramblings about how he's a "feminist" is a play on how people virtue signal to deflect criticism, I can assure you his petty comment also didn't get 200 likes. Even during his bit about the other skeptics, he shows himself as falling into the same pit of douchery. That specific moment shows that everything he said prior was intended to show you precisely how you shouldn't act. Mocking other creators and virtue signalling are bad things to do, and he makes that very clear in his performance.

[@lulu4882]

The talk featured humility because he meticulously pointed out all his own shortcomings and mistakes, but that doesn't mean it can't be critical of others too. People falling into the asshole singularity wasn't based on whether or not he agreed with them, it was about whether they had a dickish and off-putting tone. One of the messages of the talk is that if we skeptics want to actually affect change in the world, we should be more diplomatic and understanding of the "other sides" and adjust our arguments and content in a way that won't immediately put them off and basically ruin any chance of persuading them in the future. Otherwise we'll just keep circlejerking in our echo chambers about how smart we are and how stupid "they" are, without actually accomplishing anything.

[@viennajordan9279]

Another way to always be right: be my dad and insist that you know everything without DOING ANY ACTUAL RESEARCH

[@EHyde-ir9gb]

Vienna Jordan At this point, I think that's just a dad thing.

[@tripaloski_6971]

Vienna Jordan Omg SAME, everytime my dad invents theories about things and says them like it's a 100% fact. "I'm sick" "that's because bacteries outside want to find a warm place to stay in so they go in your body" (i just invented that but it's pretty much how he invents stuff).

[@EHyde-ir9gb]

Ninjumper that is actually partially true, as warm and moist places like inside your body are excellent for reproduction

[@deo8038]

Bad day?

[@vgarzareyna]

@@EHyde-ir9gb o think VicedRihno may disagree (100% recommended)

[@MobHunter2001]

My favourite part of all his videos comes at the end, “Love with your heart, use your head for everything else”. Thinking of tattooing that.

[@babayaga1767]

that would come under the "use your head" part

[@Koozomec]

In this day and age you may use your head in love afairs too.

[@Trebinhas]

Damn that would make an amazing tattoo

[@veerafager9031]

The breaking mirror-shot made me spill my coffee :D I simply _love_ your sense of humour, you're awesome Captain ^_^

[@XHappyKillerX]

27 minutes of CD content in one video?! Awesome!

[@MaximeTanti]

Woah, I didn't realize that was 27 minutes. It flew by.

[@starrychloe]

If he self-deprecated any harder, he'd be obsolete.

[@jackofshadows8538]

Ikr? He's practically British!

[@Dgbygvg]

daaaw he is so sensitive and humble :D

[@MihaiManuta]

Being pedantic here... on "Georges Méliès", in French, according to all pronunciation rules, you would *NOT* pronounce the final _s_ because it's silent (like it is in "décès", "après", or even "Georges"). _However_ when we're talking about person names, those names are pronounced depending on that person's adopted pronunciation. Soooo... you were not wrong, it's Méliès fault that he did not adopt _standard_ French pronunciation and made it custom.

[@nickiebanchou]

Méliès, De Funès, Barbès, Alès, Agnès, Hermès, faciès, palmarès, aloès, cacatoès .... depending on the origin of the word ( which may or may not be french at all btw, such as De Funès which is a transctiption from the Catalan ) , it needs the pronunciation to be adapted accordingly, Méliès did not make anything "custom", he inherited the sound of his name from his parents, who got it from his grandfather and so on and on incidentally there's no word in french that ends with "iès" other than faciès whose S needs to be pronounced

[@annoyingkid48]

nickie banchou NO, it’s all Méliès’ fault. Why didn’t he pronounce his name the way Captain D pronounced it?! Don’t you dare defend a person with things like *logic* and *knowledge*

[@vituperation]

You can, with almost any opinion, kinda look at it a certain way where you might find an angle where you're not a hundred percent wrong - maybe, like, one percent right - and what you want to do is grab onto that opinion and just kind of defend it on the forum that is designed for this purpose, which is: KZbin comment sections.

[@2adamast]

Dottore Mihai Manuta , good impression

[@polyhistorphilomath]

@nickie banchou I think we might even be able to agree that faciès is not exactly a French word. In the same sense that rabies, robigo and rumor are not English.

[@triple7marc]

9:30 No Captain D would never say the F word 😭😭😭😭 I’m shaking and crying right now

[@gabrielkellar2657]

always meme your mistakes

[@iciclefox9901]

My mom loves memes. She even made one about me.

[@haruhisuzumiya6650]

Best advice

[@hosamfikry2924]

That is a very wise advice.

[@sometimeshotpocketscanchan2465]

@@iciclefox9901 Dope mom

[@PeterRoesler1]

I've been starting to worry about Captain Disillusion becoming more smug to the point where it was impacting my enjoyment of the videos, but seeing an amazing presentation like this helps drive home the separation we must mentally make between a fictional character and its talented creator.

[@StarWarsTherapy]

Humor was the most effective tool in breaking me free from a close-minded ideology. This is something I needed to hear as it is much easier just to surround myself with a skeptic circle to commiserate with instead of engaging with others. Thank you, Captain!

[@bobs12andahalf2]

This wasn't a presentation, it was a performance! Watched a few of your talks now. Fantastic stuff!

[@BaggiBoi]

"I notice things others don't" -Alan Mejakakjhdjaskn, the man who found my speedpaint one month after it was posted

[@mono4171]

this was an experience. ive yet to meet a person who would share their mistakes, and be humbled, so publicly. like, people have trouble reading dry data from powerpoints without getting nervous. you've just leveled up, in my eyes. bigger person than many of us, including me...

[@LeoCoot]

6:30 thank you for reminding me of James , he will always have a special place in my heart.

[@shlonk]

The loneliness of waiting for Captain Disillusion to upload

[@CockatooDude]

I wonder if he's ever considered a side hobby as a stand up comedian. He's really funny.

[@TheActionBastard]

I mean isn't his channel kind of already basically that? Sure he debunks things, but it's like Bill Nye and science but with debunking and graphic effects.

[@coryman125]

Well he's done a bit of stuff with Matt Parker before (AKA Standupmaths, who does both KZbin and live comedy shows), so it's not impossible he'll show up as a special guest or something in the future. The Captain is surprisingly good at taking such a computer-oriented topic and bringing it to low-tech live presentations

[@alexia3552]

Character growth is the most important thing. You can't change the past, but you can change the decisions you make here and now.

[@HeyItsGreg]

That James Randi reference about the mic and glasses was fantastic!

[@akcheers5637]

I'm so happy others caught that too !!

[@georgplaz]

Could you explain it for the uneducated? :)

[@Belgabor]

It's a routine James Randi does in pretty much all of his talks right at the beginning to illustrate ANYBODY, no matter how careful they think they might be, can be fooled by someone out to do it. Go on any of his public talks here on YT, he's pretty much guaranteed to do it.

[@Hdx64]

@@georgplaz What Belgabor said, but i'll add it's all about making assumptions. And how everyone makes them, even for the little things like seeing someone speaking into a device that turned out to be a beard trimmer, or wearing glasses and you just assume he is able to see you

[@OperationMadmanPPE]

I’m so sad he’s gone.

[@siwakorn2408]

THE SKEPTIC A S S H O L E SINGULARITY

[@DiThi]

The whole time I was wondering if it was a fake hall with a fake audience, because I didn't know about Think, Inc or Skepticon before.

[@jacksuss8459]

You are ridiculously good at presentations.

[@lalithjv601]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@-.._.-_...-_.._-..__..._.-.-.-]

Holy shit. I just realized Captain Disillusion and his intern ARE THE SAME PERSON.

[@Howtard]

That's his brother, Fu.

[@HenkJanBakker]

I'm a bit skeptic about that.

[@bryant3596]

David S. lmao whats next? you gonna tell me bruce wayne is batman?

[@theslvrbullt]

... I don't see it.

[@jasonpatterson8091]

Nah, one of them wears a yellow shirt all the time and the other doesn't. Are you blind?!

[@MasterOfTheChainsaw]

Oh man, this was amazing. I have watched and appreciated your work for quite some time now, mostly for entertainment purposes, but this presentation really gave me a newfound respect for you. I've been a bit disillusioned (no pun intended) with the internet skeptic community, since I felt like a lot of them were more or less assholes that seemed very keen on bashing others for their blind beliefs but ironically seemed utterly incapable of scrutinizing their own beliefs. But seeing you so humbly admit to your own mistakes and even calling yourself out for immaturely doubling down on them in the past, is really inspiring, and the positive reception to your message also gives me more hope for the skeptic community at large. Thank you for this and keep up the good work!

[@shreys9881]

It is difficult for me to express just how much I want you to have all the subscribers.

[@on-n-offon-n-off8617]

lmao 16:29 vinny made it into the video, he finally made it boys.

[@Dadwell]

anybody wanna go get som phizza?

[@123goofyking]

Dadwellington I don't eat pizza with jabronies tho

[@ycylchgames]

Its his reward for somehow managing to play through the entirety of King of Limbo.

[@FilmmakerIQ]

Can't believe you didn't get called out for saying "degrees kelvin" - that's a common criticism I get - you're not suppose to be say "degrees" - it's just Kelvin! :)

[@dnd402]

but wait, arnt you calling him out for this now? :P

[@FreedumbHS]

He also still mispronounced the French name in that same bit, just before

[@TheNJerk]

Hey CaptainDisillusion, thanks for being a "skeptic youtuber" I never had to stop watching.

[@PAGESIXVALENTINEFARRIS]

Watching those online skeptics fly into the singularity was pretty good

[@Helperbot-2000]

F

[@palmberry5576]

Time stamp

[@AppleberrySmith]

18:36, but 19:15 is closer

[@Dogy0909]

I’m glad he made that point, “skepticism” in the classic sense kind of died because guys like that became right wingers in echo chambers who don’t care to debunk falsehoods in the very age where we need that the most

[@PAGESIXVALENTINEFARRIS]

@@Dogy0909 sargon really did say "time to advocate for ethno states"

[@bradwalsh2522]

Excellent talk. Love to see some of the inner workings of your journey. I laughed out loud about Penn Jillette. He definitely has become more likeable as he has gotten older. I don't think I would have wanted to have dinner with him long ago, but now I'd love to have coffee with him. Happy to have coffee with you too. :)

[@stevemac6707]

This guy, so talented & yet so down to earth and humble. He deserves all his success, long may it continue.

[@MissPiji]

I've looked this video 20 times and every time it surprises me and makes me have fun, I'd look at another 1000, this man is truly extraordinary!

[@VidralliaArchives]

"--writer of... a KZbin series some have described as.. 'legendary'." The funny part is the fact that he's not even exaggerating.

[@Hollywhirl]

Proud to be part of the 4%! Awesome presentation.

[@Caged_Mori]

HolMarClark yea I had no idea there were more men watching. 😂

[@chi8514]

nope they are just in the makeup section and category

[@aaroncsoka7294]

xD

[@solamon77]

Damn Captain D, this took balls. Thank you for coming out and putting words to the feelings we've all felt. I'm usually the debunker/explainer amongst my friends and once you start feeling like they are counting on you to be right, it's REALLY hard to admit when you are wrong. But it happens to everyone. Even the great Captain D. And if it can happen to even you, I guess it's okay when it happens to me. Seriously, thank you. This helped make me a better person.

[@lortelv]

Haha the cameraman at 9:25 "waow" Edit: great show btw!

[@Retired_Detective51]

Krigs Medisteren I don’t think it was the camera man, there’s usually not a microphone on those types of high end base cameras.

[@jamesbrooks9321]

A lot of these KZbin skeptics and the online skeptic community has definitely pushed me away even though I would consider myself a skeptic, really like your videos and I'm glad you have the self-awareness to see some of the issues, I hope others can follow and hope you keep up the work you do

[@Spock149]

Wow, Captain Disillusion. You've broken the illusion that I had that you were perfect. Thank you for making what was for me an eye opening and thought provoking talk. :) Love with your heart, Use your head for everything else And don't forget the first part ;3

[@TrekkerLLAP]

Staraptor is ugly! Cool?

[@Spock149]

That was really confusing because of his name, I thought you posted on the wrong chain -laughs-

[@DaybreakPT]

I guess you could say he Disillusioned you! UPTOP!

[@Spock149]

Dave Sterling yes indeed, for the first time! I guess "captain explains how videos you already suspected of being faked were achieved" isn't as catchy

[@natalie8212]

Loved the entire presentation! The ' no lenses in the glasses ' bit was a great subtle shout out to Randi fans!

[@tammywalsh5984]

My favorite part! 'The Skeptic AHole Singularity' Believe me when I say "I GET IT!!!" Kudos to you for putting yourself out there and for those who are smart enough to support you, in the future I will be one of them as well... dust in the lofts Haven

[@swimseven77]

The man on stage has all the same mannerisms of Captain Disillusion.

[@Helperbot-2000]

wow trippy

[@Lynnabel]

I'm actually in a Captain D video. My life is complete. Thank you all for witnessing my incredible achievement.

[@legomen1010450]

Lynnabel congrats!

[@__-cd9ug]

you looked great

[@MrRandomSuperhero]

I admire you cap, for putting your lows so much out there to inspire others' highs. Once i can afford my bills I will be the number 1 patreon for you, because you (and primitive technology) are the pure essence of why i like youtube and liked it for 10 years now.

[@Geospasmic]

This was a very good talk and very courageous, walking the walk. I didn't know about those mistakes and behavior you pointed out, so hearing then now a few were kind of shocking. It must have been hard confronting that stuff but you did good. Thanks for not being like those that went down the asshole.

[@VinelandVinny]

Geospasmic most of those skeptics he threw in the vortex were just people that he disagreed with not people that were actually wrong

[@Geospasmic]

prominentturkey I have to disagree. They started out being people who applied reason in order to dismantle dogmatic thought systems like religion and quackery, but ended up mired in their own dogmas. I was at one time a follower of all those people, and I remember when they stood up for free thought, equality and compassion. I learned a lot from them. But over time I watched them become bitter, exclusive and paranoid. They seem to have forgotten how to have a rational discussion because they are more invested in being right than in having a real debate, and beliefs have taken the place of reason. They went backwards.

[@Frisbie147]

Geospasmic the same thing happened to feminism though, it used to be about equality, now its about silencing men and the nonexistant wage gap

[@cyncynshop]

My dear Frisbie147. Just like the Skeptic community who have the some bad apples, its the same with feminism. Both are easily blanketed with a statement with a few easy target to bring down the entire community. If you don't like what those "feminists" subject you to silencing and "nonexistent" wage gap problems. You might not want to bring up generalizing statements just like them because you're being like them just on a smaller scale. The difference being their on stage and easily criticized while you're in your house have your own license to practice freedom of speech.

[@DubstepInFeCtIoN494]

absolutely incredible. this is just what I needed to hear. I'm glad I found you on the H3H3 podcast. I only watched the podcast for 20 seconds I didn't even see you but they said you were the most underrated KZbinr. Ethan also said that your production value was similar to the work of a multi million dollar production company. I am not disappointed in the slightest. absolutely incredible I must say again. This presentation you gave was mind-blowing and I was so desperate to figure out a way to deal with rejection. We know we're right but how can we be appealing just as the wrong people are appealing. I'm grateful for your work, it was a timely intervention.

[@thefearedavocado]

It is a weird feeling to see yourself in a video that you did not even know was being made. You know, that incident stayed with me pretty strongly. I'm not even a KZbin personality, I don't comment on things that frequently, and it was one of a very few times when a celebrity/content creator has responded personally to me. I still tell the story about the time Captain Disillusion personally banished me from organized skepticism for criticizing GamerGate. It definitely discouraged me from actually joining any in-person groups, I'll tell you that, but overall it's just been a funny anecdote I tell about when a famous person was an asshole to me online. I'm glad to know that you learned and grew from the experience, at least enough that you also still remembered the exchange several years later. I hope you have and will continue along the path of introspection and personal growth. I still don't know if I can bring myself to resubscribe, though. Between the years of mild umbrage at the memory of being yelled at and finding out by surprise that three years ago my real name and face were put up onstage at Skepticon, my feelings on the matter are... complicated. Good on you overall, though. I couldn't think of a better outcome to the whole thing than a bit of self-examination. Sincere best wishes.

[@Shirokroete]

Wow that is kinda sad. If it helps, I think even back then you were totally right in what you did and the Internet was too immature to understand that

[@lulairenoroub3869]

I went to the Global Atheist Convention in Melbourne in 2010. Was studying journalism in Perth. Wanted to be a science journalist. I was all in on the skeptic thing. This is the first time in like 8 years that I've felt any amount of pride at ever having been a part of that community. Feels weird.

[@SUBSCRIBERSWITHOUTVIDEOS-dj7vo]

imagine having to put on full skin-colored makeup, in front of a live audience

[@AnimalzyNL]

Damn, don't know why I'm only watching this now. This was absolutely perfect, and your points were spot on. Showing yourself making mistakes in the past takes a lot of self knowledge, and there's not many people that find it easy to do that.

[@mads_in_zero]

I appreciate the big laugh Richard Dawkins passing the Asshole Event Horizon got

[@mitchjohnson4714]

Those people getting sucked in was the best part.

[@StRanGerManY]

But why? He seemed to be the nicest guy out fo the bunch. Extremely polite and calm

[@nikolademitri731]

Alexander I’m curious, when you say, “out of the bunch”, are you referring to the people who were going into the black hole, or to popular skeptics in general, or to something else, such as the horsemen, etc? I ask only bc what “bunch” you were referring to would be the main thing that’d determine whether he was one of the nicer ppl of said “bunch”, or not.. at least in my opinion. I’m not saying it’s all relative to what bunch/group you’re referring to; after all, one can assess him on his own merits, and I’m not so sure that he passes the test of “not being an asshole”, or at least “a bit of a dick”, or something like that. That’s obviously not the same as saying he’s a “bad” person, or completely terrible, and/or to say that his work regarding skepticism and atheism isn’t very good; I’d strongly contest anything of the sort. That said, I think it’s fair to point out that some of said work is unnecessarily “douchey”, and that he’s sent out some tweets, and made some comments in the media, that could also fit that definition, or some other affectively negative description (depending on what specific incident we’re talking about, there have been a few). Some of it may come down to the fact that Dawkins is just getting older, and sometimes people get more set in their ways and narrow minded with age, but I’m not sure that’s an excuse (it’s context, but not an excuse).. Dawkins is smart enough that I think it’s fair to expect more from him in how he presents himself; I think it’s fair to expect some modicum of sympathy be taken into consideration on his part, if not straight up empathy. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he’s on the spectrum, bc this seems exceedingly difficult for him, or at least it seems possible from where I’m sitting (as someone who’s a casual fan of his more intelligent, substantial work, and as a former BIG TIME fan of everything Dawkins). Anyway, you asked a relatively simple question, and I responded by asking you questions (and I’m legitimately curious about what bunch/group you meant), and explaining why I think it’s fair to call him a bit of a douche, in general, but without getting into actual examples, so maybe this reply will be worthless to you. I’m not trying to avoid specifics, we can get into that if necessary. My answer is simply an attempt to be fair and nuanced, while not producing a massive essay. Speaking of that, I still managed to go on at great length... hopefully this answers your question at least somewhat, but we can have a respectful dialogue if you want. Peace ♾🏴❤️

[@StRanGerManY]

@@nikolademitri731 Yes, I am reffering to the people presented in the video. But you can probably generilize it to "skeptic advocates" in general. Albeit I'm not too familiar with all of them, its my strong impressions from the videos with him that he always tries to be polite and calm. Speaking with religious people requires great deal of patience and articulation, and he certainly does posses these qualities. I mean, if Dawkins passed the "asshole horizon", then who didn't? And most certainly, I am myself is an asshole for sure, if that's the case. I must admit, I might have a personal bias towards him, because he is the one I started the whole journey into the skeptisism with, so it hurts me a little bit when I see then his reputation is in a decline. I don't follow any social media, and didn't see any tweets, for example, so maybe I just saw him in his "prime", the best highlights of the debates and interviews. Anyway, I must add that your comment is very surprising to me. It is certainly the opposite to what I am used to: people misrepresenting my words, resorting to personal attacks, taking words out of context, etc. Altough I did not expect my simple comment to warrent such a lengthy and in-depth response, I appropriate it nevertheless.

[@MultiDiarmuid]

@@StRanGerManY Just a week ago, Dawkins was promoting a right wing event that was trying to stop universities from teaching postmodernism. The ironic part of all this is the fact that the event begins with a religious service.

[@RedUmbre]

This is like an episode of CD performed live. He even has a character arch/act progression

[@bouhannacheabdallah]

this guy is killing me ,with his impressive ways of ,presentations , congrats dude ,you are making you-tube a great place

[@brig8683]

This video is 4 years old. I saw it on my front page. I have been crying for hours because I felt depressed, but seeing this made me smile. No one will see this. CD won't see this, but thanks for making me smile.

[@tommiller9719]

I love how he is saying that he is not in character but I still feel like i watched a 27 minute Captain Disillusion video.

[@nothanks5172]

This is a really reassuring thing to see after binge-watching a bunch of old videos. :)

[@amateurishanimation]

Wow, you found enough flesh coloured paint to cover your entire body finally? That’s so cool!

[@taffysaur]

We got Beakman’s World down here, actually. I adored that show as a kid. Don’t remember us ever getting Bill Nye, but we may have as well.

[@reversethepolarityproducti7777]

That was great! And I loved how Penn was able to pull out of the black hole!

[@xalaxie]

I love how he calls out sceptics by name by having them sucked into the vortex. chef's kiss.

[@docmarion8902]

Amazing, I would have loved to watch this presentation live. I thought it was really interesting the way you presented yourself and your mistakes, embraced them with the audience and learned through them.

[@jesusurrabieta9700]

I feel hopeful everytime you end your videos with your classic "Love with your heart, use your head for everything else"... So you do provide hope to, at least, 1 human...

[@Thisman67]

watching that i feel so sorry for alan, he seemed so nervous but man that was one of the best, if not the best, lecture i've ever seen.

[@davitdavid7165]

Watching this after knowing the fates of some of these skeptics is wierd. I almost forgot sargon was in this community at some point and thunderfoot... oh no!

[@raketexyz]

what's wrong with thunderfoot?

[@thundershock7004]

I think the person writing to him was jacksfilms

[@PenguinjitsuX]

Your live presentations are some of the best I've ever seen. The jokes are perfect and you're presentations look really nice every single time.

[@MrSonny6155]

I don't know about all the skeptics that were falling into the singularity, but among the ones I saw, I knew of Richard Dawkins, Thunderf00t, Sargon of Akkard, and The Amazing Atheist. Richard Dawkins, a famed biologist and scientific communicator which I admire for his old lectures, work into the modern field of genetics, and the coining of the term "meme" in the study of memetics, a field I was fascinated with through my own observations. Sadly, by the time I found him, he had long fallen into the depths of New Atheism, preaching the same words he used to fight although disguised with the "scientific method". I still remember the horrors I discovered when I first stumble across the 2 hour long documentary (read: atheist elitism circlejerk) known as Discussion with Richard Dawkins: The Four Horsemen. I haven't seen Thunderf00t much, but KZbin recommendations seems to understand my trend of elitism. I've avoided clicking on his videos for fear of my sanity and loss of my direction. You can clearly tell from his thumbnails and video titles that the whole video is gonna be the repetitive ramblings of a sane man turned mad from living in the echo chamber that is the safety of his unchanging KZbin audience. I can say the same thing about the other two, but from the days spent watching Sargon of Akkard and The Amazing Atheist, I got to watch their fall into the singularity of assholery. What started out as education opinionated videos featuring detailed, well-thought criticism turned into the degradation of the essence of our humanity within videos. I'm sure by now they are merely artifacts of the long past which document their own downfall. Or still bouncing around in that echo chamber they built themselves to this day. Despite the grim reminders of the disturbing reality of the sceptical community, thanks for the much needed chuckles!

[@longlostwraith5106]

Dawkins went head first into the shitstorm, because he refuses to let mindless SJWs dictate what should and shouldn't be discussed. Thunderf00t nowadays makes some awesome science videos, he no longer focuses on creationists or feminists (aka the cancers of youtube). Also, his debunking videos are pure gold. Sargon as far as I was watching him was focusing on some good political and social debate, until he went full "alt-right" (aka retarded). TAA no longer calls himself that, he was trying for a long time to distance himself from the atheist label. Nowadays, he does "comedic commentary" along with other folk.

[@MrSonny6155]

Interesting, I'll have to check out the Thunderf00t and TAA again now. Thanks for the heads up!

[@livefree1030]

Tf00t was one of the first channels I subbed in the early era of KZbin. I'm so shocked he has yet to achieve 1 mil subs because he's a legendary figure

[@longlostwraith5106]

He hasn't achieved 1 mil yet because he's not trying to cater to his audience's whims. Being honest to your fanbase is self-destructive.

[@MrCmon113]

You confuse disagreeing with you with being an asshole.

[@harlycorner]

Update: Elon Musk took his blue check mark away.

[@unpaidcomintern]

There's some sort of very weird time paradox or something going on. When I clicked on the video, I watched it until the end and saw a lot of well deserved self-criticism, a bit of throwing shade at other people for being dicks and tips on how to not be a dick to people by not being an arrogant douchebag. Apparently, in another parallel universe that some other viewers phased into for 30 minutes was just a video about throwing shade at other people for being dicks. 30 minutes of it. uninterrupted

[@pengwin_]

the nail that sticks out, gets hammered first.

[@yootoobnoob1]

On a bigger scale than I intended (Been watching your channel but never saw this), I realize this lecture is something that makes me really enjoy your videos more. I like your stance on things like the humor, humility and hope. I am learning VFX and feel that you inspire me and others to learn more about it. I'm leaving this comment because your lecture changed my view of you're videos in a way that I thought I had all figured out. I realize it's also not in the realm of skepticism. I do think, however, it shows how if you look at things closer you may find yourself viewing something in a way that you might not think as possible originally. Great work!

[@minerscale]

Getting a recommended video on the Schwartzchild radius of a black hole lol.

[@heathersyvilla9617]

I can’t tell you how relieved I am to hear you didn’t realize who Anita sarkesian was when you put her in your video. Much respect for acknowledging a mistake 🌹

[@UhrwerkKlockwerx]

Damn, that takes serious maturity and balls to admit your mistakes to so many people like that and try to teach them to not make the same mistakes you have. Good on you! 👏👏👏

[@keeleon]

Wait, you mean Captain Disillusion is actually Alan Melikdjanian?!? Next you'll tell me that Superman is that nerd, Clark Kent!

[@bexiewoo]

The glasses bit was really funny and im sad the audience didnt appreciate it as much as i did

[@benjaminaustnesnarum3900]

The important part is not to always be right, but never to be wrong.

[@smithwillnot]

Throwing shade at Star Wars? I love it!

[@vixguy]

"My girlfriend is a girl for god's sake" wow, I would have never guesssed.

[@jiffpop5143]

i thought this was an elaborate edit to make it seem like you were on a stage