Why Nostradamus Didn't Predict Anything

[@zeehero7280]

Nostradamus used the classic vague prophecy trick. if you write in riddles and allegory, it can always be interpreted as whatever peoples imaginations make up. Say I wrote, "And the fires of wrath shall burn across the land" people could see this as predicting the "Summer of Love" riots, or any riot where fires are started, or merely any outbreak of fires in a nation.

[@laurarules3642]

There is a word, science and a technique to talking in gibberish in such a way that many different people can read whatever they want into it. Its very difficult to master but its a real thing. I love old Charles Manson interviews and a lot can be learned by listening to him and he was so skilful at the art . To many they think he's a crazy clown speaking hilarious gobbledegook . But as Manson said himself "No sense makes sense"

[@DigitallyRemasteredMusic]

This is spot on, and what I've said since the first time I read his book (in school funnily enough). His statements are so generic with a bit of mysterious wording and you can apply it anything.

[@cacophonousantiquarian8803]

Or it could be a metal band going on their Fires of Wrath tour

[@MarioSpeedwaggen]

Nostradamus was very good at predicting things that already happened.

[@michaelnguyen6730]

Reminds me of Number Two telling Dr. Evil in Austin Powers that all his evil schemes he was planning for already happened while he was frozen.

[@chrisdoe3642]

Hindsight is 20/20

[@Hdtjdjbszh]

As a child, I remember crying my eyes out and being scared for my life because of "Nostradamus Day" in 1999, my parents were going on aboutit, it was on TV, and I didn't know it was just nonesense. The people who popularised this in the media genuinely convinced me I was going to die, along with everyone else.

[@oceanelf2512]

That is horrifying! Your parents may not have been guilty of emotional psychological abuse, but they were victims of it and in turn, subjected you to it as well as did the media. I am sorry you were put through that! My family are Christian, so we were brought up with "No one knows the day or hour" the end happens. So no one can predict it. My parents would've said what's said here about Nostradamus - his writings are just that - and rubbish. After the Y2K panic, do you remember that ridiculous 2012 end of the world panic? Argh. The things people buy into, especially when it's spread round by memes and the mainstream media.

[@doncheechako8084]

Sounds crazy. I was working hard and as tuned in as anybody back then and never heard of "Nostradamus Day" in 1999. Y2K sure but end of the world? Nostradamus got his big popularity boost back in the 70's, same time as Von Daniken & Chariots. Al Stewart wrote a popular song about him that got FM airplay. My question is why would anyone take him seriously?, in the 70's, 90's or today.

[@ptonpc]

@@oceanelf2512 The thing about the Y2K thing is that there was a lot of time, money and effort put into making sure IT systems didn't fail. The rest of them are cobblers, funnily enough those scammers made a lot of money.

[@n-da-bunka2650]

@@oceanelf2512 So sorry you were put through the religion grinder. The bible is simply a book that was modified by Constantine in order to prop up his economic objectives. Specific aspects of the book were literally PHYSICALLY REMOVED from it's contents purely for political purposes. It's a shame that some are lead to believe that they are sinful and evil when, in fact, the opposite is true. People are honorable and do not have sin as an inherent bias. Ironically, it is the religions of the world that are (1) greedy demanding tithing (2) Created wars by pitting THEIR version of religions against each other and (3) Making false promises of everlasting life in some fabricated utopia.

[@FlaminFaux]

Christ, I had a similar experience with the History channel. They had a “Nostradamus effect” special or somesuch and it made me think I wasn’t going to live to adulthood when I was 10 or 11. Screwed me up for my entire young adulthood, not because I believed it even as I got older, but because it sent me into an early crisis and depression at the peak of mental development.

[@magsteel9891]

Interpreting Nostradamus predictions is just like reading horoscopes. It means whatever you want it to mean.

[@gaylebaker8419]

Unlike Nostradamus, Don Rosa's Nostrildamus' special medallion gave Scrooge McDuck dangerously accurate predictions. For example, the prediction of a run on wool stocks was immediately followed by a stampede of sheep, who flattened Donald Duck. There were worse things to come before Scrooge managed to return the medallion to the tomb.

[@WillWilsonII]

That quacks me up!

[@robertb.7772]

I love Don Rosa!!

[@patrickregan3302]

ROFL! Great to hear all this finally. I’m a great fan of historical accuracy. I’ve had disagreements w friends over the years who saw this or that documentary about the man. Absurdity is what the man wrote! I’ve read he was consulted by Catherine De Medici about prophecy and she believed in him herself!!!!!!! 😅

[@riandraegon556]

Good one!

[@SaltyChip]

When you realize history repeats itself, it’s not hard to predict generalities.

[@thirdlegstalliano]

History never repeats. JFK was assassinated one time. World War 1 happened once. World War 2 happened once. Just because they call them World Wars doesn't mean the same events happened. The French and Indian War, another world war, only happened once. History might rhyme, but it never repeats

[@onceamusician5408]

you are entirely right!!! he did write vaguely worded gibberish that people could project their own fantasies on

[@GuapoJhimi]

Just like fortune tellers and fortune cookies.

[@cliftongaither6642]

just like religious texts

[@Raiden-the-Goat32]

I remember when the history channel use to push this guy to no end and I bought into it when I was much younger.

[@jeri.studio]

It was an omen of History Channel programming of the years to come. And actual historians & sane television-watchers longed for the day cable services ended their contracts with said channel forever.

[@vixxxenfoxxx3660]

I remember a time when the History channel actually aired stuff about history. This was before all the world ending and alien crap. I think it was around 2012 or so when the entire channel went to crap.

[@weegie18]

Me too you grow up and find it’s bs

[@RonCecchetti]

Yeah! I remember the history channel started getting really weird. I loved history so that's why I started watching it. But then it became almost all woo

[@averydaymond1560]

Nostradamus had his highest level of Notoriety PRE internet, in other words before people could look his writings up and find them. He was a boring fraud.

[@MatameVideos]

What I love about Nostradamus's believers is that his predictions keep getting recycled for any event as they please.

[@maryen65]

Yesterday i saw a special made in America in 1979 it was made after de coupe in Iran. Al the future predictions is never come true

[@CharlieNoodles]

The sad thing about the people who believe in his “predictions” is that they never question why it is that all his predictions come up AFTER the event.

[@jeffbeck8993]

I think people who falsely attribute a prediction to Nostradamus know that most folks will accept the premise without verification, and just go straight to being totally surprised, impressed and OMG Wow! Because that's the expected reaction, and if everyone else reacts that way, they feel some pressure to as well. Not be the atheist killjoy in the room asking for verification of the underlying premise. This is a well known flaw in our lizard brains, exploited by marketing agents and politicians. 9 out of 10 Dentists say XYZ brand toothpaste is the best. But is it really? A lie makes it half-way around the world before the truth can get its pants on. Trump has been doing this for 7 to 8 years now. This simple process works more than half the time on average people, which is roughly equal to Trump's support.

[@lindseysummers5351]

I was in 8th Grade in 1991 when the Nostradamus TV special aired. We also inexplicably watched feature length film as part of my school curriculum. As a kid not knowing any better (and without someone around me to pour a bucket of cold water on all that hype), I was mystified by all his predictions. It wasn't until much later I found out the truth that all his writings were just gibberish. Thanks for the reminder. Well done!!

[@abcdeshole]

In the 90s it was easy, especially as a kid, to read some random library book or catch a documentary on TV and then run away with some bad ideas that were hard to debunk. How times have changed.

[@zugabdu1]

I remember a spate of Nostradamus documentaries in the 90s, all of which treated his "prophecies" as clearly and obviously real, with maybe a token skeptic allowed a brief and quickly dismissed comment.

[@4gegtyreeyuyeddffvyt]

I remember after 9/11 you couldn’t walk into a store without seeing a book about Nostradamus.

[@christianshute1818]

I can’t remember where I read this, but Nostradamus wasn’t predicting the future, but commenting on and critiquing the present. He did it in a way that would keep him from being punished by the government or the Church

[@oceanelf2512]

Ah, that makes sense.

[@drew6194]

Sean Munger mentions a few times that there is no record of Nostradamus in trouble with the church or government, so what you read is likely more of the same myth-creating nonsense.

[@scipioafricanus5871]

Yeah, but that's just like when science fiction is really about the present.

[@harrynac6017]

I had a roommate who was quite obsessed with Nostradamus and was trying to decipher his work. He lost interest after reading one perticular book which was, according to him, accurate. Most of Nostradamus' quatrains aren't talking about the future, but about the past, and in particular Genghis Khan.

[@Stand_By_For_Mind_Control]

Think it's more a case of predicting another 'great horde' like wave of attacks on Europe because that's the kind of calamity a medieval writer would be familiar with. That, plagues, and fires. Which is kinda what it always circles back around to in his writings; one of those things. Always knocking down some eagle or burning down the 'new city' or whatever.

[@imokin86]

I grew up in the 90s in Russia. When the Soviet regime was fraying, people started turning to magic and new age (so much for "the greatest education system in the world"). And when the floodgates opened and American pop culture came in, Nostradamus became a big thing. Along with the Blind Bulgarian Seeress and spoon benders.

[@FrancisAdam-nf4kj]

I have waited a long time for someone to come along and properly debunk the so called predictions of Nostradamus and you’ve laid it out better than I ever could have THANK YOU

[@Sublette217]

Psychic and astrologer Jeane Dixon suffered cardiac arrest and died at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C., on 25 January 1997. Before her death, she uttered the words "I knew this would happen."

[@DavidDuchov]

Great analysis, bonus points for the Morbid Angel shirt!

[@Dodgerzden]

Crediting Nostradamus with amazing predictions by trying to decipher his gibberish reminds me of QAnoners trying to decode the 'Q' messages and then grifting off that by making predictions.

[@Alphoric]

I still don’t believe QAnon was a real thing I’m almost certain it was just to piss people off

[@vaiyt]

All of Nostradamus' "accuracy" is retroactive, while Q's business is about failing to predict the future and then moving the goalposts. 😅

[@ComradeCatpurrnicus]

Nostradamus was the "Dr." Jordan Peterson of the 16th century.

[@weegie18]

QAnon is if Nostradamus had online followers in the 16th century

[@arrow23]

It's actually impressive that he didn't predict at least one.

[@unrecognizedtalent3432]

Yeah, I mean you or I could easily predict events over the next 400 years to some small extent.

[@Pretermit_Sound]

It’s the whole “followed by a thousand years of peace” part, rather than WW3 breaking out that makes that particular prediction so implausible. At least in my opinion. No way humanity could make it even a fraction of that amount of time without trying to kill itself again.

[@Random_user_8472]

I love these debunking videos. It means that there are at least some people using common sense, thank you Sean!

[@bsaneil]

Many people have told me how 'accurate' Nostradamus' so called predictions are. None of them have actually read his stuff, however. I have. It is a bunch of very ambiguous and barely comprehensible statements which could mean almost anything. I'm glad that Sean has aired this corrective.

[@erikgriswold5273]

"Nostradamus" immediately brings memories of being a kid in the early 2000's and seeing promotions for some awful programs on The History Channel, attributing Nostradamus to predictions of 9/11, the Iraq War, and the word "hister" being lazily interpreted as a close-enough version of Hitler. Edit: Oh shit! You mentioned the hister thing haha

[@jpotter2086]

Remembering Nostradamus being presented as a geewhizzer in publications aimed at kids in the 1980s. Gag. How can a prediction be vague? The man was scribbling the equivalent of horoscopes. Any "prediction" is in the mind of the reader.

[@inaridefucc8904]

I read an italian version of the book you mentioned some time ago and at one point a prediction was so absourdly accurate that I stopped and thought "there is no way this is true, otherwise we'd be teaching his predictions in school". Now I finally realize that his verses were "accurately" translated to fit a random amount of "future events" that had already happened.

[@phoenix5384]

As someone that used to catastrophize and freak out over largely meaningless things when I was younger and vividly remember Nostradomis' "predictions" being one of the things I freaked out over, this was a great video explaining what little he actually said. If I could like this video twice I would

[@blatherskite3009]

Back in the 90s, a young me interviewed a fairly well-known (here in the UK, anyway) rock musician, and the subject of lyrics came up. He said he often wrote lyrics that were deliberately not too specific, in order that people could more easily make the words seem applicable to themselves. I realised, since, that he simply understood the same thing that horoscope writers and "prophets" everywhere understand, which is that if you just make the words general and vague, and avoid saying anything _too_ specific that rules anything out, then people will do the rest of the work for you. They'll find ways to make the words applicable to their own lives and the world they live in, and you will seem to have hit the nail on the head when in reality you just took a swing in the general direction. People love to "fill in the blanks" with what they _want_ to be there, so you just have to give them some blanks to fill and they'll do the rest. Suddenly the song (or prophecy) seems uncannily on-point with what they want it to be about, and that's no accident because their own brains provided the material that filled in the blanks. Like a Rorschach test, what you interpret it to mean actually says more about you than any intent on the artist's part. You want world-ending apocalypse and rapture, then that's what it's going to seem to be talking about. You want to believe that there's pre-destined order to the world, and people like "Hister" were pre-ordained and inevitable, then that's the meaning you'll bring to the words.

[@t.c.bramblett617]

Exactly. This is the point of Tarot and i ching too, although so many believe in them sincerely... they are just exercises to stimulate your imagination and to reveal what's on your upper mind and also your subconscious, to externalize these ideas and form some possible actual meaning for you.

[@jenniferschillig3768]

When I was a kid of about nine or ten, The Man Who Saw Tomorrow used to run a lot on HBO. Naturally, it scared me, and even into my teen/young adult years I would get nervous when things stirred up in the Middle East. Until I actually leafed through a straight-up translation of Nostradamus' writings: "THIS is what I was so scared of?! This vague gibberish that could be interpreted to mean anything?!" After all, no one ever seems to figure out a Nostradamus prediction BEFORE it supposedly comes true. It's only after something has happened that people look at the quatrains and say, "Oh yeah, this could be interpreted to mean that!"

[@jerrymachusak3216]

Thank you for so thoroughly eviscerating the Nostradamus BS! Well done!!

[@HollyOak]

I saw the 80's documentary on TV as a child and vividly remember he was supposed to have predicted his grave would be vandalised on a specific day in the future so someone could drink from his skull, thus inheriting his powers and they'd be immediately shot dead. Are you telling me this wasn't true??? I'm shocked, shocked I tell you. In all seriousness, I was very much enjoying this and it reached the end far too soon.

[@oceanelf2512]

Hahahahahaha! Thanks for the chuckle. I wonder if Most had some sort of condition that caused him to write compulsively, and write a lot of gibberish. There is a rare medical condition like that, but I don't remember its name.

[@heavenly2k]

First - your shirt is awesome. Second - I appreciate your videos a lot.

[@LelandMaurello]

When I first tried to read Nostradams in college, I gave up. (It was a translated version). Then when I heard all the 'predictions' in it, I was convinced whoever was pointing them out was having hallucinations. To me, it was also pure gibberish. Never went down that rabbit hole again.

[@HarryPrimate]

I have, through the scientific use of both chicken entrails and tea leaves, confirmed that Nostradamus was a charlatan.

[@danboyd2725]

I remember the original Orson Wells Nostradamus documentary from 1981. It predicted world ending cataclysms and Gaddafi becoming the "Antichrist", . . . in the 1980s. They started to recut the film as the predicted timeline passed, putting in a new narrator to give alternative timelines, cataclysms, and Antichrists. Over time there was less and less of Orson Welles. I saw it ten years ago and only a few minutes of Orson are left. 😏

[@charlesmontgomery69]

There is an interesting movie from 1994 simply titled "Nostradamus" starring Tchecky Karyo that depicts the man writing wild stuff under the influence of some sort of substance, but I don't remember those writings being presented as predictions. I was mostly impressed by the movie showing Michel de Nostredame having a sensible reaction to the plague : hygiene instead of panic fueled by the belief that the plague was a punishment from God.

[@Raiden-the-Goat32]

Didn't the stuff look like gas of some kind and him having some bowl with liquid he was huffing ? I remember the movie but my memory is a bit fuzzy.

[@limeboy73]

The guy in the Morbid Angel shirt sure has a point

[@johnyzero2000]

Great video, it's nice to see a youtuber who can speak in a full sentence. I feel smarter after watching. Subscribed!

[@toddclayton]

A historian with a Morbid Angel shirt. Alright.

[@fredhalstied]

Fantastic video about Nostadomus. I actually learned something. Preciate you

[@LenweTaralom77]

Funnily enough, as a german I first heard the name Nostradamus in Goethes Faust, a great german play published in the very early 1800s. His name only appears once if I remember correctly, as the author of an unnamed book containing information pertaining to summoning a ghost later in the chapter. It's not really pertinent to his prophecies, but I found it quite amusing that I never heard of his prophecies until many years after I read his name in Goethes Faust.

[@davidhunter1555]

I also highly recommend the champagne commercials in which Orson Welles is mega drunk.

[@SeanMunger]

"AAAHHH, the French!"

[@annwilliams6438]

Basically he was a fairly good (for the time) healthcare worker who probably dipped a little too deeply into some of his pharmaceuticals and had fun writing some stuff down when he was on a good trip - and then found he could make more money (and get royal patronage) out of his trippy writings. Ya go boy!

[@kjuttner]

quite impressed that you're wearing a morbid angel t-shirt considering your craft, well done sir!

[@Fummy007]

Theres not really anything historically interesting to even say about Nostradamus. He's just a Uri Geller of his day

[@bobbycoleman-co7mc]

Well, he’s interesting for fictional stories at least

[@ltgreatsocks1]

Damn, Ive known for a long time the Nostradamus stuff was shaky but I didn't know it was this bad! Great video.

[@revanati222]

I just discovered that the Twilight series were a series of predictions of what would happen in the 50 shades of grey series! True story! 😉

[@vikinghawk3358]

First time watching your channel and I’m hooked !!!

[@SeanMunger]

Thanks so much! 🙏

[@melanietoth1376]

Fascinating! My parents told me he was woo when I was little but didnt fill in any details nor how he suddenly became famous in our own time. This explains a lot. Thank you

[@diverdan814]

Al Stewart’s album which contains the song Time Passages also had a song called Nostradamus, which popularized some of the verses, including one about the Kennedys, perhaps. “In the new lands of America three brothers now shall come to power, Two alone are born to rule but all must die before their hour”

[@bobross1829]

Belief in Nostradamus was the Ancient Aliens of the 1980's.

[@kitszasz3971]

1:10 best place to drink a cheeky beer without police noticing you but you didn't hear it from me

[@HartleysFilms]

Did Quasimodo predict anything? Was Bobby Bacala wrong?

[@ironfist7789]

Duno, but he ended up being put in the game for a couple plays I think :P

[@reallythatbad1]

God I needed this. I've watched too many tiktok videos about conspiracy theories and needed a good pallet cleansing.

[@stevej4922]

Best solution: Stop using TikTok...

[@JimmyAgent007]

I liked the show 'First Wave' that used 'newly discovered' writings of his to predict an alien invasion and apocalypse. I always figured his writings were more like 'cold readings' where he predicted a bunch of general things that history would eventually fill in the gaps.

[@MattHuttlin]

Thank You - Nice piece, very informative. I was always suspicious. Keep them coming!

[@GilbertoPOA]

I’ve never believed in something like ‘prophecies’; even so, it is very interesting to know how someone like Nostradamus became - kind a involuntary - symbol of magical thinking. Very good video!

[@MeganVictoriaKearns]

I think it's very representative of a need we humans seem to have. We want to believe in a divine justice system. That there's something bigger than our lifetimes going on someplace. Historically, we rarely sit content with an explanation of "No one knows" for ANYTHING. We tend to keep thinking up explanations for unexplainable things, like prophecy, until we land on something we're satisfied with. (I mean "we" as a collective of human history)

[@zeusedoo9291]

Excellent show and presented perectly

[@Tasby12]

I didn’t discover your channel until a few weeks ago, but I am glad I did. I became a Nostradamus true believer after watching The Man Who Saw Tomorrow at age 13 and it terrified the hell out of me. I took a deep dive and started reading up on Nost; it was the 1980s so he was hot. I went to the library and found a book of his prophecies written in 1947. Lo and behold, the quatrains in that book were said to predict entirely different events that had already happened, none related to World War III. I wish I could say that was the ballgame for me, but it wasn’t. It took several more years before my belief finally fell away. Now I will gladly tell anyone that he was a fraud.

[@johnayres2303]

"How can you explain somebody like Nostradamus?, a man who was writing in the 15th Century and yet he made the most amazing predictions, like for example he predicted that the Mini Metro would have a 5th gear option by 1989 . ." - Alexei Sayle

[@piontybird]

Superb and well researched.

[@SeanMunger]

Thanks!

[@citylimits8927]

When you mentioned that Orson Welles had narrated the movie version of Nostradamus, I remembered that Welles had also done the movie version of “The Late Great Planet Earth”. Then at 13:48 in the video, you mentioned Hal Lindsey! Maybe you could do a video on how Hal Lindsey didn’t predict anything!

[@citylimits8927]

By the way, in addition to the frozen peas commercial, Orson Welles also did some infamous drunk outtakes for his Paul Masson Champagne commercial.

[@thattimestampguy]

0:00 Michel de Nostradame 0:56 Nostradame is not a future-seer 1:37 The vast majority written about Nostradame was embellished. 2:32 Nostradame gained Popularity in the early 1980s *Michel de Nostradame's Personal History* 3:09 3:45 He was not a Jew that converted to Christianity. 4:07 He was imprisoned for minor offenses, but he was not persecuted by The Spanish Inquisition. 5:05 Most of Nostradame's predictions are incomprehensible, because they are written in multiple languages/codes/anagrams. 5:57 His French and 2020s French are alot different. *Nostradamus' Predictions* 7:20 Nostradamus' Predictions are undated. There was no King of France in 1999. 9:43 The 1999 Verse is found in Century X, not Century 20. 10:22 Translation mistakes --> Nostradamus false claims, distorted to fit the current age. 11:14 The Hister aka The Danube River. 11:44 "The Man Who Saw Tomorrow" movie 1981. 12:35 1991 Persian Gulf War. 13:47 1970 Hal Lindsay's "The Late Great Planet Earth" The Rapture, The End Is Near. End Times. 14:47 WWIII predicted. Orson Welles. Anticipation for Apocalypse. 15:40 City of God, City of York, Fabrication Prediction. 16:38 Accidental Tourist Picture. 17:08 0/942 In Predictions. 17:38 False Narratives --> Wide Belief.

[@wintercaretaker6740]

Morbid Angel and History😍 Two of my favorite things! Great video!

[@joachimschoder]

The most annoying part about "prophecies" is now NONE of them actually was formulated specific enough before the event it supposedly happened. It is always interpreted into it later on. If a "prophecy" isn't specific and done before the event it predicts then it is totally worthless.

[@Ckom-Tunes]

Hey hey hey…you’re destroying a great racket we had going here!

[@rhogal8310]

House of Leaves right there in the lower right corner. This book has been following me ever since I've read it XD.

[@ultra_marcus]

I've not had the privilege of seeing Orson Welles' frozen pea commercial, but I am a fan of his work with California wine maker, Paul Masson. I thoroughly enjoyed this video, thank you for the facts.

[@JohnLeePedimore]

He also had a talk show from 78-79. The Orson Welles Show. He had some good guests. One of the best was Andy Kaufman. Orson just fawns over him and Andy is clearly caught off guard.

[@ultra_marcus]

@@JohnLeePedimore thanks for the recommendation, I’ll be sure to check it out.

[@jeffreywood4759]

AAAAHHHHH the French!

[@bruceshaw2402]

Thank you for calling this out , I have always thought his " predictions " were rubbish , and people were just making things fit .

[@georgefspicka5483]

Thank you. That was a great analysis about how that type of thinking comes into being. I guess those “False Narratives” occur today because of critical thinking not being taught throughout grade school, combined with the spread of social media, where assumption and opinion are often taken to be fact. Listening to you, I was reminded of Eric Von Däniken’s “Chariot of the Gods.” To me it was obvious that it was assumption based on assumption, yet at least for a while it was so popular, that a movie was made of it. Even before that was Immanuel Velikovsky’s “World’s In Collision,” a theory of sorts that claims that all the phenomena of Exodus and more, was the result of the planet Venus being ejected from Jupiter as a comet, passing Mars and the Earth, and settling into it’s present orbit. As you’ve probably already surmised, its biggest flaw was lack of evidence. It spite of that, it became a best seller. Because of protest by the scientific community, it was eventually withdrawn from publication. About “Frozen Peas,” I felt the best part when Welles mentioned that there was “too much directing” taking place. Absolutely, and it was he who was the source of the problem!

[@samueldawson8582]

Side note, I love your Morbid Angel shirt

[@jordin36]

I'll make a bold prediction that you have awsome taste in music.

[@Sokail87]

Gotta love the Morbid Angel t-shirt! Rock on! 🤘

[@ethzero]

I wonder if one of Nostradamus' predictions would be the debunking of his predictions? 🤔

[@MogofWar]

One theory I've heard was his "prophecy" was mostly commentary on things going on in the present, using far future prediction as a veil to conceal words that otherwise be considered seditious.

[@SeanMunger]

Yup, that's pretty much it.

[@AWildBard]

You gotta love how they always make correct predictions about past events, but never make correct predictions about the future.

[@jakefoster5611]

This is an awesome, well thought out video, but by far the most impressive things about it are your Morbid Angel shirt and your copy of House of Leaves! Haha

[@josephficklen7393]

This was great, you should do another one like this about Nikola Tesla, he seems to be another figure around whom a great deal of myth and misconception has arisen

[@rotwang2000]

The big issue is that people completely overlook his hit/miss ratio. They only remember the work that well ... worked, but not all the failures and odd paths he did try alongside his famous discoveries. He had a real knack for science and performed better than Edison, but his method was not that dissimilar : think of something and then look to see if it works and he quite consistently had hits and misses, but his intuition lead him to some incredible discoveries.

[@treavorwhitlock5606]

Nice try Edison!

[@doughammond8932]

Excellent informative work, thank you!

[@ignatiusjackson235]

"In the City of God, there will be a great thunder..." So, definitely not New York.

[@bigglesbiggles1]

Well I didn't expect he would be persecuted by the Spanish Inquisition... but then No One Expects the Spanish Inquisition

[@nothingelse1520]

Oh wow when I was like 12 years old I saw "The Man Who Saw Tomorrow" and didn't remember the name. When 9/11 happened I remember thinking that it vaguely matched a scene in the movie and I just wished I could remember what the movie was called.

[@alabamaflip2053]

I think I am more impressed with the Farmer's Almanac that predicts the weather two years ahead of time with about 80% accuracy.

[@praevasc4299]

And all reports of "successful" Nostradamus predictions are published in the style of a notable event happening, and afterwards articles appearing, stating that "ha! Nostradamus predicted this!" And never in the style of an article appearing before the event, stating that Nostradamus predicted it would happen soon, and then it happening.

[@pimpernelsmith3798]

I couldn't agree more. I've always said Nostradamus couldn't predict snow in a blizzard or what he was having for dinner that night. Liked!

[@rustyshackleford3862]

Oh finally somebody saying it. I've seen some many conflicting shows about him on TV it's crazy.

[@AndrewBrown-fq6vp]

I love your "Altars of Madness" shirt! Great video as well 🙂

[@gamerg0]

TV show producers have a lot to answer for. Saying anything for "content". Don't think i ever saw a show that told Nostradamus is BS, would anyone watch? But make a show saying that he gets it right and he predicted war in our country in our lifetime - we're all watching.

[@assininecomment1630]

Rightio then... Duly subscribed, Sean! I've just watched your Amway/Tools shakedown. So, this video has popped into my feed. It taps into the _other_ vein of obsessive fascination, that my mother led our family into in the 70s and 80s. Lovin' your work, mate. 🙂👍

[@andykluiter4109]

What's this? My man's got a Morbid Angel shirt on and a copy of House of Leaves on his bookshelf? Subscribed! This was a good video! Looking forward to checking out more of your stuff!

[@SeanMunger]

Thanks!

[@diaznuts5947]

Randomly stumbled upon this, I knew i was in for a good time when I saw that dope morbid angel t shirt. Thank you for the enlightenment good sire!

[@pheadrus7621]

On the other hand the little known book The Elixirs of Nostradamus: Nostradamus' Original Recipes for Elixirs, Scented Water, Beauty Potions and Sweetmeats - Knut Boeser [Editor] is fascinating. Some of the recipes are obviously toxic and to be avoided, but some of them are a lot of fun. His "Precious Green Pomade" is my favourite skin cream/ make up remover. It's miraculous powers are definately over sold, but it's nice stuff anyway.

[@bobbressi5414]

I remember a "documentary" as a kid that stated, essentially the following. Two grave robbers dug up his body many years after his death. His corpse, it was said had a plaque around its neck with the exact date the robbers dug it up inscribed on it. Also, one of the grave robbers drank wine from the skull and was immediately shot and killed by a stray bullet from the ongoing French Revolution. Nostradamus had supposedly predicted this event as well. I can recall as a teenager being both fascinated but extremely skeptical.

[@morrigambist]

In Nostradamus's own time, didn't people believe in him because he "predicted" the accidental death of a King of France? As superstitious as people were then, I can understand how his work gained a following.

[@Elfdaughter]

I studied English Literature at university, and one of the things we covered was the Reader Response theory, and this is a classic example. Because his ‘predictions’ are so vague, people apply their own experiences and hindsight to the text, and come to the conclusion that he was talking about ‘xyz event’.

[@CDBookManGaming]

Well, we can thank, in large part, to his fame, or infamy, to the History Channel; always giving you "accurate" history, that channel.

[@skilz8098]

Lol... the History Channel. It's owned, produced and written by the established status-quo elites. They're not selling History as it was. They're selling you the History that they want you to believe. I've known this since I was about 10-12 years old when the network channel first started to appear across cable subscription packages back in the early 90s. They're almost as bad as the Smithsonian and it wouldn't surprise me if those behind the Smithsonian were also the ones dictating that which is broadcasted across the History Channel Network which now happens to be a subsidiary partnered company of Disney. Irony at its greatest. Just look at how much Disney changed all of those fairytale stories from their original works such as the tales from The Brothers Grimm. Then again there is a quote by George Carlin that hits right on the mark. "They don't want an educated self-reliant critical thinking society".

[@MeganVictoriaKearns]

The "history" channel has lost all credibility. "Ancient Aliens" disqualifies them from being taken seriously.

[@billdubya9626]

This was so therapeutic. Most saw the tv shows about the accuracy of Nostradamus. Then when the “proof” was shared, I was always like, “WTF? That doesn’t mean anything. How do people invest in this?”

[@ahoj7720]

James Randi (the amazing), magician and debunker of fallacies, wrote a book called The Mask of Nostradamus showing that a lot of the Centuries refer to past events and some to descriptions of the countryside around Saint Rémy de Provence, where Michel de Nostredame was born. His birthplace is still visible there.

[@Dimitar_Stoyanov_359]

Great video with finally some real light on the subject! 👏 Ears ago I had some doubts and now they're 100% confirmed. Thank you! These "predictions" are like saying: "Some people will die in the future"... 🤔

[@barbaraantonelli7782]

Just happened upon this video. I think I figured out many, many moons ago (70s or early 80s) that his quatrains were BS. After something happens, it's so easy to look at a "prediction" from anybody & attribute foresight to the predictor. So now I'm going to watch more of your vids! 😊