Hell is Quoting Other People | Idea Channel | PBS Digital Studios

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Here at Idea Channel we enjoy thinking about things, so it was inevitable we'd start thinking about… thinking. Or rather, what were philosophers were really thinking when they came up with with famous phrases? Many are so overused, the colloquial meanings morph over time. Does "hell is other people" really mean what you think it means?! Are you even using these quotes correctly?! Watch the episode and find out the original meanings of 3 thoughtful thoughts!
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[@cokeMONSTERps3]

Scroll back up, you haven't finished the video.

[@LynnMakesArt]

*le gasp* how did you know? D:

[@FlyingJetpack1]

Ok.... -_-

[@ankurama42]

Stop telling what to do mom.

[@glialcell6455]

Cokemonster Can I be a magical girl, too?

[@gFamWeb]

Cokemonster To like or not to like? It has an even number right now.

[@PhilosophyTube]

"Quoting philosophers doesn't make you smart." - Olly Lennard

[@at5203]

It's amazing that this video was sugested to me after watching No Exit, which I only watched because of your video. And here you are 4 years before making the video that brough me here. The youtube algorithm is like dark magic sometimes.

[@weallarethedead]

Aren't you, Olly, more of an actor, than a philosopher?

[@thecatmom2861]

@@weallarethedead I mean he has a master's in philosophy

[@weallarethedead]

having masters makes you quallified to be, it does not actually make you be. What one does and what one is capable of, are two different things, entirely.

[@aaaaa-mw4bi]

- Abigail Thorn

[@thehungryshrek9682]

"Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. Eat a man of fish and life for give" -Hue Jackman (1732-1902)

[@Lordbeemans]

"Hell is quoting other people" Mike Rugnetta.

[@pbsideachannel]

Hm. Yes, yes. What you did: I see it.

[@bisacool7339]

+Lordbeemans what it is?? I'm too curious yet I cannot surpass you high intelligence

[@Nemoy-wq6rb]

+Lordbeemans -Micheal Scott

[@TrailerDrake]

Thanks for featuring my comment in the video! What you said makes a lot of sense and I appreciate that you took the time to answer my question. :D

[@agent42q]

Well deserved good sir.

[@LeftwardZimm]

You are everywhere.

[@Portablesounds]

Not to sound like one of those spam messages, but your channel is awesome (along with your work on Game Theorist). Keep it up! :)

[@DaThings]

Since language is not finite and the meanings of words change with each subjective experience, it's safe to say that every interpretation and citation of a quote is a "misuse." There is an incredibly specific point and mindset a quote writer has when they put words together, and because none of us will ever have the opportunity to be that person in that moment, we will never fully comprehend that point and mindset they are trying to convey. We can only hope that the quote writer has done a good enough job that we can come close, even if that requires nearly endless discussion with others.

[@pbsideachannel]

Borscht.

[@SAEtaylor]

Hmm.. Quite.

[@scizzer12]

Did you put the tweet of the week in the doobly-doo Mike?

[@fifthelement6638]

My favorite soup.

[@z-beeblebrox]

Can I just say, I love the title for this episode

[@SecretFiri]

scizzer12 Yup! They did! It's also here twitter.com/SecretFiri/status/530126166204891138

[@TheAchmed13]

Death is a thing that it exists, but I will not experience it in my lifetime.

[@thehungryshrek9682]

but what if mars bars was no kill

[@PhilosophyTube]

It's cool that you juxtaposed Descartes and Wittgenstein, because Wittgenstein thought that thought started with a public language and the idea of solipsism was kind a bust if you use language to describe it. Anyway I have two funny stories about him, they may be apocryphal: 1) Apparently he was watching a Cambridge debate and sitting next to Anthony Flew, and the speaker stood up and opened with "I think therefore I am!" and Wittgenstein leaned across to Flew and growled "That's a stupid place to start." 2) Wittgenstein burst into Bertrand Russell's house in the middle of the night and started pacing angrily round his living room. When Russell came down he watched Wittgenstein for a bit and then asked him "Are you thinking on logic, or your sins?" "BOTH." This episode was quite good! (English or American quite??!) And my girlfriend is American. I am the nega-Mike!

[@jameshill2450]

"God is bread." Yeah ... and wine.

[@BeatOfTheDead]

You Epicurean....

[@supersnackbros2423]

Wait, so if "hell is other people" because of their judgment, but your perception of that judgment is relative to the things about yourself that you believe should/would be judged, doesn't that mean hell is really yourself in a sense? What are your thoughts?

[@djmeser]

Right you are

[@ChaosUnit178]

Hell is yourself, yes, but as yourself, you also need stimulus to made that self-judgement happen. For example, take the stereotypical bachelor's apartment. He knows that it is messy, there's no shred of denying it, but the way he feels about it is different when he is sitting in front of the TV in his underwear by himself, vs if a girl that he is interested in happens to drop by unexpectedly. Now there's an incredible amount of self-judgement, not because he's suddenly realized that he's a slob, but because now he's speculating that another person is thinking that he's a slob.

[@djmeser]

Zak Hale it is possible to come to the same terms without an other. Although an other might make it more likely it isn't necessary in order to self criticize.

[@benjaminlanglois1067]

I think that, in a sense, you are the sum of the influences other people have had on you (ex. your parents teach you the basics of being human, kids at school make you self-conscious, a loved one makes you realize your potential, etc.). To me, a baby is nothing more than an animal until others allow it to develop its sentience.

[@ChaosUnit178]

Well, yes, that's true. And there are things to support and refute that, though I think the topic of sapience is a discussion for another time. I want to say that there's more to someone's personal perception of an event than simply the sum of their external stimuli. If that were the case, raising humans would be very formulaic, and we'd see this trend through the generations. Yes, our actions are based on our prior experiences, and yes, those experiences are colored by the interactions we have with other people, but that is not and cannot be the only thing that influences that. There is an internal process, even when the internal process is triggered by external forces.

[@DOMin8r1992]

I hold this show dear to my heart. You have facilitated growth and understanding within myself in a timeframe that would have been impossible for generations gone by. I believe that your show is an invaluable resource for the development of the human mind across the globe. The scope of Ideas Channel is enormous, as the people that tend to be interested in topics discussed here are of an intellectual disposition and thus influence a great number of people over the course of their lives. You as the channel itself are the perfect expression of that point. Congratulations on being what you are, and from Australia, thank you. Thank you so very much.

[@DrumBeat231]

Can we have more misunderstood quotes?

[@daviddelpozofiliu5556]

Mike, you seemed specially happy today in the comments section. Seriously, you looked euphoric. I love that people enjoy so much while doing their jobs. Keep being so joyful!

[@shaunaaaah]

Thankyou for this, perhaps even more annoying than all the things people don't know about is all the things people think they know about but don't really.

[@Baraxis13]

I rarely make comments (on any videos, unfortunately; but am often intimidated by the depth of discussion here on Idea Channel), but I did want to post this! Mike: I'm loving Reasonably Sound. It is profoundly thought-provoking and BEAUTIFULLY crafted. As someone who produces and edits my own podcast, I'm blown away by the quality of yours. Keep it up; I'm stoked for more.

[@pbsideachannel]

Thanks so much, Brandon! That means a lot. :D

[@bronyalpha7074]

I die but not yet, therefore death has taken me already. Shall I not die, and be brought low again and again? Not so, there is nary a way to lose that which I have never owned to begin with. How then shall I know? I won't.. But life shall continue for all, and there is nothing to stop that. However, I will die.

[@ankurama42]

I was waiting for a comment like this.

[@josegljr]

When I was done dying my conscience regained So I began my struggle a nothingness strained Out a flash made of time my new form blasted out And it startled me so and I burst out a shout At which my legs ran frantic like birds from a nest And I ran until drained leaving no choice but rest So I fell asleep softly at the edge of a cave But I should have gone in deeper but I'm not so brave And like that I was torn out and thrown in the sky And I said all my prayers because surely I'll die As I crashed down and smashed into earth, into dirt How my skin did explode leaving only my shirt But from shirt grew a tree and then tree grew a fruit And I became the seed and that seed was a brute And I clawed through the ground with my roots and my leaves And I tore up the shirt and I ate up the sleeves And they laughed out at me and said "what is your plan?" But their question was foreign I could not understand When then suddenly I'm ripped up and placed into a mouth And it swallowed me down at which time I head south So I said Hey ya ya Hey ya ya Hey ya ya Hey hey hey Well I woke up to see them, these two mighty steeds With their mouths grinning wildly expressing my needs As they stood there above me, being flanked on each side I felt no need to fear them, no reason to hide So I reached up to touch but they faded too soon Yet their mouths still remained and stacked up towards the moon How that ladder of mouth waved so soft in the night And I looked up in awe at that beautiful sight And I dreamt about climbing into the night sky But I knew had I touched them they'd mouth back 'bye bye' So I got up and walked down the path in the dark And there deep in the distance my eye caught a spark Of a crab twice my size with incredible strength Oh it greeted me kindly and then we all drank And we drooled out together right onto the ground And the ocean grew up quickly right up all around And the earth looked at me and said "wasn't that fun?" And I replied "I'm sorry if I hurt anyone" And without even thinking cast me into space But before she did that she wiped off my own face

[@pedroyoshimatu9539]

I am Brazilian, and my English teacher here in Brazil just loves the Idea Channel :) We discussed the culture of hyperbole in classroom this week and it was awesome how your critical approach in a fairly clear, understanding language made everyone really interested in the discussion.

[@draculafactory]

Okay, so I gots something to say about all three quotes. What's interesting about the Cogito is that it wasn't seeking to prove the skepticism that's popularly associated with it but rather prove that everything else exists through a benevolent God, etc. I don't really want to talk about Descartes. About "hell is other people." I've always thought of it as resulting from the impossibility of "knowing" someone else and there's always some sense of dissatisfaction when interacting with someone because you're separate beings who have to see others as simultaneously static-yet-changing objects. Wittgenstein had a great response where he said "Hell isn't other people. Hell is yourself." All these problems are not from some private affair that can't be transferred but from our own failings to see how language moves between people. So onto Wittgenstein. First and foremost, I think it should be noted that the Tractatus was part of Wittgenstein's early work which is (traditionally) seen as drastically opposed to his other work. Second, the bit about nonsense. Wittgenstein uses the term to contrast his and Frege's notion of sense in regards to sense and reference. Wittgenstein describes things in the world, things that have sense, and things outside the world, e.g. logic, math, ethics but still exist within our understand but in the "world's penumbra" one might say. Something like math is entirely tautologous but it still works. We still use these things which have no actual bearing in the world to better understand our world. Wittgenstein draws a distinction between logic and philosophy which is why it called the Treatise of Logic AND Philosophy. Wittgenstein says that philosophy must not exist above or below the natural sciences (a term that has more meaning than you might think) and whereas logic seeks to resolve problems within itself, philosophy must be an activity that "the philosopher" engages in to show why the ideas that other philosophers are saying are nonsensical (he uses the term multiple ways within the work) and shows why they are only a problem of language and not of existence.

[@rreed7525]

I gave a speech in my college mass communications class on Social media and used your face on the wall Mike. The speech was very well received and the teacher gave me a 100. So cheers. :)

[@brentjones456]

I think, therefore I am. All things could be false, the only thing I am certain of is my thoughts.

[@thehungryshrek9682]

But what if henry IX was not kill

[@brentjones456]

+TheHungry Shrek (0_o) ummm OK?

[@OmarDelReal45]

This is the best Idea you've had. You could write an entire book with this. YOU NEED TO DO SOMETHING WITH THIS IDEA. This idea is the first original idea that I've seen in this channel. This is something most people don't accomplish. I'm really excited. May the force be with you.

[@DanielaSerodio]

Is there PBS Idea Channel merch? I want to proclaim my love for this channel on my shirt, my mug, my lapop decals, etc.

[@StephanieAsher]

I would also like such things for my conspicuous consumption needs.

[@pbsideachannel]

Very much workin' on it! :D

[@themangaloid1487]

PBS Idea Channel just put your face on a shirt and it will sell ;)

[@JaredJanes]

Some great quote selections, I wish the internet would embrace my all time favorite from Voltaire “Doubt is an uncomfortable condition, but certainty is a ridiculous one.” (Note: not a criticism of you sir just would love this to be embraced more often)

[@meunsterchease9983]

Rene Descartes was also famously quoted "give her the D" Much debate has transcribed over if he meant the Dick, or the Descartes. This is known as the most famous subliminal advertisement to buy a book of all time.

[@bomberharris8439]

I see what you did there.

[@IXPrometheusXI]

Mike brings so much genuine emotion to these presentations. It's refreshing and... catchy? Personal, maybe. I feel less like I'm watching someone playing a role and more like a guy I personally know is talking directly to me. It's friendly, I guess. I think that's a big part of what makes this show so enjoyable for me. It's not just the way it makes me think, it's the way the presentation and Mike himself makes me feel, makes me want to engage with what's being said. What a guy, yeah.

[@muggage6459]

"I don't want to watch this weeks Idea Channel episode" - No one, ever

[@FatesLady]

Regarding appearing in classrooms... I started watching Idea Channel because I personally found it fascinating and awesome, but my son, who is now 7, loved to watch them with me. I homeschool him, and while I haven't used any of your videos for any particular lessons yet, I figure the wash of information, knowledge, thought, and expression will puddle in his brain and passively ferment. I'm never sure how much he's consciously absorbing, but the sound of your opening... thing makes him come running nonetheless. So thanks!

[@garfocusalternate]

I thought you were going to address the misconceptions about "God is dead." You should have.

[@Leo-pw3kf]

Thank you, I thought the same thing. It's supposed to illustrate the declining influence of religion in our culture, not "hur, dur, I'm atheist". The christian movie "God is Not Dead" misunderstood that phrase like a champ, and, hillariously, based the whole movie around it.

[@Oujouj426]

Leonardo Santos Some people just aren't as philosophically inclined as others, which can be a curse and a blessing.

[@damiandearmas2749]

They should stay away from that kind of discussion, no matter how smart they try to approach the subject, they'll lose people from one side or the other.

[@Leo-pw3kf]

Damian De Armas I don't think so. Nietzsche was surely an atheist but this specific phrase doesn't allude to this fact. Regardless of faith, saying the church has lost its former power doesn't fall under any ideology, it's observable.

[@damiandearmas2749]

Leonardo Santos Yeah, but in this channel many times opinions are given, and when you mix religion, opinion, and youtube, you get a shit storm.

[@madestmadhatter]

"I think therefore I am" and "hell is other people", from what you've said, seem to work together to form a very sensible statement; I am who I believe I am, until subjected to the opinions and observations of others, to there by either destroy my misconceptions of my self, or burden me with their misconceptions of my self.

[@TheJaredtheJaredlong]

I always thought of cognito as "since I am thinking, therefore _something_ has to exist." Even if my thoughts are the results of programming of some external simulation that runs the universe, then even if I myself only abstractly exist, then at least the the computer computing me exists.

[@gacorley]

I think that that's the idea behind it. Even if you doubt everything else, the very fact that you can doubt or accept things means that you -- your own mind -- exists, according to Decartes, and that's where you need to start before you rebuild your knowledge of the world.

[@YamiZee]

Even if I only thing that my thoughts are abstract, it's possible that the only thing that exists is awarness, and nothing else. Our belief that we sense things could just be a feeling that this awarness emits on itself.

[@IhaveWoodforSheep]

I believe it goes a step further, and says that "you" are that something, although "you" may not necessarily be the something that "you" think "you" are. If "your" thoughts are the result of programming in a simulated universe, then "you" are the program, even if "you" think "you" are a human. Either way, "you" exist.

[@Fireclaws10]

YamiZee Descartes adresses this later in the book. He says by the Cogito, we can only know that there is an "I", and he approaches the nature of what "i" is throughout the Medidations. Although the arguments do get much weaker as he continues.

[@nicknacksnak]

Definitely the most informative and braining episode yet. Also my favourite. Thank you for clearing up the misconceptions of these quotes that I used to get wrong but now I know better. I literally, and I do mean it and not in a hyperbolic way, had to write down all the nuggets of information about the quotes in my idea journal because that is something I have, and digest them slowly for days now. Ludwig's Whereof resonates most with me because I have a lot of trouble putting my thoughts into writing and speech that are fully able to convey what I am attempting to get across that it is sometimes just best left unsaid. It is not for want that we need to contribute to a discussion just for the sake of it which I have been teased of for being too quiet or reserved or shy because I don't often contribute in how my peers do. I would be simply adding more noise and unnecessariness (that's not a word sorry!) to a perfectly good conversation or discussion and I'd like to think that most of us subscribe to this thoughtfulness. I'd like to think that we are clever enough to digest on the lack of things said in the written form by ourselves instead of having everything spelt out and telling us what to think. It is the unspokenness (another not a word!) that makes us humans be and think. I don't know if I'm way off the mark here but it reminds me of how some photographers and artists favour empty space aesthetics and minimalist architecture to portray their works. With photography, framing and using empty space is a careful and precise art form that when used poorly will result in bad photos. Which is probably similar with literature that when it comes to saying nothing at all, context is everything. PS: I can't believe you didn't reference Ronan Keating's "you say it best when you say nothing at all". :(

[@MandoPudding]

Regarding Wittgenstien's quote... is it possible to express those linguistically unexpress-able things through other means that don't use language? Would that just defeat the purpose of his statement altogether? Or am I approaching his quote at a completely different angle? Also, points to you for using a gif from Drew Carey's Improv-a-ganza. ;D

[@quantammechanic3489]

I think you are maybe approaching it from a different angle but I think that's actually a great insight nonetheless. I think that's what art is for actually, to express ideas we can't really express in words. Like if you've ever listened to a great piece of music and thought wow, that makes me feel like.. and had a hard time describing it. I think that music at times can communicate things we can't really articulate through language. Even poetry and literature, still technically made of language, but really what they communicate is non-linguistic, contained not in the words on the page themselves but in the images and stories those words create in our minds. So I don't think it defeats the purpose, since he is referring strictly to language as linguistic communication and not accounting to other forms of communication that might be able to communicate the things that the words themselves can't. Actually I think that's what he was trying to do. Find another way of communicating the ideas. So in his work, if you read just the words on the page you won't get it. But if you read in between the lines so to speak, then you'll understand it, or at least that's what he hopes will happen. Well, just my thoughts on it.

[@LimeyLassen]

Quantam Mechanic Why do you think they call music the "universal language"?

[@fivemeomedia]

i remember reading something about Wittgenstein he cut off some student on hes bike and the student flicked him the bird he almost killed himself because it completely destroyed hes theory and hes lifes work! lol

[@Poplopo]

***** polluted how? by what?

[@Poplopo]

I see what you mean. But with access to the internet, none of us are restricted to mainstream media. I think commercialism introduces additional factors into the creative mix, and ends up producing a whole different kind of representation about the world we live in. I wouldn't call it a pollution definitively (although I think it could certainly use some improvement).

[@mythirdchannel]

The first thing that comes to mind (and this comes as no surprise to me, because I spent a lot of time at a lecture about it today) is that all 3 ideas discussed in this episode can be parallel the experience of loneliness in depression and the path that leads to the narrow thinking that is typical of depression. There is this "I", that is for whatever reason feeling bad about itself and the world (I'm not getting into the reasons), this "I" is in a relationship with it's environment, and "hell is other people" in this regard, combined with the notion of not being able to convey how you feel to anyone (because no one would understand or no one can understand), which is the idea of "whereas one cannot speak, one must be silent", which really like you explained isn't something you say to shush others, it becomes a mechanism that stops the "I" from engaging with it's "other people hell", which in turn hurts the "I", because isolation sucks and it's reinforces the notion that it's not worth talking to anyone or trying to say something that can not be said, so "hell is other people" as an existential sentiment is otherwise saying no good comes of trying, or being or of other people. Which is a depressing sentiment. I dunno ... does this loop work? or am I just using Idea Channel as a thinking platform to process other ideas I've been exposed to today (and is that not what Idea Channel is for? ;)) Either way, like always, I very much enjoyed this episode (and also the last one, the hyperbole idea is really really fun to think and talk about .... aaaaaaaaaand all the ones before that too, which is really why I've been subscribed since day one, go team Idea Channel!).

[@gentlydirking4912]

God is bread only holds so long as our carbohydrate dependent lifestyle continues to require the knowledge of bread. Once the mills cease turning the bakeries will become societal burdens and we will be charged with the cultural imperative of relinquishing their hold on our street corners. Too long have we suffered at the hands of bakers. Too long have we waited through dawn, hoping - nay praying - for our daily loaf. We must change if we are to survive. But what will god be once bread is no more?

[@GweiTheLeafChild]

Rupture Farms Soulstorm

[@gentlydirking4912]

***** Rapture-Fan Steelsworn?

[@SimplyMayaBeauty]

I just shared this video with the philosophy major facebook group in my uni. Thanks guys, highly enjoyable ^_^

[@sjwimmel]

If "I think, therefore I am" is the first piece of knowledge, what is the next piece? What can you really know for sure apart from the fact that you're a thing that thinks? The more I think about it the more I think there is nothing more you can know for certain.

[@PotterSuppositionalist]

Yes. It may be untenable to have certainty in knowledge about the external world.

[@mergele1000]

Potter Suppositionalist Then again if there is no way to gain certain knowledge, what harm can it do to go with what might be true? If the external world is like you think it is you won, and if it isn't it doesn't matter what you do, because you got no information about it at all. Playing chess on an infinite board whitout seeing the pieces or your opponent.

[@Gtaylor1138]

For Descartes the route to further certain knowledge was to go from Cogito to a theory of ideas to a proof the existence of God, and then he can leverage God to do a bunch of the heavy lifting when establishing everything else. (My apologies if this is wrong it has been a while since I took history of philosophy) Unfortunately it is widely agreed that Descartes project never gets any further than the Cogito, so there is no source of certainty for knowledge about the external world.

[@sjwimmel]

Gene Taylor Damn, proving things exist and he starts with God. That is hard mode philosophy. mergele1000 Well, going with what might be true is what we do all the time. But it's also possible that we're all in something like the Matrix, or the Truman show, or we're AI's. If the external world isn't the way we think it is it might still help to theorize about it because we might 'break free' in some way. Or we might just learn about our predicament, which I think is valuable on its own.

[@PotterSuppositionalist]

mergele1000 Interesting point. I tend to think of my assumptions about the world as a hypothesis. In this respect, my senses are the testing apparatus. But any facts I learn through this method are subject to revision based on new evidence. I'm comfortable with the possibility that I may be completely wrong about anything and everything.

[@VladimirZharkov]

Whoever is in charge of the clips in each episode is a legend.

[@HeatherFeatherASMR]

I think I'm more existy than a s'more :D

[@thekrakenexperiment280]

I like this show because it blows my mind with information I don't understand at all. It's an overflow of knowledge and I learn almost nothing at the end because of my confusion. But I still really like the show.

[@ichiboku1]

that's actually how you learn. Pushing yourself to struggle with concepts just slightly above your grasp. Confusion leads to understanding eventually.

[@RPGgrenade]

I am not a fan of the "I think therefore I am" idea, or even any of the other ones. My epistomology is hinging more on two ideas as presupposition for the sake of functioning. 1.- I exist (no reasons, if I don't exist, then this is all pointless, so screw it, I'll assume I'm real, no real way to prove that completely, but whatever) 2.- My senses , and those of others, are sometimes accurate (not always accurate, but I assume so for the sake of understanding the world I see around me with my senses. I will attempt to never assert belief about anything I can't directly see, feel, smell, taste, hear or view the effects of said thing on another object or person) I dunno, the epistomologies I've seen so far just... don't hit the mark for me personally.

[@jgmatos13]

The second one may get tricky. Higher math concepts that are fundamentally true because they've been proven mathematically and work for our understanding of the world cannot be directly seen, felt, etc. Not to shoot down your epistemology, I'm just wondering how you reconcile things like that?

[@RPGgrenade]

Justin Matos higher math functions are based off of previously made math concepts, there isn't a single math concept I'm aware of that doesn't, and the basis of math is set theory, which is the natural format in which we can observer the functioning of the universe. Math is based off of the natural and consistent basis of how objects interact with eachother within these sets. Therefore, being in engineering and having seen up to... say, Fourier Series. There is a lot of things which are difficult to comprehend, but they are all based off of previous ideas of math based off of previous ideas of math based off of set theory. There IS a natural basis of math within reality, after all. It still applies because when I define an object as being on set within out universe (the superset), the way it interacts with other objects within that set still function the way we have modeled in math, because again, we based math off of our realities format of sets and sub-sets. Sorry if that was confusing, but there's plenty of people who claim math is purely rational, but it's not, it has a basis in the reality we live in, same as science. Science proves science, but the basis is that the universe is understandable and the same causes will produce the same events... mostly. Try another one =P

[@RandyKnapp]

You really should just read Descartes' Discourse on the Method. It's much more a proof that you do in fact exist using Descartes' cool method of introspection called hyperbolic doubt. It's a fascinating read, and there are good English translations.

[@RPGgrenade]

Randy Knapp If you say so. I've never really put much into philosophy, as it deal with strange methods of arriving at "proof". Because I'm so used to physical evidence, so no amount of word salad, even if it makes sense, will be enough to convince me unless there's also physical evidence to support it. So it's a bit hard to prove you exist yourself on the epistomology I adopt.

[@RandyKnapp]

RPGgrenade Hey that's totally cool and I understand. And I think Descartes understands that too. That's one of the things he talks about in his Discourse. He asks himself some hypothetical questions like, "What if the Devil is deceiving me and all my senses are some sick joke he's playing. What is real then?" You don't have to buy into it, but it is worth the read.

[@SinisterSi718113]

Describe to me what the word "blue" means. What is "blue"? A quote about language that i love is Patrick Rothfuss's "Explaining a word with words is like drawing a picture with a pencil, of itself, on itself." Which can be found in his book "The Name of the Wind." There's also the idea that, if you could say the right words in the right order, you could make a blind man see colours. In essence, language is a Rubegoldburg machine, designed to exchange information. It is designed very haphazardly to fit into the room that we were given to put it. But as it goes it doesn't fit, and we refuse to take down the old to rebuild to better fit it.

[@MostLikelyMortal]

I usually watch these videos to feel smart. This one made me feel dumb...

[@EchoL0C0]

One thing I remember from my intercultural communication class was the idea that language develops to suit a culture's needs, which is why Eskimos have so many words for snow, or why some cultures don't have tenses, strictly speaking. Also, silence is used more in collective cultures (generally speaking) where things like context are more important. So maybe existence works differently for individuals and things like cultures or such.

[@WarLarkGamer]

Why does a thought require a thinker?

[@MirageMiM]

Oh shit!

[@Hydraclone]

Why does driving need a vehicle? Same concept. An action can't happen without something to perform it. Even wind has a cause. Something that causes it to happen. Nothing is truly the first domino, and everything comes from something else. To remove the thinker would be to remove every aspect of producing that thought. The direct meaning of the word "thought" is the act of thinking. To be thinking, you have to be a thinker.

[@WarLarkGamer]

poundtho Do you think we can be certain that the thought itself exists, regardless of whether or not it's attached to a thinker? As in, "this is a thought, therefore this thought exists"?

[@Hydraclone]

poundtho The fact that I'm able to type this that I exist by my perception. High chances are we'll never know what was the first cause, and I'm okay with that. The things humanity would do if we discovered how to create energy are not worth imagining.

[@WarLarkGamer]

How do you know you're not in the matrix?

[@cletisjoe]

Been watching since the beginning and this was one of my favorite episodes!

[@MrKostaCoffee]

Love when Mike talks all philosophical :D One of the best this year!

[@ericisaacmurray3955]

"If you can retain everything in an entire Idea Channel episode without pausing, your brain must be a supercomputer" -Eric Isaac Murray

[@Nippip1]

A gif of Bertie Wooster? Out in the digital, free-for-all space? This is spiffing news. The last time I was asked I presented it as my favorite TV show, full stop. Sincerely thank you Idea Channel, you make me whole.

[@TPRJones]

I work as support staff at a community college, and one of my duties is to send out an enrollment report each week to a huge list of email addresses, most of whom are faculty. To make these weekly emails a little more interesting to those who don't care that much about the numbers, each week I include a link to an online educational video resource that I regularly watch. I've gone through the videos of each of the several dozen that I watch looking for a good example and send out a small explanation of the nature of the channel along with a link to the chosen video as a sample of the work. Because it was so timely and well done, a few weeks ago the channel I chose was the PBS Idea Channel and the video was the one on ebola. I don't know if any of them are now using your stuff in the classroom, but I hope maybe one day some do.

[@morganlewis885]

That third quote and the meaning behind it is both an incredibly interesting idea as well as something that I can entirely relate to, especially when it comes to attempting to speak to people about the computery things that I do.

[@Deladus]

When reading the title "Hell is Quoting Other People" reminded me of a play I had to write in English Class 11th or 12th grade. Oddly enough, I didn't remember that "Hell is other people" came from No Exit, because the play we had to make was based on that very thing. We were signed 3 characters from other works and put them in a room in hell and show how they related to each other. I had Hamlet, Daisy Buchanan, and a third character I can not remember (although I believe he was cynical and was a drunk). I had not read Hamlet so writing his character was incredibly difficult. Instead of trying to figure out this character I had little knowledge of, I took quotes from the book and that was most of his character. It was incredibly fun playing him in front of everyone and I nearly won the audience decided highest grade.

[@BetsywarlordofnoodlesLee]

Mrs. Who comes to mind throughout the entirety of this episode.... And that makes me happy.

[@DgtlRnn042]

Knowing that you know nothing is the beginning of enlightenment... as such I freely admit that I have nothing to add here.

[@SecretFiri]

Aaah, I'm internet famous! Thank you so much for pronouncing my username properly too

[@Lurksalot509]

Sartre's ideas lend a pretty trippy bend to why things like solitary confinement seem tortuous: Once there is no outside other to interact with/against I think we begin to lose certainty in our own existence. We cannot truly perceive ourselves as an object and rely on clues from those we perceive to remember that we are in fact still here.

[@bassmanco]

"[religion] is the opium of the people" "Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people" Thank you Christopher Hitchens for pointing this one out. The two tones of this quote in its two forms are very distinct. Religion dulls the senses. Religion makes baring this cruel world easier for those who do not wish or have the strength to face it undiluted. The implications of this are kind of massive, imo.

[@vitortex1]

Am I the only one that gets torn between whatching the amazing selection of images and GIFs and the amazing faces that Mike does?

[@eldrin13]

Ok, I have finally made it through the entire backlog... Since the crossover with Extra Credits, I have been trying to watch all of Idea Channel. Thanks for the great show.

[@ProfessorPuppet]

Every time you say "Cogito", I hear "Cookie Dough".

[@mrnoboddy01]

mike my comments are mostly personal... i am amazed at how fast you are able to talk and communicate so much fantastic information... the other commentor was totally on target because you guys do ask the best questions... and if you're anything like you are on the show your English girlfriend is (American) quite lucky indeed.... love the show my son and i anxiously await each episode

[@mountainofgeese]

Whenever you cover metaphysical subjects... my heart smiles. Great analysis!

[@garetr]

I have to say, this is, in my opinion, definitely one of your better videos. It seemed more philosophical than normal, which I liked.

[@MrRishik123]

I like this corner of KZbin. There are almost no idiots.

[@TheEyebrowsShow]

The third statement that you quoted was one that I haven't heard before but emulates something that I often feel. In particular it made me think of how I was recently trying to explain romantic love is like to a friend of mine whom is asexual. I found myself incapable of describing the feeling of "love" not because I couldn't find any words to describe said feeling, but because there were far to many words. I was struck silent by realizing that in order for my friend to understand love she would have to either feel it or read every piece of poetry ever written on the subject. I think that is the kind of knowledge that Wittgenstein is referring to.

[@EduardoGonzalez-qd4qu]

Cogito ergo sum. One of the most powerful philosophical statements has something peculiar: not the meaning, but the intention tends to leave something behind in translation. In Spanish, for example, this resource is roughly translated as "I think, and then I am". It doesn't justify the material being through the action of breeding thoughts, but instead invite the thinker to see one's existence as a medium for thoughts to be expressed, placing the materialisation of the self merely as a function for knowledge to reach itself, in such case, a life not devoted to the intellectual and philosophical pursuit is rendered -for lack of a better word- pointless. Greetings from Mexico City, from a fellow hot sauce and epistemology enthusiast.

[@TeoSilver]

I'm afraid you misunderstood the meaning of "luego" in "Pienso, luego existo". Although the word "luego" can mean "después" ("and then"), in this case it means "por lo tanto" ("therefore"). "Pienso, luego existo" means "Pienso, por lo tanto existo" ("I think, therefore I am", which is actually a common translation of Cogito ergo sum to English, although a better one is "I am thinking, therefore I exist"). It never was intended to mean "Pienso, después existo" ("I think, and then I am") in Spanish. It's a common mistake, because nowadays the word "luego" it's used almost all the time as "entonces" ("and then"), but some centuries ago (probably around the time the works of Descartes were first translated to Spanish) it was a lot more common to use it in Spanish as "por lo tanto" ("therefore"). See here, meaning Nº 5: buscon.rae.es/drae/srv/search?val=luego Unfortunately the use of the word "luego" in Descartes' quote is antiquated nowadays, but we got used to translating it that way, and so a lot of Spanish-speaking people confuse the meaning of the quote. It also happened to me the first time I heard it.

[@FlyToTheRain]

We literally just went over "I think therefore I am" in my philosophy class this morning. Proper usage of literally.

[@JoshuaHaveman]

***** makes an inoffensive joke about transubstantiation and offers critically thought out words about what not to say. Well done, Mike; well done PBS Idea Channel

[@russianfrenchninja]

the quote "Life is only real then, when I am." is also a really interesting quote about the controlling I.

[@kristof3211]

So I saw Descartes in the park and, giving him a penny, asked, "what are you thinking about?" He replied, "Nothing," and ceased to be.

[@TheDharmaRain]

PBS Idea Channel Im Buddhist and I Believe that "I think therefore THERE's THINKING" (aka Anatta)!! Alan Watts Said "Why he can take himself in completely. He can play so much for real that he thinks he really is. Like you sitting in this room, you think you're really here. Well, you've persuaded yourself that way. You've acted it so damn well that you KNOW that this is the real world. But you're playing it. As well, the audience and the actor as one. Because behind the stage is the green room, off-scene, where the actors take off their masks. Do you know that the word 'person' means 'mask'? The 'persona' which is the mask worn by actors in Greco-Roman drama, because it has a megaphone-type mouth which throws the sound out in an open-air theater. So the 'per'--through--'sona'--what the sound comes through--that's the mask. How to be a real person, how to be a genuine fake. So the 'dramatis persona' at the beginning of a play is the list of masks that the actors will wear. And so in the course of forgetting that this world is a drama, the word for the role, the word for the mask has come to mean who you are genuinely, the person, the proper person. Incidentally, the word 'parson' is derived from the word 'person.' The 'person' of the village. The 'person' around town, the parson." _/|\_

[@metrostephen53]

my band literally just named our EP "Hell is Other People" 2 days ago.

[@Elfos64]

On the subject of showing your videos in Classrooms, I showed your video of Slenderman in Philosophy club a couple weeks ago when the professor brought up something about a news article he read where there was a murder committed that the perps attributed to Slenderman and he wanted to know what the deal with that was. Your video was quite helpful in explaining what the deal with Slenderman is.

[@skinslip]

When you mention "No Exit" and the El Generico clip shows up. That was a moment of zen.

[@LGKamina]

There is a better saying than, "I think, Therefore I am." It is I Am Groot!!!

[@quitecontraryy]

Latin nerd here. It's pronounced CAH-gee-tow. Great episode, I'm always excited to see you pop up in my sub box.

[@linguaphilly]

2:47 oh my god that french guy is literally my favorite segment ever

[@KristofDE]

I agree about your comments on nuance. As a person who's known for finding something faulty even in my best-loved movies, books, games etc. and being able to agree on some of the merits of something I strongly dislike, I get misunderstood a lot. For some reason, my being critical of things earned me the label of a hater, which I just can't wrap my head around. Among some of my friends, not being 100% positive about something is seen as disliking it or looking for stuff to criticize just for the sake of it. And if there's one strong opinion I do have, it's that I hate that.

[@RobertGrif]

As a Christian, it often frustrates me how many of my fellow believers misunderstand Nietzsche's line "God is dead", and get upset and offended when philosophers use that phrase (see: recent movies that made a boat-load of money). What Nietzsche was talking about was an absolute standard of morality. Nietzsche, who was an atheist, was expressing a problem confronting all atheists and nonreligious people: without a God from on high declaring what is and is not moral, how can one find moral meaning and values in his or her own life? The only option left was nihilism - a belief that life was meaningless and morality an unnecessary construct - unless Nietzsche could find another solution. This is what he proceeds to do, looking deep into the nature of human existence to find a pre-religious foundation to build new values upon. He finds it in "will to power", which he never clearly defined and which I don't have room to give justice to, but basically stems from the human drive for self-improvement. Nietzsche, and other philosophers who quote him, are not trying to say the Christian God has somehow been killed or that religion is meaningless. "God is dead" is a metaphor for a world that has abandoned absolute standards of morality. In our 21st-century, globalized, interconnected world, it seems we live in a world where absolute standards of morality that apply to all are really hard to agree upon indeed.

[@bjonesofwy]

"The Death of Complex Opinions." This sounds like an future episode... Please. And thank you.

[@mohe3439]

I think you touched on the value of quotes a bit. It's less about the original meaning, just like language is less about its original meaning and more about its modern meaning. The value of quotes should only in part lie in expressing their original intent, but it is also important to consider the value quotes have in terms of what they mean in their "modern context or understanding", if such a definite understanding can be gained.

[@PaladinLuxastra]

also, this has got to be my favourite Idea Channel yet

[@TigreXspalterLP]

"I think, therefore I am." But sometimes I don't think, but I still exist.

[@pbldiaz28]

So, i really do enjoy these strait philsophy vids, but i also enjoy your application of philosophy vids aka your other ones, so keep em both coming! Good work guys ;)

[@alandunn6090]

This was great. Can we have more of this? I mean not only this if course, but this particular video was very pleasing. I request more of these please.

[@flyingdics1]

"Carpe diem" is another famous phrase that has developed a meaning in casual usage that is fairly different from its original sense. Maybe next time you're thinking about this, toss it in.

[@brettswanson5976]

My favorite are the poems that get misunderstood. Frost was the master (intentionally or unintentionally) of writing poems that at first glance had lines with a shallow, uplifting sentiment for the casual reader to shout to the hills…but which were in reality about less-than-inspiring ideas. "The Road Not Taken" is not about how important it is to forge your own path… It's about how old people look back on their lives and act like they took the difficult, solitary path, when, in reality, they just flipped a coin between two paths which "both that morning equally lay."

[@xXZonaa]

Myself being from England very much enjoyed the segment at the end on the word "quite" at the end there, quite funny ;)

[@ayernee]

i was expecting nietzsche to be in this video judging from the intro, but i was pleasantly surprised. you really did a good job on this one.

[@ValenteFV]

I feel you bro, my wife is English too and we are always arguing about the correct way to use "quite" in a sentence

[@johnnyknight6447]

Wittgenstein: Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent. Milo: Well, I burped and I yawned and I passed gas loudly.

[@justdontask3]

this isnt said often enough, but some of the pics and gifs you use to show what youre saying are amazing. i laughed at the Improvaganza square because i think i know exactly what episode that was too.

[@triduck]

I always think of the universe.....yep way too much. but i always get stuck and the big bang that from nothingness and than it hit me what if nothing is everything, and that it was impossible for all of this not to happen, this gets me reallythinking all the time. I try thinking of what nothing is like, if there was nothing, something will happen because absolute nothing is impossible.

[@neonatalpenguin]

Mike's "The death of complex opinions" response to Mark Hanson is absolutely right on the money. He should do a whole episode on this.

[@neonatalpenguin]

I meant Joe Hanson, obviously. Mark Hanson is another guy.

[@melissapenner5580]

My favourite misquote is "blood is thicker than water" famously used by parents guilt tripping their children. The ACTUAL quote is "the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb" which turns the modernly infamous parenting line in upon itself.

[@yoannbourse5241]

really loved the theme and how you tied it all together

[@muundmue]

My husband just asked me what "the cookie doughs eye" (1:50 min) meant. Totally made my day x-D

[@TheAntiSanta]

That's good info to know. I promise to use it for good, and not evil.

[@samreimer3450]

I loved your laugh at the end of the comment portion. Please include it in more videos.

[@KravenErgeist]

What I love about Cogito Ergo Sum (and yes, I learned about this right around the same year as I discovered The Matrix) was that, while practically all of your senses could hypothetically be fooled, the only real thing you had that could never be fooled was the fact that you think. If you are capable of thinking, then you exist, and there is no earthly concept that could conceivably counteract this. You can never be "fooled" into thinking you exist, because you have to be able to *think* in order to even come to the point of being able to be fooled. Ergo, the only fact that you can ever be absolutely sure about, so long as you can think it, is that you exist. It's kind of a reassuring thought.