Tommy & Michael from

Tommy Edison and Michael Stevens from Vsauce meet for the first time and talk about depth perception and human senses at VidCon in August 2013. Six months earlier, Michael had talked about Tommy and blindness in his video "Is Your Red The Same as My Red?" Tommy also meets subscribers of the channel and talks to comedian/writer Greg Benson of Mediocre Films.
A portion of this video was posted on another channel as bonus content, but it's no longer available there so we've uploaded the video here.
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Music:
Steven Beddall - "Golden Era" (No Backing Vocals)
Steven Beddall - "Orleans Parish" (Instrumental Version)
WOOLFSON - "Rife"
Steven Beddall - "Sunday Best"
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Related Videos:
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• Can I Tell When People...
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• Can People Describe Fa...
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• Can KZbinrs Describe...
Can People Explain Intangible Concepts To A Blind Person?
• Can People Explain Int...
Is Your Red The Same as My Red? - Vsauce
• Is Your Red The Same a...
Vsauce - Mind Field - Ep 7 - "In Your Face" (Featuring Tommy Edison)
• In Your Face - Mind Fi...
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Featuring (in order of appearance):
Michael Stevens - @Vsauce
/ vsauce
JacksFilms - @jacksfilms
/ jacksfilms
Lia Marie Johnson @liamariejohnson
/ @liamariejohnson
Grace Helbig @itsgrace
/ @itsgrace
Ali & Ryan @95Camry4Life
/ @95camry4life
Brett @brett
/ brett
Nathan @nathanong
/ @nathanong
William @TheSuperSherman
/ thesupersherman
David @aSongScout
/ @asongscout
Jackson Harris @JacksonHarrisNYC
/ jacksonharrisnyc
Athena @AthenaStamakinley
/ 1toastythebaker1
Daniel @TheDJT418
/ thedjt418
Christina Grimmie @christinagrimmie
/ @christinagrimmie
Joe Bereta @JoeBereta
/ @joebereta
Smosh @smosh
/ smosh
Jenna Marbles @JennaMarbles
/ jennamarbles
Hannah Hart @Harto
/ @harto
Shira Lazar @ShiraLazar
/ @shiralazar
Amazing Phil @AmazingPhil
/ @amazingphil
Harley Morenstein @epicmealtime
/ @epicmealtime
Mike Chang @MikeChangTraining
/ @mikechangtraining
Greg Benson @MediocreFilms
/ mediocrefilms
Hank Green @vlogbrothers
/ vlogbrothers
Bear Vasquez @Hungrybear9562
/ hungrybear9562
Christian
tastefullyoffensive.com

[@TommyEdisonXP]

We have a few videos that we'll be uploading over the next month or so. Some new and some older that haven't been posted here. Starting with this one... Watch the first time Tommy and Michael from @Vsauce meet in 2013 and talk about depth perception and human senses.

[@anastrixnoodles]

Is Tommy ok? Haven't seen any new content in a very long time.

[@LimeyRedneck]

So very glad you're back Tommy!!! 🤠💜

[@weakw1ll]

Awesome ❤

[@Canzandridas]

Sweet!

[@cjlister8508]

I think the best way to explain depth perception to Tommy is to use sound as a simile. When you have an object up-close make a noise it is loud and clear. When its far away the sound is distant and hard to make out. Seeing things close or at distance is kind of like that.

[@jfrier1]

This feels like a time capsule from a bygone era. 2013 was different.

[@cxvxcbcxn]

Yeah, back when KZbin was good and quite the magical place...

[@soccerguy325]

I know, I saw Jack and I realized instantly "whoa that is not current day Jack...must be about 10 years back" 😂

[@nondescriptbeing5944]

We were more collectively innocent

[@Ebilbacon88]

I saw the kid from like "Kids React to Minecraft" at the same age as he was in that video and was like "wait wtf is he doing here"

[@GeorgeVCohea]

I expected only subtle changes to hair, fashion and the like in the decade past, but *_WHOA,_* this looks more like how I would imagine a two or three decade possibly more difference would be! This alone is very interesting and totally awesome! The world has rapidly progressed in unexpected ways.

[@sherlock5720]

We need a full hour pod cast with these two

[@ReyNico]

That would be amazing

[@CeaTeeReviewz]

Vsauce shouted out Tommy years ago and that's when I found the channel. Glad to finally see a legit crossover!

[@23100Battlefield]

That's how I found him too.

[@dalekman8945]

Same! Amazing how these things come full circle.

[@saulgoodmanKAZAKH]

Turns out this one is just an old unpublished collaboration

[@Cosmo95_]

This is Vidcon 2013

[@colinstu]

what vid was that? I can't find any prev mentions.

[@Theawesomedudes7]

I practically grew up on the internet. I would've been 12 when this video was originally filmed. Seeing this, and all the older youtube personalities in the background: seeing a younger vsauce, a very young hank green, the old rhett and link logo, as well as remembering when I first came across your channel, it made me pretty emotional. It was a different era, it felt like a cool secret club to be exploring youtube at that time and age, now it is practically expected, lol. Hope all is well!

[@AlexWalkerSmith]

@@Whobgobblin I was 25 when this video was filmed, and I had a similar nostalgic feeling watching this. It's like a time capsule! And now that you're in your mid 20s, you can rest assured that things from today (2023) can still be looked back upon nostalgically in a decade 👍

[@weakw1ll]

Gas

[@user-oz7hi3yk1s]

It's called MK ULTRA CIA Brain ReWire 2000 Kiddo. Get real.

[@christianmcbrearty]

And Christina Grimmie! When she was alive 😢

[@_G4.R4_]

so real tho, I was around 13 back then I just thought youtube was the coolest thing in the world, didn’t fully understand it, but I just knew the internets were people went to be anonymous and were memes were, og PewDiePie, tobuscus, normalboots crew, smg4, newgrounds animators like egorapter n hotdigatydemon and whoever was playing Minecraft that week. I kind of find it hilarious now thinking about being a toxic PewDiePie fan boy and having every KZbinr hate me for a period of time, it was like it’s own little community people who liked the same things as me all in my ipad, hard to explain this old era stuff to most IRL people or who relates

[@Bob-et3vc]

One way to describe the shrinking objects as they move further away concept would be to compare it to how the further away you move from something making sound the quiter it becomes. Larger visual objects are like bigger sounds, the louder the sound the further you can go before it dissapears, just like vision

[@mmysok]

This is what I was thinking too comment.

[@AlkisenSuper]

"Jesus Christian, thank you very much. You talk like I owe you money!" I can never get tired of Tommy's humor, haha

[@Devappl187]

Tommy Edison and Thomas Edison are like perfectly opposite. One invented the lightbulb, the other can’t see it

[@fazelock6202]

0:50 RIP Christina Grimmie

[@Muahaha651]

1:52 And double rainbow guy

[@BATTLESTAR42]

I probably should have read the full video title. I was floored when I thought I saw someone that looked like Christina. RIP

[@Julia99lol]

That's crazy, two people with amazing personalities and insights coming together ❤

[@CamKoudo]

Wow to think that this meeting took place 10 years ago is insane 😮 Time sure flies

[@wasureta1999]

Don't hurt me like this

[@nelsongoodale690]

I was thinking the other day about this conversation between the two influencers. I was thinking that since blindness is a spectrum, meaning some of the blind can still see to some degree, whether it may be a foggy view of colors or complete blindness (although rare if memory serves,) if Vsauce took an orange close to Edison's face, then slowly moved the orange back, if Edison would see the same concept happening. I don't how Edison's blindness falls on the spectrum and what he can/can't see, but I imagine that showing this demonstration to him in person would help him understand depth perception rather than just know that vision works that way. It could be described that in the foggy vision he sees, the orange blocks most of the fog because his eyes are devices that can produce the fog's appearance, so when you cover the majority of the eyes with the orange, it looks bigger. When it gets taken farther from his eyes, it looks smaller because the environment around him is closer to his eyes than the orange is. I wonder if this would help Edison understand, or other people that suffer from blindness. It would be awesome if he could hear my comment. Just a thought. If anyone has any knowledge on this, I'd love to hear it in a reply!

[@Dylamn]

Felt like time travel. It's actually quite cool to see people in the video that I didn't know at the time, but know now. Like Greg Benson, that was a pleasant surprise to see.

[@halonothing1]

I can plug my nose without my hands. Like when I go under water, I shut my sinuses so water doesn't get up my nose when I'm upside down. But I think he meant that you can't stop smelling even while still breathing through your nose. But that's true for the other senses, too. You're still seeing when you close your eyes, if you put a light in front of your face you'll still see it through your eyelids. Even in pitch black you still see things that aren't there, flashes of light and dots called phosphenes, or an odd greyish light called eigengrau. And with your ears plugged (I wear earplugs 16 hours a day) you can hear the sounds from inside your body so much louder. The sounds of your jaw muscles as you clench your teeth, or the sound of your heartbeat, breathing, digestion, etc. And if there's a loud enough sound, you'll hear it whether your ears are plugged or not. Also there are WAAAAYYY more than just 5 senses. We have a sense of time (chronoception), sense of temperature (thermoception), sense of mechanical pressure (mechanoception), sense of the position of our body parts (proprioception), and many others. I just wanted to be clear on that, since I kind of implied there are just the 5 senses with what I said

[@christythies548]

Came here to comment something similar, but thank you for doing so much more thoroughly than I would have! Human perception is fascinating.

[@quintessences]

i really appreciated this video Tommy. It’s wild that this was from 2013.

[@Marijanus]

That is an ooold picture of Michael Stevens.

[@BarneyGumbl3]

It's also an old photo of Tommy

[@scottlevy3274]

its also a video from 2013 just being reuploaded

[@AntoniTolwinski]

So happy to finally see the full recorded conversation! Hoping for more new and old videos in the longer (proper) format!

[@FoxBlocksHere]

Man, what a magical time 2013 was for internet content. I miss it a lot. Thanks for sharing this! You and Michael should totally get together again sometime!

[@splashesin8]

I remember this when it was first posted, but in the description of people walking through the event: Fresh grief thinking of Christina Grimmie. Same thing the other day, when I realized I was listening to a younger Noah Guthrie and Christina singing together. It's so wild to hear what I wouldn't have known and connect it to what could be happening in collaborative development at this point in time, if some people were just not randomly in a terrible spot for a few seconds and it's an extreme loss. Claire is gone as well. It also wasn't long after this that the movie theater killings happened as well. I wondered if that effected Tommy the same way. I loved his film critiques.

[@CosmosTheMouse]

Hopefully we'll see a Tommy KZbin comeback soon.

[@cxvxcbcxn]

The depth perception blew my mind...that never occurred to me that a person blind since birth wouldn't understand that concept but it makes perfect sense! It's kinda weird that things get smaller the further away they are but I guess we're just used to it all our lives...so cool...

[@idkrossplay]

Depth perception is something you experience too. Hold your hand close to your ear and it takes up your whole sound area, hold it a few inches away and it sounds a lot smaller

[@wakkawakka7624]

This is really cool! Looking forward to it.

[@DaddyFabioTV]

Love your positivity, always. Awesome video.

[@jhaaaiiineee]

Wow been waiting for your videos! Miss ya tom!

[@RatIceCream]

Wow! Two legends I never expected to come together!

[@doktormozg]

OH MY GOD, this will be legendary

[@franciscordon9230]

Thanks for sharing!!! These are amazing!

[@steve8337]

Wow this was 10 years ago. I can't stop thinking about this

[@somebodyoncetoldme1704]

Talk about a blast from the past.

[@Gunbudder]

3:38 you can close your sinus though! and it will essentially have the same effect as plugging your nose. you can use the back of your tongue to cover the other side of your sinus cavity (where air ends up when you breathe through your nose). and your ears CAN close! they are always closed! they are just a deep pocket. evolving an external flap to cover your ear entirely would be super weird and i can't imagine what would cause that

[@yeh.80]

Wow, a full length podcast of Tommy and Michael would be so amazing.

[@misterinternational]

So glad you're back Tommy, you're a legend!

[@jasonpatterson8091]

I don't know whether you'll ever you'll ever hear this, but the vision/size thing has to do with angles. When we see, we detect light from across our field of view and we judge an object's size based on the angle formed from its width rather than from a specific number of inches or centimeters of material that we can see. Consider a triangle with a 3 inch wide base (the width of an orange). If the base is close to the top, the triangle will be short and fat with a wide upper angle. If the base is far from the top, the triangle will be long and skinny with a narrow upper angle. The farther you go with the base, the skinnier that upper angle it gets. Experience and some other effects, like interference from the atmosphere, tell us that the giant orange up close and the tiny orange dot far away are both oranges and are really the same even though the angles are different and they appear to be different sizes. You could do the exact same thing with sound. Imagine you were close to a car and you had someone snap their fingers from the front bumper and again from the back bumper and you pointed in both of the directions from which you heard those sounds. Your arms would make the angle representing the car's size from your current position. If you then moved back twice as far and repeated this, your arms would still be pointed at the back bumped and the front, but they'd be close together because the angle from which the sounds came had decreased, and the relative size of the car would have shrank. Where this might have actually had an effect on you in life would be sound blocking by an object. A tree, for instance, blocks sound fairly well, but only when you're close to it and it appears large. That's because when you're close, it is taking up most of your field of view/field of hearing, and it blocks the light/sound waves from reaching you. Sound is much better at sneaking around obstacles, so it would only muffle the sound somewhat, but light is less sneaky and would be blocked by the tree when you're close and it appears big.

[@theend1555]

2013! wow what a throw back.

[@man_on_wheelz]

This was 10 years ago, I had just started working at the job I still work at today. Seeing how much has changed in all those KZbinrs really puts into perspective how much has happened between then and now. I remember what my mindset was at that time, where I was in life at the time, how much thinner I was, the people that were with us then that aren't today. Considering I've had the same job and daily routine all this time, it feels like not much has changed until I see something like this reminding me just how far we've come!

[@Menape]

Love seeing tommy on youtube again!

[@WittyMick03]

this video was insane to me. 2013 doesn't feel like that long ago but this video made me realise how much has changed in the last 10 years.

[@Denology]

Wow that was a blast from the past. Seen a few people I forgot was even on KZbin.

[@andrewprahst2529]

What would be really interesting is if you had some kind of landscape images with perspective with edges you could feel. Perhaps if someone took a photo, then traced out all the edges by making indents on the other side adding some material to the front side. I think if you felt enough of those, you could get the sense of far objects being smaller

[@CubikArtmosaic]

these videos are so interesting/ entertaining, I just wish they were like 20 min long lol

[@adamn7125]

Would love to see a longer video from you two with michael

[@gro_skunk]

I think I may have thought of a few simple activities we could do to tactilely show Tommy the effect of objects shrinking into the distance.

[@gomez3357]

Such a wholesome vid

[@ElindorBG]

I wish this video was longer :]

[@4apples]

Damn it. was hoping for some long concert :P

[@thomasgraf1986]

Can't believe this is a decade ago. Time flies!

[@odgykins]

Vsauce is how I even found your channel in the first place YEARS ago so this is a crazy crossover! Love you both! Also seeing Christina Grimme in the B-roll made me sad 😞 RIP

[@dteed6282]

Great to see this channel growing

[@kaylebmcgarvey9033]

He loves and appreciates and holds all these people in such a high light regardless of what they look like. Im not a bad person but unfortunately i cannot say id be the same. What an interesting new light this has given me on how i treat people

[@Cardpen]

not the cross over i was expecting

[@mattdad8429]

🤣 the end line was perfect. Man, charisma just seeps out of this guy's pores. He's officially a national treasure. We can learn lifetime's worth of knowledge from this dude.

[@KokoBirdSings]

I didn’t find this channel from v-sauce, even though I do enjoy v-sauce. It showed up as a suggested video from me “researching” how to treat my blind boyfriend better. How to be more considerate of his experience. Because he amazes me all the time. 😅❤

[@Unkn4wN_TM]

I think how I would explain an object looking smaller the further away it is to a blind person, is the same as with sound. If there is a loud noise right next to your ear, it sounds deafening, but the further away that sound goes the more silent it sounds, even though the intensity of the sound stays the same. It's kind of the same concept with vision and seeing objects move farther.

[@orkheus]

This guy in the end, he speaks for us all You're the best Tony! Would love to meet you one day!

[@DanilegoPlays]

Lol that's the most VSauce thing they could've said about senses, I could totally imagine that being a video

[@weegee_hates_the_blind]

“vision’s a pretty cool thing. I think I’ll try it sometime”

[@mayalackman7581]

Please return to making regular content for this channel. I miss you.

[@Thecutecyanbird]

Just as so super sweet that way it's nice! 😊

[@southernmama9362]

I LOVE THIS❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@cry2love]

Tommy the gun Edison - is my favorite man, and yeah, you don't own me money, Tom, I just like you man!

[@bisvizstudio1242]

Man. I'd watch hours of you and Michael talk to each other about things. Like you've said, he's good. 😂

[@ImARealHumanPerson]

Watch this on repeat for hours.

[@FungalFlagellum]

Awe. It warms my heart to see everyone so young. And hank with hair 😂

[@probrogaming4113]

Hell yeah this videos gonna at least on the trending tab

[@woolzy1049]

i didnt realize this was in 2013 until i saw smosh holy shit

[@MarsLos10]

wooooow so happy of these two personalities meeting!

[@ro6493]

I would love to see a collab of you two talking about blindness and optics, I'm sure it will blow your mind and ours

[@IcarusGravitas]

yay! More Tommy!

[@knights8400]

Michael’s first two words: “I saw”

[@RayGun4200]

2013 was peak KZbin for me at least then it just went downhill over the years just doesn't hit the same anymore so this is cool to see.

[@JCVSTLE]

Wow hidden away in the archives for 10 years

[@Pickelhaube808]

Was very confused seeing Jacksfilms with a hairline... and then I noticed the "2013".

[@BasenjiAdventures]

There's only one thing wrong with this video. Too short. 😊 I really enjoyed it.

[@RAHGOTS]

You're making videos again?! Nice.

[@ateol]

I would do anything to go back to 2013

[@Caroline-pb8xx]

keep shining!

[@Penguinz13989]

two awesome youtubers

[@Pungzor]

I just want a video with Michael and Tommy discussing things! Make it happen :D

[@AmandaC11]

Oh man, caught a glimpse of Double Rainbow Guy. RIP Paul.

[@Joshualacruz]

Wow. 2013 definitely was a time in history.

[@ft.nufonia]

Can Tommy feel a cube in his hand and understand it’s 3 dimensional shape in his mind and then pickup an orange and understand it’s 3 dimensional shape and then understand that sight is just knowing what everything’s shape is around you all at once in whatever direction you’re facing, until it’s so far away from you that you can no longer determine its shape anymore which then becomes the horizon.

[@willierants5880]

Man I would love Tommy and Michael to team up for something VSauce-ish.

[@lilmissgearhead]

The crossover I never knew I needed

[@PencilpenYR]

yay i cant wait

[@johnnypimpinz5202]

Damn its crazy seeing this mosh guys young

[@vandercudo]

Love you Tommy!

[@volcanoducks]

Seeing Christina just hanging out and smiling took me so off guard

[@0Baian0]

seeing smosh made me immediately realize it's the 2010's

[@RtCarolina]

That was fun. Thanks Tommy and Ben.

[@jocelynmartin1572]

Tommy learning to drive a car is one of the funniest videos ever.

[@stevenhill3136]

Tommy's funny and has an infectious laugh

[@myfatassdick]

WHAAAT wow I’m glad I stayed subbed all these years Sadly I’ll be asleep for work

[@Chierushi]

Seeing the kids from kids react … still as kids …was a tip off to me that this was not recent lol. Then I read the comments, must have missed the initial mention that it was 2013. Pretty wild

[@Speed001]

So cool

[@jamesdavis3851]

Missed you Tommy! Glad you picked somebody else cool to work with.

[@hystericalkeys8891]

THE KINGS

[@TheDJT418]

can’t believe I’m in this video

[@theotherwalt]

I think I saw Tommy at a NY state thruway rest area, but I thought he was in California at the time, I didn't want to ask a complete stranger, "Are you Tommy"

[@scottytissue73]

Richard Dreyfus' character in the movie Jaws taught me to not smell anything by just breathing through your mouth. This has drastically improved many things in my life.