Humanity's Quiet Extinction Event

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What if the inevitable alien invasion didn't come from the stars? What if it came from Earth instead?
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[@TheTaleFoundry]

Get Nebula using our link for 40% off an annual subscription! go.nebula.tv/talefoundry

[@tommysaint4687]

Yall at takefoudry might like these books the remnants of Earth's past trilogy existentiadreaded left me us something else

[@IsfetReigns]

I agree the rements of earths past is an exellent sci-fi series. @@tommysaint4687

[@thecatsgato5283]

Make a video on kinito pet and how it exploits your emotions and fear, i would like that.

[@Kuma_Kares]

The link isn't working

[@kharijordan6426]

Ooooooooh I get it now. He subconsciously realizes that if they aren't humans anymore... other arriving humans will think they killed the previous humans and then try and kill them. And then they slowly turn into aliens...and the cycle repeats if humans keep coming. And the slow realization that they killed other humans with it. It took me abm bit to know the horror. Did anyone else catch this?

[@wesguffey4503]

So fun fact, when you revealed the name of the story, I grew extremely confused. I remembered reading this short story in my English textbook in the early 2010s, but I remembered it being called “The naming of names.” Turns out, the original name was The Naming of Names when it was originally published, but changed later to “Dark they Were and Golden Eyed.”

[@SybilantSquid]

Thank you! I was likewise confused by the unfamiliar title and couldn't quite place where I'd read this story before.

[@kharijordan6426]

hey I want to know if you cached this. Did you know the guy who wanted to get off the planet wanted to do so because you knew and knew humans would try and kill him and his family? It took me a few days to figure it out. This is one of the most fucked ways humanity go out by killing themselves trop ever.

[@TK-5516]

Sameeee i was like “I swear this feels familiar..”

[@whisterbin]

there are more in this vein in "the martian chronicles" one book wasnt enough for all the short stories ig

[@giyutomioka1187]

I read this book in 7th grade but forgot the name of it and I knew the story sounded familiar until I saw this and it clicked

[@omnipenne9101]

Silly theory: I think this is a cyclical thing. The martians had their own atomic war and they sent families down to Earth. Those survivors underwent a similar change and became humans. No matter where they go and what they become, these things won't ever go extinct.

[@doncomputer5931]

That is a silly theory, but I like it. Cool Idea.

[@KawaiiHamsteruwubean69]

Yeah it's just evolution

[@leebulger7112]

​@@doncomputer5931This story sounds like a story about immigration and adjusting to a new culture while trying to hold on to the traditions and culture of where they come from.

[@addison_v_ertisement1678]

Proof?

[@Michi_PØP11]

That’s actually awesome

[@aquaticcatfey]

Small correction: the word for Earth was "Iorrt," not "Lorrt." A capital I, not a lowercase L. Fonts where those two letters are identical are a plague.

[@eigilholm6979]

Fun fact: "Lort" is Danish for "shit", so Iorrt (capital i) is much better.

[@evilpompom]

When you pronounce it like that you can kind of trace the word Earth back to Iorrt.

[@zerotwo7319]

Sorry. I am Having trouble to adapt.

[@IgnisBB7]

So, the martians are british

[@Someone-sc2hk]

they're kinda funny

[@michaeljebbett160]

I'd say Henry embracing his Martian-ness wouldn't be so bad, if it weren't for the fact taht they seem to not only forget who they were, but have disdain for them. They've forgotten their past, and are thus doomed to repeat it.

[@Antasma1]

Being necessary for survival and growing to like your environment is one thing, but things like that still make the story creepy

[@JB52520]

The same past won't necessarily emerge from different beings. The mistakes I've made were a product of my many flaws. If I became a normal human, I would hope to forget the cringe-inducing memories of things no normal person would ever do.

[@vladyvhv9579]

@@JB52520 It's not necessarily individual pasts, but as a whole. A smart person learns from their mistakes. A wise person learns from the mistakes of others. If the mistakes of others are forgotten, and the mistakes of one's self are forgotten, there is only ignorance. You can in fact see in human cultures some that have repeated the very same mistakes that lead to the fall of others, and those mistakes leading to their falls. I belive this can be extended to encompass all sentient beings, life form, machine, etc. If you don't learn from the past, you're likely to fall into the same pitfalls as those who came before you.

[@michaeljebbett160]

@JB52520 true, but that's not what happens here Thr metamorphosis seems to rob them of their prior perspective and history, which IMHO, is the most chilling part of the story

[@The-Busy-Beeeee]

@@michaeljebbett160I feel like if someone where to learn Martian as a human they could put the history down in writing

[@michaelcherry8952]

When Bradbury wrote this story in 1949, it was a time of very rapid change in the world. He reflected the uncertainty about change in the best way that science fiction can: by setting the problem in another world. I highly recommend Bradbury's "The Martian Chronicles" as well. I remember reading his short story "And There Will Come Soft Rains" (later included in The Martian Chronicles) in high school and being profoundly affected by it. Later on, I was fortunate to find a very nice copy of The Martian Chronicles in a second-hand bookshop. Ray Bradbury is definitely an author well worth checking out. Thank you for this analysis of "Dark They Were, And Golden-Eyed". I truly enjoyed it.

[@Redfern42]

I can't recall, was this story part of the "Martian Chronicles" collection? I definitely remember "There Will Come Soft Rains" as it was a reading assignment in high school (77-81 for me). My school actually offered a semester of science fiction literature, but when I started it was only for, maybe the 11th and 12th graders. By the time I reached those grades, that class was dropped from the curriculum.

[@michaelcherry8952]

@@Redfern42 I was in high school around the same time (1975-1978). "And There Will Come Soft Rains" was in one our short story textbooks, but we unfortunately did not have a specific class for science fiction literature. I just dug out my copy of The Martian Chronicles and "Dark They Were And Golden-Eyed" was not in the collection. Bradbury wrote a lot about Mars and I think this story predates the ones that were eventually collected into The Martian Chronicles. Guess I'll be looking for more Ray Bradbury collections!😁 Not a bad thing at all to have on my bookshelves. I wonder why the science fiction literature class was dropped in your school? Given the time period, perhaps the stories were hitting a little too close to home!😟

[@Redfern42]

@@michaelcherry8952Why was the class cancelled? In some ways, I'm astonished it even existed given I went to high school in south Georgia, arguably slap dab in the buckle of the "Bible Belt", so to speak. As this was nearly 4 and a half decades ago, I can't remember exact events. It may have been an "elective" (that still existed) but one that had a conflicting time slot with a required class by the time I reached that grade. That seems to ring some bells on the cusp of my conscience mind, but again, I can't be certain. Hmm, the more I think about it, the course may have been slotted against a mandatory "American Literature" class. Thankfully, I enjoyed the Am' Lit semester, too. Taught me the basics of the "5 paragraph" essay which gave me a "leg up" when took a particular lit course in my freshman year of college.

[@iananelson8256]

@@Redfern42 it wasn't included in The Martian Chronicles but as I was listening I was having a Mandala Effect moment where I was sure I had read this story in that collection. According to Wikipedia it was in "S is for Space" and a couple of other places.

[@mildlymarvelous]

Thanks for the recommendation! I have a collection of Bradbury’s short stories that is one of my favorite sci-fi books!

[@Ryu_D]

The problem I have with this story isn't the change in the environment, or even the physical change of the humans themselves, but in the lack of care for the things that mattered so much to them before. If there was still a sense of wonder for the stories that the earthlings made, for the beautiful and bizarre things that mattered so much to them, and a desire to find how they can matter to the new culture that the martians develop, then it would be a change I could accept, because the important parts of what made them human would still remain. But with all those things being deemed nothing but clutter, being completely forgotten as if they never mattered to begin with... It's one thing to change. Everyone grows up, after all. But to have never been a child to begin with, even with all the remnants of that childhood around them. The people they were before haven't changed. They died. They were replaced by something that doesn't care, or even know, that they had been something wonderful in the past. They may be something wonderful again, but something deeply important is lost in that transition, and that's not something I could possibly consider a happy ending.

[@jessicaclakley3691]

Well phrased! I believe that’s the element that makes it “horrific” right? For me, the transitioning and becoming of oneself is a constant element of the human experience, part and parcel of it. So the change isn’t what sends chills down my spine, it’s the idea that I could lose touch with who I once was, that I could forget all that came before, and more so… that I wouldn’t care that I lost it. Now, that’s really chilling to me.

[@kotatsu7968]

If I understand your positioni correct;y, the horror/discomfort is tied to the humans in the story forgetting who and what they once were. This is something that huamns experience every day, and because they can perceive a continuity between then and now it does not cause alarm. Nobody wakes up in the morning the same person as they were when they went to bed. If an outside observer with no prior knowledge of humans were to look at a human infant and then the same human as an adult,, the observer not knowing that they were the same individual, might conclude that these were two completely different creatures. The adult human has little to no memory of what it was to be an infant, looking upon a new world with new senses, and behaves in entirely different ways than the prior form. The adult might even look down upon other babies from the high hill of their experiences and think of babies as clumsy, ugly, or irritating. This seems natural to us because we understand the context and process of how a baby becomes an adult. The difference here is that these humans undergo the process having already developed minds that can be conscious of the change and remember that they were once something other than they are by the end of the story. We as the reader can see this because we are outisde observers. The humans in the story are not overly concerned because they have lived a continuous existence from where they started to where they ended. It's difficult to find fault in the martians forgetting who they were, since how many humans keep detailed diaries of their daily existence? How much experience is lost to the noise of chaos from one moment to the next? Is that a cause for mourning?

[@amberlynightengale8382]

Exactly what I was thinking. I think Harry and the other settlers represent two extremes on a spectrum, and like most moral spectrums, it's best to meet somewhere in the middle. Harry embraces his past by fully rejecting the future, while everyone else embraces the future by fully rejecting the past. The idea that kept coming to my mind was "Remember your past; embrace your future." Your point about being a child and growing up is absolutely correct. I have been many people over the years: a sweet baby, a stubborn toddler, a distractible child, a lovesick teenager. I am none of those people now, but every one of them influenced the person I am today. One day I will cease to be who I am, but who I become will still be created by my past. Change as drastic as this should not be viewed as a death and total rebirth; change should be viewed as an evolution from one point to the next.

[@Mansplainer2099-jy8ps]

Everything matters. Nothing is "important".

[@Ryu_D]

@@kotatsu7968 The issue is that the story portrays it as an absolute. The ending of the story shows that they don't remember that they were human. What they are is completely disconnected from what they were. It's one thing to gain a new appreciation for a different way of life. It's quite another to throw out all your favorite things because that's not who you are anymore, and you don't know why you ever thought you were. I'm not a child anymore, but I remember many of the things I loved as a child, and even if I don't love them now, it still matters that they've affected my life. I'm ashamed of some things, proud of others, appreciate different things in different ways, but even when I wake up as a somewhat different person tomorrow, and again the next day, and so on, I'll still have that past behind me, influencing who I am, and who I will become. Now, maybe I'm wrong, and the story just doesn't show the details of how their past still influences their present, even though it does. But without those details, it looks more like their previous selves were replaced, and their brains slowly overwritten with the martian family that they become. With only seeing that much of the story, I can't see it as a happy ending, because neither the earthlings, nor any of the things that made them human, that let them express themselves as people, have survived the transition.

[@justanaverageuser8884]

See, this wouldn't be a problem if everyone wore sunscreen

[@Theuncletoeticklingtoddler]

This comment is so underrated 😭

[@DevaDragon911]

space radiation is no joke

[@Weaklytune]

Lmao

[@red-E3-3E]

sunscreen, sunglasses and tinfoil hats to protect the mind

[@BeastyJay1234]

Bro, bring a f***ing tube of sunscreen 😂😂😂

[@screamingcactus1753]

Honestly, the main thing that shifts it into a tragedy for me is them forgetting their past lives. Their memories being altered to believe they were always martians is the point to me where this goes beyond metamorphosis into identity death.

[@lemieux-z8933]

r/transformation moment

[@tanuki01]

Do you remember very well who you were as a grade schooler?

[@valentinewiggin9152]

It is an interesting thought, but for me it wasn't tragic. Looking back a few years, I remember what happened, but it is hard to remember, how I was, what motivated me to make certain decisions, what changes happened in my personality since - even though I remember events, people, interactions. I think the inability to remember their lives is a metaphor for this. They changed, so they could not tell, where they came from, or what the events of the past meant to them. But the family is still a family - so connections for example, didn't disappear.

[@catpoke9557]

@@valentinewiggin9152 That, and there's also the fact that if you don't know something, you can't be sad about it. And ultimately if there's nobody who is experiencing or has experienced the tragedy of it, is there really a tragedy at all? The fact they've forgotten their history is making nobody upset. So ultimately, it doesn't really matter. There's nobody for it to hurt. The only way it can really be considered a tragedy is because Harry was so upset when he saw the changes happening. But he had already become like them by the time they forgot their history. So even he didn't get to experience the consequences of it, and therefore it has harmed absolutely nobody that they have forgotten things.

[@EchoSaintEco]

SAINT RAIN WORLD!!!!

[@solarchos4352]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1035">17:15</a> - Yes, it WOULD be that sad. In fact, it would be terrifying. In the case of this particular story, the people who came to Mars weren't transformed; they were _consumed_ and remade into the new host bodies of the world's previous inhabitants. The tragedy is that the characters in the story never stood a chance and they were never given a choice. "They didn't know any better. Such ugly people. I'm glad they've gone." When put in this context, the story sounds more like it's a form of cosmic horror.

[@MrSC219]

The grown food being the first noticeable change and Harry losing his desire to leave Mars after a trip to the canals made me think the water is what changes people which brought to mind "The Waters of Mars" from Doctor Who. "Water is patient, Adelaide. Water just waits. Wears down the clifftops. The mountains. The whole of the world. Water always wins."

[@badger273]

This may be a wild take but I feel like this is a story about war and xenophobia. The humans down on Earth were being consumed by their fear for each other, their fear for being changed by and into each other. They came to Mars with those fears, and it was only by letting go of them, represented by literally letting go of their human possessions and embracing a culture completely foreign to them, that they were able to achieve happiness

[@bea7823]

I don’t know if it’s that wild a take, because I felt the same way watching the video.

[@badger273]

@@bea7823 idk, I just never know how on-the-mark I am or how people are going to take my interpretations, so I just always like to make it clear that they *are* just my interpretations. But yeah judging by the fact that TF even hearted this it's probably a pretty modest take lol

[@kharijordan6426]

Cool

[@catpoke9557]

It definitely seems to be about acceptance of change. The only reason the change was ever a bad thing was purely because Harry made it out to be as such. He was the only one suffering as a result of it, and all that suffering was purely because of how he perceived it.

[@paulhiggins105]

I would like to expand on this because I thought you were going to go somewhere else with it. I read it as a critique of humanity that distances itself from and ignores the atrocities it creates, which makes them no longer human. Harry is desperate to go back and fix it or at least try, but he’s surrounded by people who wilfully ignore what’s happening, because it’s not their problem. And he too slowly loses his humanity as he’s brought down by their apathy.

[@hartthorn]

Really like this one because it understands the fear that change can bring, but by having an ultimately benevolent ending it tries to comfort. I can't say EVERY change is always good. Some times resistance is warranted. But so many fears about change are nothing more than uncertainty.

[@HyenaPlayGames]

I feel this story is horror because the chance in the humans were outside their consent/control. I enjoy post-Humanism Sci-fi, but mostly when is a "cyberpunk type" where the change is voluntary.

[@ToxicBastard]

For real. It's skin crawling but intriguing.

[@Eileeleedon]

Not accepting change is what makes people hateful and bitter. We should strive to never forget our pasts, while still being open to the future and change. If they hadn’t forgotten what it was like to be human, I would say this story was almost uplifting. But forgetting who they once were is what makes it sad.

[@Glory2Arstotzka]

This story has pretty clear parallels to cultural assimilation in the real world. You see the younger generations slowly losing their old way of life, instead adapting to the new world they live in, losing their language, customs, and beliefs. Though I don't think the new generations aren't doing anything wrong on a personal level, it is deeply melancholic seeing how many unique cultures and languages have been lost to time.

[@rodneykelly8768]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1085">18:05</a> The whole video could be summed up with a question I was often asked when I was a child, "If everyone jumped off a bridge, would you?" Statistically speaking, the majority are usually correct, but there are many historical examples of when the same group was wrong.

[@eloquentornot]

I'm so used to 1950's ideal American suburbia being a setting for horror that I was actually relieved when you revealed the twist in the intro lol!

[@cullenlatham2366]

My problem with the story as it is told here is less about the concept of change, but instead the lost history. They forget they were once human, and with it, loose sight of the culture that would let them communicate. The cycle wouldnt be so scary if there was a guiding hand or diplomacy. When the anomoly becomes a known science, then the choice can be made consciously compared to the subtle "corruption" of self that gives the story its horror elements. Acknowledging "i was once human, but now i am not."... I dont know, that just feels less like a loss of self and more an acknowledgement of the change.

[@robertjames8183]

This is a good tale about what really matters in life. Your food, looks, belongings, location, and even your thoughts, can all change, even drastically, but as long as you're happy with the people you love, even if they've changed, it's okay. As long as you have food, even if you don't recognize it, some belongings, even if they're not what you once had. Does it matter to "be human?" Is being human so cut and dry? Maybe that ability to adapt, to love, to think, and reason is more important than some superficial bond you might feel to your physical identity. This doesn't feel like the end of humanity, just another branching path that it takes to survive in the face of overwhelming change, which is a large part of what it means to "be human" to me.

[@Mansplainer2099-jy8ps]

Everything matters. Nothing is "important".

[@toddberkely6791]

One thing it glossed over is that in the reality of radical change, you can lose even your friends and family. Of course, you can find new friends and start a new family but nothing really makes up for that loss.

[@allissane290]

I feel like why we found this disturbing is because it's like a betrayal from what you were before, its a betrayal to being human. Because why could you just let your past self go?

[@ToxicBastard]

It's like a kind of soft death, like becoming a zombie.

[@berserker5551]

To keep living

[@berserker5551]

@@ToxicBastardnah, if ur a zombie ur already dead

[@StoryMing]

I understand that the original ‘I Am Legend’ (which I’ve not read) explores similar themes; the last remaining human on earth comes to realize that in this new world… _HE_ Is the Monster.

[@ronaldcounterman5812]

Bradbury is truly one of the greatest, with his stories running the gamut between sci-fi, fantasy and blood-freezing horror. That's why many of his stories were adapted to the EC horror comics (Tales from the Crypt, etc.).

[@ShadwSonic]

The problem isn't that they changed, but rather that they lost aspects of themselves in the process. Becoming tall, having random words added to their vocabulary, deciding they feel more comfortable outside of the settlement they had created initially? All fine. But they've forgotten the importance of their art, forgotten that the human settlement wasn't originally so warped, forgotten they were ever human to begin with. _These_ are substantial losses, and should be mourned.

[@gamers-xh3uc]

Not really thats what evolution is like humans going from apes, do we have to mourn we are not in trees anymore?

[@ShadwSonic]

@gamers-xh3uc 1. Evolution isn't actually a thing. There are far too many incongruities between what we observe and what we'd need to be observing for it to be anything other than a failed hypothesis. 2. We make treehouses, our kids climb trees, our adults climb mountains... can you really say we "lost" anything even if evolution was true?

[@0XBlondie96X0]

​@gamers-xh3uc Evolution doesn't happen anywhere near as rapidly as the changes in the story. It happens so slowly and gradually that thousands of years can pass without much, if any, change to the genome of a species. The story features changes happening to specific individuals within the course of mere months-- change so drastic that the individuals in question don't even remember how they once were, or what was important to them. I don't think the two are comparable. No human had ever been an ape, but these Martians, not too long ago, used to be humans.

[@ShadwSonic]

@@0XBlondie96X0 Nah, that doesn't track. Most of the fossils we'd be finding would be "transitional" if that were true, but we haven't even found ONE that's uncontested.

[@TheOneWayDown]

​@ShadwSonic that's the problem. Every fossil is "transitional." The point of the theory of evolution is that everything is constantly undergoing it at an imperceptibly slow pace

[@ubermonkee]

Very thought provoking - it put me in mind of an ex-pat, living in the 'us' section of the quaint seaside village of their sunny retirement life, going to the 'us' bar and the 'us' restaurant; never learning the local language, local customs - until their child meets a partner and the worlds have to collide. How the world opens. How the nuances are better understood. Even trying new foods, new clothes, new experiences... No, I didn't see a horror story either but understand how it can be seen that way, fear and unknowing are hard forces to overcome - maybe just succumbing to it isn't the best idea tho lol

[@jessicaclakley3691]

Well put! I was struck by the final discussion and its broader application to cultural shifts occurring today. I was reminded more of my parents generation’s general distaste for discussions on identity (this is an over generalization and by no means am I saying that all older ppl do) Your “ex-pat” example illustrates this idea further by applying it in a broader cultural context.

[@DarthBiomech]

I'll never understand that, honestly. Imagine escaping your old country... to just bring what you've been escaping from with you into the new home that you've supposedly chose because you like it there better.

[@christinearmington]

Well, their money goes further anyway. 🤷‍♀️

[@rustyjones7908]

That's the vibe I got

[@cwaufy2868]

You are the best creator on youtube tysm💜

[@ubermonkee]

just an open question, has Tale Foundry covered Flowers for Algernon? That story eats my soul every time...

[@honeybeemoo]

Bradbury's short story 'All Summer In A Day' was included in our English text books in 6/7th grade in school. It's really cool to see one of his other works here

[@Christian_H3rnand3z]

I've been Reading "Farenheit 451" for a while already, and I completely cut off guard when you said *"Ray Bradbury."* I can't believe I couldn't see it!!!!!

[@rika8484]

congrats, you have won the "Most Unsettling Thumbnail" award of the day.

[@josephwatkins1190]

I think it'd be less unsettling if they didn't lose whi they were. The changing of language and talking about the "earth people" as though it wasn't them sounds less like change and more like who they are being overwritten by something else. If it was a purely physical change which led to their culture shifting naturally then i think that'd be less foreboding

[@Antasma1]

I agree. Otherwise, it just feels like a small price to pay to eat the food and maybe experience new culture

[@unoriginalname7925]

I agree, the settlers don't choose to change, they don't notice change, they become something else physically and mentally with nothing hidden. ngl almost feels like 1984 but somehow without a government.

[@CorbinLeonard-rp4et]

Sometimes change is good but sometimes it isn't

[@Solstice261]

Change is change, whether it is good or bad is completely reliant on the subjective perspective of the person judging it, we do not like thinking about our future because we are inherently more tied to our present, any divergence from that may seem alien, that in no way means bad, we have seen species change disappear be discovered a new yet the main thing pointing out wether they are good or bad changes is how close it brings the situation to what we are familiar with. At least that's how I see it

[@CorbinLeonard-rp4et]

@@Solstice261 true

[@addison_v_ertisement1678]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure everyone knows.

[@Alyrael]

@@Solstice261 That's just hard cope. A change to have developed a thicker circulatory system that's prone to clogging is not a good thing, no matter what perspective you're looking at it from.

[@Solstice261]

@@Alyrael change in the way this video is portraying it, isn't. I wouldn't call an illness change but hey whatever, however try not to start accusing someone of coping, I did clarify it was my opinion didn't I

[@WolfBoy-om6dw]

The thumbnail of this video is officially the creepiest thumbnail Tale Foundry has ever made

[@Christian_H3rnand3z]

Facts. Very bold of them.

[@ToxicBastard]

I think the death magic one is the most creepy overall.

[@himynameis3664]

This has become my favourite channel. Who would've thought a robot telling me about human stories could be so compelling. Great channel, keep it up

[@thedigodragon]

Related to the human extinction bit-- millennia after humans are long gone from this world, if another intelligent species were to dig up a fossil record of the planet, they would know us from a thin layer of plastic/petrochemicals in that record. In a sad way, that is the monument we made to our existence that can stand the test of time.

[@StevDoesBigJumps]

I think this relies on a simplistic idea of what being human means. At it's root, being human is simply about your genetic heritage, which is subject to constant and evolved additions. Having an increased or altered melanin production, lengthened and skinnier bones and a jaundice-like eye pigmentation is not a disqualifier.

[@finaldusk1821]

Honestly, strange as it is, the gradual physical adaptation to a new world doesn't bother me at all. However I'd argue being human isn't about genetics, it's our experiences and memories, our 'mental heritage' for lack of a better term. And it's one thing to move from old ideas to new ones, but to forget that you ever liked those old ideas and can't understand why you ever did? When the Martians didn't remember that they were once Earthlings or why they would ever want to be, THAT was downright tragic to me.

[@Raybro16]

When I saw the thumbnail, i was expecting you guys to be covering SCP - 001: When Day Breaks. However, you covering a Ray Bradbury short story was not only a surprise, it was even more enjoyable than what I was expecting. You're very right about how haunting this story is despite it ending on a seemingly happy note. What I find about the ending is how tragic it is on a human level with the main character, his family, and every other survivor forgetting their past humanity. It's a bit hard to describe, but if I had to put it into words it would be this; it's right for us to embrace change. Everything changes on some level, whether it be on an individual level, a generational level or upon billions of years, and to fight that will always be a losing battle. However, to dismiss the past when that change comes strips away a fundamental part of ourselves. To distance ourselves from where we come from and the potential for how we can learn and grow from it, we might as well be a completely different species altogether. Onions, but not onions. Humans, but not humans.

[@marlutteyestrelt3441]

Humanity's modular metabolisms undergoing chimeric mutations depending on their surroundings is one of my deepest passionate hopes for our idea of species. I always felt comfort in the idea that our bodies will adapt regardless of how dismal, excessive, hellish or heavenly our surroundings are. I definitely feel the beauty of how humanity dissolves, with a change of world. There is a cynical part of me that our idea of humanity can be a burden, only preserved by collective fictions like myths and religious philosophy. I hope our species can truly evolve and thrive, as far and distanced from what we are now.

[@amjthe_paleosquare9399]

Why is the intro always so pretty? I've seen it plenty of times but is always so amazing to look at! Also, always love the stories you cover in these videos. I want Nevbula T_T

[@Balthizar101]

"All things change in a dynamic environment. Your desire to remain as you are is what limits you." -Ghost in the Shell

[@SubtleStair]

I would like to change as and when I please, as much as is possible.

[@katking9574]

the twilight zone episode is gonna be good

[@ShawnRavenfire]

I remember reading this story in school. For some reason, it always stuck with me. I'm especially reminded of it recently, watching older politicians and business-owners holding onto 20th-century practices and policies that don't even make sense in the 21st century. I really do feel like humanity is entering a new chapter of history, and that our progress is being slowed by people resisting change for its own sake.

[@def3ndr887]

Quite the dilemma, the old too obstinate and set in their ways, and the new seeking to overtake the old but seems no better than what came before.

[@SniperkingSogeking04]

Ahh good old *Dark They Were, And Golden-Eyed* by Ray Bradbury. I remember reading this back in like... Middle school? Somewhere around there. And I adored it! The slow creep of horror that the humans as well as everything they brought from Earth are changing into something distinctly non-human and than watching as that horror turns into innocent ignorance as the changed humans forget about Earth and that low-laying knowledge that we the audience now have anyone that ends up on Mars ends up becoming a Martian in the end is just so lovely.

[@Nyghtking]

I consider "humanity" to be something other then genetic, it's a mental thing and an emotional thing. Much as there are humans who one wouldn't consider to be human I think there are, or will be, non-humans we would consider human. In other words the martians, despite their changes, I would probably consider to be still human as long as they kept the emotional and mental aspects that make a human.

[@owen_the_oddball8907]

The most horrific part of this whole thing is the video cover especially when you’re watching videos while it’s dark outside

[@someguycalledCh0wdah]

Discovering some horrible danger only to be ignored by everyone you care about is literally what my nightmares are made of

[@franciswalsh8416]

This a Ray Bradbury story called "Dark They Were, and Golden Eyed" with a different twist. Great "re-telling". Loved it

[@zachialadams9279]

"Is changing, really that awful? We all change in some ways over the course of our lives. Humanity isn't our appearances. It's what we DO, that matters."

[@SubtleStair]

It's being changed against your will, fundamentally transformed, that is awful. Loss of one's humanity is legitimate nightmare fuel, yet this story glosses over that.

[@Madaseter]

​@@SubtleStairyea that's the most horrifying thing

[@unoriginalname7925]

In this story, what should take hundreds of thousands of years physically, happens in a year, what should happen mentally in maybe 400 years minimum happens in a year The settlers unknowingly become something else, they unknowingly forget they were human on a personal level. This, and the fact there is no actor causing these changes, is what makes it horror for me. Somehow it also feels like a complete invasion of privacy for the settlers

[@melund5428]

The scary thing about planets is that we are not 100% sure if it is safe or not, like imagine you go to a planet that seems safe, but when you leave the rocket you start hearing an constant loud noise that makes you deaf and your skin start desintegrating.

[@Antasma1]

I like this brand of horror. This could have easily turned into a message about GMOs or something, but you couldn’t exactly say the ending was bad. I wonder if this story would be considered a cure of culture shock if you look past the creepiness? It’s creepy they mentally and physically changed against their will but this was a small price to pay for survival

[@quaktoons331]

It's 100% a tragedy. The people of Mars left their planet and moved to earth(perhaps escaping a disaster) where they started to change and forget their Martianity. The people of Earth left their planet and moved to Mars(perhaps escaping a disaster) where they started to change and forget their humanity. Ect... "Those who can not remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Repeating the past over and over again IS a tragedy.

[@johnathanmonsen6567]

If you think the Martians are really happier, then consider this: The previous Martians in Bradbury's stories had already wiped themselves out by the time humanity started really building things on Mars. Their psychic abilities had causes some sort of runaway reaction when they sensed the first explorers coming, and IIRC by the time the third expedition arrived, there was only ruins to find.

[@JoseMartinez-jj6vt]

I do agree with your sentiment of which side you’re willing to be on any particular situation. I do value in fighting for your core beliefs and principles but at the same time I can see the daunting task that is as well. Who is right, and who is wrong is only met with time as a measurement.

[@__-be1gk]

"Bro we've sent seven ships to mars and none of them have come back" "Guess we'll just keep sending every single human ever 10 people at a time" wow, what a horrible and not stupid tragedy, I feel so disturbed

[@MatNichols-iz9dy]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="8">0:08</a> there is no perfect suburb. They all suck (this is coming from a kid who is growing up in one)

[@lesliewolfe7643]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="286">4:46</a> those guys are bad at hammering

[@jessicajayes8326]

I imagine there had to be at least one artist of the travelers who found a cave and started painting the walls as we did ages ago, depicting how they got there and what happened. They still might call it a mystery, like with what happened in Roanoke. A colony was established then everybody vanished, according to the founder. The settlers literally left a note, the name of the local Indigenous tribe.

[@jerrym1218]

It was kind of a depressing story of one species dying off and a new one starting off through the bodies and souls of the remaining last species. It was about just accepting a fate that was totally out of their control.

[@thereal4815]

I like how it’s not a grotesque twist. There’s body dysmorphia and stuff, but it’s really just about the nature of change.

[@NullNoxproduction]

I had dreams about Mars and colonizing the planet, but one dream was scary because we sent too few humans at first and we lost contact with them because they were killed off by unknown entities. I just remember a woman screaming and the father taking the child and hiding but I never got to see what was harming them or what caused the woman to scream. I was looking in third person but my vision felt like it was being blurred out. I saw the father and child hiding but I couldn’t see the creature. Also they had to be partially underground with Mar’s soil covering the structures. The technology didn’t look they advance then our current technology. It made me wake up with the sweats, but it never left my mind because the dream felt like I was watching a real event.

[@lerneanlion]

As Saw Garrera said when encountered the Bad Batch for the first time: You either adapted and survived or died with the past. So what should we choose here? Of course, learning from the past is still important. Very important, in fact!

[@Mansplainer2099-jy8ps]

"Should" is a myth. As is "importance".

[@def3ndr887]

Contradicting, he says adapt yet he refuses to submit to the emperor.

[@ToxicBastard]

​@@Mansplainer2099-jy8psWhat about "pretentiousness"?

[@ToxicBastard]

> We have to adapt > Literally fighting for the alliance to restore the republic

[@MemelordTheGuy]

Nest thing you know, some aliens called the Qu decide to fuck around and find out years later.

[@lucusenvrai]

Best episode i seen yet! The stoeytelling was just AWESOME! Thanks!

[@backinthelapse]

I’ve been writing a lot lately, and I came across your page. It's clear that you're much more optimistic than I am, which I find interesting. I enjoy your take on certain themes because they often lead to conclusions that are vastly different from my own. I think a lot of that comes down to the different lives we've lived. Your perspective adds a fresh contrast that really gets the brain juices flowing. Your videos are great for sparking new thoughts and ideas.

[@jonasholm-mw5bn]

It could probably be a nice little horror game. Reading the desperate diary of the farther as he tries to go home as everyone around him changes. What happened to them would sound monstrous, but was it really that bad

[@villeandersson4317]

you should make a video about "all tomorrows" by C.M. Kosemen. Its an absolutley amazing exploration of evolutionary horror/what it means to be human.

[@PlanetaryFacts]

This was actually required reading for my eighth grade english class. I remember this story fondly as one of the best required readings.

[@daniell1483]

This reminds me of "The Monster" by A. E. van Vogt. Both explore the idea of human change and extinction. Change is just a thing that happens, it is how we react to those changes that make the changes seem either good or bad. The only question I have is what is up with those "Martians" at the end. It almost seems like some kind of possession is going on.

[@PaddingtonHG]

Right at the start of the video I thought to myself that something about it reminded me of Ray Bradbury's 'The Martian Chronicles', and as soon as it was revealed I couldn't do anything but yell "I FUCKING KNEW IT"

[@NanoScream]

>man gets forcibly changed against his will >people in the comments "that's a good thing actually" Like you guys can't be serious. Changing of cultures and ideas is one thing as it requires a level of acceptance from the person but this isn't an exchange of culture and ideas, these colonists are being forcibly overwritten to not only look like Martians but to think and act like they are Martians. What happens to them is not a good thing and I find it weird that a lot of people think it is.

[@MahouKat]

To me him being opposed to change at first doesn't mean he's against it forever. It's like aging or moving to a new place and not expecting it to rub off on you. I disagree with the people arguing he wasn't justified to be scared at first, but seeing change as an objectively bad thing isn't to me what this story is trying to put across. As you said yourself, it's an extreme example of change, and that's exactly what culture shock can feel like. Seeing a new way of life can feel like the grass has turned purple; but eventually you get used to the new shade. It's not being "overwritten", it's adapting - just on a very extreme level with this being sci-fi. Again this is just my reading, not trying to "debunk" yours or anything. I appreciate the alt point of view. :)

[@NanoScream]

@@MahouKat The issue is very much the humans becoming Martians, not just in the way they look but how they think and act. If it was just the humans adapting to the environment it would cause physical changes sure but not psychological changes. The flora and cow also get changed, the cow with a third horn and the roses turning green and a change in Harry's peach blossom tree, you can't say these are environmental adaptations (because why would a cow grow a third horn?). And how do the Bitterings know Martian language if it's them just adapting to the environment? The way that the short story is written does make it look like there is something changing, something actively rewiring, the colonists to think like this and to become Martian. To continue on cultures, you can be a part of a new culture while still being yourself, assimilation doesn't mean changing out your previous culture with the new culture. What the story describes is not normal assimilation where you voluntarily integrate into a new culture while still retaining your previous culture, it describes involuntary assimilation where you are forced into the new culture and your previous culture is thrown away. I'm not saying that change is bad, change happens every day, but what I'm saying is that when you lose your identity in the process that change is not good. It is an insidious evil. Also, the way Harry gets broken down not by the environment but by the other colonists and his family it's very cultish.

[@SubtleStair]

Oh, thank you for saying so!

[@Bill_W_Cipher]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="298">4:58</a> "He just can't quite put his finger on it yet." That makes sense because he has robotic arms and therefore doesn't have fingers.

[@darnaryelfantaisie5737]

I think that's quite a fallacious conclusion. It's not just about whether or not change is good or bad/should be embrasssed or fought. That would only make sense if there was a clear continuity of individuality. Without that, since the person on whom the change was made is not there anymore to appreciate it, it is similar to a slow conscious death of the self. That's what makes it eery/hard to swallow. It's not simply being hesitant to embrace a new piece of technology. It is seeing said technology physically replace you by someone else not even pretending to be you. The you that was there doesn't exist anymore to be happy or sad about it. So yeah, I fundamentally disagree with the conclusion of this video. 🤷🏿 Good story anyway! 👌🏿✨

[@remicaron3191]

Humanity has no choice. We have already changed several times in the past and are continuing to change as we speak. The people who refuse will eventually cause the complete extinction of our world.

[@LegoCookieDoggie]

It really hit when someone say "their skin is getting darker" to me this is the obsession with ethnic purity that again people cyclically have feelings about.

[@theiathegondia7349]

i thought it was happy until they forgot that they used to be humans, i think its better to accept who you become while also remembering your past

[@wrongperfection]

"Perfect mid-century american suburb." So literal hell on earth, or in this case on Mars

[@ToxicBastard]

This is such an entitled comment.

[@evilpompom]

Amazing story! It reminds me a little of The Colour Out of Space by Lovecraft. And your voice is perfect for it. I often listen to your videos before I go to sleep 😊

[@elusive-osmium]

This is terrifying

[@ToxicBastard]

It's weird to me that so few people recognise how scary this scenario is. Seeing your very being bleed away...

[@wendydomino]

There's been a seed war going on for many thousands of years and there IS something special and unique about humanity and its identity. It's precious and we should never give it up through transfomative gene therapies or transhumanist "upgrades".

[@InfiniteAnvil]

I read this when I was probably around 11? It was in one of my middle school literature textbooks. We never covered it in class, but if I read from a textbook my parents would assume I was doing homework and wouldn't bother me to go do my homework. So while this is in retrospect a story that had a formative effect upon me, I've never actually encountered anyone else's reactions to or opinions on it before. It had never even occurred to me that this might be considered a horror story. It seemed hopeful, even utopian. The Martians are dead at the beginning of the story, and the human colonists are having a hard time adjusting to Mars. At the end of the story, the Martian civilization has been revived, and the colonists are comfortable and happy being the new Martians. I didn't think it was horrifying that no one besides the main character cared about their transformation - I thought it was *unrealistically optimistic*. In real life, half the village would have clung to the practices and trappings of American suburbia that didn't work in this new place, and tried to resist the changes in mind and body that made sense for living in their new home. Like when the occupying British army used to wear wool uniforms and parade at mid-day in India - a very bad idea that they kept up for far too long out of pride and tradition, even as it literally killed people.

[@OtakuMan05]

It's not extinction, it's metamorphosis and evolution.

[@chibiktsn3]

The second I saw the thumbnail, I knew what this would be about. I remember reading this short story in my middle school English class, and your take on it made me realize things I didn't fully understand at 13 or had forgotten at 30something.

[@tanuki01]

This feels like an immigration story in so many ways. People move to another country and whether they want to or not, they change. They eventually BECOME people of the nation they live in, in tiny ways they may not notice until generations have passed and the people their ancestors were are foreign and strange

[@unoriginalname7925]

In this story, what should take hundreds of thousands of years physically, happens in a year, what should happen mentally in maybe 400 years minimum happens in a year The settlers unknowingly become something else, they unknowingly forget they were human on a personal level. This, and the fact there is no actor causing these changes, is what makes it horror for me

[@eric988]

I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR THIS STORY!!! My Sixth grade teacher would play old radio shows on tape for us! I couldn't find this story again! I am so glad you covered this! Thank You!

[@pravindkumar8095]

can you make a video about difference between nihilism and pacifism also franz Kafka's metamorphosis btw great work man

[@PWizz91]

Your channel is phenomenal and to have such creative professional content week in week out and still be under 1 mil subs?! Crazy! Well done squire

[@yonatansun]

I love your stuff its the best hope you all of you have the greatest day ❤😊

[@def3ndr887]

It’s like drowning, the water is peaceful and subtle coercing the person drowning to give in. Which brings the question, will you let it in or will you swim?

[@MK-dr7dx]

Yeah, no. I nearly drowned once. Peaceful is the last word I would use to describe the experience.

[@def3ndr887]

@@MK-dr7dx I’m quoting Silco but yes the other part is you yourself that struggles to survive, the body lighting every nerve with madness until you either give in or survive

[@miadmahshidi8101]

Ok judging by the materials in this vid id like to recommend a video idea. Ever since you're god killer videos i always wanted you guys to do the god creator/ becomer video,characters or people who have created or become gods...heck we actually have some people like this in the real world.and I cant think of a better examples than Robert j.openhiemer....❤

[@TheMind129]

"It used to be part of The End, perhaps, when the end of humanity was to be the end of all things. But now, the fear is not of a rapture or a revelation. It is of catastrophic change. A change in our world that will wipe out what it means to be us, and leave something else in its place." - Adelard Dekker

[@stonedpossum69420]

To me "humanity" isn't as important a concept as personhood. The fact that we as a species are able to care for and work with the other beings around us transcends our individual and collective appearances. It's silly to think of "people" as these four-limbed bags of bones attached to red flesh, encased in skin with colors ranging from reddish white to dark brown, and who have decently sized brains with lots and lots of ridges. The fact that we can care for each other and come together to build things like monuments, families, languages and sciences is not necessarily dependant on wether we have fingers, tails, weird-looking ears or eyes

[@bananamanchester4156]

I feel like theres something in this story about grief and loss. Harrys family amd friends are in denial that anything is wrong, when actually, moving to a new planet and being one of the last humans alive would be a terrifying prospect. Harry's fear is completely understandable and an appropriate reaction. On the other hand, Harry is in denial over his need to change and adapt to his new surroundings. When we suffer a great loss, it's normal to feel like you have changed. Not allowing yourself to adapt to your new circumstances is emotionally unhealthy, as we can see from Harry's paranoia. I believe that the healthy way to adapt is somewhere between Harry's approach and the approach of the townspeople- you can allow yourself to adapt amd evolve, while still acknowledging the past and what it meant to you. There's no need to disregard it fully.

[@CanonessEllinor]

I couldn’t stop thinking of this story as a sci-fi version of the story of the “lost” colony of Roanoke. Settlers from a faraway place, rebuilding their familiar culture in exile but slowly adapting into their new home until they abandon the colony and start living as the natives do. It even ends with new settlers arriving to find the colony abandoned, not recognizing the connection between the natives and the lost colonists. Either way, it’s certainly a story about assimilation, and one I find more beautiful than scary.

[@Galimeer5]

I don't know what Harry's problem is. He's got a loving wife, happy family, and his own house. Martianism seems pretty inconsequential in comparison.

[@toddberkely6791]

Europeans used to think that staying on Africa too long would turn you black and that potatos and tomatos were toxic because they were the crops of devil worshippers. People are attached to what they know and fear the unknown.

[@def3ndr887]

It’s the reason he can’t escape

[@finaldusk1821]

Honestly, the things he was freaking out over seemed trivial. The world changes, people change, and adaptation to a whole new world is a relatively normal thing (even if the nature of those changes was sometimes on the more unrealistic side). But when memories started being outright erased near the end? That was crossing a line for me, that was the moment those people died and had been outright replaced, something to be genuinely frightened about.

[@ToxicBastard]

​@@finaldusk1821Exactly. Your mind is all you've truly got in the end.

[@averagejoe10]

This was a surprising blast from my past. We had to read this in school back when i was around 14. Looking back on it, this video is way more informative than that lesson was.

[@Vinemaple]

Interesting... I remember the ending of this story as being framed to seem horrific. Maybe it's the decades since I read it, or my shocked teenage conservatism, or just my cautious personality. At the time, it seemed to be similar to Bradbury's "Fever Dream," which I read right before getting sick and dealing with my first nighttime fever... Not an experience I would recommend! Both stories dealt with the horror of one's body and mind being changed against one's will - a subtler, more insidious version of "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream." Bradbury's stories, though, deal implicitly with the question, "at what point am I no longer myself any more?" and the horror of being "possessed" by an external supernatural force. But your review has made me notice all the other elements I can relate this story to: The dilemma of immigrants, who, especially in Europe and North America, must decide how much of their original culture to value and keep, and how much to embrace the strange, and often crude or dangerous-seeming modern Western culture. Capgras syndrome, in which a brain dysfunction makes familiar people and objects appear to be near-perfect impostors. There are many other "misidentification syndromes," as well. The experience of Cassandra, of knowing a danger, and not being able to get anyone to believe your warnings. The Red Scare of mid-century North America, when politicians claimed Communist infiltrators were hiding in every group, seeking to subtly sap and impurify what supposedly made America great. This was a popular topic for allegory at the time the story was written: "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" is the iconic example. The modern-day culture wars, in which reactionary groups claim counterculture infiltrators are hiding in every group, seeking to subtly sap and impurify what supposedly makes America great. Then there's Theodore Sturgeon's "The Skills of Xanadu," in which a brutal and disturbingly relatable space colonizer is defeated by a gentle culture that is capable of gradually assimilating and transforming the brutality of their would-be colonizers. Kind of the same story, but seen from both sides. This kind of thing is why I watch Tale Foundry videos even when I know what the story and the main message are. There's so much else I can still find in them. And finally, shout out to Abbie Norton and Alexander Cuenin, for the hilarious but wonderfully effective idea of using a Mars rover (pure science-fiction when the original story was written!) to visually confirm the setting is Mars... and for letting the thought bubble at <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="614">10:14</a> subtly warp like it has transcription errors. Lovely stuff, that one can't get anywhere else!

[@CryptidMech]

All that about infiltrators is absolutely true.

[@Devil-Made]

First time viewer here. While watching this video I couldn’t stop thinking about Ray Bradbury. I never stopped long enough to actually consider the implications of that; it was just a fleeting thought that kept popping up in my mind. It’s incredibly satisfying to know Bradbury was the author. Really cool thing you’ve got going on here. I love the intro. Animation is awesome. I think I’ll stick around for awhile.

[@MrDainemudda]

What if "Ghost of Mars" was directed by Disney?

[@aidenhughes828]

Me: seeing the thumbail Also Me: im leaving this planet im livein on mars now goodbye

[@DouglasSquiggly]

I remember reading this book in school! Dark They Were, and Golden-Eyed I actually liked this book and I like the way you commentated it.