Doors: Bojack Horseman, The Good Place, and endings

[@rjkzbkfy9665]

What my favorite KZbinr talking about my two favorite shows. what is this a crossover episode!

[@anameofsomesort959]

"I love life because what more is there?" -Anthony Hopkins

[@god47398]

that is a good fucking quote, very similar to Henri Matisse's "There are flowers everywhere, for those who care to look."

[@anameofsomesort959]

@@god47398 had to go for the WestWorld connection. The first quote I thought of was Remarque's qoute: "Life is a disease... Every breath, every heartbeat, is a moment of dying... a little shove towards death, the inevitable." Remarque didn't necessarily believe this he saw so much death in WWI that could have been prevented and slowly started to see it as not a inevitably of nature, but of man's incompetence.

[@RoboLamp]

Damn that ending is simultaneously genius and frustrating. Hated that you did it, but loved that it happened

[@raph2550]

I'm so glad about the note you ended on =) Little remark I thought: The metaphor of the door can be misleading because in real life, you don't cross it instantly. The process of going through the door can be a long and painful agony.

[@S7r1k3r581]

wow this was deeper than I expected from an Alt Schwift X Video 😅

[@jkcoates]

But I loved it

[@AuthFailed]

Sigh.... I've been waiting for a couple of years for this video to blow up like the "cookie clicker" video did. X gets so close to transitioning from making videos about the ideas within some particular book or show, to making videos about ideas - full stop. This video is one of the best out there. It really should have 100x this many views in a sane universe.

[@fennwild]

i still love this essay so much. as big thief put it, "death, like a door / to a place we've never been before"

[@SpirusOfH]

Video: Life is precious because it will end. To truly live is to accept death and join him as an old friend. Background music: 🔥🍾🍻🦄🍾🎉🔥

[@chrystine1er]

Love the Futurama and Greek mythology references, and I love the sharp left turn this video took toward the end! And yes, constant reboots and recycled trilogy’s just become annoyingly redundant. I long to be inspired and awed by original ideas! Thank you Schwift, this was yet another brilliant video 😊

[@tarekantar3543]

I loved this video, please make more!

[@MastaBlastaS99]

One of his best videos! I would enjoy more of his takes on philosophy. And also more Potassium Quest, but mainly the former.

[@skate60331]

You made me think my impending death and im having an existential crisis now at work. But great video maybe make more philosophical or scientific/historical stuff.

[@sharkwolfdarkwolf2625]

They had us in the first half, I'm not gonna lie. And the second third too.

[@michaelandrews117]

Hey man I'd love you to go through BoJack Horseman, episode by episode, and break it down in the same way you did Thrones. So many metaphors and conflicting meanings to explore and theorise about. BoJack deserves some more analysis, especially from someone who makes content as high in quality as yourself.

[@Fosifar]

T

[@kulman4295]

"Choosing takes away the fear, the uncertainty. It gives you control of your own destiny. [...] it allows you to live your best life while you still can." This is so true, I cried a bit because I know this would help so many people

[@hcws6687]

This is amazing it should be on the main channel

[@jkcoates]

What happens at Alt Schwift X stays at.. oh wait there is a door! =)

[@Capablanca42069]

Really just going to hit me with the Terry Pratchett emotional punch huh GNU Terry Pratchett

[@Haedox]

loved this

[@kmetzful]

Man, LOVE this essay, but life expectancy has been relatively consistent over time, once you weed out early childhood mortality. Once you make it to age 5 (life expectancy at e5), you were pretty likely to make it to 60 or 70

[@efrenyalung1348]

Bro that ending got me lol, love this kind of content and hope it never ends!

[@ElforTheLandstander]

Loved how you ended the video. Most stories really do depict immortality as a curse rather than a gift, which is strange because there are no immortals to offer us their insight on the subject. How could any mortal understand immortality?

[@efrenyalung1348]

Elfor Landstander yeah I’m unsure about the good place’s idea that the people in heaven are just bored because they’ve done everything the could do, I feel that even with infinite time they still wouldn’t have been able to do absolutely everything they wanted to do

[@ZeroNumerous]

@@efrenyalung1348 Human desire is infinitely deep. Even with infinite time you could always desire more. The true terror of immortality is in having it alone.

[@god47398]

*Category:* Autos & Vehicles

[@raspberrymilkshake5782]

Life is but a vehicle we're taking for a joy ride.

[@Shadow9392]

honestly the consistent portrayals of immortality as some kind of burden, some kind of endless boring nothing, or a Faustian bargain with a hidden catch, is the biggest coping mechanism shit you see even in really wonderful media like the Good Place. fuck that, being immortal would rule

[@brahma0013]

That ending gave me goosebumps, please please make more videos on Bojack! I love your channel so much!!

[@Foxelz]

What a well crafted video. Including an ending title crawl to further your point was a master stroke.

[@TomerKrail]

I've been watching your stuff for a while, and this is the best video yet. The fake out ending was brilliant

[@llefty]

Damn, I've never even seen either of these shows but this might be one of my favorite videos out of all the ones you've made on Schwift + Shift. Didn't expect the change in the last third of the video lol

[@whitesabre99]

I'd love to see more videos about Terry Pratchett! Whether about discworld, or about his other books!

[@dominouswon2916]

I love this video a lot! First time ever watching anything from your channel but really nailed it here. Thank you, for not just providing the satisfying feel good ending but also providing an alternative thought about how we handle death. I feel though as if The Good Place deals more so with the concept of not existing rather than dying. And while yeah, death in reality means not existing and can be the same thing. In the good place there is actually a system for people who die. So, existence continues. The show didn’t touch upon the not existing part either. And I feel bojack and the good place and your video could’ve touched upon it more. But then again maybe the ending to the vid was a response to this. That we won’t ever really get a satisfying answer, not right now. Because there really isn’t any until we slay the beast called death. And I think the way Bojack and The good place handled their versions of nonexistence was good in their own ways, Bojack you just die and whatever you take from it is on you. And The Good Place, you get a system that will eventually lead you to get good enough so you can find your inner peace to not exist. Though I like what both fictional stories have to offer. There’s not much I can take away from it, sure they are digestible pieces of media I consumed and got me to think about death and not existing. But, the answers I want might not be able to take place in my life time. And maybe I’ll be okay with and all I know is that I’m not okay with it right now. Thank you again, loved the video and hope to see you again!

[@prepor584]

yeaaa... except the ending bit doesn't in any way address the main idea of the preceeding part of the video. yes, dying at 70 will likely look like a preventable tragedy at some point in the future, but that still doesn't lead to the conclusion that death is some evil demon to be defeated once and for all. having the most time possible to live your life as well as possible is *not* equal to having infinite lifespan combined with infinite youth.

[@matildaduff3543]

I'm okay with the idea that we might extend human lifespans indefinitely in the distant future, but the CGPGrey video says that if you're not doing EVERYTHING possible RIGHT NOW to make humans immortal you are COMPLICIT in EVERY DEATH THAT HAPPENS also you are stupid and malicious. That's how the apologists of the "dragon" are presented in the video, which is just, really silly.

[@Fosifar]

H

[@Frank1e.b0i]

This was the comment i needed to complement perfectly the video, thanks!!

[@efrenyalung1348]

Matilda Duff I honestly forgot about that part of it, yeah I don’t like that at all. Non-transhumanists are just death cultists basically? Nah

[@thyagosaints]

Probably my favorite video so far, well done all shift X especially the all "ending" sequence Idea. 🇧🇷

[@sassyb58]

Oh my gosh. I laughed so hard at that. That was perfect! Such a great message, then transition, th..

[@reallyWyrd]

Jfc, this video is so fcking good. I too have seen that CGP Grey video and... I Have Some Notes as they say. I choose to interpret the unexpected ending as being sort of Death's Final Rebuttal to CGP Grey's video. I concur. CGP Grey's video made a good point, sort of. (And unlike Tolkien I do *not* automatically reject allegory in all its forms.) But as allegories go, IMHO Grey leaned in way too far, and *drastically* overstated what our chances for "conquering" death with life extension are. He also made this uncritical assumption that the *most* important thing is to get rid of death, and that it would be an unblemished Good Thing-- instead of it being a mixed bag. Eternal life. Is great for you. *If* your quality of life is good. What if your life is misery? Maybe we should be more focused on improving the *quality* of life for all persons on the globe first before we concern ourselves so much with ever more incremental life extension. And speaking of quality of life-- Climate Change. An awful lot of people are going to see ever worsening qualiy of life for mabye the next 100 yrs or so minimum. Remember also that, that life extension tech is likely not going to be evenly distributed throughout society. Do you *really* want a future with *immortal* billionaires in it? And the Dragon only ever eats the peasants.

[@incanusolorin2607]

Not in this economic system, but if we can imagine the end of death, I'm sure we can also imagine (and achieve) the end of capitalism, my friend.

[@alfredokaramazov]

"You lived what anybody gets, Bernie. You got a lifetime. No more. No less. " Death, in Sandman #43: "Brief Lives: 3"

[@Scott_G]

I really liked this video. A bit off the beaten path of a normal ASX video, but I liked it. That ending... :)

[@RyeBreadGangster]

One of your best videos.

[@nayelyromero9964]

You want things to be wrapped up neatly The way that stories do You're looking for answers But answers aren't looking for you Because life is a gradual series of revelations That occur over a period of time It's not some carefully crafted story It's a mess, and we're all gonna die If you saw a movie that was like real life You'd be like, "What the hell was that movie about? It was really all over the place." Life doesn't make narrative sense 🎶

[@incanusolorin2607]

That being said, it's really messed up that you banged your ex-boyfriend's dad

[@pauldog]

brick up that door. i don't plan on using it

[@rustecohle591]

“To know that you can go gives you strength”...it reminds me of that scene in family guy when Brian and Stevie are trapped in the bank vault and Brian’s “door” or option for death is a gun he keeps there incase he can’t take it anymore

[@Izamen]

The brain to me is more like a pair of glasses, if they break you can’t see, but the glasses aren’t “you” they are just a device that you need to perceive this world.

[@AltSchwiftX]

Yeah that's an interesting argument. But if the brain isn't the mind, why do split-brain patients have two distinct minds? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split-brain kzbin.info/www/bejne/rZe8k5qapJ2YY5o

[@CottonCandySharks]

I loved everything about this!

[@mayceehash8434]

i've come back to this video perhaps 3 or 4 times since it aired two years ago. the calm logic and rationale is soothing in times of chaos in the world.

[@sethaaron510]

For what it's worth, people who have depression shouldn't have seen this. The video itself is nicely produced but the content is alarmingly dangerous.

[@maxresdefault_]

Man, I saw the finals for both of these shows one day after the other. I was left feeling super down for the next few days

[@liamkneesocks]

Idk how I missed this when it came out. Thank you for mentioning it during the Glidus alignment stream!! I LOVE both of these series.

[@jacobhewitt2798]

This is a really incredible video, genuinely very poignant and really gets to the issue in such a concise manner

[@will7873]

This is so good! Glad you mentioned it on your Glidus stream.

[@incanusolorin2607]

This video is a work of art. I loved the end and I totally agree. Nothing is impossible for humans and we should never take anything as inevitable and unchangeable.

[@hansgerman3437]

Secretariat is also a standin for Bojacks father, who also commited suicide. And the point of him isnt that he thinks life is meaningless. Secretariat/BojacksDads poem at the end clearly highlights it. It's about that life isnt meaningless, but that they only realised that when it was already to late. They dont advocate to end things on your own terms. They are advocating to keep going. To not waste what you have. It's ultimatively Bojacks wakeup call.

[@gravyjones8305]

Possibly your greatest statement to date Schwifty; you're a beacon and a revelation in these self-obsessed times, and you continue to do Oceania proud. I don't know why they don't have you doing the chat show circuit yet. *Edit: Lmfao @ your warning, "spoilers," in the description rofl. Brilliant mate.

[@harleygray5918]

SUCH a good quality video! Keep these coming my dude!

[@xperiaxcompact2522]

I am so happy u put in the second part

[@AqusMagnets]

Love seeing more analysis videos like this! Also, great editing choice for the ending, made my heart skip a beat. Would be cool if you replaced the credits with guest starring Alt Shift X cause for a moment my dumb ass was wondering how TF did I miss Zach Braff in this video 😂

[@benjamincrocker8766]

Good stuff! Would love some more videos like this.

[@ryleylang6840]

Thanks to a stream with glidus found out about this, the good place is one of my favorite shows so I can’t wait to here u talk about it

[@miguelrubiera6855]

I smiled and cursed your name at the "abrupt and unsatisfying ending". Got me good

[@SKAron25]

I'm really happy that you included the last part. So often, any media talking about death will hammer the lesson of 'death being something that should be accepted as inherently natural' into you. Desiring to extend your life is always what the villains want to do, and stuff like that. But it is so often ignored that you can only really accept death after a meaningful life, if you can have your death on YOUR OWN TERMS. Death, in reality, is NOT like that. It comes suddenly and causes immense grief and pain - it is a dragon that eats indiscriminately from among all. And it is incredibly difficult to slay, but maybe not impossible. We have to aim for a world where people can live as long as they want and then die when (or if ever) they are satisfied - not one where we force ourselves to cope with a natural evil we have surrendered to. Anyone else who really liked the last part of the video - about what it means to reject death as the natural status quo and fight for our freedom from it - definitely go and check out 'Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality'. It is a very important running theme in that story. And besides, the whole book is an absolute gem in terms of both good writing (especially if you really like intelligent characters) and lessons in rational thinking!

[@MAXY44444]

I never knew I wanted this but I LOVE it!

[@MAXY44444]

This also reminded me of the Ice King from Adventure Time, and how the crown kept him alive but made him lose his mind.

[@r3dcheese899]

This channel is underrated.

[@vosluc7991]

My goodness Schwifty, I didn't know you did content on my all time favourite book series AND animated tv show!! You rock and you evidently have taste. I like you and all the stuff you do. Love from Switzerland

[@fAke1212]

Loved the final credit scene ;)

[@HxH2011DRA]

Thank goodness this didn't have to be yet ANOTHER cliche "oh just live a good life and accept" speech. Like it's fine if that's how yall wanna live but some of us want that sweet sweet immortality~

[@AIVolkov]

I liked this essay. Although I admit I have mixed feelings about the latter part of the video, because the arguments (well-founded on cultural and real life examples) in the beginning sort of preemptively defeat the thoughts near the end. To me, there is simply no other comforting way *now* to think about death, rather than something like a door. Yes, maybe in future... but we are not there yet. And unless you are a scientist dealing with one of the problems related to mortality, you'd just have to accept that you might drop dead tomorrow, and make everything you can do today so that your thoughts about transition to nothingness would deal you the least amount of discomfort possible. And all further thoughts about meaning of life, your legacy or possibility of afterlife should come from this point, not from the point of something that may or may not happen in the future.

[@nbf-fb1xs]

I loved this video, for what it said, for it's own little spin on the end about endings. I think one of the biggest things I liked about this video is that it at least touched on the thing I didn't like about The Good Place ending. It's supposed to be analogous with a good death, but the way it's presented it's more like rational suicide. And I don't think those messages are mutually exclusive, and there could have been a cool message there, but it seemed to be an accidental subtext, and it made me squirm when the characters would ask each other not to step through the door. It was an uncomfortable reading I think because it that wasn't the specific angle they meant, so it was like accidently I dunno, morbid? Despite being otherwise a great idea and execution. Anyway, another great video.

[@twhiteofrd_1102]

Such a well-made video man. I'm glad a stumbled across this and wish it got the millions of views it deserves.

[@leahlemieux]

the good place was such a great and original show! Speaking of cartoons, Adventure Time from season 3 onward gets pretty metaphysical at times, highly enjoyable. thanks!

[@alessandramassaini1160]

Watching this video I remembered the last two episodes of Midnight Gospel, I liked the approach they did about death. Btw great video! Definitely gonna check the channel

[@MrTurkeyfied]

The Fable of the Dragon-Tyrant is originally a paper written by philosopher Nick Bostrom. The popular CGPGrey video is just an animated retelling of the original. The paper is available free on Bostrom's website, and contains some additional insights.

[@mjtraveler3313]

I would love to see more videos like this from you

[@meris8486]

I never realised the Tyrant Dragon was a metaphor for death, I thought it was just a dragon

[@Povland]

Really?

[@meris8486]

@@Povland Yeah, it's kinda obvious now I think of it with the dragon having a skull on it's head

[@iangonzalez6476]

The Tyrant Dragon is Patchface from ASoIaF

[@courtney-jarmaljames9643]

This video ends mid-sentence. Just like Birthday Dad

[@E1025]

Well that's the first time the ending of a KZbin video gave me a panic attack

[@12around1]

time is the ultimate tyrant. awesome essay. thank you.

[@guacopera259]

This is main channel worthy.

[@SpiffierShindigs]

Only in silence the word, Only in dark the light, Only in dying life, Bright the hawk's flight on the empty sky. -The Creation of Éa, Ursula K. LeGuin

[@BlantronA]

A door leads from one room to the next

[@Christopherjazzcat]

Fuck man. The scariest thing about the Bojack pre-finale ep was what I learned that when you die your brain is still active for some time. Accounts vary but I've heard 7mins. That's a long time to be having brain activity. The show Fringe explored this a bit, but was very SciFi so I assumed it was just another element of that not grounded in reality.

[@wellrenownedcripple]

That’s a very good video! Love your ASOIAF content, but would love to see some other “off topic” videos too. Cheers!

[@exobytemonolith5339]

Also a big theme of pretty much all Dark Souls games (and Bloodborne and Sekiro) is about immortality. Our characters are effectively immortal, even if we sacrifice ourselves or end the game ... there's still more game. A harder new game+, and we fight and fight and there's nothing at the end. One could read this as meaningless and increasingly difficult struggles, never truly getting an ending. Or, one could read is as always striving until you are satisfied and put down the controller for good. One of the reasons I really like those games

[@RafaelLima-ce1rh]

You are a blessing in this platform you and videogamedunkey

[@lyxandrast0ttr0n1x8]

Boi I was about to click away with an exhausted sigh of "yet another deathist" BUT THEN YOU WENT AND TURNED IT AROUND IN THOSE LAST THREE MINUTES YES RAGE AGAINST THE DYING THE LIGHT LIKED AND SUBSCRIBED AND FOLLOWED ON TWITTER

[@mickmickymick6927]

I was thinking along these lines when I saw the Wisecrack episode on these two episodes. Humans are formed by evolution and have specific biological functions which determine our behaviour, personality, etc. Wisecrack always frames things as some choice or something to be 'realised', no, we're scared of death because if our ancestorss weren't, our species wouldn't have survived. It's got nothing to do with 'meaning', we can't choose to accept death because of some philosophical realisation (most of us at least). Fear of death is in-built.

[@TheDoitpow]

Gotta say, Schwift, I'm increasingly preferring these to your regular content. This and "masks" are two of the only videos I've enjoyed enough to recommend to people in literally years.

[@booker994]

I like how Schwift makes a strong case how nothing would be fun or meaningful when it never ends and how truly horrific an artificial immortal live would be, that death is natural and we shouldn’t panic but rather greet it as an old friend…then he immediately starts to panic and clings to the idea that we can abolish death someday 😂

[@Radjhitoocool]

Your writing is getting better I see you there’s more personality in this one

[@ThePumpkinhead13]

strangely relatable to current situation. Had to drag a friend to the airport so he could get onto a plane to see his dying mother. He literally drank himself to stupor so he didn't have to go because he was terrified of the reality of his mum dying. Some people can't really cope with the fact that death is inevitable and it will happen to you or your loved ones. The moment we were born that's the moment we also start dying. I find death reassuring. Living forever, especially considering how fucked the planet is, seems terrifying.

[@efrenyalung1348]

All good dude, humanity will definitely have some off world colonies or space station to flee the planet and then the system when they go bust, much easier to build new things then fix existing problems imo

[@zhangyue52]

“It cuts in the middle of a sentence” remind me of The movie birthday dad from Bojack Horseman

[@TheCHAOXUS]

Very experimental, I like it!

[@arriettyplaysgames]

I needed this, thank you.

[@ryanorielly5617]

I could listen to this man talk for days

[@sekroz896]

11 minutes of going into the thorough detail of accepting death as an inevitability and trying to live a life worth living. Last 30 seconds: lol fuck that. fear that shit and try to live forever.

[@TrumpetBoyGD]

I love and hate videos like this because of the existential dread they tend to invoke ine. The void after death Is comforting and terrifying because we as humans can't fully imagine what "nothing" is like. The way that many people cope with it is by assuming that after death we must "wake back up" into some kind of afterlife or reincarnation. The difficult to grasp truth (probably) is that we don't wake back up and that we'll never know that we fell asleep in the first place. I struggle to describe this because I, and no one else for that matter, really understand it. Intuitively, I wish the afterlife was like in the good place, but when I think about it that seems like an unnecessary intermediary step and I come to the conclusion that the life I'm already living effectively is the "good place" however not good it often feels. Sorry for dropping an essay. Big thoughs like this tend to get my brain going when it's the middle of the night.

[@r.s.asangarb5345]

What a fantastic video. What a fantastic channel. Pls dude make more content.

[@vers9034]

I just stumbled upon this brilliant video. Thank you.

[@asherkirkpatrick5734]

God damn this was a fuckin good video! I'd love to see more stuff like this. I came for the ASOIAF theories, and I'm definitely staying for this.

[@five5100]

You are the best Alt !

[@bxunt5180]

love it, made me wanna finish watching bojack horseman

[@jmwvirgil]

It's really more a door with a conveyor belt. You don't get to choose whether you go through or not.

[@radar670]

wow!! great video. so uplifting then grounding and a MAGNIFICENT FINISH!!

[@alicecottrell3148]

Loved your video's "tidy" ending!

[@DrDole007]

A truly fantastic video, thank you so much.