This is what happens when you divide by zero on a 1940s water computer

🌎 Get Exclusive NordVPN deal here ➡️ nordvpn.com/atomicfrontier It's risk-free with Nord's 30-day money-back guarantee!☝️
I went to Cambridge to revive a water computer that once modelled the British Economy.
--------- II ---------
This video was brought to you by an unhealthy amount of coffee and our awesome Patrons at / atomicfrontier .
0:00 Introduction
0:19 Bill Phillips
1:17 How does it work?
5:38 What can it do?
6:11 DIVIDING BY ZERO!
8:34 Outroduction
--------- II ---------
Hi, I'm James. I explore the world looking for interesting engineering stories which explore complex issues in interesting ways. I hold a First-Class Honors in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Western Australia and am currently studying a Masters of Space Systems Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. My thesis will be ready when its ready™.
My website is www.atomicfrontieronline.com, I occasionally tweet from / atomicfrontiers , and you can join the Atomic Frontier Discord server to talk about cool engineering stuff at / discord . You can help support my work and see some cool behind-the-scenes content at / atomicfrontier .

[@AtomicFrontier]

🌎 Get Exclusive NordVPN deal here ➡ nordvpn.com/atomicfrontier It's risk-free with Nord's 30-day money-back guarantee!☝and for a lecture on the Phillips Machine by the guy who rebuilt it, check out: kzbin.info/www/bejne/roXZeKyBqselY6s

[@boringpolitician]

Great video! Love your sense of humour as well! By the way, did you know there's a different word for trickle down economics? You might have heard it before? It's also known as the "golden shower".

[@mr.stargazer9835]

I've never heard anyone support the idea of trickle down economics. That is just something leftists say.

[@laurenpinschannels]

or low level learning also has a good vpn video

[@NicitoStaAna]

There's no such thing as trickle down economics. No actual economist/text-book defines it properly. The one who does 99% of the time is either inconsistent or politicized in some form (strawman etc.) Which takes the science out of economics

[@ErdrickHero]

NordVPN fails to alert customers in a timely manner when they experience a data breach.

[@Alex-cw3rz]

Interesting fact the term trickle down economics was coined by a comedian making fun of the idea. As for this very expensive economic endeavour all we get is a trickle.

[@Tsudico]

It had an older name "horse and sparrow" theory of economics. It really highlighted that the theory was full of sh*t.

[@kirkhamandy]

Interesting footnote, thanks! I'll have to learn more about that now.

[@Vaasref]

Same thing happened with "pulling yourself up by your bootstraps"

[@Alex-cw3rz]

@@Vaasref yep as it's physically impossible. Same with meritocracy was written in a book talking about how it is impossible and a l ie. It is word how these terms are co-opted by the people they are mocking, I suppose they aren't intelligent enough to know what's happening.

[@jocjoc5587]

I take it youre not exactly right wing

[@MarekDobesReal]

"This weeks prime minister" love it XD

[@NeatNit]

*cries in Hebrew*

[@nullFoo]

@@NeatNit How many elections are we on now? 6?

[@NeatNit]

@@nullFoo I've lost count, and I'm pretty sure everyone else has lost count as well.

[@danibogo]

Truer words may never be spoken again

[@SpaceNebula69]

*cries* *in* *vietnamese* *because* *our* *prime* *minister* *only* *has* *one* *year*

[@bradystjohn3536]

Terry Pratchett parodied this in one of his books, Making Money, and it was hilarious. It so perfectly modeled the economy that evaporation made money disappear.

[@Seamus.Harper]

One if not my favourite book in the Discworld series.

[@Attaxalotl]

They refilled the city's gold supply by pouring some water into the part of the machine that represented the bank vault.

[@Techdeki0]

Awesome, I wasn't the only other person who immediately thought of Hubert

[@Seamus.Harper]

@@Techdeki0 Don't forget good ol' Igor, cousin of Igor.

[@ep7672]

Oops. It was Going Postal where Lipwig and Dearborn debuted

[@frantaspacek9583]

With some amount of practice, it is possible juggle eggs. With even more practice, it is theoretically possible to talk about supply and demand. But doing both at the same time? pure madness

[@DrBunnyMedicinal]

It does help rather a lot if you hard-boil them first, though. 😁

[@NeatNit]

@@DrBunnyMedicinal The supply, or the demand?

[@thewhitefalcon8539]

oh many people talk about it, but they're all full of hot air

[@garegos7184]

nice badlands avatar

[@monad_tcp]

its only possible to do that in a capitalistic society (you have eggs because supply meets demand)

[@nicogrobler736]

"Divide by zero" in electrical engineering tends to have some exciting results. Someone at work forgot the earth clamps (just some wires) on a 33 000V system. When power was switched on, ohms law was enacted: current=volts/ohms. Volts being 33 000V and ohms being far into the 0.0s. The result was that the cables ceased to exist.

[@kzkaa.]

It's unlikely to be an exact 0, though you don't need an exact 0 to demote some cables to useless.

[@eekee6034]

@@kzkaa. Technically, you don't need an exact 0 to demote _any_ cables to uselessness as it's impossible to build infinitely thick cables.

[@Chris-Longhair]

​@@eekee6034Although the existence of infinitely thick electrical/ops engineers has yet to be disproved

[@iamnotpresent]

I build tube amplifiers as a hobby.. They're about 600v. A LOT of capacitance. I turned an amp on one morning, and there was a bright flash and pop. A thick ground wire between the rectifier and driver tubes, disappeared. I don't recall it being loud, or there being much smoke either. It was just gone. The tube socket pins the wire was attached to, were 1/2 gone and melted. But there wasn't other damage or signs of heat or smoke. I was, and am still amazed that it happened. I'm assuming the wire turned directly into plasma. (Something failed in the rectifier tube.. I replaced it and the wire, and it has been fine for years)

[@LassiePushedMe]

My compliments to juggling while remembering the script while also not accidentally splatting an egg on yourself

[@8BitNaptime]

Ah that's why they're called liquidities.

[@TheKlink]

very good.

[@orterves]

Pretty slick

[@nicblum1548]

oof

[@ketsuekikumori9145]

"They're not particularly leak proof." I feel like that's a metaphor for people that hide their money.

[@cmck362]

Could also be bills and coins being destroyed or lost through heavy use. Not so relevant today, but definitely played a part not too long ago.

[@NeatNit]

@@AFNacapella I think in this model corruption is just a kind of spending.

[@NeatNit]

@@AFNacapella I get the humor, but pedantically, that doesn't work - money that goes towards corruption remains in circulation and is spendable by the receiver. Leaks in the model would represent money that *leaves* circulation, isn't part of the economy anymore, and can't be spent again. This is why Ketsueki Kumori's suggestion makes sense - the money isn't in any bank account, wallet, or drug lord's vault - it's hidden and buried where it is not spent. And to make the metaphor complete - if someone dies without telling anyone where the money is buried, then the money is *definitely* gone.

[@Alienami]

He should increase the leakage to factor in the middle men in the system as a waste of resources they cause...

[@Puddingskin01]

@@NeatNit So...this is all because of those PIRATES!

[@Phethario]

So the "Divide by Zero error" in calculators, is just a built in security feature so the calculator dosen't break, and spills electricity everywhere? 7:37

[@aidanmays7825]

Yes exactly. This is actually how we detonate thermonuclear bombs

[@mandranmagelan9430]

@@aidanmays7825 :'-D

[@MatthewCampbell765]

You're joking, but this actually isn't completely incorrect to my understanding. When you ask a calculator to divide 1 by zero, you're essentially asking it to add zero to zero until it gets to one, and count how many times it had to do so to get there. Or, in other words, "count until you're stopped". Since this is a stupid request that can potentially hardlock your calculator, the calculator is programmed to refuse.

[@mcdonelldavid]

Good point, it sounds like it may be a means of avoiding infinite regress which in traditional logic represents a contradiction, but in fact is better represented as infinity? Just a thought

[@MatthewCampbell765]

​@@mcdonelldavidIt's more accurate to say computers have an odd process for doing division usually. For what it's worth, 1/0 does not equal infinity per se, as infinity times zero is still zero. In essence, dividing by zero is kind of like asking the shoe size of a person missing their legs. Or like asking what weapon was used to commit the first murder on Mars. To use a more literal metaphor: Imagine division as being a room with a number of cookies handed out to the people in the room. "Two people with two cookies, so each person has one cookie", 2/2=1. Now, if we imagine 0/0, we get: a room with zero cookies and zero people. How many cookies do the people in the room have? Or 1/0: 1 cookie given to zero people, how many cookies do the people in the room have?

[@RvB_Fan_since_8]

2:26 the leak is just money that’s lost in couch cushions, no worries.

[@FartsHughley]

You're becoming quite the showman! Great video as always. PS: My dog likes the sound of your voice for some reason

[@AtomicFrontier]

Thanks! I love your dog!

[@fburton8]

Seeing the water computer's import-export side arm reminded me of how, in the late 1960s and early 70s, politics was obsessed with "balance of trade" figures. For some reason, that hardly ever gets mentioned these days.

[@keith77mn77]

They’ve given up on that, in favor of the “just print more money” model.

[@manticore117]

Probably due to long distance communication becoming more and more accessible over the 20th century. Economies could offer services instead of trade to foreign entities. As it increased over the decades, trade of actual goods would have become less and less of a sole focus.

[@Brasswatchman]

Possibly because they realized those are limited terms for understanding how national economies interact with each other.

[@axiezimmah]

Because money was actually worth something back then when it was backed by actual gold and countries had to have gold reserves. So it was needed to balance import and export. Now that all currency is essentially worthless. They just print more.

[@Brasswatchman]

@@axiezimmah What are you talking about? Pretty much the whole world - including the US - went off the gold standard in the 1930's. Decades before the period he's talking about.

[@praveenb9048]

Atomic Frontier: Can I try and find out if your unique, historic, priceless water computer can divide by zero? Cambridge University: No.

[@andrerenault]

I loved seeing the equations side-by-side!

[@AtomicFrontier]

Thanks! The PV=NRT vs PV=C/(1+R)^T in particular has always annoyed me

[@rodschmidt8952]

@@AtomicFrontier It has always annoyed ME that economists insist on always putting the price on the vertical axis, at the expense of always putting the independent variable on the horizontal axis

[@blumoogle2901]

It's interesting that even today some (much more advanced) water and other analogue computers are being researched and built again because, as we run into factors which make increasing computer speed more expensive faster than in the past there are some narrow but useful classes of really big mathematical problems that are simpler to solve through analogue phenomena representing multiple variables interacting constantly in complex ways that are simpler/faster to calculate in aggregate and measure the result of to acceptable accuracy with a physical representation than to crunch every decimal in a digital computer.

[@ActuallyHoudini]

ohhhh, i just realised why the video is in 50fps and not 60fps. 50fps (or 25fps) is the PAL standard for television. so if this ever gets picked up for a TV show, they could play old episodes on TV without need of rerecording down to 25fps and 50fps for HD channels on DVB. clever.

[@AtomicFrontier]

Smart! Yup, plus UK uses 50 Hz electrisity, which was making my indoor shots look all flickery and weird. Don't worry - back to 60fps next episode (and maybe 4K if my computer feels like handeling it)

[@prich0382]

@@AtomicFrontier Legacy media (TV) is old news, just stick to the internet, there are plenty of successful decumentry style KZbinrs out there, you are doing fantastic already, if you were to aim for TV, you'd be bogged down with even more rules you'd have to follow.

[@RedSaint83]

One would think those PAL and NTSC days were far behind us, but I still see freshly made interlaced video content here and there.

[@stevieinselby]

*THE GLOOPER IS REAL* - that's incredible, I assumed that it was one of Sir Terry's wild flights of fantasy rather than based in any kind of reality. In fact, this idea is _so_ wild that I'm still not 100% convinced that you haven't released your 1st April video a couple of months early by mistake 😆 Definitely one of the best videos you've made, not just impeccably researched and presented, but all the greater for your judicious use of jokes, juggling and jestering - I love a bit of political snark in an explainer video!

[@Roberttheaddled]

I'm wondering now if Pratchett had used this as the basis for the economy model machine in "Making Money". Decidedly interesting watch and listen.

[@qtheplatypus]

Yes he did.

[@AlbertaGeek]

Duh.

[@Verklunkenzwiebel]

@@qtheplatypus but filled it with goo, and had sliders for L-space

[@stocktonjoans]

It never ceases to amaze me just how much of The Diskworld series the late, great Terry Pratchett nicked from real life.

[@grindsaur]

Same! My reaction was just: "It's real? It bloody exists?!?" :D

[@notyrpapa]

Same - I thought Hubert was a fictional character!

[@majorjohnson8001]

Oh yeah, he did that all the time. You should read _The Science of Discworld_ sometime, it's chock full of that kind of thing.

[@weirdmindofesh]

I thought the same thing! The glooper is real!?!

[@50srefugee]

He was a Public Relations guy for a nuclear power company. He hung out with very smart people, and knew how the sausage was made. (And, oh boy, does that show in Thief of Time.)

[@Komeuppance]

Your bedroom built equipment depicting a leaking economy is accurate. Always enjoy your videos, keep up the hard work!

[@MelvinGundlach]

Your tracking and masking of the elements you integrate into the real world is so unnecessary - and I love it! 😃

[@Alex-cw3rz]

Such a cool devise and it's surprising how well it works at showing economic theory visually.

[@thewhitefalcon8539]

Sadly the theory has no connection to reality

[@lavishlyDecorated]

I remember the exxact moment I realised how complex economy is. I was maybe 10-12 sitting in school and using a program on a computer to simulate the economy (this was the 1980s). Anyway, one of the things to adjust was average life expectancy and I thought "Hey, let's let people live longer! Yay!", but then the expenditure on health care (this was in Europe, lol) skyrocketed because old people in general get sicker. Welp, that's my story. I'm not an economist today.

[@MrTomyCJ]

And in reality the economy is even much more complex, that's why these models can't predict it well. Human behaviour is far from the reach of any practical equation.

[@frostnetz]

Another great one! I cant believe you're "only" at 200k subs. those numbers really don't do the production value justice..

[@ethanhandley7928]

I shared this with my economics teacher, she loves it! Thank you for making MPS and MPC easier to understand, as well as showing such a cool device to the world!

[@gabionsquared7858]

Did NordVPN even realise the implications of having a their VPN advertised by a pirate

[@omegahaxors3306]

What can I say, I put the "Tor" in "Torrent" ;)

[@AlexRHarrison]

I love the tracked photos and text information being displayed while walking. It's very creative and just makes sense. Great video 👍🏻

[@TOGthatoneguy]

man your editing on this video is so nice. i love how you have images just floating about as you walk down the street. amazing.

[@NikitaOsito]

I just want to take a moment to applaud doing a one take piece to camera while juggling.

[@clickthecreeper9463]

huh, i guess this must be what inspired the economy machine in Terry Pratchett’s “Making Money”

[@michaelmoorrees3585]

Quite appropriate using water for an analog integrator. I actually used electronic analog computers in college, even though, by then it was already obsolete. Analog integrators can be used to solve differential equations, and analog computers were heavily used in the 40s, 50s, and 60s. For those who haven't taken calculus, the integration function is basically a bucket collecting water. Concept is more important than manipulation, such a long division. I think Liz Truss used a broken one. The Federal reserve in the US, just uses open pipe.

[@cutza7]

Subscribed just for calling it "outroduction"

[@MarekDobesReal]

Beautifuly done video, as always!

[@Bryzerse]

I feel like I say this on every video, but your videos are so good. You can really feel the effort and personal interest in the topics, and it's nice to see an economics KZbinr talk more realistically about certain economic policies...

[@sohamsengupta6470]

You've managed to shove economics education, a divide by zero shenanigan on a particularly singular computer, and a bunch of social commentary into one bite sized video. This channel is absolutely stellar.

[@Element_Finland]

1:26 almost held your composure there... tough ask :D

[@ColinHuth]

First, can’t imagine how good it felt to have the juggling take nailed. Second… unexpected Alestorm is unexpected.

[@joeyverliesharen]

As someone who went to a certain pirate metal concert, I approve this video. It was a fantastic P.A.R.T.Y.

[@showyourstripes]

I second that, best party metal you can find!

[@Turnip199]

You're one of my favorite stem creators on the platform. Keep it up!

[@RedmarKerkhof]

So you're saying you... TANKED the economy? ;D

[@Ph33nxOne]

OMG dad jokes ftw

[@yeetyeet7070]

"this weeks prime minister"

[@rga1605]

The Phillips machine shows up in a few studies on the history of economic thought, so seeing a video about it is really interesting

[@dx243_]

i love how Infinity (an overflow error for digital computers) results in a literal OVERFLOW of water. you got a memory leak

[@dreamcanvas5321]

0:40 "Boiling water by dunking mains voltage directly into a bucket of water" That is the smartest, stupidest, funniest, most terrifying factoid I have ever heard. (At least in terms of crossing heavily into all of those domains.)

[@RyanHReviews]

"Apparently, something divided by nothing is infinity" I actually saw infinity as the answer in Euler's Elements of Algebra. No clue why it is said to be undefined now.

[@samuelwerley528]

Infinity is not a number, but a mathematical concept. It's misleading to say 1/0 "equals" infinity, hence we say that it's undefined. You can show that the limit of 1/x is infinity as x approaches 0, but the limit changes depending on whether you approach from positive or negative x.

[@skilz8098]

@@samuelwerley528 That doesn't make it undefined, it still has a clear definition. I'd argue the fact that n/0 is ambiguous or indeterminate before it is undefined. If something is undefined it doesn't have a definition and the definition of n/0 is division by zero. That is clearly defined. The result of the computation is ambiguous or indeterminate. It's the same thing for vertical slope and the asymptotes of some of the trig functions.

[@samuelwerley528]

@@skilz8098 You can argue over terminology but "undefined" is the standard term here. I think you are taking the word too literally. If I'm being more careful with my wording, we say that given a function of the form: f(x) = n/x, then the function is "undefined" when x equals 0. In other words, our "definition" of f(x) only applies for cases where x is not 0. It is not valid to say that F(0) = n/0 = infinity

[@BanakaiGames]

Because you have to use limits to get infinity 1/x is undefined. The limit of 1/x as x approaches 0 is infinity.

[@skilz8098]

@@samuelwerley528 Why not? There's either a hole or an infinite amount of possible solutions at that point thus making it either ambiguous or indeterminate.

[@mattwimad]

You might be onto a more accurate model with your leaky bedroom set. It better accounts for waste and skimming off the top all along the way 🙃

[@Coolio_Ash]

The egg juggling while saying your lines was insanely impressive, bravo.

[@laurispeterisvejs4007]

Your production quality has improved so much! Really amazing!

[@noahluppe]

Both a fun and informative video, overall just great

[@jessewilson8676]

Looks like an expensive flow chart.

[@chapmontague-brown5907]

I think that the real Phillips machine was the friends we made along the way

[@RikaRoleplay]

This video has some of the best subtle editing I have ever seen, and I know how the walking slides can work in two different ways at least, but that changes nothing! The editing is way over the top for such a video, and it amazes me the attention to detail added to a "What if we divide by zero with (INSERT MACHINE NAME)" video. Hats off to you, and more, my goodness this is some of the most unexpected high quality editing I have come across recently. I would subscribe, but I already am subscribed 😄

[@Alex-cw3rz]

Thank you for pointing out how trickle down economics does not work and in such a cool way.

[@beermanuk]

Another brilliantly produced video. Even your sponsor bits are good. Looks like you're a pirate legend from the ship cosmetics

[@AtomicFrontier]

Thanks! Not quite... got to level 50 on merchant yesterday though so not long I hope!!

[@iUserapp]

When I visited Wellington, New Zealand, I stumbled upon this beautiful machine in a museum. It is really complex and has so many features. Thank you for showing how its basic components work!

[@David_K_Booth]

The one in Wellington can be found in the museum at the Reserve Bank. There is also one in the London Science Museum. A friend of mine who has a degree in economics looked at the one in London for the first time, and concluded: "He's a Keynesian."

[@notchs0son]

Really beautiful use of augmented reality. This is just how It should be for historical videos. Just imagine how Crazy detailed you could get a photo to match the video and simply overlay and completely mix onto present day.

[@garretthaywood37]

Amazing glad I got here early for this

[@garretthaywood37]

Finished the video amazing, good introduction onto the economy this was. Always new information when I watch your videos keep them up

[@liamblack3001]

isnt this a Terry Pratchett book?

[@liamblack3001]

oh i just thought for one (count it) second

[@qwertyTRiG]

A lot of the weirdest things in the Discworld are actually drawn from life. Terry Pratchett was well read.

[@AtomicFrontier]

Honestly wouldn't surprise me. Pratchett was a genius always finding weird obscure tech and Diskworldifying it!

[@liamblack3001]

@@AtomicFrontier Yea it was in making money. A mad banker and his Igor made it in the basement

[@Alex-cw3rz]

Wouldn't be suprised

[@peasantserf5684]

Found one at my University last week which is unfortunately non-functional. So glad I get to see it in action.

[@JordanManfrey]

So what I learned from this simulation is that if nearly everybody lives paycheck to paycheck (zero propensity to save) the economy will look like it’s booming, when actuality it’s in a fatal error state that produces good-looking upward metrics until you realize a ton of money is unaccounted for (spilled out) and nothing is actually being allocated properly or flowing correctly

[@danjlilley]

So you can literally tank the economy

[@yeetyeet7070]

"We might as well tax them" well said. It's either tax them, or eat them.

[@AsbestosMuffins]

yet another time i realize Terry Pratchet was an absolute genius, this would be an important plot point to one of his last books

[@AtomicFrontier]

Just finished it. So good! Finishing up the rest of that "Moist von Lipwig" series

[@custardpanda6209]

Excellent video as always. Keep up the phenomenal work, your videos just keep on improving, I could sit and watch them for hours! Thanks James!

[@fiercemonkey1]

Cheer’s mate! Sending some love from Atlanta GA! You should come over here and teach our politicians this same lesson! WHY it’s a dumb idea to divide by zero. And if the water isn’t moving it’s not trickling down. Great to see you guy’s post again, love your composition and sly motion graphics. (I smell da Vinci) smooth narration, good broll and a good story to follow, the idea of money being analogous to water. This idea about money has been around for a long time and it’s cool to see a computer using water. And to see y’all posting again! Oh and I would give short form content a go man. You guys know how to build the thing just make a smaller skeleton then you normally do, and then capitalize on the format. The looping, vertical format, close up shots in general, ect. follow? With y’all’s talent I bet you could make some funny ass shorts! Any hoo dudes, see u on the next on homies! o7

[@sufficient__]

holy shit alestorm reference

[@deadkobold]

Hey man, only just had this run across my suggested and it was enough to sub without even checking your back catalogue... And that is high praise.

[@KeppyKep]

I was just thinking yesterday it had been ages since an AF video. Good to see you again James!

[@Zanthum]

Soooo who wants to play sea of thieves now?

[@AtomicFrontier]

Yes please....

[@briangarrow448]

Yes, I’ve been a victim of trickle down economics for most of my adult life. Ronald Reagan was the first person to introduce me to this idea, and I’ve been trickled upon, minus a couple of short breaks, since his time in the White House.

[@oldfag_adventures]

Nixon, Reagan, and Bush are the specific reasons our current day is such a hellscape

[@Kogarasumaru]

@@oldfag_adventures Just say republicans, it's much easier than naming every republican president for the last 50 years.

[@oldfag_adventures]

@@Kogarasumaru you're right but those three are the end game for Republicans

[@Mr3344555]

Get your money up. Learn new skills, offer your self to others. Make more money instead of saving. You're ruining yourself by trying to save. Blaming Bush or Clinton won't make you money. Use your brain and make your life better.

[@Kogarasumaru]

@@Mr3344555 This advice brought to you by my 15 year old cousin who just started watching Cramer

[@aremoreequal]

I'd love to see this machine have sectors of spenders. People who spend everything, people who save some, and people who save a lot. And, be able to run different amounts of income through each sector, and tax each sector.

[@davecgriffith]

"Captain Sail-out" - nice.

[@joanbennettnyc]

Great storytelling, as always. I'm an American and I got all the jokes! ;)

[@karisdraws4061]

1:23 A bottle of water is 500M$ The Fremen: Rookie numbers!

[@minotaurbison]

"totally hypothetical scenario where the US does something totally dumb"--- living in the US during the past 8 years I can appreciate the thick sarcasm in this statement.

[@fulsomenko]

Hi

[@AtomicFrontier]

Hello there

[@Discitus]

@@AtomicFrontier You are a bold one!

[@MontyBeda]

Alestorm!

[@MontyBeda]

I mean great video and so on. I mean I have not forgotten everything after seeing Alestorm record.

[@tinkeringtim7999]

This was really well done, subscribed.

[@stephanieparker1250]

Ohh your graphics are getting better and better! Love your videos! 🎉

[@janedoe3043]

British joke British joke British joke. American stares blankly*

[@AtomicFrontier]

Don't worry, we get a small american one in there at 5:53

[@wellwell7950]

Isn't he Australian

[@AtomicFrontier]

Yup! Thats why all the currency is in aussie and why the "pirate rock concert" is from Alestorm'sAustralia tour. Don't worry, haven't forgotten my roots

[@andrew_ray]

An Australian makes British jokes whilst filming in America. What an internationaliz/sed world we live in.

[@Zorro9129]

The economics in this is horrible.

[@Bianchi77]

Nice video, well done, thank you for sharing it with us :)

[@wiizzpl4718]

Trickle down economics - the economic theory that doesn't exist and no one is advocating for. People use it as a strawman against the supply side economics.

[@lo0katmyn4me]

"The trickle-down theory states that tax breaks and benefits for corporations and the wealthy will trickle down to everyone else." This has been the economic mantra of the US since President Reagan in 1980. The theory exists and an entire country is attempting (and failing) to sustain off of it.

[@Alex-cw3rz]

Trickle down economics was coined as a term that refers to supply side economics they are the same thing.

[@Alex-cw3rz]

@@lo0katmyn4me don't forgot the UK when Liz Truss did it and almost crashed the economy I say almost because the independent bank of England had to spend billions propping up the economy.

[@wiizzpl4718]

@@Alex-cw3rz It's a caricature of it made by people who oppose supply side economics. A strawman.

[@wiizzpl4718]

@@lo0katmyn4me Yes, that's trickle down economics, a theory that doesn't exist, wasn't supported by any economist.

[@Psychx_]

Can't we just abosish capitalism and replace it with another kind of market-based economy that has different goals (like sustainability, not wrecking the environment, fair pay and increasing the living standard for everyone while avoiding the problem of forming a class based society with a hierarchy of owners, politicians, workers and poor poeple) and actually realistic fundamental assumptions? Chasing never ending economic growth is a dumb idea on a planet with limited resources and a demographic shift towards old people in most developed nations. We are facing an inevitable collapse.

[@bobdagamer640]

COMMUNISM

[@filonin2]

Obviously not. Also, the planet may have limited resources but the solar system has literally MILLIONS as times as much resources to exploit, so no. Not likely at all until we reach post-scarcity which will happen because of the abundance of resources in space and automated manufacturing.

[@skilz8098]

I think you need to go back and read up on the original definition of capitalism. Capitalism isn't about the modern conception of corporate greed. It's about the fact that a citizen has the right to keep the fruit of their labors or the profits of their work.

[@MrTomyCJ]

Capitalism doesn't rely on infinite growth. Growth has been a consequence, not a necessary condition. A little bakery business can stay little indefinitely, it doesn't collapse as soon as it stops growing. It would only under competition, but better competition means we have plenty of resources available.

[@bramvanduijn8086]

@@skilz8098 I'm sorry but you've got that exactly backwards. Capitalism is the idea that the one with the capital (right there in the name) has the right to keep the fruit of someone else's labour as long as the capitalist supplied the funding, and the capitalist gets to keep the profits. The concept of keeping the fruit of your labour is called usufruct, which is anti-capitalist because it says that the one working with the resources has more rights than the one who owns the resources. i.e. if you own a plot of land and I grow potatoes there, I have a right to the potatoes. Likewise, if you make french fries out of my potatoes you have a right to the french fries. In both cases, the negligence of the owner to use the resource themselves makes them lose the right to it. It creates some obvious conflicts (for example if we both want to make fries from my potatoes but you're faster.), which theories of ownership like capitalism and communism try to resolve. A key concept for forming your own theory of ownership is splitting ownership into four parts: 1. Personal property is stuff you own because you use it, like your clothing and your toothbrush. These are usually goods that you can carry. Using violence against someone messing with your personal property is generally considered a form of self-defense. 2. Private property is stuff you still own even when you're not using it, like your second house. These are usually assets instead of goods. Some people believe you can use violence to protect private property, some say you can't, usually depending on how much they value life. Though sometimes it is simply because they can't tell the difference between personal and private property. 3. Common property is stuff nobody owns but everyone uses, so everyone should protect it. A good example is a public street. Again, defensive violence is generally considered acceptable, if you don't defend it you get the 'tragedy of the commons' problem. 4. Collective property is stuff the entire group owns together, like four friends buying a house together, like a small housing co-op. They need to collectively decide what colour to paint the walls and such. This is more centralized than common property, so stuff like the USSR making a five-year plan can happen here, so when the central control fails, it fails badly. Here too violent defense is generally considered acceptable, depending on whether the individuals value the group higher than their own safety, i.e. how selfish they are. plato.stanford.edu/entries/property/

[@neeneko]

wow. Thinking back to the various models I've worked on over the years, this way of simulating an economy is just.. brilliant.

[@MindCraft52]

The power move of eating an omlet in protest. This video earned a sub

[@pacochihuahua77]

Came in HARD with that insane editing

[@Yolwoocle]

Loved the video! I hope to see this channel grow in the future!

[@aussie405]

The bits of water that are leaking out at random places are the money getting tucked under the mattress according to Sir Terry Pratchett in "Making Money."

[@21stcenturyscots]

Nice that you have this photo wall in front of the university buildings

[@codex4336]

Me: I got a water computer Friend: You meant water cooled computer, right? Me: ...

[@dwdei8815]

This is a great wee talk! Clear and engaging.

[@zappledd6598]

This is bonkers and brilliant at the same time! Nice one James.

[@DiakosDelvin]

Ha so this is where Pratchett got his idea for The Glooper.

[@dragonboyjgh]

I'm glad there are other creators already lined up to fill the Tom Scott void.

[@protheu5]

Every episode is more impressive than the other. The production value is much better than most professionally produced TV shows.

[@JackSalzman]

Dividing by zero on a water calculator causes a quite literal overflow

[@LouisTheCabbage]

I thought I was imagining things at the start, but no, you really did rotoscope the juggling section. Very much an enjoyer of utterly unnecessary effort being spent on small details. Like the rest of the video, bloody brilliant.

[@unfunnyman2]

watching stuff like this on my own time is way more fun than watching the same exact stuff in school