Comment Responses: What Are Stories With Telekinetics Really About?

[@JysusCryst]

No one pointed out that being telekinetic is just a way to be lazy? Come on, who been sitting on the couch with the remove just slightly outta reach and though "if only I could move that with my mind." Everyone wants to be lazy, and everyone wants to be powerful. Telekinesis is both.

[@Earthenfist]

In a way, that's what my comment was about. Like the George Carlin 'Flamethrower' joke, technology is basically just that- a way to be lazy, a way to affect things you otherwise couldn't affect (whether that be because of strength or distance or unwillingness to get up from your recliner). I guarantee that there are people who have programmed their televisions to respond to voice commands, or attached their remotes to microdrones controlled by their phone, because of precisely what you suggest- and that's something that I, personally, am unable to do. It's something that, were I less familiar with technology, would be shocked and amazed, and possibly frightened by.

[@englishpizza7580]

I know I'm late to the party, and my comment won't be in this video(obviously) but the reason I have a fascination with telekinesis is that it's sort of a wish fulfillment thing for me. After I saw the movie chronicle I became fascinated with it, making yourself fly with it, messing with people, and just doing something that no one else could do.

[@GuyWithAnAmazingHat]

Telekinesis stories are always about characters that are perceived to be weak physically and mentally. TK is used to empower a physically weak character, having them show a strength of will. However at the same time, since TK is directly tied to the user's mind, it is also a way to show the user's mental and emotional struggles, commonly shown as bouts of uncontrolled power that requires the user to overcome and become stronger.

[@thatjillgirl]

Interestingly with regards to the letters found in demon names, the same letters are often used in pharmaceutical brand names for drugs. This is done very intentionally (the entire drug branding process is done very intentionally) for marketing purposes, as research has shown that people associated those hard consonant sounds with more power or effectiveness. So it could just be the same psychological trick at play with demon names: Those sounds sound strong and intimidating to the English-speaker's ear.

[@jamesj.7866]

I think you might have missed the point of the comment about mental illness, in that it's not health comes into play with the allegory of using technology or 'things' but rather that being telekinetic is tantamount to having a mental illness. The need to control yourself, the fear of losing control, experiencing a world dramatically different than the norm, being an outsider (alone), and above all... that the trait controls almost every aspect of their lives.

[@gibberishname]

if youtube wants you to upload on different days, I'd prefer comment responses to appear the day BEFORE new videos instead of the day AFTER, for what it's worth. just offering input.

[@sycoforbidden]

You know, there's a person at my university of engineering who made a paper about the change of water properties through the power of intent. It has some really interesting results, when it's published (which will be soon) i'll post the link to it here.

[@Jokubasinc]

sycoforbidden sounds interesting

[@sycoforbidden]

It is, it really is :)

[@danielsjohnson]

I think a documentary/docu-drama called "What the Bleep Do We Know?" (yes the titled actually spelled out the word "bleep") talked about a similar thing with water a christian/catholic priest prayed over versus normal water.

[@sycoforbidden]

In the paper in the making people were trying to change the distance between water molecules via intention, and i must say, the results are weird xD

[@sycoforbidden]

The article is now published, you can take a look: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2156587217707117

[@Keronin]

It feels really off to have the comment responses after the main video for the week.. I might be the only one, but I like to watch the comment response video before the main video as sort of a closure for the previous week's topic and then begin the new topic.

[@zennim125]

short attention span? come on this shouldn't​ be a nuance

[@JiffyJames85]

I agree. Maybe IC could change the comment response to Wednesday and the video to Friday. I wonder if they picked the other way to give a full week to go through the comments. (btw, I really liked this comment response video)

[@bluexroses414]

I also do this, and in fact it felt so weird this week I didn't watch the main episode yet.

[@jenniferhartshorn2391]

Technically, the X-Men movies are not in the "Marvel Cinematic Universe" -- they're based on Marvel properties, they're Cinematic, but they're produced by Fox. The "Marvel Cinematic Universe" is only the movies put out by Marvel Studios, all of which share a common continuity. Yes, I'm being nitpicky, but... isn't that kind of what we do in these? ;-)

[@antonskjold7139]

Jennifer Hartshorn i wouldn't say pointing out that they are set in different universes is nitpicky

[@ElementalofAir]

As soon as you mentioned the idea of it being related to economics, my first thought was that telekineticks tend to not be super well off, for whatever reason. They aren't usually tramping around in mansions, but running about on the streets. At least in my experience, and that maybe the telekinesis is a way for the lower economic classes to balance out the buying power of the rich. The rich can have people move things for them, whether with their hands or with machinery, without having to get up themselves, which may tax their wallet, but is inherently energy-less.

[@jonathaneby1440]

Don't trust nerds to leave things like prof x alone. We respond as a reflex 😂😂😂

[@mixa1111]

2 points (taking Death Note as an example): - The notebook is enabling the power, very like technology OR as Arthur C Clarke put it "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." - The anonymity of it is also interesting (since that's what the plot centers on) especially as in the case of technology it need not be the person themselves who has powers but the thing that they use.

[@mikececconi2677]

In the comics, there's been inconsistent implication that he has low-level telekinetic abilities that he can't or hasn't developed for Reasons. I dunno. He usually isn't portrayed that way but it's there and it's a fuckin' weird thing to get one's undies in a fundie about.

[@TrueRaijin]

Mike Cecconi yeah, they show him has a low level TK in the Ultimate universe, with heavy implication that all sorts of PSI powers are linked.

[@rdreher7380]

I'd say your hypothesized association for the "end of the alphabet" with demon names likely has it's origins in the fact that many of these words come to us via Greek and Latin. X is used a lot in Latin, and as a translation for the Greek letter Ξ, and the letters Y and Z, which are not at the end of the Greek alphabet, but were added to the end of the Latin alphabet and used by the Romans to spell borrowed Greek words. Why might demons names have this association when English is full of names that came to us via Latin and Greek? I'd say because those other names were used as names for anyone and thus became more anglicized, but nobody uses demon names to name their child, so they stayed only names in the Bible and literature, which was for the longest time always in Latin. So demon names keep their uncommon X's, Ph's TH's and Y and Z's. The Hebrew origins of such names might also lend a hand. Many of the names you mentioned just then, especially with the Z's, are from Hebrew. Azriel, Beelzebub. And then of course when people make new names for demon in fantasy and such, they makes similar sounding names.

[@xcelentei]

is the reason all those demon names have similar phonetics is because a lot of them are based in jewish mythology, and thus are hebrew words?

[@caloboyle9388]

Thanks for putting these up Friday! I'll be more inclined to getting back in the habit of keeping up with them

[@LANBobYonson]

It feels good to have the video on separate days. I never watched the comment response videos before but it feels more worth it to watch them now? I don't know why...

[@moonlitfractal]

Many of those scary demon names are derived from Hebrew, where the Z sound is more common than it is in English.

[@StFido]

Nice Shadowrun T-shirt. Does that mean we're gonna get a cyber-punk episode one day?

[@mythirdchannel]

I'm gonna jump into the conversation regarding the new upload schedule, I am not opposed to spacing out the main video from the comment response video (honestly, sometimes I feel like a "double dose" is a bit overwhelming ... pending on my level of concentration) - but there's something about uploading it after another main topic has been discussed that is a bit of a miss for me ... it's like "oh, right ... there was an episode about that ... it's just not ... the last one I saw ... hrm ... ". It might work alright over a longer period of time though, so I am okay with trying it out :)

[@Earthenfist]

On the subject of "Scary Letters"- I have a theory that certain sounds, certain phonemes, which are inherently 'Funny' or amusing to hear or say- and that words that contain more of those phonemes are funnier than words that contain less, regardless of the inherent meaning of the word. (For example, any doubled vowel set, use of the 'k' sound, 'lippy' sounds like 'p' and 'b' and 'f', various others). If that were the case, could there not also be specific phonemes that are 'scary'?

[@sirien.neiris]

Excellent t-shirt. Which edition? :)

[@RolandWolf]

I may be alone here, but i kindda like the staggered release of responses. It "smoothes out" my idea channel addiction :P

[@Stephen-Fox]

Heroic characters with telekineses without disability as 'balancing factor' - At least the original and most recent version of The Tommorrow People - though that did have a balancing factor (Forget if either telekinesis or incapable of killing was in the 90s version I grew up with) The weird thing there, of course, is that Telekinesis is very much the B-Roll of powers in that show - The one that all three versions basically marketed themselves on is teleportation.

[@justintonytoney]

I think it's a mistake to put these out separate from the main idea posts. I like watching the new episode, then I'm into the groove that makes me more patient to stay and listen to the lower production quality of the comment responses.

[@TheSpideryOne]

Justin Toney they are really really long though, causes algorithm problems with KZbin thinking people don't complete their videos so doesn't recommend them

[@Dyvon.dynamo]

What does the idea of TK translate from the many entries from the 90's and early oughts? We have Drew from Beetleborgs and Alex Mack that exercised their TK like a muscle and would worry about the atrophy of it if not done regularly? Their powers increase some with such precision that by the second season of Beetleborgs​, Drew who used to have to blink and nod to activate his power didn't have to do it as often, activating it covertly even while inhabiting the body of a better beetle (same with Alex Mack becoming whatever they advertised Capri Sun would turn you into). There seems to be a more of a pursuit of connection with this power rather than this power fighting for role supremacy like Venom trying to take over Peter Parker.

[@danielsjohnson]

If you like manga check out "Zettai Karen Children". It's about a telekinetic, a teleporter, and a psychometer (that means you understand all the history of an object just by touching it). The measurement of ESPers in that series is very systematized. Not everyone has powers but many do. There are multiple levels of strength (7 to be exact) and the 3 girls are the only level 7s in Japan. They start the series as elementary school brats so that makes the job of their government handler very difficult. It's a good series and it gets better later on.

[@ConditionOfMan]

I like the staggered releases.

[@siramvirdis6412]

Disability isn't a dirty word. Use it.

[@planetsoccer99]

I feel like the focus was off in this video, maybe 6 inches too close to the camera?

[@Danielevans2]

love the video! that really quite music was really frustrating thou :/

[@beretperson]

pretty sure you meant Azazel, not Azrael?

[@zennim125]

Mateo Gg Azrael also is a fallen angel, aka a demon

[@beretperson]

I'm not gonna pretend I'm an expert, but I don't remember him being fallen. Angel of death, sure, but not fallen.

[@zennim125]

I am no expert also, but from what I remember he is still an angel in islam, but he is fallen in Christianity

[@johnmagnuson6229]

Azrael is an archangel or an angel at the least. Usually the angel of death.

[@PrinsessePeach]

New video on Friday, and comment response on Wednesday would be best.

[@Mekryd]

You made another small misstep in this video, referring to "Professor X in the Marvel Cinematic Universe." The X-Men movies are Fox, and not part of the MCU. That's a bit of a sad thing, because X-Men tie into the greater Marvel Universe in interesting ways that we won't ever get to explore in movies.

[@zennim125]

Mekryd talk about being nitpicky

[@antonskjold7139]

Lucas Melo How is that nitpicky? If you like these movies it's important to know they are set in different universes

[@Noms_Chompsky]

X and Z are magic and xenophobe is the most magical demon name of them all

[@sudd3660]

no ones talk about telekinesis as real? we really think us humans as powerless?

[@Ichithix]

I think the reason most of your demon names sound sinister has nothing to do with what letters make them up and more because they sound foreign. A lot of "demons" you listed were gods that were demonized specifically because they were foreign deities to one culture or another. Also, Azrael isn't a demon, rather the angel of death; and Baphomet seems to be a French corruption of Muhammad.

[@alfpabravoloboking]

wtf is up with the table?

[@GuyWithAnAmazingHat]

Both the camera and table are leveled, this just means that the table is not rectangular, just a random polygon.

[@justintonytoney]

97th!

[@theGreenPiedPiper]

first