Compost-Fueled Cars: Wouldn't That Be Great? - Onion Talks - Ep. 1

Young media professional Cameron Hughes delivers a compelling argument for his vision of the future--one filled with cars powered by compost. He outlines the idea he came up with in detail, leaving the formalities for other visionaries in other fields. One thing is for certain: he already came up with the idea.
ONION DIGITAL STUDIOS
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Head Writer: Sam West
Writers: Dan Klein, Matt Klinman, Michael Pielocik, Chris Sartinsky
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[@pogobat]

"I'll be your visionary, and you do the things I come up with." Pretty much sums up TED.

[@a-jam8937]

Pretty much sums up slavery.

[@danielbrown1724]

I’m filing a lawsuit for name fraud 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😳😳😳😳😳

[@danielbrown1724]

@@a-jam8937 definitely a Steve Jobs type of move I think the idea, you slave in a sweatshop to get it done

[@courier6960]

Pretty much sums up Elon Musk and CEO’s in general

[@andrewdoesyt7787]

@@courier6960 CEOs? No, CEOs are the hardest working people in the company.

[@derekkee5588]

“We just need a rock that is big enough, efficient enough, and innovative enough to bludgeon them.” ...But...is it the BIGGEST rock?

[@pablomagno4679]

No because If he finds the biggest rock, there Will bê a bigger one.

[@hellogoodnite8447]

I have official found the biggest rock, but I’m not gonna say where

[@BlueEyes-WhiteDrag0n]

I get the reference (Part 4)

[@unfortunatebreadcat3072]

@@BlueEyes-WhiteDrag0n its not a jojo reference, its a reference to one of the other onion talks

[@awdrifter3394]

@Atlantic Pacific He's not loud enough, I can't even hear his idea.

[@thatunnamedredshirt]

Being a CS major, this rings painfully true. There are so many "idea guys" out there who have a good idea, they just need you to do all of the work, then split the profit...

[@NW-sm8xq]

So Steve Jobs or Elon Musk.

[@pedrodesanti6266]

@@NW-sm8xq I'm not a apple fã but Steve jobs was actually good, Elon is just a joke

[@archsteel7]

@@pedrodesanti6266 I'd say that with Steve Jobs it's a case of him doing about 20-30% of the work while Wozniak did all of the rest, and yet Steve Jobs reaped 90% of the rewards. In the end, Steve Jobs was better with people and Wozniak was better with computers. But people are the ones who *pay* you, not computers. Meanwhile, Elon has done 0% of the work, was born rich, has basically just gotten lucky by buying into companies that already exist, does nothing but cause PR disasters for the companies he's taken over, and is a general blight on the entire tech industry.

[@ferociousgumby]

@@archsteel7 Oh, but he's cute.

[@Thrifty032781]

@@archsteel7 But I mean for all of Elon Musk's faults, he at least spent money to get his ideas implemented. There are a ton of people out there who think that all they have to do is have an idea, and someone else will implement it for a share of potential future profits. And from all I've heard, he actually works really hard at all his businesses.

[@TheJapanChannelDcom]

My idea is better. A car that is powered by air and the exhaust smells like roses. Brilliant. Now.. engineers.. build it!

[@EmperorOf]

that will destroy the climate, my idea is better, i propose a car powered by NOTHING that exhaust NOTHING.

[@montsemajanmartinez9824]

My idea is better : A car powered by my own ideas With a poetic transmission ...and... 🤔 from the exhaust? 🤔 ... *BUTTERFLIES!* 🦋🦋🦋🦋💃💃💃💃

[@hellogoodnite8447]

I like mine better where the car can transform into a toilet. Slogan: “Taking a shit on the road”

[@kdburner7356]

may i suggest domesticating large species of birds and riding them around that’d be cool too

[@breakingbacon658]

I propose a car that does car things and the exhaust isn’t car things.

[@thevoxdeus]

"In my mind, we could construct the car using technologies that are already available to us, for just half the cost" is pure gold. "I'll be your visionary, and you do the things I come up with" describes pretty much every CEO.

[@ProductBasement]

I bet some billionaire tried to contact this guy in order to back this

[@ProductBasement]

@@khamjaninja. her original idea was even dumber: everyone would have a patch that would constantly test their blood, diagnose illnesses, and inject the right dose of any medication automatically. That's why it was called "theranos": therapy+diagnosis

[@gregorymalchuk272]

The technology to run a car on compost already exists. We already have the ability to gasifiy municipal solid waste, sewage sludge, biomass, crop residue, and indeed compost, and run the synthesis gas through the Fischer-Tropsch process to make liquid fuels in the gasoline and diesel ranges.

[@fghsinging]

@@gregorymalchuk272 Ayyy! Fellow Engineer.

[@sominono]

The dude's reaction at 0:45 deserves an oscar.

[@MrNimtiz]

I know! When I saw it, it was so typical of when in a TED talk they cut to the audience.

[@wahuigi6843]

This comment deserves more likes

[@justin_5631]

the same audience reactions are reused for all their fake TED talks.

[@ExtremeUnction1988]

I was looking for this comment. I fell out of my damn chair.

[@ryanmair2373]

He's clearly just an idiot who cannot comprehend the ideas of a true visionary.

[@SoteriosXI]

Sums up nearly every TED talk I've ever seen.

[@Laitiere772]

SoteriosXI Explain me, please. Because I still don't know if I should laugh at it or take it as a "serious" conference ? And this name, though. I'm lost. Please, help me (;_;) .

[@SoteriosXI]

Douce Plume TED Talks is the young liberal's version of an infomercial, more-or-less. TED Talks has a very formulaic theme for creating videos. The goal of every video is to inspire people to be innovative while showing what are often half-promising inventions explained to people as if the inventions were only discovered by the inventor because the inventor decided to "see the world differently" and had some amazing, awe-inspiring, and simple insight that everyone should know. The inventor claims to find some tricky, yet very simple way to solve a problem, a way so simple that the inventor can use easy analogies and a 3-step diagram to explain it to everyone. There is nothing wrong with trying to encourage people to see the world differently and fight the norm. It's just that after the 90th video with the same message and the same half-promising invention/idea, it all starts to get boring. The example in the video has a car that runs on compost, which makes fun of all the people who are trying to, again, find "new ways to challenging our preconceived notion of tackling x problem" of solely using gas or electric powered cars. There have been people who have invented cars that run on things like moss and ethanol, which look cool, but compared to the original, these forms of energy to run a car are nowhere nearly as good as gas or electric. Yet these inventors will then go on talks and say "look how different and out-of-the-box I am" when in their reality their idea sucks. And so is the case for many half-promising ideas shown on TED. It would be better if an inventor would simply go on, say "here's what I made" and then leave, but they have to flush out every video with an extra 10 minutes of words that show us how conformist, and shallow we all are, and how this simple invention will solve everything.

[@troliskimosko]

SoteriosXI how about instead: this video is a parody on Ted talks because they are often like this in a less exaggerated way.

[@aixide]

@@SoteriosXI _Doctors hate him!_

[@minitrumpsaltminingltd4351]

"Birds are NOT the problem we need to kill" Just blew my mind o.O

[@justin_5631]

it kind of explains what i've been doing wrong, but i'm not going to stop until I can be absolutely sure.

[@devoabrown]

@benjovi55 drinking and shooting, there's throwing two stones at the same bird! !

[@TheTitanJesus]

Anymore

[@lolasdm6959]

YET

[@BloodhawkAHS]

As an engineer, this was hilarious. Really hit it on the head. Welcome to my every day we have a meeting with some young guy that thinks he has got the world figured out.

[@s.bakyhnh1756]

I came up with an incredible idea: World peace. Now where's my fucking Nobel Prize?

[@youngjung161]

Underated comment. After four years you deserve some appreciation😊

[@hastyhillfarmand4x480]

I'd rather have money than a prize, I can't pay for drugs with a Nobel prize.

[@derivative6363]

​@@hastyhillfarmand4x480 The drugs needed for yet another incredible idea.

[@spinemelter2000]

We really do need more Ted parodies. Those videos are so pretentious.

[@asaal7399]

@philip Trevor for every ted talk you find pretentious I'll find you one that is good and useful. Let's see how long you can play this game (not very long). kzbin.info/www/bejne/jXemp56hebiZf7c

[@jansa940]

@philip Trevor LOL. Best comment.

[@oldcowbb]

science ted are still good

[@robbylebotha]

@@asaal7399 personally, i dont want to play. 98% of TED talks are dumb, pretentious and obnoxious. I will not waste my data thanks

[@afndcasd1288]

@@robbylebotha 98%? sure its not 97.55%? ffs

[@Snoopies622]

"A car that runs on the sound of my voice. Sure, the engineers will work out the details. And you only have to pay me half."

[@mason-qm2eb]

+Snoopies622 *APPLAUD "You Will Have Seven Jobs" *APPLAUD "And Still Have Time For Your Current Job" *APPLAUD "We Are Half Way There" *APPLAUD

[@metarotta]

i love how well they portray the inspirational tech startup scam speech that tells all these promises but doesn't actually explain how they will fulfill them in any way at all

[@ticenits1926]

Yes I too watched the video and enjoyed the punchline of the joke

[@lucas13flu]

Kickstarter crap in a nutshell I guess

[@sdfsfsefewfe]

All TED presenters must see this "how not too" video. Better still, TED should create a Bullsh*t score for each presentation, so that viewers can contribute ttheir opinion.

[@grahamblack1961]

I'm glad I'm not the only person who finds TED talks pompous embarrassing garbage.

[@ndelliott138]

You could replace this with any of Elon Musk's talks and they would be equally viable.

[@kaianttila1619]

They're not all garbage. There has been good speakers in TED.

[@InnuendoXP]

Some are pretty good, but then TEDx came along, and most of those were self-indulgent garbage, and then TED just seemed to stop trying to distinguish between the two in quality control.,

[@LastOfTheMaguas]

Nate you're still the only person on the planet that doesn't get inspired by Elon Musk

[@LuckyFlesh]

I don;t know of anyone over the age of 12 that's "inspired" by Elon Musk.

[@richard1701able]

"I'll be the visionary and you do the things I come up with" Is this guy running for president too?

[@Snoopies622]

I once watched about two minutes of one TED Talk. It went something like this. That was enough.

[@MrCyberboobs]

I know too many self-titled "entrepreneurs" like this, except they mean it

[@mchikos]

“Although birds are no longer the problems we need to kill, solving two problems at once is still a part of the human experience.” Wow wow wow

[@gustav.schwanzlutscher1950]

this is so true about so many TED talks, the have the idea, but the technical know how is almost zero.

[@nothosaur]

Back to the future part 2 had a car that ran on compost. That movie was set in 2015. We are in 2015, people. It's probably already happened. We just need to find Doc.

[@drew2225222]

It also had hoverboards.... where's my hoverboard???

[@WeavileLady]

drew2225222 on fire

[@carolynmmitchell2240]

Wiggly Fungus lmao good one

[@ObscuredByTime]

Exactly. We're actually behind schedule on this. It's embarrassing.

[@MikaelLAOhman]

"for just half the cost" always cracks me up

[@rgbok5453]

I've been using these onion talks to practice for my presentation. This is good example. You can say the weirdest stuff and still come off professional.

[@MrNimtiz]

0:44 This dude deserves an Oscar

[@roopeheikkinen430]

0:44 This dude deserves an Oscar

[@ezekielwillerson9204]

0:44 This dude deserves an Oscar

[@dom7634]

0:44 This dude deserves an Oscar

[@cadebailey0808]

0:44 This dude deserves an Oscar

[@yusefaslam9675]

0:44 This dude deserves an Oscar

[@BradWilliamson]

My ideas are better than this guy's. There's no way he'll be richer than me after everyone else implements them for me.

[@Scias]

"...and my team of engineers and I profiting wholeheartedly..." OMG this is gold!

[@zoomskiller]

I thought I was watching Elon Musk's neuralink talk for the first half

[@Serai3]

"I'll be your visionary, and you do the things I come up with." THOMAS EDISON HAS BEEN REINCARNATED!!!

[@prismcolour]

The delivery of TED talks seem to be reminiscent of late night infomercials. I can't... I just can't.

[@jacquelinepaduano2464]

"I've already thought of that"

[@DonQuichotteLiberia]

"If my idea is implemented correctly, there will be a new job for every car made. Some of you will be able to have two jobs. But you'll still have time to keep your current job as well." Fantastic XD

[@mipmipmipmipmip]

Basically every Elon Musk pitch

[@JustinRCampbell88]

I need to give this man my money

[@Zerodis]

I'm subscribed to both Onion and TED, so seeing these titles and images on my subscription list is confusing. Good job onion, you've made a parody good enough to be mixed up with the original.

[@rachelj16]

“I’ll be your visionary, and *you* do the things I come up with” **ecstatic applause** (in all serious that’s pretty much what it feels like when you’re working at any sort of start up type business)

[@hemipemi]

I love the way he yelled "that's MY IDEA"

[@MyDuckSaysFucc]

This is pretty much every Elon Musk idea ever.

[@macemalakai]

"You can have two jobs!... And still have time to do your current one lololol"

[@dozokhu7392]

I know someone just like this. He wants to be the "visionary" on projects. Money will flow in he says as he tries to lead people on to help him make it happen. He's spent the last 24 years telling me he'll be a millionaire someday too

[@TheTrueRandomness]

The amount of people "not getting it" indicates that this was a *great* topic for ONN to talk about. I admire your genius!

[@HidamariNuko]

Onion is coming through with some really, REALLY great series' lately!

[@anuradhajaishankar7903]

If it helps , fuel is just ancient compost.

[@anotheridiotoninternet6635]

My idea is to find people with ideas and we share the money.

[@karolb.5764]

"In my mind..." is the phrase where these kinds of arguments live and die.

[@degauze]

It's amazing what you can achieve.. when you don't care who does the work

[@evil_waffles_7407]

This is so accurate it's scary...

[@thecyuber558]

Step 1: Think of the title Step 2: Write the rest of the essay

[@BenScott]

nicely done - more subtlety than I expected from an Onion video!

[@jinxed7915]

Elon Musk be like: "This but unironically"

[@SenthilKumar-qq5te]

If this was on TED channel, no-one would tell it's fake.

[@DMan-G]

0:34 I LOVE the guy's reaction after he finishes the line!

[@PhilMoskowitz]

Won't become a reality until there's better compost storage technology.

[@Plockhoy]

He is the next Elon Musk.

[@petersmythe6484]

It's like AliG's "hoverboard"

[@kimlarjohnson2263]

I'm doing a Carbon Literacy report for work and i asked this question and Cameron just hit the nail on the head!

[@SC-yy4sw]

Everyday, i see new projects claiming to change the world with unproven technology and stupidly tight budget and deadlines. Reminds me of this video.

[@DevoutSkeptic]

0:45 Not too sure about that one, Chief

[@sdero499]

"I'll be the visionary... and you do the things I come up with" the pinnacle of Progressivism in 2012.

[@kturn5953]

‘Some of you will be able to have two jobs, but you will still have time to do your current jobs as well.” HAHA!! 2:28

[@fvw1187]

The bird 2 stones opener was alreadt so fuckin stupid. I love it.

[@michaelschlimmer4683]

Steve Jobs in a nutshell.

[@s.bakyhnh1756]

*Elon Musk.

[@ImNotActuallyChristian]

@@s.bakyhnh1756 Don't know how that makes sense considering he actually produces results, but sure m8

[@MlSTERSANDMAN]

Elon Musk actually is an engineer with a Physics degree. Steve Jobs was a con business men who knew about caligraphy. Elon Musk is lead engineer at SpaceX too.

[@sws212]

@@MlSTERSANDMAN Musk, if anything, is another Jobs now. I doubt he does any of the heavy lifting anymore.

[@wclifton968gameplaystutorials]

I think this clip is based on the business model of Theranos

[@steph_dreams]

Thomas Edison recolorized 2012

[@chettonex]

Fun fact, there are several projects around the world of cars fueled by trash. There is one in Argentina that is quite efficient in terms of fuel/trash need to run.

[@mack596]

0:46

[@MegaElvisd]

I use this as a teaching tool to my high schoolers about the rahrah level of discourse about science amongst progs, exemplified by that self-congratulatory TED environment.

[@littleex-veggiemama952]

awesome

[@WeavileLady]

davis mounger good answer to "it's year _____ but still no flying cars" there are ideas... then execution and realizing possible consequences . For example 3D traffic laws to track and totaled cars falling from the sky weeeeeeee

[@carolynmmitchell2240]

Wiggly Fungus we have the tech to give them a powerful magnetic field that stops crashing

[@d4n4nable]

Doing the Lord's work.

[@yellowblanka6058]

Interest in Science and scientific research should be cheered on - REAL science though, you know peer-reviewed research, laboratories etc. - not "entrepreneurs" with plenty of ideas but not practical way to actually implement them or some random person with a blog citing irrelevant/wrong data to try to make a point.

[@Dare2Doubt]

Mr Musk, is that you?!

[@NaughtyNimitz]

Absolutely love this!

[@MaTaRoe]

"Behind every great achievement is a visionary"..... Beautiful said

[@Sorenzo]

The humour could be more... subtle. Also, there's actually a train in Norway that runs on compost.

[@StrazdasLT]

This is obviously satire but there actually are some compost dumps that extract methane from composting trash and that methane can be used as fuel to heat houses, cooking or even as car fuel (methane run cars exist right now), so this idea is actually a reality now.

[@theamazingempiricist]

Thank you, this is fantastic

[@daugbret]

This is a very, very good satire. Perfectly executed.

[@roswellautopsia]

Literally predicted Elon Musk

[@joebob4579]

Literally Elon musk

[@janeyaa]

"we've already completed step 1" LOL

[@crazykidp2r]

I had this idea early this week. what a surprise I found someone who had the same idea.

[@chippysteve4524]

Lifting the lid on the Trump Empire. I'm the brainfart guy. You make it happen or you're fired!

[@TheSlothofDOOM]

Elon musk

[@frankthetank2550]

This is honestly so uplifting

[@aoxingfang6246]

I’m crying because I’ve dealt with people like that “I have the idea, you JUST have to bring it to life”.

[@flappy7373]

this guy sounds like elon musk. "i'm just the idea guy. i hook up with implementers and take half the investment money! and we'll dig these tunnels.. at one tenth the cost!" lol

[@brodftw]

This is how Elon Musk, a humble working-class heir to a diamond mine owner's fortune, harnessed his brilliant mind to make billions

[@JonForJonathan]

Unbelievable.. Another one of these guys. Voting on November 6.

[@dharpoon]

I love onions is back in the most watched again.

[@TheMrKennyPowers]

There's some serious sounding comments... I hope everyone clicked on that this is a joke. It's a parody of Tedd talks

[@cyanfireall7710]

This is literally just Elon Musk

[@reshteenmal2620]

Man, I don't have a degree in Journalism but I want work at the onion. These guys are really good at what they do.

[@jcbookman]

That made my morning.

[@flyingturtle22]

they figured out Elon Musk before he had figured himself out

[@mafarmerga]

Ah, the Onion finally regains its mantle of best satire on the internet. Well done!

[@chipmunkspunk]

Nice. TED talks have had it coming for a long time. :)

[@billyweed835]

Elon Musk.

[@TMJ117]

Okay, the idea is there now we have to implement it!! Great lecture bro!

[@rafiraihannafis628]

Me as an undergrad student pitching my great idea

[@brainfreeze10]

Steve Jobs Jr.

[@EclecticSceptic]

Starting this series was a great idea by the Onion.

[@MichaelFoster1969]

Awesome!

[@kinghani]

This is how Donald Trump comes up with policies.

[@Pecola1FromScratch]

After watching one or two of these the joke gets too old... not to mention that it begins to get to you that they are making fun of really interesting talks like the ones from TED. It's like the person who made this thought that the talks were boring and pointless... obviously the type of person who plays video games all day, or thinks life is about having fun.

[@Nobody-xg2un]

This dude's logic is unquestionable.