1
00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:12,074
Everyone is intimidated by a shark. Become
a Card Shark AMERICASCARDROOM.COM

2
00:00:48,674 --> 00:00:55,430
♪

3
00:00:55,430 --> 00:00:59,142
My name is Johannes,
and I have a problem.

4
00:00:59,142 --> 00:01:01,979
I like Pachelbel's Canon in D.

5
00:01:01,979 --> 00:01:06,775
Even worse, I use it at least
once in all of my films.

6
00:01:06,775 --> 00:01:08,235
Why?

7
00:01:08,235 --> 00:01:09,945
Because it was part
of the soundtrack

8
00:01:09,945 --> 00:01:13,115
of a TV series called Cosmos,

9
00:01:13,115 --> 00:01:15,325
and it is burnt
into my existence

10
00:01:15,325 --> 00:01:18,203
like an emotional cobalt bomb.

11
00:01:18,203 --> 00:01:20,998
I first heard
the melody in 1982

12
00:01:20,998 --> 00:01:24,209
in a place called Austria.

13
00:01:24,209 --> 00:01:27,379
This is what Austria looks like.

14
00:01:27,379 --> 00:01:32,384
Austria is primarily known
for music and mass murder,

15
00:01:32,384 --> 00:01:34,428
a culturally challenged country

16
00:01:34,428 --> 00:01:38,724
deep in the Heart of Darkness
of Europe.

17
00:01:38,724 --> 00:01:41,560
My last name is long
and complicated,

18
00:01:41,560 --> 00:01:44,855
Grenzfurthner.

19
00:01:44,855 --> 00:01:46,940
"Grenze" means "border,"

20
00:01:46,940 --> 00:01:50,527
and a "furt" is something
like a shallow creek or ford,

21
00:01:50,527 --> 00:01:53,905
like that charismatic
U.S. president.

22
00:01:53,905 --> 00:01:57,701
So in English my name
would be Johnny Borderforder.

23
00:01:57,701 --> 00:02:00,871
Has an exciting ring to it,
don't you think?

24
00:02:00,871 --> 00:02:04,333
English is the lingua franca
of late capitalism,

25
00:02:04,333 --> 00:02:07,002
so I decided to stick with it.

26
00:02:07,002 --> 00:02:09,629
Everything in German
sounds like a war crime,

27
00:02:09,629 --> 00:02:11,673
and everything
in Austrian German

28
00:02:11,673 --> 00:02:14,634
sounds like a war crime
served with whipped cream.

29
00:02:14,634 --> 00:02:16,219
♪

30
00:02:16,219 --> 00:02:19,097
I was born in 1975,

31
00:02:19,097 --> 00:02:20,849
a year that
is known for the end

32
00:02:20,849 --> 00:02:22,684
of the Vietnam conflicts,

33
00:02:22,684 --> 00:02:26,646
a geopolitical proxy war
that, in the long run,

34
00:02:26,646 --> 00:02:28,899
brought us great
plot elements for films

35
00:02:28,899 --> 00:02:31,151
like Joe Dante's Piranha

36
00:02:31,151 --> 00:02:35,155
and the very underrated
Jacob's Ladder by Adrian Lyne.

37
00:02:35,155 --> 00:02:37,115
Microsoft was founded,

38
00:02:37,115 --> 00:02:41,119
Michel Foucault published
Discipline and Punish,

39
00:02:41,119 --> 00:02:44,623
and a guy named Spielberg
released a blockbuster

40
00:02:44,623 --> 00:02:46,541
about a Great White one,

41
00:02:46,541 --> 00:02:49,294
and I'm not talking
about Richard Nixon.

42
00:02:49,294 --> 00:02:53,006
I was an only child
and grew up in the countryside.

43
00:02:53,006 --> 00:02:55,342
If there's a bright
center to the universe,

44
00:02:55,342 --> 00:02:59,012
I lived in a place
- Stockerau.

45
00:02:59,012 --> 00:03:00,639
Stockerau's claim to fame

46
00:03:00,639 --> 00:03:04,518
is providing Austria
with its first Catholic saint,

47
00:03:04,518 --> 00:03:06,895
a poor Irish guy
who was hung as a spy

48
00:03:06,895 --> 00:03:11,650
because of his, quote,
"strange appearance."

49
00:03:11,650 --> 00:03:13,402
When his corpse wouldn't decay

50
00:03:13,402 --> 00:03:15,070
and the tree they hung him on

51
00:03:15,070 --> 00:03:17,531
started to bloom
in mid-winter,

52
00:03:17,531 --> 00:03:19,616
the Stockerauians
gladly reassessed

53
00:03:19,616 --> 00:03:22,327
their impromptu flash mob.

54
00:03:22,327 --> 00:03:25,914
They built a cloister
and a kindergarten.

55
00:03:25,914 --> 00:03:29,167
I can still smell the red beet
they served me there.

56
00:03:29,167 --> 00:03:32,504
The Body of Christ
for vegetarians.

57
00:03:32,504 --> 00:03:35,924
That was me, age 6.

58
00:03:35,924 --> 00:03:37,759
Elton John.

59
00:03:37,759 --> 00:03:41,263
Woschi Woschi Wau Wau,

60
00:03:41,263 --> 00:03:44,057
the doggie that never pooped.

61
00:03:44,057 --> 00:03:47,018
I loved Neil Armstrong,

62
00:03:47,018 --> 00:03:49,771
and turning dirt
into moon dust,

63
00:03:49,771 --> 00:03:52,399
and battle cruisers,

64
00:03:52,399 --> 00:03:56,153
and helicopter crashes.

65
00:03:56,153 --> 00:03:58,697
Books and comics
were the best thing ever.

66
00:03:58,697 --> 00:04:07,622
♪

67
00:04:07,622 --> 00:04:10,375
I was a huge fan
of Richard Scarry,

68
00:04:10,375 --> 00:04:12,085
and I constructed submarines

69
00:04:12,085 --> 00:04:14,296
to explore the Mariana Trench,

70
00:04:14,296 --> 00:04:15,881
but I also built tree houses

71
00:04:15,881 --> 00:04:20,010
that grew into huge
post-apocalyptic mansions.

72
00:04:20,010 --> 00:04:24,264
I accidentally killed a chicken
with a chemical experiment.

73
00:04:24,264 --> 00:04:27,017
I hid the body in a fodder silo.

74
00:04:27,017 --> 00:04:32,105
My family still
thinks it was the fox.

75
00:04:32,105 --> 00:04:34,900
My childhood took place
in an interesting time--

76
00:04:34,900 --> 00:04:38,862
"interesting" in that old
Chinese-proverb sense--

77
00:04:38,862 --> 00:04:41,948
the gloomy heydays
of the Cold War.

78
00:04:49,748 --> 00:04:53,043
♪

79
00:04:54,628 --> 00:04:58,256
♪

80
00:05:12,395 --> 00:05:16,399
We only had two TV channels,
can you imagine?

81
00:05:16,399 --> 00:05:17,984
But my dad had
the consumer power

82
00:05:17,984 --> 00:05:19,611
of a real Baby Boomer,

83
00:05:19,611 --> 00:05:23,782
and obtained a VHS video
recorder as early as 1980,

84
00:05:23,782 --> 00:05:26,284
I assume to watch porn.

85
00:05:26,284 --> 00:05:28,245
I was, without knowing,

86
00:05:28,245 --> 00:05:31,706
part of the first generation
of the information age,

87
00:05:31,706 --> 00:05:34,292
a native of
the radical technological

88
00:05:34,292 --> 00:05:35,835
and societal shift

89
00:05:35,835 --> 00:05:39,339
that's now called
"globalization."

90
00:05:39,339 --> 00:05:40,799
A completely hollow term,

91
00:05:40,799 --> 00:05:45,512
but sometimes even hollow terms
cast long shadows.

92
00:05:45,512 --> 00:05:47,556
I was a good observer.

93
00:05:47,556 --> 00:05:49,975
I learned a lot
about basic biology

94
00:05:49,975 --> 00:05:52,269
from Grandpa Zucker,

95
00:05:52,269 --> 00:05:54,271
like after
slaughtering pigs,

96
00:05:54,271 --> 00:05:57,482
the stray cats always
ate the testicles first.

97
00:05:57,482 --> 00:06:01,361
I also spotted that
our neighbor's hallway tiles

98
00:06:01,361 --> 00:06:04,447
had the structure
of LCD characters.

99
00:06:04,447 --> 00:06:07,409
I never managed
to unsee this fact.

100
00:06:07,409 --> 00:06:09,369
My grandmother
always used to stay:

101
00:06:13,790 --> 00:06:17,210
The kids gave me nicknames
like "UFO-Hannes."

102
00:06:17,210 --> 00:06:19,713
That certainly created
a level of isolation,

103
00:06:19,713 --> 00:06:22,340
but also one that let me
look for creative ways

104
00:06:22,340 --> 00:06:24,843
to deal with my obsessions.

105
00:06:24,843 --> 00:06:28,096
I compiled my own cut-and-paste
popular science books

106
00:06:28,096 --> 00:06:29,723
on the really bad Xerox machine

107
00:06:29,723 --> 00:06:33,143
of the Volkspartei
Niederösterreich,

108
00:06:33,143 --> 00:06:35,061
or I made short films.

109
00:06:57,792 --> 00:07:02,088
Well, I guess I started
the genre of docuploitation.

110
00:07:02,088 --> 00:07:04,215
I wrote stories
about exotic diseases

111
00:07:04,215 --> 00:07:07,218
like "brain-aquaplaning,"

112
00:07:07,218 --> 00:07:11,848
and not to forget a play
called The Hole In The Andes.

113
00:07:11,848 --> 00:07:14,017
A couple of scientists
who do research

114
00:07:14,017 --> 00:07:16,269
in the mountain range
of the Andes

115
00:07:16,269 --> 00:07:20,065
discover a hole that
goes right through Earth.

116
00:07:20,065 --> 00:07:22,150
One of the scientists
accidentally falls

117
00:07:22,150 --> 00:07:25,153
into the hole,
and the high speed of his fall

118
00:07:25,153 --> 00:07:28,823
and the high heat
transform him into a zombie.

119
00:07:28,823 --> 00:07:32,243
On the other side of Earth,
he is catapulted into orbit,

120
00:07:32,243 --> 00:07:35,038
where he attacks spacecraft.

121
00:07:35,038 --> 00:07:37,916
An excellent example for bad
science in science fiction,

122
00:07:37,916 --> 00:07:41,670
but I think I could sell it
to Michael Bay or other members

123
00:07:41,670 --> 00:07:44,756
of the Military-Entertainment
Complex.

124
00:07:44,756 --> 00:07:47,133
My mother Hermi
was always supportive

125
00:07:47,133 --> 00:07:50,845
of my strange interests,
and my Dad always said,

126
00:07:50,845 --> 00:07:52,806
"Well, Hermi,
that's what you get

127
00:07:52,806 --> 00:07:55,392
when you raise an open mind."

128
00:07:55,392 --> 00:07:58,353
I'm still not sure it
was meant as a compliment.

129
00:07:58,353 --> 00:08:01,231
♪

130
00:08:02,816 --> 00:08:06,569
♪

131
00:08:13,118 --> 00:08:14,953
I'm not into
sweat suits anymore,

132
00:08:14,953 --> 00:08:18,248
but damn, I still
like my baseball caps,

133
00:08:18,248 --> 00:08:20,959
and setting stuff on fire.

134
00:08:20,959 --> 00:08:22,252
I was eager to impress,

135
00:08:22,252 --> 00:08:25,004
but also jealous
about the popular kids.

136
00:08:25,004 --> 00:08:27,424
I was forced into being a rebel.

137
00:08:27,424 --> 00:08:29,759
My rebellion manifested itself

138
00:08:29,759 --> 00:08:33,096
in a perverted interest
in cryptozoology,

139
00:08:33,096 --> 00:08:35,473
conspiracy books,
and all the bullshit

140
00:08:35,473 --> 00:08:37,559
that Erich von Däniken ever spat

141
00:08:37,559 --> 00:08:39,602
into the face of humanity.

142
00:08:39,602 --> 00:08:43,064
And when I was 11
I became an atheist.

143
00:08:43,064 --> 00:08:45,984
I guess because
I started masturbating.

144
00:08:45,984 --> 00:08:48,862
But over the next years
I got more sophisticated.

145
00:08:48,862 --> 00:08:50,864
I devoured cyberpunk novels

146
00:08:50,864 --> 00:08:53,825
and loved
to watch Robocop and...

147
00:08:53,825 --> 00:08:57,662
Edison Carter vom Sender 23,
M-M-M-Max Headroom.

148
00:08:57,662 --> 00:09:00,540
I goofed around
with a friend's Commodore 64,

149
00:09:00,540 --> 00:09:03,877
but getting my first
IBM computer was a blast.

150
00:09:03,877 --> 00:09:08,047
I learned English by playing
Sierra Online adventure games,

151
00:09:08,047 --> 00:09:11,384
and I was fascinated
with GW-BASIC.

152
00:09:11,384 --> 00:09:16,181
And when I was 13, I joined
the FidoNet data network.

153
00:09:18,183 --> 00:09:20,852
Electronic data communication
was a wonderful way

154
00:09:20,852 --> 00:09:23,188
to finally get in contact
with strange folks

155
00:09:23,188 --> 00:09:24,814
from all over the planet.

156
00:09:24,814 --> 00:09:27,734
And I learned the proper
term for what I was--

157
00:09:27,734 --> 00:09:29,402
a nerd!

158
00:09:29,402 --> 00:09:32,322
I felt at home in a world
built by outsiders,

159
00:09:32,322 --> 00:09:35,867
harvesting mailing lists
and text file archives,

160
00:09:35,867 --> 00:09:37,744
enjoying ANSI art.

161
00:09:37,744 --> 00:09:39,496
I even created my own.

162
00:09:39,496 --> 00:09:42,582
Not as elaborate,
but, ah, what the heck.

163
00:09:42,582 --> 00:09:45,710
And of course I joined
endless debates about modems

164
00:09:45,710 --> 00:09:49,214
and Akira
and tokamak reactors...

165
00:09:49,214 --> 00:09:51,216
and smut.

166
00:09:51,216 --> 00:09:55,970
Oh yes, my nerd world
was full of white dudes.

167
00:09:55,970 --> 00:09:57,514
I didn't have a girlfriend--

168
00:09:57,514 --> 00:09:59,224
guess why--

169
00:09:59,224 --> 00:10:00,683
and I was definitely too scared

170
00:10:00,683 --> 00:10:02,811
to do anything
to change that,

171
00:10:02,811 --> 00:10:05,897
but the reality of your body
hits you hard, bro,

172
00:10:05,897 --> 00:10:08,650
especially when it
takes a three-hour-long

173
00:10:08,650 --> 00:10:11,444
long distance call
to fucking Germany

174
00:10:11,444 --> 00:10:14,322
to download
your first low-res porn.

175
00:10:14,322 --> 00:10:15,865
I couldn't really wait
until the image

176
00:10:15,865 --> 00:10:17,200
was fully displayed.

177
00:10:17,200 --> 00:10:18,952
I climaxed after
the first couple

178
00:10:18,952 --> 00:10:21,120
of grey pixels were shown.

179
00:10:21,120 --> 00:10:23,123
It was quite magic.

180
00:10:23,123 --> 00:10:25,500
I still have a fetish
for grey pixels.

181
00:10:31,631 --> 00:10:37,554
♪

182
00:10:43,601 --> 00:10:46,187
I don't want to be
too Lacanian about it, but...

183
00:10:48,189 --> 00:10:51,442
A lot of desire
got externalized.

184
00:10:51,442 --> 00:10:53,862
For example, I was part
of a small gang,

185
00:10:53,862 --> 00:10:57,615
and we played many pen and paper
role-playing games.

186
00:10:57,615 --> 00:10:59,617
I really liked my character.

187
00:10:59,617 --> 00:11:02,579
I mean, look at
my frickin' character sheet!

188
00:11:02,579 --> 00:11:06,457
♪

189
00:11:06,457 --> 00:11:10,378
I even did double entry
bookkeeping for my gold coins.

190
00:11:10,378 --> 00:11:12,213
Hindsight is always 20/20,

191
00:11:12,213 --> 00:11:16,259
especially if you play games
that require 20-sided dice.

192
00:11:16,259 --> 00:11:18,887
You can do
what you like.

193
00:11:18,887 --> 00:11:22,473
It's only bad when you don't
destroy the evidence.

194
00:11:25,977 --> 00:11:28,354
♪

195
00:11:33,401 --> 00:11:37,071
♪

196
00:11:37,071 --> 00:11:39,699
The promise and dangers
of technology

197
00:11:39,699 --> 00:11:41,409
really interested me.

198
00:11:44,329 --> 00:11:48,625
When I was 17, my wish to do
something meaningful grew.

199
00:11:48,625 --> 00:11:50,043
If I couldn't get a date,

200
00:11:50,043 --> 00:11:53,796
at least I could
change the planet.

201
00:11:53,796 --> 00:11:57,300
I really wanted
to start "monochrom,"

202
00:11:57,300 --> 00:12:00,637
an online message board,
but also magazine,

203
00:12:00,637 --> 00:12:03,806
about the stuff
that interested me:

204
00:12:03,806 --> 00:12:07,769
cyber-topics, politics,
and fringe culture,

205
00:12:07,769 --> 00:12:09,812
and I found friends
and comrades

206
00:12:09,812 --> 00:12:12,649
who joined to make it happen.

207
00:12:12,649 --> 00:12:16,277
And we found victims
for articles and interviews.

208
00:12:16,277 --> 00:12:19,405
Folks like HR Giger,

209
00:12:19,405 --> 00:12:22,367
Kathy Acker,
who were really great,

210
00:12:22,367 --> 00:12:24,452
and Blixa Bargeld,

211
00:12:24,452 --> 00:12:27,330
who turned out
to be major butthurt.

212
00:12:34,128 --> 00:12:36,464
Techno-utopianism, my ass!

213
00:12:36,464 --> 00:12:38,257
I became a leftist.

214
00:12:38,257 --> 00:12:41,469
You couldn't leave the future
to stupid libertarians.

215
00:12:41,469 --> 00:12:43,805
Cyberpunk made me a punk.

216
00:12:43,805 --> 00:12:45,765
Hasta la victoria siempre!

217
00:12:45,765 --> 00:12:47,058
Never forget!

218
00:12:47,058 --> 00:12:48,977
And let anthropomorphized kiwis

219
00:12:48,977 --> 00:12:52,730
puke evil provitamins
on Jean-Luc Picard!

220
00:12:52,730 --> 00:12:54,816
Monochrom was born,

221
00:12:54,816 --> 00:12:58,152
and it never died.

222
00:12:58,152 --> 00:13:00,530
Monochrom's credo
was and still is

223
00:13:00,530 --> 00:13:04,242
to find the perfect
Weapon of Mass Distribution

224
00:13:04,242 --> 00:13:05,785
to spread an idea.

225
00:13:07,245 --> 00:13:09,247
What started as a fanzine

226
00:13:09,247 --> 00:13:11,332
experienced
a Cambrian Explosion,

227
00:13:11,332 --> 00:13:13,751
and we started working
in many different media.

228
00:13:13,751 --> 00:13:17,714
Robots, games,
interventions, musicals...

229
00:13:17,714 --> 00:13:20,091
And so I turned
from being some nerd

230
00:13:20,091 --> 00:13:22,051
into some artist.

231
00:13:22,051 --> 00:13:23,511
I'm 40 years old now,

232
00:13:23,511 --> 00:13:26,556
and monochrom, my baby,
is 22 years old.

233
00:13:26,556 --> 00:13:30,143
Only imagine, it can now
legally drink in the U.S.

234
00:13:30,143 --> 00:13:32,603
So, looking back
at my life's journey,

235
00:13:32,603 --> 00:13:36,274
it occurs to me, why not
going on a real journey,

236
00:13:36,274 --> 00:13:40,069
a journey from the west coast
to the east coast of the U.S.?

237
00:13:40,069 --> 00:13:42,989
To visit nerdy places
and nerdy people

238
00:13:42,989 --> 00:13:45,116
that inspired and shaped me,

239
00:13:45,116 --> 00:13:47,160
but also having
interesting conversations

240
00:13:47,160 --> 00:13:50,079
with other nerds about
nerd culture in general.

241
00:13:50,079 --> 00:13:53,958
So please, join me on
my little three-week-long

242
00:13:53,958 --> 00:13:56,794
transcontinental tour de force.

243
00:13:56,794 --> 00:14:17,648
♪

244
00:14:17,648 --> 00:14:21,027
Traceroute is a road trip,
a pilgrimage,

245
00:14:21,027 --> 00:14:24,113
an inquiry, a palimpsest

246
00:14:24,113 --> 00:14:26,532
to chase and question the ghosts

247
00:14:26,532 --> 00:14:30,703
of nerdoms past,
present, and future.

248
00:14:30,703 --> 00:14:33,372
I teamed up
with two good friends:

249
00:14:33,372 --> 00:14:36,084
Jenny Marx from Germany

250
00:14:36,084 --> 00:14:39,462
and Eddie Codel from California.

251
00:14:39,462 --> 00:14:42,298
Eddie and Jenny at Tanagra.

252
00:14:42,298 --> 00:14:44,842
Johannes, his arms wide.

253
00:14:44,842 --> 00:14:48,888
We get a white rental van
and stockpile on good spirit.

254
00:14:48,888 --> 00:14:50,431
♪

255
00:14:50,431 --> 00:14:54,519
San Francisco is known
for free love and free markets,

256
00:14:54,519 --> 00:14:57,688
a fantastic realm
of endless opportunity

257
00:14:57,688 --> 00:14:59,649
and homelessness.

258
00:14:59,649 --> 00:15:02,860
The cultural center
of what Barbrook and Cameron

259
00:15:02,860 --> 00:15:06,280
called
the Californian Ideology,

260
00:15:06,280 --> 00:15:09,450
a town saturated
in playful dissent

261
00:15:09,450 --> 00:15:12,870
and positive corporate thinking.

262
00:15:12,870 --> 00:15:15,748
My childhood memories of SFO

263
00:15:15,748 --> 00:15:19,877
are the nightmarish game
Manhunter 2,

264
00:15:19,877 --> 00:15:24,715
the adorable serial killer film
Time After Time,

265
00:15:24,715 --> 00:15:27,468
and certainly Star Trek IV,

266
00:15:27,468 --> 00:15:29,303
the one about breaking
and entering

267
00:15:29,303 --> 00:15:32,723
a nuclear vessel in Alameda

268
00:15:32,723 --> 00:15:35,434
and kidnapping two whales.

269
00:15:35,434 --> 00:15:37,937
My friend V. Vale
lived in North Beach

270
00:15:37,937 --> 00:15:39,689
for a long, long time.

271
00:15:39,689 --> 00:15:43,025
He is a famed
publisher and documentarian.

272
00:15:43,025 --> 00:15:45,611
I remember vividly
when I first laid eyes

273
00:15:45,611 --> 00:15:49,157
upon his Industrial
Culture Handbook.

274
00:15:49,157 --> 00:15:52,827
Vale touched
my 15-year-old brain.

275
00:15:52,827 --> 00:15:55,955
It was a consensual bad touch.

276
00:15:55,955 --> 00:15:58,749
City Lights Bookstore,
where I once worked.

277
00:15:58,749 --> 00:16:00,626
- Oh, you did?
- Oh, yeah!

278
00:16:00,626 --> 00:16:02,086
- Yeah?
- Yeah, they funded

279
00:16:02,086 --> 00:16:04,213
- my first publication!
- Really?

280
00:16:04,213 --> 00:16:05,631
- Yes.
- What was that?

281
00:16:05,631 --> 00:16:07,216
- Search and Destroy.
- Search and Destroy!

282
00:16:07,216 --> 00:16:09,260
Ferlinghetti
and Allen Ginsberg.

283
00:16:09,260 --> 00:16:11,637
What do you think have
all subcultures in common?

284
00:16:11,637 --> 00:16:14,098
Because you have been witnessing

285
00:16:14,098 --> 00:16:17,226
many births and deaths
of subcultures.

286
00:16:17,226 --> 00:16:20,021
I think all countercultures,
subcultures,

287
00:16:20,021 --> 00:16:23,608
whatever you wanna call them,
movements such as this,

288
00:16:23,608 --> 00:16:26,402
they've always
been started by nerds.

289
00:16:26,402 --> 00:16:28,863
I mean, you have to have
a lot of solitude,

290
00:16:28,863 --> 00:16:31,240
you have to be used
to being alone,

291
00:16:31,240 --> 00:16:33,451
you have to be used
to being against the grain,

292
00:16:33,451 --> 00:16:37,288
you have to be used
to society not approving

293
00:16:37,288 --> 00:16:40,666
of the way you choose
to live your independent life,

294
00:16:40,666 --> 00:16:44,754
because there is no creativity
in the absence of revolt

295
00:16:44,754 --> 00:16:46,339
and the absence of revolution

296
00:16:46,339 --> 00:16:48,299
and the absence of rebellion.

297
00:16:48,299 --> 00:16:49,842
People just don't realize that

298
00:16:49,842 --> 00:16:52,720
when they're reading
the history books.

299
00:16:52,720 --> 00:16:55,389
Just a very few people
are responsible

300
00:16:55,389 --> 00:16:59,018
for any new emerging
counterculture,

301
00:16:59,018 --> 00:17:03,272
and to me, a culture
has to be composed

302
00:17:03,272 --> 00:17:06,525
of everybody participating
and creating,

303
00:17:06,525 --> 00:17:08,527
not just consuming.

304
00:17:08,527 --> 00:17:10,029
And because of this,

305
00:17:10,029 --> 00:17:12,114
the future will
always be created

306
00:17:12,114 --> 00:17:14,533
by nerds in subcultures.

307
00:17:14,533 --> 00:17:15,993
Well, well!

308
00:17:15,993 --> 00:17:19,163
Are nerds the driving
force of dissent?

309
00:17:19,163 --> 00:17:22,208
Or just a bunch
of hyper-consumers?

310
00:17:22,208 --> 00:17:25,294
Hmm, leaves me
with an excellent case

311
00:17:25,294 --> 00:17:27,213
of cognitive dissonance.

312
00:17:27,213 --> 00:17:29,966
Maybe a stroll
around City Hall

313
00:17:29,966 --> 00:17:31,884
helps to clear my mind.

314
00:17:31,884 --> 00:17:38,099
♪

315
00:17:40,726 --> 00:17:48,317
♪

316
00:17:48,317 --> 00:17:52,029
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
from 1978.

317
00:17:52,029 --> 00:17:55,116
The post-Watergate era
found America depressed,

318
00:17:55,116 --> 00:17:58,202
and Philip Kaufman told
a haunting sci-fi tale

319
00:17:58,202 --> 00:18:00,579
about how the Hippie
generation grew up,

320
00:18:00,579 --> 00:18:02,498
got absorbed and co-opted,

321
00:18:02,498 --> 00:18:06,544
and led the U.S. into
the dark ages of Reaganomics.

322
00:18:06,544 --> 00:18:08,421
Few films left me more hopeless,

323
00:18:08,421 --> 00:18:10,381
yet more determined.

324
00:18:10,381 --> 00:18:12,842
So, whenever you check
your Facebook status

325
00:18:12,842 --> 00:18:15,970
or plan your week-long
escape to Burning Man,

326
00:18:15,970 --> 00:18:18,431
please remember
that the cultures

327
00:18:18,431 --> 00:18:20,850
and countercultures
of Silicon Valley

328
00:18:20,850 --> 00:18:24,061
were made possible
only due to exploitation

329
00:18:24,061 --> 00:18:26,856
of the immigrant poor
plus defense funding

330
00:18:26,856 --> 00:18:29,650
and subsidies for corporations.

331
00:18:29,650 --> 00:18:32,069
Adam Flynn is
very aware of this.

332
00:18:32,069 --> 00:18:35,239
He grew up in the small town
of Yuma, Arizona,

333
00:18:35,239 --> 00:18:38,284
the real-life equivalent
of Night Vale.

334
00:18:38,284 --> 00:18:42,204
Now he lives in the Bay Area
as a philosopher for hire.

335
00:18:42,204 --> 00:18:45,041
Good, 'cause there
are no apps for that.

336
00:18:45,041 --> 00:18:48,919
Cyberpunk, for me, like punk,
is a very wide thing.

337
00:18:48,919 --> 00:18:50,504
I mean, who were the cyberpunks?

338
00:18:50,504 --> 00:18:53,966
So, like, 13-year-old boys
like me,

339
00:18:53,966 --> 00:18:56,010
it's a very
privileged subculture,

340
00:18:56,010 --> 00:18:58,763
because it's usually people
who had access to technology.

341
00:18:58,763 --> 00:19:02,224
Women and minorities
and queer people

342
00:19:02,224 --> 00:19:05,353
have always been
in geek culture,

343
00:19:05,353 --> 00:19:07,521
but they've been made invisible.

344
00:19:07,521 --> 00:19:10,941
Now suddenly geek culture
is mainstream,

345
00:19:10,941 --> 00:19:14,862
like the only reliable things
keeping Hollywood afloat

346
00:19:14,862 --> 00:19:19,492
are superhero action movies
from comic books.

347
00:19:19,492 --> 00:19:22,912
All of these things are
trying to be a big tent,

348
00:19:22,912 --> 00:19:26,707
but the people that used
to be part of the small tent

349
00:19:26,707 --> 00:19:30,711
feel like, "Oh, someone's
stolen my country."

350
00:19:30,711 --> 00:19:33,339
Geography creates mindsets.

351
00:19:33,339 --> 00:19:34,715
- It's, like, undebatable...
- Sure!

352
00:19:34,715 --> 00:19:35,841
- ...I think, yeah?
- Yeah!

353
00:19:35,841 --> 00:19:38,010
You feel super alienated,

354
00:19:38,010 --> 00:19:42,014
but you find somewhere
out there something

355
00:19:42,014 --> 00:19:44,433
that is--that you
can connect with

356
00:19:44,433 --> 00:19:47,686
and that you have this sense
of "One of these days,

357
00:19:47,686 --> 00:19:49,605
I'm gonna shake the dust
from my heels

358
00:19:49,605 --> 00:19:52,108
and go to the big city
and find my people."

359
00:19:52,108 --> 00:19:54,068
You know, so much
of video games,

360
00:19:54,068 --> 00:19:56,821
so much of comic books,
are based on this sense of

361
00:19:56,821 --> 00:19:58,739
a kind of, you know,
wish fulfillment

362
00:19:58,739 --> 00:20:00,491
and power fantasies

363
00:20:00,491 --> 00:20:04,787
or the sense of, you know,
in playing something very hard

364
00:20:04,787 --> 00:20:07,289
or going through and mastering
the secret knowledge,

365
00:20:07,289 --> 00:20:11,252
this shared hardship
and discipline

366
00:20:11,252 --> 00:20:14,171
that you have gone through
and mastered.

367
00:20:14,171 --> 00:20:16,799
Absolutely, man, I see
that camaraderie, let's say,

368
00:20:16,799 --> 00:20:18,509
the camaraderie of nerdom,

369
00:20:18,509 --> 00:20:22,221
especially potent
in role-playing campaigns

370
00:20:22,221 --> 00:20:23,764
when you, like,
sit around a table

371
00:20:23,764 --> 00:20:25,599
for hours and hours and hours

372
00:20:25,599 --> 00:20:27,601
and master and fight
monsters or whatever,

373
00:20:27,601 --> 00:20:29,145
and you do it together.

374
00:20:29,145 --> 00:20:31,981
I had my first date,
the first date of my life,

375
00:20:31,981 --> 00:20:34,066
was in a role-playing game.

376
00:20:34,066 --> 00:20:35,693
Wait, like, your character
was having a date?

377
00:20:35,693 --> 00:20:38,237
Yes, the character
was having a date,

378
00:20:38,237 --> 00:20:41,115
but that was for me
like my first date!

379
00:20:41,115 --> 00:20:43,325
It was so--he's laughing, yes,

380
00:20:43,325 --> 00:20:44,743
and you should!

381
00:20:44,743 --> 00:20:46,245
I truly believe

382
00:20:46,245 --> 00:20:49,123
that two things
are true about humanity:

383
00:20:49,123 --> 00:20:51,041
We are a sexual species,

384
00:20:51,041 --> 00:20:53,878
and we are a tool-using species.

385
00:20:53,878 --> 00:20:56,422
The rest is pure speculation.

386
00:20:56,422 --> 00:21:00,885
So we make our way to
the hackerspace Noisebridge,

387
00:21:00,885 --> 00:21:03,637
known for tinkering
and social drama.

388
00:21:03,637 --> 00:21:07,141
That's where we meet
an old activist friend of mine.

389
00:21:07,141 --> 00:21:09,768
Hi, my name is Maggie Mayhem!

390
00:21:09,768 --> 00:21:13,314
I'm a lifelong nerd,
and I'm a sex worker.

391
00:21:13,314 --> 00:21:15,524
When I think about how
I define myself as a nerd,

392
00:21:15,524 --> 00:21:17,818
I think back to a lot
of really important moments

393
00:21:17,818 --> 00:21:19,487
in childhood.

394
00:21:19,487 --> 00:21:22,031
For one thing, I never
really had a thing for dolls.

395
00:21:22,031 --> 00:21:23,657
I did have a thing
for batteries,

396
00:21:23,657 --> 00:21:25,618
and I loved being able
to design my own types

397
00:21:25,618 --> 00:21:27,453
of electric circuitry
around my room.

398
00:21:27,453 --> 00:21:29,955
I had lights, I had bells,
I had booby traps,

399
00:21:29,955 --> 00:21:31,665
I had everything
I could think of.

400
00:21:31,665 --> 00:21:33,334
I went from nine-volt batteries

401
00:21:33,334 --> 00:21:35,252
and eventually graduated
up to bigger ones.

402
00:21:35,252 --> 00:21:36,795
I think even,
at my shining glory,

403
00:21:36,795 --> 00:21:38,339
a car battery
that I was using

404
00:21:38,339 --> 00:21:40,090
to power all kinds of things.

405
00:21:40,090 --> 00:21:42,760
I had a console that
let me program in BASIC,

406
00:21:42,760 --> 00:21:44,553
and it reminded me of
the Catholic teachings

407
00:21:44,553 --> 00:21:47,348
that I was getting at school,
my small parochial school,

408
00:21:47,348 --> 00:21:49,975
about how on the first day
God created light

409
00:21:49,975 --> 00:21:52,228
and then He programmed
the rest of the universe.

410
00:21:52,228 --> 00:21:54,438
And that's how I felt
with my whole sandbox

411
00:21:54,438 --> 00:21:56,148
where I could just do anything.

412
00:21:56,148 --> 00:21:57,566
I went down to the library

413
00:21:57,566 --> 00:21:59,276
and I learned how
to use the internet,

414
00:21:59,276 --> 00:22:01,403
and one of my early lessons
was not to tell anybody

415
00:22:01,403 --> 00:22:03,405
that I was a nine-year-old girl.

416
00:22:03,405 --> 00:22:06,158
Just no one will believe you,
and if they do,

417
00:22:06,158 --> 00:22:08,536
they don't have anything
good to say to you.

418
00:22:08,536 --> 00:22:10,663
So I pretended
I was a teenage boy,

419
00:22:10,663 --> 00:22:13,332
and that worked
for a really long time.

420
00:22:13,332 --> 00:22:15,376
It worked until
I was a teenager.

421
00:22:15,376 --> 00:22:16,835
As soon as I hit puberty,

422
00:22:16,835 --> 00:22:18,295
I guess either through implied

423
00:22:18,295 --> 00:22:20,881
or maybe even sometimes
explicit statements,

424
00:22:20,881 --> 00:22:23,300
I kinda thought being a woman
meant giving that all up.

425
00:22:23,300 --> 00:22:24,760
And sometimes,
now that I'm older,

426
00:22:24,760 --> 00:22:26,387
that's really frustrating,

427
00:22:26,387 --> 00:22:28,514
because I still love technology,
and I'm still a nerd,

428
00:22:28,514 --> 00:22:31,100
and I still have all kinds
of great equipment around,

429
00:22:31,100 --> 00:22:34,395
and I'll go to do something
or I'll have an idea,

430
00:22:34,395 --> 00:22:37,314
and I sit down at my computer

431
00:22:37,314 --> 00:22:39,316
and it's like it's
a language that I forgot.

432
00:22:39,316 --> 00:22:41,235
And I can't make
the words come to my lips.

433
00:22:41,235 --> 00:22:45,239
I can't quite program the way
I used to remember, you know?

434
00:22:45,239 --> 00:22:47,616
I mean, on the internet,
looking at source code

435
00:22:47,616 --> 00:22:50,369
of HTML on a website
was like an upskirt view.

436
00:22:50,369 --> 00:22:51,620
It was exciting,
it was a chance

437
00:22:51,620 --> 00:22:53,289
to figure it out
just by watching

438
00:22:53,289 --> 00:22:55,708
and piecing it together,
and I think that sex workers

439
00:22:55,708 --> 00:22:57,960
have always had
a relationship to technology.

440
00:22:57,960 --> 00:22:59,587
Either sex has been
a driving force

441
00:22:59,587 --> 00:23:01,297
in how technology
has played out

442
00:23:01,297 --> 00:23:04,633
in regards to whether or not
Beta or VHS was gonna win

443
00:23:04,633 --> 00:23:06,302
on how they carried porn,

444
00:23:06,302 --> 00:23:08,596
or even the fact that
the Consumer Electronics Show

445
00:23:08,596 --> 00:23:10,598
in Las Vegas is
one of the number one

446
00:23:10,598 --> 00:23:12,391
sex work destinations.

447
00:23:12,391 --> 00:23:16,145
I remember the first time
I ever traded sex for software.

448
00:23:16,145 --> 00:23:18,355
It was about 2005,

449
00:23:18,355 --> 00:23:20,274
and I was a student
in Santa Cruz.

450
00:23:20,274 --> 00:23:22,151
I remember meeting
so many software engineers

451
00:23:22,151 --> 00:23:25,195
because we could share
all kinds of conversations,

452
00:23:25,195 --> 00:23:27,698
we could have a really
good time together.

453
00:23:27,698 --> 00:23:29,283
We had so much in common,

454
00:23:29,283 --> 00:23:32,620
and we could work out
barter arrangements.

455
00:23:32,620 --> 00:23:34,288
I think sex workers
have been carrying

456
00:23:34,288 --> 00:23:36,874
all kinds of innovation
and maybe help spurring it.

457
00:23:36,874 --> 00:23:38,250
Maybe there's always
been a relationship

458
00:23:38,250 --> 00:23:40,169
between hackers and hookers.

459
00:23:40,169 --> 00:23:41,795
At the same time
sometimes now it feels like

460
00:23:41,795 --> 00:23:43,589
it's a little bit more hostile.

461
00:23:43,589 --> 00:23:47,134
You know, we've been alongside
technology the whole time,

462
00:23:47,134 --> 00:23:49,762
and yet we're being written
out of the Terms of Service.

463
00:23:49,762 --> 00:23:51,764
And sometimes I wonder
if there's ever gonna be

464
00:23:51,764 --> 00:23:53,515
the people come out to say
that they were johns,

465
00:23:53,515 --> 00:23:55,267
that they were clients,

466
00:23:55,267 --> 00:23:58,062
that they, too, are allies
to sex workers,

467
00:23:58,062 --> 00:23:59,688
that they know that
we're human beings,

468
00:23:59,688 --> 00:24:01,690
that we deserve rights
and that there is a difference

469
00:24:01,690 --> 00:24:04,485
between trafficking
and consensual sex.

470
00:24:04,485 --> 00:24:06,945
But I can come out,
and I'm hoping that the nerds

471
00:24:06,945 --> 00:24:08,280
who like to have
a good time with me

472
00:24:08,280 --> 00:24:09,823
might come out, too.

473
00:24:09,823 --> 00:24:11,367
Bravo!

474
00:24:11,367 --> 00:24:12,951
And as a little thank you,

475
00:24:12,951 --> 00:24:15,120
we present Maggie with a mug

476
00:24:15,120 --> 00:24:16,997
that Jenny and I created.

477
00:24:16,997 --> 00:24:19,958
The Venus of Strapondorf.

478
00:24:19,958 --> 00:24:21,543
Always remember...

479
00:24:24,588 --> 00:24:29,176
Josh Ellingson is a wonderful
illustrator and designer.

480
00:24:30,844 --> 00:24:34,181
When I first saw
his illustration of Carl Sagan,

481
00:24:34,181 --> 00:24:35,974
I was hooked to his work.

482
00:24:35,974 --> 00:24:40,270
I asked Josh to bring
some of his designs.

483
00:24:40,270 --> 00:24:42,272
That's Dirty Martini,
a Burlesque performer

484
00:24:42,272 --> 00:24:44,400
from New York City,
and she's standing there

485
00:24:44,400 --> 00:24:47,653
in front of the Mercury rocket
that's taking off.

486
00:24:47,653 --> 00:24:53,367
And that piece was featured
in outer space on the ISS.

487
00:24:53,367 --> 00:24:55,661
Richard Garriott, one of
those internet millionaires

488
00:24:55,661 --> 00:24:58,664
or video game millionaires,
actually, took it up

489
00:24:58,664 --> 00:25:02,459
as part of an art show
that he put together.

490
00:25:02,459 --> 00:25:04,378
There were eight
other artists in the show,

491
00:25:04,378 --> 00:25:07,339
and it was just kind
of a crazy privilege

492
00:25:07,339 --> 00:25:10,509
to be featured
on the Space Station.

493
00:25:10,509 --> 00:25:13,554
The space tourist
takes your art to space.

494
00:25:13,554 --> 00:25:15,305
Garriott is
an interesting character

495
00:25:15,305 --> 00:25:18,350
because he's one of the many,
many nerds nowadays

496
00:25:18,350 --> 00:25:21,228
who kinda made it--
he's like a billionaire.

497
00:25:21,228 --> 00:25:24,189
- Oh, such a nerd.
- Growing up as a nerd

498
00:25:24,189 --> 00:25:26,233
in Flint, Michigan,
was probably not easy.

499
00:25:26,233 --> 00:25:28,777
Yeah, and I definitely
felt different, for sure.

500
00:25:28,777 --> 00:25:30,904
Like, growing up,
like, I was always

501
00:25:30,904 --> 00:25:32,573
into something really hardcore,

502
00:25:32,573 --> 00:25:34,616
and some of my friends
would be into it for a while.

503
00:25:34,616 --> 00:25:36,952
You know, I didn't
get into, like, sports

504
00:25:36,952 --> 00:25:39,121
or popular music, really.

505
00:25:39,121 --> 00:25:42,666
So I guess it was--
I felt weird and different,

506
00:25:42,666 --> 00:25:45,085
but I didn't know that it--
I don't know,

507
00:25:45,085 --> 00:25:48,297
I guess I kinda picked on nerds
or thought I was better

508
00:25:48,297 --> 00:25:50,966
than the nerdy people
or whatever, but--

509
00:25:50,966 --> 00:25:54,553
So you were like--kinda
almost like a social cannibal

510
00:25:54,553 --> 00:25:56,221
or something
because you were a nerd,

511
00:25:56,221 --> 00:25:57,765
but you were picking on nerds?

512
00:25:57,765 --> 00:25:59,516
Yeah, I didn't know
what the hell I was--

513
00:25:59,516 --> 00:26:01,977
what was going on,
and I would wear--

514
00:26:01,977 --> 00:26:03,562
I would try to be cool,
like, I don't know.

515
00:26:03,562 --> 00:26:04,938
Like I said,
I thought I was cool.

516
00:26:04,938 --> 00:26:06,565
So when did you
come out as a nerd?

517
00:26:06,565 --> 00:26:09,902
I don't know, 10 years ago
or maybe 12 years ago

518
00:26:09,902 --> 00:26:13,280
or something, I'm like,
"Yeah, I'm just a nerd."

519
00:26:13,280 --> 00:26:15,908
Like I'm just--yeah.

520
00:26:15,908 --> 00:26:18,243
- I think we should get drunk.
- Yeah, let's do it, man.

521
00:26:18,243 --> 00:26:20,162
Okay.

522
00:26:20,162 --> 00:26:23,207
And I sit at the bar
and put bread in his jar,

523
00:26:23,207 --> 00:26:26,543
and say, "Man,
what are you doing here?"

524
00:26:26,543 --> 00:26:29,463
The term "nerd" got popularized

525
00:26:29,463 --> 00:26:32,341
by sitcoms around
the time I was born.

526
00:26:32,341 --> 00:26:34,510
The etymology
is a bit unclear.

527
00:26:34,510 --> 00:26:38,347
Some say it got invented
by my old hero Dr. Seuss,

528
00:26:38,347 --> 00:26:40,808
some refer to various
slang origins,

529
00:26:40,808 --> 00:26:42,267
and even Philip K. Dick

530
00:26:42,267 --> 00:26:44,686
claimed to have
coined the spelling.

531
00:26:44,686 --> 00:26:46,104
Doesn't really matter.

532
00:26:46,104 --> 00:26:47,815
What matters
is how this new archetype

533
00:26:47,815 --> 00:26:50,776
is embedded in the guts
of neoliberalism.

534
00:26:50,776 --> 00:26:55,364
Dare I postulate that
the Revenge Of The Nerds

535
00:26:55,364 --> 00:26:58,826
is cognitive capitalism itself.

536
00:26:58,826 --> 00:27:00,786
We walk down
Hoff Street, and...

537
00:27:00,786 --> 00:27:02,454
- Hey!
- Oh, hello!

538
00:27:02,454 --> 00:27:04,456
- Abie, good to see you!
- Johannes, good to see you!

539
00:27:04,456 --> 00:27:06,083
- So you're a therapist.
- I am.

540
00:27:06,083 --> 00:27:08,418
I think, first of all,
it's important to think

541
00:27:08,418 --> 00:27:11,213
about the many different types
of nerds that there are.

542
00:27:11,213 --> 00:27:13,090
I think it's not
just technology.

543
00:27:13,090 --> 00:27:16,176
Anybody who is
really into something,

544
00:27:16,176 --> 00:27:18,887
anybody that has a focus
and an intensity

545
00:27:18,887 --> 00:27:21,598
about any particular
topic is a nerd.

546
00:27:21,598 --> 00:27:23,350
Our culture doesn't
necessarily value

547
00:27:23,350 --> 00:27:25,686
all of these interests, right,
so you come into school,

548
00:27:25,686 --> 00:27:27,354
and you found
this really cool thing,

549
00:27:27,354 --> 00:27:28,772
and you wanna show everyone,
and they think,

550
00:27:28,772 --> 00:27:30,566
"Ah, that's stupid,
why are you into that?"

551
00:27:30,566 --> 00:27:33,402
That's the beginning
of that kind of trauma, right?

552
00:27:33,402 --> 00:27:34,862
And it can also go
the other way around

553
00:27:34,862 --> 00:27:36,697
where you start off
with the idea

554
00:27:36,697 --> 00:27:38,615
of you're just
a little bit different,

555
00:27:38,615 --> 00:27:42,077
like many of us were,
and you're ostracized,

556
00:27:42,077 --> 00:27:44,955
and the way that you
deal with that trauma

557
00:27:44,955 --> 00:27:46,790
is by finding something,

558
00:27:46,790 --> 00:27:49,334
a passion that you pour
yourself into like that.

559
00:27:49,334 --> 00:27:54,214
And so the nerdery can be--
it's a response to the trauma

560
00:27:54,214 --> 00:27:55,924
and a way of dealing
with the trauma

561
00:27:55,924 --> 00:28:00,220
of being an outsider,
so it kind of goes both ways.

562
00:28:00,220 --> 00:28:01,847
You know, if you're just
playing guitar chords,

563
00:28:01,847 --> 00:28:04,099
that's one thing,
but then you start to be a--

564
00:28:04,099 --> 00:28:06,059
you become a rock star,
that's a different thing.

565
00:28:06,059 --> 00:28:07,978
If you're coding in your room,
that's one thing,

566
00:28:07,978 --> 00:28:09,146
but then you get hired
by Google,

567
00:28:09,146 --> 00:28:10,522
that's another thing, right?

568
00:28:10,522 --> 00:28:13,942
So I think when
that crossover happens

569
00:28:13,942 --> 00:28:17,613
and the sense
of self in the world

570
00:28:17,613 --> 00:28:19,615
doesn't catch up with it--

571
00:28:19,615 --> 00:28:21,617
so it's almost a kind
of social dysmorphia

572
00:28:21,617 --> 00:28:25,078
where you still feel like
you are completely powerless,

573
00:28:25,078 --> 00:28:27,581
but you don't realize
that you have suddenly

574
00:28:27,581 --> 00:28:31,543
become very powerful,
and it's easy not to realize

575
00:28:31,543 --> 00:28:34,922
the impact of your actions on,
you know, the people around you,

576
00:28:34,922 --> 00:28:37,090
the planet around you, all that.

577
00:28:37,090 --> 00:28:38,884
Now sleepy time.

578
00:28:38,884 --> 00:28:41,720
♪

579
00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:44,097
Bye-bye, San Francisco.

580
00:28:44,097 --> 00:28:45,933
A drive over the Bay Bridge

581
00:28:45,933 --> 00:28:48,560
offers a good view
of the giant cranes

582
00:28:48,560 --> 00:28:50,896
at the Port of Oakland,

583
00:28:50,896 --> 00:28:53,273
and that triggers
two of my passions:

584
00:28:53,273 --> 00:28:57,402
intergalactic oppression
and logistics.

585
00:28:57,402 --> 00:28:59,947
Many fans think
that those cranes

586
00:28:59,947 --> 00:29:03,492
inspired the Imperial Walkers
in Star Wars.

587
00:29:03,492 --> 00:29:05,035
Well, nope.

588
00:29:05,035 --> 00:29:08,413
George Lucas himself
dismissed that claim.

589
00:29:08,413 --> 00:29:10,082
Walker designs
were actually inspired

590
00:29:10,082 --> 00:29:12,668
by garbage trucks,

591
00:29:12,668 --> 00:29:15,796
but what always stuns me
is a different fact.

592
00:29:15,796 --> 00:29:19,007
One of the greatest
inventions of the 20th century

593
00:29:19,007 --> 00:29:22,135
is the shipping container.

594
00:29:22,135 --> 00:29:26,348
In 1955 a guy called McLean

595
00:29:26,348 --> 00:29:28,976
realized it would be
much simpler and quicker

596
00:29:28,976 --> 00:29:31,061
to have one
standardized container

597
00:29:31,061 --> 00:29:32,813
that could be lifted
from a vehicle

598
00:29:32,813 --> 00:29:35,315
directly onto a ship
or a train

599
00:29:35,315 --> 00:29:38,318
without first having
to unload its contents.

600
00:29:38,318 --> 00:29:41,405
That fundamentally
changed the world.

601
00:29:41,405 --> 00:29:46,410
Nine billion tons of cargo
across our seas each year

602
00:29:46,410 --> 00:29:48,245
in an evenly distributed system

603
00:29:48,245 --> 00:29:52,499
that would be a ton
for each person on the planet.

604
00:29:52,499 --> 00:29:55,836
So even though Lucas
was not inspired by it,

605
00:29:55,836 --> 00:29:58,213
the container-shipping network

606
00:29:58,213 --> 00:30:02,592
is the true backbone
of the Global Empire.

607
00:30:02,592 --> 00:30:05,637
Sending stuff efficiently
from one point to another

608
00:30:05,637 --> 00:30:08,098
is a fascinating subject.

609
00:30:08,098 --> 00:30:10,892
One of the big players is FedEx.

610
00:30:10,892 --> 00:30:15,439
And FedEx has one of
the best logos ever created.

611
00:30:15,439 --> 00:30:17,899
You ever realized
that there is an arrow

612
00:30:17,899 --> 00:30:19,359
in the Ex?

613
00:30:19,359 --> 00:30:20,777
No?

614
00:30:20,777 --> 00:30:22,863
Look there, there it is!

615
00:30:22,863 --> 00:30:25,157
Lindon Leader created
this masterpiece

616
00:30:25,157 --> 00:30:28,201
of negative space in 1994.

617
00:30:28,201 --> 00:30:31,663
Leader learned from
an unsung hero himself.

618
00:30:31,663 --> 00:30:35,625
His first job was
working for Saul Bass,

619
00:30:35,625 --> 00:30:39,046
the guy who created
the AT&T logo,

620
00:30:39,046 --> 00:30:43,341
made posters and title
sequences for Hitchcock,

621
00:30:43,341 --> 00:30:45,135
and directed a movie

622
00:30:45,135 --> 00:30:50,432
about intelligent ants
who talk math--Phase IV,

623
00:30:50,432 --> 00:30:53,769
the first film to depict
a geometric crop circle,

624
00:30:53,769 --> 00:30:55,896
and it was an influence
on the pranksters

625
00:30:55,896 --> 00:30:58,315
who started this phenomenon.

626
00:30:58,315 --> 00:31:00,817
Time to get some
hard drives for backup.

627
00:31:00,817 --> 00:31:04,154
You know, Jesus saves...

628
00:31:04,154 --> 00:31:07,616
Fry's Electronics is a chain
of big-box one-stop stores.

629
00:31:07,616 --> 00:31:10,827
They sell everything
tech-nerd-relevant.

630
00:31:10,827 --> 00:31:13,914
They even sold porn
when that was still lucrative.

631
00:31:13,914 --> 00:31:19,961
♪

632
00:31:21,963 --> 00:31:23,423
♪

633
00:31:24,591 --> 00:31:26,468
We have our loot,

634
00:31:26,468 --> 00:31:28,011
but we are also late.

635
00:31:28,011 --> 00:31:30,847
We have to make it
to Santa Cruz before sunset.

636
00:31:30,847 --> 00:31:32,557
♪

637
00:31:32,557 --> 00:31:35,727
She is a media theorist,
artist, and technology writer.

638
00:31:35,727 --> 00:31:37,312
But she worked in many odd jobs,

639
00:31:37,312 --> 00:31:38,730
one of them was
recording engineer

640
00:31:38,730 --> 00:31:40,524
for Jimi Hendrix.

641
00:31:40,524 --> 00:31:42,192
Sandy is considered the founder

642
00:31:42,192 --> 00:31:46,446
of the academic discipline
of transgender studies.

643
00:31:46,446 --> 00:31:48,698
...a real lost boy...

644
00:31:50,742 --> 00:31:53,286
We have to work on
that a little bit.

645
00:31:53,286 --> 00:31:55,747
The most fascinating thing
about what happened

646
00:31:55,747 --> 00:31:58,875
is everything Bill Gibson
talked about came true,

647
00:31:58,875 --> 00:32:00,836
plus the things
that he only thought about

648
00:32:00,836 --> 00:32:03,130
that he didn't really
think would happen.

649
00:32:03,130 --> 00:32:06,591
And the worst aspects of them

650
00:32:06,591 --> 00:32:08,718
turned out to be
kind of the average.

651
00:32:08,718 --> 00:32:12,639
You know, that's
what everything is now.

652
00:32:12,639 --> 00:32:15,934
And as happens
with every movement

653
00:32:15,934 --> 00:32:19,938
or period or whatever,
everybody grew up--

654
00:32:19,938 --> 00:32:21,606
you know, we had
a fantastic time,

655
00:32:21,606 --> 00:32:24,317
it was a tremendously
powerful time.

656
00:32:24,317 --> 00:32:26,236
A lot of wonderful
things happened,

657
00:32:26,236 --> 00:32:28,738
people developed,
and finished,

658
00:32:28,738 --> 00:32:32,784
and moved on with really
wonderful technological things

659
00:32:32,784 --> 00:32:36,163
and societal things,
and then it all went to shit.

660
00:32:36,163 --> 00:32:39,624
It got ground up in
the great capitalist grinder,

661
00:32:39,624 --> 00:32:42,419
and now we have post--
lost boys.

662
00:32:42,419 --> 00:32:45,589
- We have post-post.
- We have post-post lost boys.

663
00:32:45,589 --> 00:32:47,048
And it's all okay,

664
00:32:47,048 --> 00:32:48,884
because we're all
still doing it.

665
00:32:48,884 --> 00:32:52,387
I mean, the street found
its uses for technology,

666
00:32:52,387 --> 00:32:55,265
and it found its uses
for the social furnishings

667
00:32:55,265 --> 00:32:57,559
that those technologies
produced.

668
00:32:57,559 --> 00:33:03,481
♪

669
00:33:03,481 --> 00:33:05,775
He took that interest
and creative energy

670
00:33:05,775 --> 00:33:07,944
of hippiedom and dropping LSD

671
00:33:07,944 --> 00:33:11,198
and channeled it
into what is Apple now,

672
00:33:11,198 --> 00:33:14,951
and you're just like, nobody
should ever take LSD anymore!

673
00:33:14,951 --> 00:33:18,788
LSD is a tool
that can do anything.

674
00:33:18,788 --> 00:33:21,666
If you are Steve Jobs,
it will make you Super Steve.

675
00:33:21,666 --> 00:33:23,710
It would make you
Super Johannes.

676
00:33:23,710 --> 00:33:26,546
Super Johannes, like running
a death camp or something.

677
00:33:29,257 --> 00:33:33,511
Now, broiled scallops
in a tourist trap.

678
00:33:33,511 --> 00:33:36,139
I always loved
the great dichotomies of life:

679
00:33:36,139 --> 00:33:37,766
PLAYMOBIL and LEGO,

680
00:33:37,766 --> 00:33:40,518
dinosaurs and things
that dinosaurs eat,

681
00:33:40,518 --> 00:33:43,104
trees with leaves
and pine trees,

682
00:33:43,104 --> 00:33:46,524
cats and mice
like Tom and Jerry.

683
00:33:46,524 --> 00:33:49,569
But as someone who grew up
in Central Europe,

684
00:33:49,569 --> 00:33:53,531
I never understood how a mouse
can live inside a wall.

685
00:33:53,531 --> 00:33:55,075
Walls are
made of bricks!

686
00:33:55,075 --> 00:33:56,534
Walls are not hollow.

687
00:33:56,534 --> 00:33:58,245
Way later I came to understand

688
00:33:58,245 --> 00:34:00,789
that U.S. American houses
are made of wood,

689
00:34:00,789 --> 00:34:03,124
and the walls are really hollow.

690
00:34:03,124 --> 00:34:04,793
♪

691
00:34:04,793 --> 00:34:07,045
Sandy's car has so many
nice bumper stickers,

692
00:34:07,045 --> 00:34:11,132
so we decide that
our van needs one, too.

693
00:34:11,132 --> 00:34:15,303
Let's live dangerous and break
our rental car contract.

694
00:34:15,303 --> 00:34:17,347
♪

695
00:34:17,347 --> 00:34:19,599
I realize that
I lost my passport.

696
00:34:19,599 --> 00:34:21,434
Shock!

697
00:34:21,434 --> 00:34:23,520
I track it down at
the scallops-serving

698
00:34:23,520 --> 00:34:25,355
tourist trap.

699
00:34:26,731 --> 00:34:29,192
- Yeah!
- Perfect!

700
00:34:29,192 --> 00:34:30,610
Makes me happy.

701
00:34:30,610 --> 00:34:32,445
The Peace of Westphalia

702
00:34:32,445 --> 00:34:35,156
gave us the concept
of the nation state,

703
00:34:35,156 --> 00:34:38,118
and we all have to play
by its strange rules.

704
00:34:38,118 --> 00:34:41,204
♪

705
00:34:41,204 --> 00:34:43,373
Carl Sagan's take on humanity,

706
00:34:43,373 --> 00:34:46,251
exploration, and pathos
is still engrained

707
00:34:46,251 --> 00:34:47,836
in my thinking and doing,

708
00:34:47,836 --> 00:34:49,713
and when I find out
that our route

709
00:34:49,713 --> 00:34:51,715
takes us by the spot
where he shot

710
00:34:51,715 --> 00:34:54,884
the famous opening scene
of Cosmos,

711
00:34:54,884 --> 00:34:57,095
I can't help
but knock on some doors...

712
00:34:57,095 --> 00:34:59,598
- I have information!
- Oh, yeah?

713
00:34:59,598 --> 00:35:03,643
...hoping to get access to that
piece of magic grazing land.

714
00:35:03,643 --> 00:35:06,187
And really,
we get an interview!

715
00:35:06,187 --> 00:35:08,523
Well, my dead grandfather
bought this property

716
00:35:08,523 --> 00:35:11,693
around 1910,
and he ended up with it

717
00:35:11,693 --> 00:35:13,278
mainly because he couldn't
afford property

718
00:35:13,278 --> 00:35:14,779
in the Salinas Valley

719
00:35:14,779 --> 00:35:17,115
where it was all
the good planting land.

720
00:35:17,115 --> 00:35:19,159
So he came out here
and had a few cows,

721
00:35:19,159 --> 00:35:22,370
and then through the years,
people felt it was much nicer

722
00:35:22,370 --> 00:35:24,080
to live by the ocean
and the views,

723
00:35:24,080 --> 00:35:26,291
and so it became more
and more valuable,

724
00:35:26,291 --> 00:35:28,126
which then attracted
more people

725
00:35:28,126 --> 00:35:30,295
and, you know,
eventually Cosmos

726
00:35:30,295 --> 00:35:32,630
and many other filming
companies showed up here,

727
00:35:32,630 --> 00:35:34,257
and actually wanted
to take advantage

728
00:35:34,257 --> 00:35:36,634
of the views that
we have here on the flats,

729
00:35:36,634 --> 00:35:39,137
because it's one of the only
flat pieces here on the coast.

730
00:35:39,137 --> 00:35:41,556
So Cosmos showed up
in the last '70s,

731
00:35:41,556 --> 00:35:42,849
and I didn't really know

732
00:35:42,849 --> 00:35:44,434
exactly what
they were going to do,

733
00:35:44,434 --> 00:35:45,852
and they stuck
this guy out there

734
00:35:45,852 --> 00:35:47,187
who I didn't know
a whole lot about,

735
00:35:47,187 --> 00:35:49,272
and he had his little deb.

736
00:35:49,272 --> 00:35:51,858
Since then, they've come back
and filmed the sequel to it

737
00:35:51,858 --> 00:35:54,736
and, you know,
that's where we are today.

738
00:35:54,736 --> 00:35:57,364
He was standing here
and holding a dandelion,

739
00:35:57,364 --> 00:35:58,948
and the dandelion would turn

740
00:35:58,948 --> 00:36:01,326
into the Spaceship
of Imagination--

741
00:36:01,326 --> 00:36:02,577
Yeah, and he picked
the dandelion

742
00:36:02,577 --> 00:36:04,120
- over there, I think...
- Ah, wonderful!

743
00:36:04,120 --> 00:36:05,538
...'Cause that turns
into a bunch of field

744
00:36:05,538 --> 00:36:08,041
of dandelions and poppies, so...

745
00:36:08,041 --> 00:36:27,685
♪

746
00:36:27,685 --> 00:36:32,023
Pee and literature break
at the Henry Miller Library.

747
00:36:32,023 --> 00:36:38,071
♪

748
00:36:38,071 --> 00:36:40,824
I like driving,
but realizing that we have

749
00:36:40,824 --> 00:36:45,453
a journey of 7,000 miles
before us makes me shiver.

750
00:36:45,453 --> 00:36:48,498
It reminds me of
the strange societal consensus

751
00:36:48,498 --> 00:36:51,543
of steering tons of machinery
at high speeds

752
00:36:51,543 --> 00:36:54,337
to get milk or drop someone off,

753
00:36:54,337 --> 00:36:56,965
and we don't consider
this strange!

754
00:36:56,965 --> 00:37:00,677
We just accept it from
an economical perspective,

755
00:37:00,677 --> 00:37:03,805
although we know
how deadly cars are.

756
00:37:03,805 --> 00:37:06,224
The age of self-driving cars
is dawning,

757
00:37:06,224 --> 00:37:08,309
and we will look back
at this behavior

758
00:37:08,309 --> 00:37:10,854
and shake our heads.

759
00:37:10,854 --> 00:37:13,148
Henry Ford's decision
to pay his workers

760
00:37:13,148 --> 00:37:17,652
$5-a-day-wages was
not one of welfare.

761
00:37:17,652 --> 00:37:21,448
It was that he realized
that he should pay his workers

762
00:37:21,448 --> 00:37:23,992
sufficiently large sums
so they could afford

763
00:37:23,992 --> 00:37:26,494
the products they were making.

764
00:37:26,494 --> 00:37:29,664
He wanted to expand his market.

765
00:37:29,664 --> 00:37:33,084
For Google, self-driving cars
will be entertainment

766
00:37:33,084 --> 00:37:34,794
and communication hubs.

767
00:37:34,794 --> 00:37:37,213
I sit in my car
while it drives me around,

768
00:37:37,213 --> 00:37:38,506
and what do I do?

769
00:37:38,506 --> 00:37:40,925
I consume media
and make calls.

770
00:37:40,925 --> 00:37:43,428
I literally become
a captive audience

771
00:37:43,428 --> 00:37:47,640
for advertisers and services
that want my money.

772
00:37:47,640 --> 00:37:49,434
Whoever controls that aspect

773
00:37:49,434 --> 00:37:52,228
will have many
happy shareholders.

774
00:37:52,228 --> 00:38:01,821
♪

775
00:38:01,821 --> 00:38:04,741
L.A. feels like the aftermath

776
00:38:04,741 --> 00:38:08,036
of a giant WikiLeaks release.

777
00:38:08,036 --> 00:38:10,788
The truth is out,
in black and white,

778
00:38:10,788 --> 00:38:14,042
everyone knows it,
it's blatantly clear

779
00:38:14,042 --> 00:38:16,628
that everything
is wrong and bad

780
00:38:16,628 --> 00:38:19,547
and can't get any worse,

781
00:38:19,547 --> 00:38:22,300
but nobody really cares.

782
00:38:22,300 --> 00:38:25,220
I appreciate this attitude.

783
00:38:25,220 --> 00:38:29,599
You can't make fun of L.A.,
it's beyond parody.

784
00:38:29,599 --> 00:38:31,351
It's like Henry Kissinger

785
00:38:31,351 --> 00:38:33,353
receiving
the Nobel Peace Prize.

786
00:38:33,353 --> 00:38:36,314
♪

787
00:38:36,314 --> 00:38:40,777
We are on our way to
the botanical gardens of UCLA.

788
00:38:40,777 --> 00:38:43,738
Whenever I go
to a botanical garden,

789
00:38:43,738 --> 00:38:46,699
I think of killing people
with a spade

790
00:38:46,699 --> 00:38:48,660
and American Airlines.

791
00:38:48,660 --> 00:38:50,537
And that's because
of Douglas Trumbull's

792
00:38:50,537 --> 00:38:56,209
1972 eco-sci-fi film
Silent Running.

793
00:38:56,209 --> 00:38:59,003
A couple of space freighters
are carrying domes

794
00:38:59,003 --> 00:39:01,548
with the last
remaining ecosystems,

795
00:39:01,548 --> 00:39:05,176
and Bruce Dern is one
of the caretaking astronauts.

796
00:39:05,176 --> 00:39:08,846
When the crew gets the command
to destroy all domes,

797
00:39:08,846 --> 00:39:11,349
Dern freaks out,
kills his colleagues,

798
00:39:11,349 --> 00:39:15,019
and flees with all the bunnies
and cactuses and stuff.

799
00:39:15,019 --> 00:39:17,564
The political message
is a bit woo woo,

800
00:39:17,564 --> 00:39:19,190
but the space freighters

801
00:39:19,190 --> 00:39:22,527
featured big
American Airlines logos,

802
00:39:22,527 --> 00:39:24,237
and I still remember it.

803
00:39:24,237 --> 00:39:28,616
Best product placement
buck ever spent.

804
00:39:28,616 --> 00:39:31,995
Christina Agapakis
is a synthetic biologist

805
00:39:31,995 --> 00:39:34,289
who does exciting projects.

806
00:39:34,289 --> 00:39:35,957
I guess I always
thought of myself

807
00:39:35,957 --> 00:39:38,209
sort of a cross between
a ballerina and a scientist

808
00:39:38,209 --> 00:39:40,670
when I was five,
and I realized at that point

809
00:39:40,670 --> 00:39:43,631
that I wasn't going to be
a ballerina pretty early on.

810
00:39:43,631 --> 00:39:46,926
As a young nerd she liked
the soothing fact

811
00:39:46,926 --> 00:39:50,096
that there was always
an answer in science.

812
00:39:50,096 --> 00:39:52,974
Turned out to be a bit
of a misunderstanding.

813
00:39:52,974 --> 00:39:55,101
So you're also
doing art projects,

814
00:39:55,101 --> 00:39:56,603
and one project
is about cheese.

815
00:39:56,603 --> 00:39:58,021
Could you tell us about that?

816
00:39:58,021 --> 00:40:00,607
We realized that the
chemistry of armpits

817
00:40:00,607 --> 00:40:03,818
and sweat and body odors
and foot odor

818
00:40:03,818 --> 00:40:07,155
is very, very similar to
the chemistry of cheese.

819
00:40:07,155 --> 00:40:11,784
Um, and so a lot of the
smells and flavors of cheeses

820
00:40:11,784 --> 00:40:13,828
are really similar to
the smells and flavors

821
00:40:13,828 --> 00:40:16,080
of the human body,
it turns out.

822
00:40:16,080 --> 00:40:17,373
So, you know, you can
have Limburger cheese

823
00:40:17,373 --> 00:40:18,750
that smells like feet,

824
00:40:18,750 --> 00:40:21,210
Swiss cheese can have
a kind of sweaty smell,

825
00:40:21,210 --> 00:40:22,712
and that's 'cause the bacteria

826
00:40:22,712 --> 00:40:24,589
are making the same
kinds of molecules,

827
00:40:24,589 --> 00:40:27,258
and the bacteria themselves
are really closely related.

828
00:40:27,258 --> 00:40:30,011
So the project was to kind of,
again, decontextualize,

829
00:40:30,011 --> 00:40:33,473
reframe our kind of
emotional understanding

830
00:40:33,473 --> 00:40:36,017
and kind of disgust at microbes

831
00:40:36,017 --> 00:40:38,186
and the kind of
ickiness of them.

832
00:40:38,186 --> 00:40:40,063
We created our own cheeses

833
00:40:40,063 --> 00:40:43,900
using bacteria from the
human body, including yours.

834
00:40:43,900 --> 00:40:46,277
You were one of our
very kind donors.

835
00:40:46,277 --> 00:40:48,738
I think I had, like, armpits,

836
00:40:48,738 --> 00:40:50,698
and I think it
was also crotch.

837
00:40:50,698 --> 00:40:53,993
I think you did provide us a
crotch sample but I'm not sure--

838
00:40:53,993 --> 00:40:57,205
But you don't know
what--what specific...

839
00:40:57,205 --> 00:40:58,873
I can't remember now.

840
00:40:58,873 --> 00:41:00,333
But it failed.

841
00:41:00,333 --> 00:41:03,127
It--yeah, I didn't
do a very good job

842
00:41:03,127 --> 00:41:06,297
sort of aging the cheese,
so that was one thing

843
00:41:06,297 --> 00:41:08,549
I really learned
about--about microbes.

844
00:41:08,549 --> 00:41:11,052
There's a real craft
element to cheesemaking

845
00:41:11,052 --> 00:41:13,429
and you have to really
nurture the bacteria

846
00:41:13,429 --> 00:41:15,014
to grow the right way.

847
00:41:15,014 --> 00:41:16,516
So your cheese,
in particular,

848
00:41:16,516 --> 00:41:17,975
I had to go to a conference,

849
00:41:17,975 --> 00:41:19,519
so I was like, "Okay,
I'll set up the cheese.

850
00:41:19,519 --> 00:41:21,312
I'll put it to kind
of age in the cabinet

851
00:41:21,312 --> 00:41:23,606
that I had been using,
um, and I'll come back

852
00:41:23,606 --> 00:41:25,358
from the conference,
it'll be ready."

853
00:41:25,358 --> 00:41:29,112
And then I come back home,
and the house smells terrible

854
00:41:29,112 --> 00:41:32,198
like it had just
gone very, very bad.

855
00:41:32,198 --> 00:41:34,033
I fucked up your house.

856
00:41:34,033 --> 00:41:36,953
Anyway, it ended up okay,
but I opened the cabinet,

857
00:41:36,953 --> 00:41:39,706
and the cheese was moving

858
00:41:39,706 --> 00:41:43,126
because it had little
maggots had laid their--

859
00:41:43,126 --> 00:41:46,254
like, flies had laid their
eggs inside the cheese.

860
00:41:46,254 --> 00:41:48,339
It was very, very bad.

861
00:41:48,339 --> 00:41:51,175
So your cheese was a
very striking example

862
00:41:51,175 --> 00:41:53,302
of kind of the
visceral disgust

863
00:41:53,302 --> 00:41:56,222
that you can experience
with biological organisms

864
00:41:56,222 --> 00:42:00,476
out of context
and the kind of signal

865
00:42:00,476 --> 00:42:03,813
of how you really have to
care for things as they rot.

866
00:42:03,813 --> 00:42:06,899
Can it get any worse?

867
00:42:06,899 --> 00:42:08,067
Yes.

868
00:42:08,067 --> 00:42:10,820
♪

869
00:42:10,820 --> 00:42:12,613
Calm down, calm down.

870
00:42:12,613 --> 00:42:17,076
I just don't want you to
fall asleep, dear audience.

871
00:42:17,076 --> 00:42:19,704
Time to visit my
buddy Sean Bonner

872
00:42:19,704 --> 00:42:22,498
and his wife Tara,
and son Rips.

873
00:42:22,498 --> 00:42:25,501
They have an
impressive collection...

874
00:42:25,501 --> 00:42:29,130
♪

875
00:42:29,130 --> 00:42:30,631
- Sean.
- Johannes.

876
00:42:30,631 --> 00:42:32,592
Sean, Sean, Sean, Sean.

877
00:42:32,592 --> 00:42:35,636
So, we are both born in 1975,

878
00:42:35,636 --> 00:42:38,556
so we are pretty much
the last generation

879
00:42:38,556 --> 00:42:40,224
with an inbred angst

880
00:42:40,224 --> 00:42:44,187
of total nuclear
annihilation, okay?

881
00:42:44,187 --> 00:42:46,564
As kids, we didn't know
that it was weird, right?

882
00:42:46,564 --> 00:42:48,983
Like, there was nothing
unusual about going to school

883
00:42:48,983 --> 00:42:51,360
and your teacher saying,
"Okay, when the nuclear bombs

884
00:42:51,360 --> 00:42:53,237
start dropping,
hide under your desks,"

885
00:42:53,237 --> 00:42:55,490
you know, and do this sort of
stuff because you're a kid,

886
00:42:55,490 --> 00:42:57,158
like, "Oh, okay, well,
that's what you do."

887
00:42:57,158 --> 00:43:00,161
I was 11 years old and you
were 11 years old in 1986,

888
00:43:00,161 --> 00:43:02,455
and that was a kind of
bad year for modernity

889
00:43:02,455 --> 00:43:05,208
because, first of all,
Chernobyl blew up

890
00:43:05,208 --> 00:43:08,836
and secondly, the Challenger
explosion happened.

891
00:43:08,836 --> 00:43:12,173
Goddamn O-ring.

892
00:43:12,173 --> 00:43:15,885
I don't worry too much
about the established rules

893
00:43:15,885 --> 00:43:19,138
and setup of things
because I sort of--

894
00:43:19,138 --> 00:43:20,807
I sort of always
approach that as that's--

895
00:43:20,807 --> 00:43:22,600
Whatever--whatever
is an existing process

896
00:43:22,600 --> 00:43:24,393
to do something
is the old way.

897
00:43:24,393 --> 00:43:26,270
That's kind of something
that sort of sticks with me

898
00:43:26,270 --> 00:43:28,815
in everything that I do, and
I think it probably is rooted

899
00:43:28,815 --> 00:43:30,191
in all of this sort of stuff.

900
00:43:30,191 --> 00:43:32,151
We were very, very
anxious in finding out

901
00:43:32,151 --> 00:43:34,070
that everybody was
okay really quickly,

902
00:43:34,070 --> 00:43:36,405
and once word started
coming back in

903
00:43:36,405 --> 00:43:38,825
about what was
happening at Daiichi,

904
00:43:38,825 --> 00:43:40,827
and the word that I was
getting from everyone in Japan

905
00:43:40,827 --> 00:43:43,371
was that they didn't
know what was going on

906
00:43:43,371 --> 00:43:44,914
and they couldn't
find any information.

907
00:43:44,914 --> 00:43:47,333
There was nobody
monitoring any of this stuff,

908
00:43:47,333 --> 00:43:49,460
and that the sort
of institutions

909
00:43:49,460 --> 00:43:51,337
and organizations
that you would expect

910
00:43:51,337 --> 00:43:52,797
to be on top of that

911
00:43:52,797 --> 00:43:54,590
really didn't have
any idea what to do

912
00:43:54,590 --> 00:43:55,925
and they weren't
doing anything.

913
00:43:55,925 --> 00:43:57,635
The world supply
of Geiger counters,

914
00:43:57,635 --> 00:43:59,846
essentially, sold out
in about 24 hours.

915
00:43:59,846 --> 00:44:01,722
There was nobody--nobody
buying them before that

916
00:44:01,722 --> 00:44:03,266
and then everybody
buying them after that,

917
00:44:03,266 --> 00:44:05,726
so the entire supply chain
died up immediately.

918
00:44:05,726 --> 00:44:08,145
What you need for a
functioning market

919
00:44:08,145 --> 00:44:10,565
- is a good crisis.
- Yeah, exactly.

920
00:44:10,565 --> 00:44:12,525
The example that I use a lot
is, like, if you wanted

921
00:44:12,525 --> 00:44:16,112
to find out what the weather
was in Los Angeles right now,

922
00:44:16,112 --> 00:44:17,446
and the best thing
you could get

923
00:44:17,446 --> 00:44:18,948
was an average for
all of California.

924
00:44:18,948 --> 00:44:21,075
This device collects
a radiation reading

925
00:44:21,075 --> 00:44:23,452
every five seconds and
ties it to a GPS point

926
00:44:23,452 --> 00:44:25,955
and then uploads
it to a server

927
00:44:25,955 --> 00:44:28,916
that's shared for
the entire world,

928
00:44:28,916 --> 00:44:33,838
so now we have just shy
of 30 million data points

929
00:44:33,838 --> 00:44:35,506
covering the entire world.

930
00:44:35,506 --> 00:44:38,092
This is more data than
every other organization

931
00:44:38,092 --> 00:44:41,220
who's ever collected
radiation readings combined.

932
00:44:41,220 --> 00:44:42,972
- Wonderful.
- It's been pretty fantastic.

933
00:44:42,972 --> 00:44:45,850
Yes, it is, and we will
take it on the road with us.

934
00:44:45,850 --> 00:44:47,435
Yeah, absolutely,
I have one for you

935
00:44:47,435 --> 00:44:49,270
so you can map out
the entire route.

936
00:44:49,270 --> 00:44:53,941
We'll strap it onto our
little Town & Country

937
00:44:53,941 --> 00:44:55,985
and find out
what is out there.

938
00:44:55,985 --> 00:44:58,362
Yeah, totally,
you should, you should.

939
00:44:58,362 --> 00:45:01,032
Let's check out
the L.A. River.

940
00:45:01,032 --> 00:45:12,710
♪

941
00:45:15,755 --> 00:45:18,925
We have to get
to Griffith Park.

942
00:45:18,925 --> 00:45:23,262
The fastest route is the
wormhole in Sean's beard.

943
00:45:23,262 --> 00:45:28,559
♪

944
00:45:28,559 --> 00:45:31,437
This tunnel is
very dear to me.

945
00:45:31,437 --> 00:45:34,106
It goes right into my heart.

946
00:45:34,106 --> 00:45:35,316
Thanks to Hollywood

947
00:45:35,316 --> 00:45:38,778
and its love for
cost-efficient wizardry,

948
00:45:38,778 --> 00:45:43,115
I'm standing at the entrance
of three marvelous universes.

949
00:45:43,115 --> 00:45:46,118
This tunnel is the
portal to Toontown

950
00:45:46,118 --> 00:45:48,829
in Who Framed Roger Rabbit,

951
00:45:48,829 --> 00:45:50,581
a movie about the destruction

952
00:45:50,581 --> 00:45:54,168
of the public transport system
by private car companies.

953
00:45:54,168 --> 00:45:58,297
It's also the scene of the
wonderful hoverboard sequence

954
00:45:58,297 --> 00:46:00,633
in Back to the Future II,

955
00:46:00,633 --> 00:46:04,220
set in the distant
future of 2015.

956
00:46:04,220 --> 00:46:05,846
And most important:

957
00:46:05,846 --> 00:46:07,682
it's the tunnel
into the bowels

958
00:46:07,682 --> 00:46:11,143
of mutual assured destruction,

959
00:46:11,143 --> 00:46:15,898
the entrance to NORAD,
in WarGames from 1983.

960
00:46:15,898 --> 00:46:18,734
Home of WOPR, a supercomputer

961
00:46:18,734 --> 00:46:21,487
that almost turns
the world population

962
00:46:21,487 --> 00:46:25,783
into sizzling hamburgers.

963
00:46:25,783 --> 00:46:28,786
WarGames was
very influential.

964
00:46:28,786 --> 00:46:31,622
For the first time ever,
it presented the trope

965
00:46:31,622 --> 00:46:33,708
of the lone,
intelligent hacker

966
00:46:33,708 --> 00:46:35,418
to a mainstream audience

967
00:46:35,418 --> 00:46:39,213
and created a whole flood
of keyboard jockeys.

968
00:46:39,213 --> 00:46:42,633
For me, WarGames
offered the first glimpse

969
00:46:42,633 --> 00:46:45,052
into understanding the obscene

970
00:46:45,052 --> 00:46:48,472
and absurd power
structures of society.

971
00:46:48,472 --> 00:46:49,849
We don't need experts,

972
00:46:49,849 --> 00:46:52,852
we need people who
are willing to play.

973
00:46:52,852 --> 00:46:56,564
Thirty years later, hacker
culture is still too white

974
00:46:56,564 --> 00:46:59,734
and too male and mostly
made up of highly educated,

975
00:46:59,734 --> 00:47:01,902
extremely well-paid people

976
00:47:01,902 --> 00:47:04,155
who think they're
being oppressed.

977
00:47:04,155 --> 00:47:07,867
What about a nice game of
dialectical materialism?

978
00:47:07,867 --> 00:47:10,161
♪

979
00:47:10,161 --> 00:47:14,790
On the way to 4267
Roxbury St., Simi Valley.

980
00:47:14,790 --> 00:47:17,752
I need to show you something.

981
00:47:17,752 --> 00:47:19,795
Damn, we are too late.

982
00:47:19,795 --> 00:47:22,673
Now you can't see
why we are here.

983
00:47:22,673 --> 00:47:24,759
But I will give you a hint.

984
00:47:24,759 --> 00:47:27,678
♪

985
00:47:32,391 --> 00:47:35,644
Hiding in the suburban
darkness behind me

986
00:47:35,644 --> 00:47:37,313
is the former estate

987
00:47:37,313 --> 00:47:40,691
of the Freeling family
of Poltergeist fame.

988
00:47:40,691 --> 00:47:42,610
♪

989
00:47:42,610 --> 00:47:46,572
In the 1970s,
Raymond Williams postulated

990
00:47:46,572 --> 00:47:48,657
that the real
innovation of television

991
00:47:48,657 --> 00:47:50,451
is television itself.

992
00:47:50,451 --> 00:47:53,537
He calls this "flow."

993
00:47:53,537 --> 00:47:56,957
An experience where all the
different program elements

994
00:47:56,957 --> 00:48:01,087
and styles form a
mesmerizing emotional pastiche

995
00:48:01,087 --> 00:48:02,671
for the viewer.

996
00:48:02,671 --> 00:48:05,591
There used to be an
end to this "flow."

997
00:48:05,591 --> 00:48:10,262
Sometime came the
inevitable nightly signoff.

998
00:48:10,262 --> 00:48:12,223
Snow.

999
00:48:12,223 --> 00:48:15,267
I remember from my childhood
how that was a moment

1000
00:48:15,267 --> 00:48:18,938
of terrifying
stillness and clarity.

1001
00:48:18,938 --> 00:48:21,315
It is no coincidence
that Poltergeist

1002
00:48:21,315 --> 00:48:24,068
used this phenomenon
as a plot device.

1003
00:48:24,068 --> 00:48:28,739
After the American national
anthem, the broadcast is over;

1004
00:48:28,739 --> 00:48:31,951
the snowstorm sets in,
and the eerie voices

1005
00:48:31,951 --> 00:48:34,537
of the damned start calling.

1006
00:48:44,964 --> 00:48:46,632
♪

1007
00:48:47,550 --> 00:48:50,469
♪

1008
00:48:50,469 --> 00:48:52,638
The first American
towns I knew by name

1009
00:48:52,638 --> 00:48:55,224
were New York City
and Pasadena,

1010
00:48:55,224 --> 00:48:59,145
the latter because of NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory,

1011
00:48:59,145 --> 00:49:01,105
birthplace of
the Viking probe

1012
00:49:01,105 --> 00:49:04,859
and other fine goods of
interplanetary gadgetry.

1013
00:49:04,859 --> 00:49:06,068
It's 10:00 p.m.

1014
00:49:06,068 --> 00:49:07,486
Let's try to sneak in.

1015
00:49:07,486 --> 00:49:09,738
Hello, honestly,
we're just tourists

1016
00:49:09,738 --> 00:49:11,198
and wanted to check out JPL.

1017
00:49:11,198 --> 00:49:12,283
Can we go in?

1018
00:49:12,283 --> 00:49:14,577
Okay, that didn't work.

1019
00:49:14,577 --> 00:49:15,995
Frustrating.

1020
00:49:15,995 --> 00:49:18,747
Let's get hammered
in the hotel bar.

1021
00:49:18,747 --> 00:49:21,292
Suddenly, there is a
strange image appearing

1022
00:49:21,292 --> 00:49:24,420
on the rear-view monitor.

1023
00:49:24,420 --> 00:49:26,755
We stop to check
what's going on.

1024
00:49:26,755 --> 00:49:29,842
♪

1025
00:49:29,842 --> 00:49:32,845
Jack Parsons was an
explosives hobbyist,

1026
00:49:32,845 --> 00:49:34,889
science fiction enthusiast,

1027
00:49:34,889 --> 00:49:37,099
and Crowleyan occultist.

1028
00:49:37,099 --> 00:49:39,602
He was also one of the
earliest people to focus

1029
00:49:39,602 --> 00:49:42,021
on practical rocketry.

1030
00:49:42,021 --> 00:49:46,150
In the '30s, rockets were a
crazy science fiction idea,

1031
00:49:46,150 --> 00:49:49,028
so it took people who had
an entirely different concept

1032
00:49:49,028 --> 00:49:51,113
of what was possible
to make rocketry

1033
00:49:51,113 --> 00:49:52,740
a practical reality.

1034
00:49:52,740 --> 00:49:54,450
Although, his only
experience in the field

1035
00:49:54,450 --> 00:49:56,577
was working in an
explosives factory,

1036
00:49:56,577 --> 00:49:59,496
Parsons hooked up with a group
of Caltech grad students

1037
00:49:59,496 --> 00:50:01,498
trying to build
working rockets.

1038
00:50:01,498 --> 00:50:03,542
After ruining one lab in 1937,

1039
00:50:03,542 --> 00:50:05,878
the team known as
the "Suicide Squad"

1040
00:50:05,878 --> 00:50:07,463
were sent out to the Arroyo

1041
00:50:07,463 --> 00:50:09,673
where they could only
damage themselves.

1042
00:50:09,673 --> 00:50:11,383
Many things did explode,

1043
00:50:11,383 --> 00:50:14,511
but somehow they did not
blow themselves up.

1044
00:50:14,511 --> 00:50:17,640
Parsons' designs
became the foundation

1045
00:50:17,640 --> 00:50:20,059
of modern
solid-fuel rocketry,

1046
00:50:20,059 --> 00:50:21,936
and the location
of their tests

1047
00:50:21,936 --> 00:50:24,313
became the Jet Propulsion Lab.

1048
00:50:24,313 --> 00:50:26,690
The Suicide Squad's
leader, Frank Malina,

1049
00:50:26,690 --> 00:50:28,609
became the director of JPL.

1050
00:50:28,609 --> 00:50:31,111
This combination of
occultist and technologist

1051
00:50:31,111 --> 00:50:33,113
blowing things up in
the dusty foothills

1052
00:50:33,113 --> 00:50:36,617
made sense in the context
of the freaky technoculture

1053
00:50:36,617 --> 00:50:38,911
of Los Angeles which
was a heavy blend

1054
00:50:38,911 --> 00:50:42,039
of boundless optimism
and cosmic paranoia.

1055
00:50:42,039 --> 00:50:45,251
It was in this context that
someone like Jack Parsons

1056
00:50:45,251 --> 00:50:47,461
could be one of the
inventors of modern rocketry

1057
00:50:47,461 --> 00:50:49,255
because why the hell not?

1058
00:50:49,255 --> 00:50:50,881
And it was in this context

1059
00:50:50,881 --> 00:50:53,259
that a pulp science fiction
author named Lafayette

1060
00:50:53,259 --> 00:50:56,178
ended up performing
Crowleyan sex magick rituals

1061
00:50:56,178 --> 00:50:58,555
with that same amateur
rocket scientist

1062
00:50:58,555 --> 00:51:00,140
in a Pasadena mansion.

1063
00:51:00,140 --> 00:51:01,767
L. Ron Hubbard went on to use

1064
00:51:01,767 --> 00:51:03,185
some of Aleister Crowley's
religious symbols

1065
00:51:03,185 --> 00:51:05,271
to create his own
Church of Scientology.

1066
00:51:05,271 --> 00:51:07,898
Jack Parsons was killed
in a mysterious explosion

1067
00:51:07,898 --> 00:51:10,067
in a Pasadena garage in 1952.

1068
00:51:10,067 --> 00:51:11,360
He has a crater
named after him

1069
00:51:11,360 --> 00:51:12,736
on the dark side of the moon.

1070
00:51:12,736 --> 00:51:15,948
Today, JPL controls a
team of Martian robots.

1071
00:51:15,948 --> 00:51:20,786
♪

1072
00:51:20,786 --> 00:51:22,288
I like palms...

1073
00:51:22,288 --> 00:51:24,665
♪

1074
00:51:24,665 --> 00:51:28,919
A century ago, the iconic
street tree of Los Angeles

1075
00:51:28,919 --> 00:51:30,796
was not the palm.

1076
00:51:30,796 --> 00:51:33,215
In the 1920s and 1930s,

1077
00:51:33,215 --> 00:51:36,010
L.A. was busy
building its modern grid

1078
00:51:36,010 --> 00:51:38,429
of automobile boulevards,

1079
00:51:38,429 --> 00:51:41,849
and the city was looking for
standardized street trees.

1080
00:51:41,849 --> 00:51:45,853
Palms held out the promise
of symbiotic infrastructure:

1081
00:51:45,853 --> 00:51:47,855
they could provide
beautification

1082
00:51:47,855 --> 00:51:51,358
without dropping fruit
or buckling concrete.

1083
00:51:51,358 --> 00:51:55,237
Now palms stand for
glamour and celebrity.

1084
00:51:55,237 --> 00:51:57,323
A symbol was born.

1085
00:51:57,323 --> 00:52:05,789
♪

1086
00:52:05,789 --> 00:52:07,708
For longer than I exist,

1087
00:52:07,708 --> 00:52:10,336
the name Stan Winston
has been synonymous

1088
00:52:10,336 --> 00:52:13,547
with iconic
fantasy characters.

1089
00:52:13,547 --> 00:52:18,135
♪

1090
00:52:18,135 --> 00:52:21,472
Stan Winston Studio
continually set new standards

1091
00:52:21,472 --> 00:52:24,475
of excellence and innovation.

1092
00:52:24,475 --> 00:52:27,311
♪

1093
00:52:27,311 --> 00:52:31,106
After Stan's untimely
passing in 2008,

1094
00:52:31,106 --> 00:52:32,733
Matt Winston co-founded

1095
00:52:32,733 --> 00:52:35,611
Stan Winston School
of Character Arts

1096
00:52:35,611 --> 00:52:39,615
to preserve Stan's legacy
by fostering creativity

1097
00:52:39,615 --> 00:52:42,743
in a new generation
of character creators.

1098
00:52:46,372 --> 00:52:48,457
I grew up consuming
all the stuff

1099
00:52:48,457 --> 00:52:50,334
that your father
was working on

1100
00:52:50,334 --> 00:52:53,879
like The Thing or Aliens
or Jurassic Park.

1101
00:52:53,879 --> 00:52:57,257
You were living in a
household with your father

1102
00:52:57,257 --> 00:52:59,885
who was creating and
really doing all this stuff,

1103
00:52:59,885 --> 00:53:02,388
so you were probably
sitting there eating pizza

1104
00:53:02,388 --> 00:53:04,890
and your father would
say, "Ah, Jim Cameron,

1105
00:53:04,890 --> 00:53:07,559
he wants this and
this, I don't know."

1106
00:53:07,559 --> 00:53:10,104
I don't know, is this
also like part of that?

1107
00:53:10,104 --> 00:53:15,192
Yeah, I was very
fortunate to be around

1108
00:53:15,192 --> 00:53:17,611
when Jim Cameron would
come and work with Dad

1109
00:53:17,611 --> 00:53:19,363
and they'd do tests
for alien queens

1110
00:53:19,363 --> 00:53:21,407
and, you know, you'd
think it would be,

1111
00:53:21,407 --> 00:53:23,117
"Oh, humdrum, this is
what I grew up around."

1112
00:53:23,117 --> 00:53:24,701
It was never humdrum for me.

1113
00:53:24,701 --> 00:53:28,997
I was always totally
excited by it and around it

1114
00:53:28,997 --> 00:53:32,334
just like you were 5,000,
6,000 miles away.

1115
00:53:32,334 --> 00:53:34,044
It was the same for me.

1116
00:53:34,044 --> 00:53:37,131
I was--I'm still the
biggest nerd for this stuff,

1117
00:53:37,131 --> 00:53:40,384
and I just got a closer
insider view of it,

1118
00:53:40,384 --> 00:53:42,928
but it's really
the same thing.

1119
00:53:42,928 --> 00:53:45,556
You know, we both
are--love, you know?

1120
00:53:45,556 --> 00:53:47,599
- Heart to heart.
- It really is.

1121
00:53:47,599 --> 00:53:50,978
I mean, I still--I get
a big grin on my face

1122
00:53:50,978 --> 00:53:52,729
every time I go to a
special effects shop

1123
00:53:52,729 --> 00:53:54,189
and I see an artist working.

1124
00:53:54,189 --> 00:53:55,899
I'm wearing--look at that.

1125
00:53:55,899 --> 00:53:59,194
I'm wearing an Aliens
Colonial Marines cap.

1126
00:53:59,194 --> 00:54:01,655
- And it never gets old.
- It never gets old!

1127
00:54:01,655 --> 00:54:03,240
It never gets old,
and I'm the same as you.

1128
00:54:03,240 --> 00:54:05,409
Wait, I'm dragging it here.

1129
00:54:05,409 --> 00:54:08,036
Look at this,
the Weyland-Yutani,

1130
00:54:08,036 --> 00:54:12,374
Weyland-Yutani bag on
my frigging backpack.

1131
00:54:12,374 --> 00:54:14,585
And I was--just happened
to be lucky enough,

1132
00:54:14,585 --> 00:54:16,128
I get to go onto
the set of Aliens

1133
00:54:16,128 --> 00:54:17,421
and help puppeteer
the alien queen.

1134
00:54:17,421 --> 00:54:19,298
Ah!

1135
00:54:19,298 --> 00:54:21,258
But I was as
excited as you were.

1136
00:54:21,258 --> 00:54:23,385
I was never like, "Ah,
a day at work with Dad."

1137
00:54:23,385 --> 00:54:26,722
It was always like, "Holy
crap, this is so awesome."

1138
00:54:26,722 --> 00:54:28,640
That's wonderful,
that's wonderful.

1139
00:54:28,640 --> 00:54:32,227
So little outview,
what do you think will be

1140
00:54:32,227 --> 00:54:34,521
the next five, ten years
of special effects?

1141
00:54:34,521 --> 00:54:37,858
Where will the--the really
interesting stuff go now?

1142
00:54:37,858 --> 00:54:41,403
Um, I--I believe that there is

1143
00:54:41,403 --> 00:54:45,741
a pendulum swing
back to embracing

1144
00:54:45,741 --> 00:54:48,368
lots of techniques
for making movies.

1145
00:54:48,368 --> 00:54:51,747
I think after CGI came along,

1146
00:54:51,747 --> 00:54:54,082
everyone was so excited
by this brand-new toy

1147
00:54:54,082 --> 00:54:55,751
that they used it
for everything,

1148
00:54:55,751 --> 00:54:57,628
and I think there's
a new generation

1149
00:54:57,628 --> 00:55:00,339
who want to see us come
back to using everything

1150
00:55:00,339 --> 00:55:02,174
and I think that's where

1151
00:55:02,174 --> 00:55:04,176
the industry's headed
and that's where the magic

1152
00:55:04,176 --> 00:55:05,594
comes back to movie making.

1153
00:55:05,594 --> 00:55:07,721
No one gets into
the movie business

1154
00:55:07,721 --> 00:55:09,306
to go to a big empty stage

1155
00:55:09,306 --> 00:55:10,974
with green walls
and people in green.

1156
00:55:10,974 --> 00:55:15,062
No, you get into storytelling
because you like--

1157
00:55:15,062 --> 00:55:16,146
You want to lick
the Terminator.

1158
00:55:16,146 --> 00:55:17,606
You want to lick
the Terminator.

1159
00:55:17,606 --> 00:55:19,733
He's actually licking
the Terminator.

1160
00:55:19,733 --> 00:55:21,318
Yes, I am, I am.

1161
00:55:21,318 --> 00:55:23,278
This is what nerds
do, it's fine.

1162
00:55:23,278 --> 00:55:27,032
Just don't lick the
zombie head, um...

1163
00:55:27,032 --> 00:55:29,576
I can put my finger up his
nose, like I can do this.

1164
00:55:29,576 --> 00:55:31,119
You can, and you can't
do that with pixels.

1165
00:55:31,119 --> 00:55:32,412
I can actually lick the nose.

1166
00:55:32,412 --> 00:55:34,081
No, please stop
licking our stuff.

1167
00:55:34,081 --> 00:55:37,751
- Okay, I'll stop.
- Thank you.

1168
00:55:37,751 --> 00:55:39,253
We'll remove that in post.

1169
00:55:39,253 --> 00:55:40,587
It's okay, we'll
remove it in post.

1170
00:55:40,587 --> 00:55:43,840
The wonder of
special effects.

1171
00:55:43,840 --> 00:55:46,426
Now another good example,
Fantastic Mr. Fox.

1172
00:55:46,426 --> 00:55:47,511
- Did you see that?
- Of course!

1173
00:55:47,511 --> 00:55:50,973
Old-style stop motion.

1174
00:55:50,973 --> 00:55:53,767
Great, it's magical to watch.

1175
00:55:53,767 --> 00:55:55,185
The Boxtrolls.

1176
00:55:55,185 --> 00:55:57,312
So I think we're
getting back to variety.

1177
00:55:57,312 --> 00:56:00,607
That's what I think the
next ten years holds.

1178
00:56:00,607 --> 00:56:02,317
Thank you so much--hug, hug!

1179
00:56:02,317 --> 00:56:03,902
Oh, don't lick me though.

1180
00:56:03,902 --> 00:56:05,153
No, I don't lick you,
I don't lick you.

1181
00:56:05,153 --> 00:56:06,780
I know he's gonna lick me.

1182
00:56:06,780 --> 00:56:08,031
Oh, he licked me!

1183
00:56:08,031 --> 00:56:09,783
He just licked me!

1184
00:56:09,783 --> 00:56:12,202
Stop licking people,
you crazy Austrian!

1185
00:56:12,202 --> 00:56:14,496
No licking?
What does he expect?

1186
00:56:14,496 --> 00:56:16,957
We are in San Fernando Valley!

1187
00:56:16,957 --> 00:56:19,876
I got so excited
that I forgot to ask Matt

1188
00:56:19,876 --> 00:56:22,212
the most important question:

1189
00:56:22,212 --> 00:56:25,674
Why do they send a high-tech
killing machine back in time

1190
00:56:25,674 --> 00:56:28,010
that can't speak
proper English?

1191
00:56:28,010 --> 00:56:31,263
An 8-bit problem?

1192
00:56:31,263 --> 00:56:33,724
Escape from L.A.

1193
00:56:33,724 --> 00:56:35,559
Our next destination:

1194
00:56:35,559 --> 00:56:40,063
The El Mirage Dry Lake Bed
in San Bernardino County.

1195
00:56:40,063 --> 00:56:42,524
♪

1196
00:56:42,524 --> 00:56:44,151
Ouch!

1197
00:56:44,151 --> 00:56:46,486
The lake bed is an
interesting place

1198
00:56:46,486 --> 00:56:49,406
of speed and stillness.

1199
00:56:49,406 --> 00:56:53,285
It is mostly used in car
commercials and yoga videos,

1200
00:56:53,285 --> 00:56:57,039
but it also was a testing
ground for rocket cars.

1201
00:56:57,039 --> 00:56:59,124
Is this the right turn?

1202
00:56:59,124 --> 00:57:04,296
♪

1203
00:57:04,296 --> 00:57:08,884
Reminds me of the waltzing
truck scene in Convoy.

1204
00:57:08,884 --> 00:57:11,762
♪

1205
00:57:11,762 --> 00:57:16,058
After 45 minutes driving
around in dusty nothingness,

1206
00:57:16,058 --> 00:57:18,143
we are getting a bit worried.

1207
00:57:18,143 --> 00:57:20,979
♪

1208
00:57:20,979 --> 00:57:22,939
Oh, look at that jet
engine right there.

1209
00:57:22,939 --> 00:57:24,775
There's the gate.

1210
00:57:24,775 --> 00:57:26,193
Okay, so what do we do?

1211
00:57:26,193 --> 00:57:28,236
I don't see any
human being and--

1212
00:57:28,236 --> 00:57:29,780
Back up?

1213
00:57:32,866 --> 00:57:34,201
...and that's the last
thing you want to do.

1214
00:57:34,201 --> 00:57:35,369
You want to...

1215
00:57:36,745 --> 00:57:39,331
Okay, welcome to
El Mirage, California.

1216
00:57:39,331 --> 00:57:41,124
I'm into race cars.

1217
00:57:41,124 --> 00:57:44,795
We are damn lucky that we run
into the mayor of Dry Lake.

1218
00:57:44,795 --> 00:57:46,630
Well, he is not
really the mayor,

1219
00:57:46,630 --> 00:57:48,882
but everyone calls
him that way.

1220
00:57:48,882 --> 00:57:50,550
And rightly so.

1221
00:57:50,550 --> 00:57:54,137
He has the demeanor of
a Mad Maxian warlord,

1222
00:57:54,137 --> 00:57:56,973
and he sells car parts on eBay.

1223
00:57:56,973 --> 00:58:01,103
This is a fiberglass replica
of a 1929 Ford.

1224
00:58:01,103 --> 00:58:03,689
Supercharger
and this is the fuel injector.

1225
00:58:03,689 --> 00:58:06,149
The car weighs 5,000 pounds.

1226
00:58:06,149 --> 00:58:07,192
Oh, that's lead.

1227
00:58:07,192 --> 00:58:08,819
Yeah, lie down in there.

1228
00:58:08,819 --> 00:58:10,862
Woo!

1229
00:58:10,862 --> 00:58:12,572
'Cause you're not--you're not
really steering this thing.

1230
00:58:12,572 --> 00:58:14,616
You're just hoping
that it goes straight.

1231
00:58:14,616 --> 00:58:17,744
Whoa, Jesus...

1232
00:58:17,744 --> 00:58:19,371
H. Christ.

1233
00:58:19,371 --> 00:58:21,289
I'm in the middle of
nowhere, as you can tell,

1234
00:58:21,289 --> 00:58:25,210
but I really enjoy this,
you know, this kind of living.

1235
00:58:25,210 --> 00:58:28,171
Hear the noise in the
background, you know.

1236
00:58:28,171 --> 00:58:32,050
But over the years I've
seen all kinds of movies.

1237
00:58:32,050 --> 00:58:34,344
Clint Eastwood's
been out here,

1238
00:58:34,344 --> 00:58:37,597
uh, they did some
Star Treks out here.

1239
00:58:37,597 --> 00:58:39,349
A lot of times,
if I see a movie

1240
00:58:39,349 --> 00:58:41,560
and then I may know
somebody working on it,

1241
00:58:41,560 --> 00:58:44,271
and I'll go out
and that's always fun.

1242
00:58:44,271 --> 00:58:47,232
Yeah, you know, see the crew
and hang around with them,

1243
00:58:47,232 --> 00:58:50,193
and, of course, I go
bum a little free food.

1244
00:58:50,193 --> 00:58:53,029
Bum up to the roach coach,
you know.

1245
00:58:53,029 --> 00:58:55,782
Hey, the movie
people eat well.

1246
00:58:55,782 --> 00:58:57,617
You know, they'll have
burritos for breakfast,

1247
00:58:57,617 --> 00:58:59,578
they'll have roast beef
sandwiches,

1248
00:58:59,578 --> 00:59:01,079
and then they'll have
steak for dinner,

1249
00:59:01,079 --> 00:59:04,124
and there's always
the craft person there.

1250
00:59:04,124 --> 00:59:06,084
Thanks, now I'm hungry.

1251
00:59:06,084 --> 00:59:08,879
The lake bed is featured
in the opening sequence

1252
00:59:08,879 --> 00:59:10,839
of Knight Rider,

1253
00:59:10,839 --> 00:59:12,883
but my favorite
movie shot here

1254
00:59:12,883 --> 00:59:15,886
is The Adventures
of Buckaroo Banzai

1255
00:59:15,886 --> 00:59:20,265
Across the 8th
Dimension from 1984.

1256
00:59:20,265 --> 00:59:22,851
A brain surgeon,
speed car racer,

1257
00:59:22,851 --> 00:59:25,228
rock star,
alien defender epic

1258
00:59:25,228 --> 00:59:28,231
with one of the best
bare man breasts

1259
00:59:28,231 --> 00:59:31,359
in the history of
bare man breasts.

1260
00:59:31,359 --> 00:59:33,612
It's a remarkably
enthusiastic,

1261
00:59:33,612 --> 00:59:35,906
good-natured movie for nerds

1262
00:59:35,906 --> 00:59:39,367
at a time before nerd
culture was mainstreamed.

1263
00:59:39,367 --> 00:59:41,203
It sadly fails offering

1264
00:59:41,203 --> 00:59:44,039
a single interesting
female character.

1265
00:59:44,039 --> 00:59:49,211
♪

1266
00:59:49,211 --> 00:59:52,172
Heroes and heroines
are our demise.

1267
00:59:52,172 --> 00:59:54,299
We don't need them.

1268
00:59:54,299 --> 00:59:58,887
We can't change the world
without thinking as a group,

1269
00:59:58,887 --> 01:00:00,639
as a system.

1270
01:00:00,639 --> 01:00:04,017
Retelling and fetishizing
the hero narrative

1271
01:00:04,017 --> 01:00:07,771
is deadly naïveté,
perpetuating a belief

1272
01:00:07,771 --> 01:00:12,067
that "exceptional
people will save us."

1273
01:00:12,067 --> 01:00:15,946
No, especially not Elon Musk.

1274
01:00:15,946 --> 01:00:18,073
Can you see us drive away?

1275
01:00:18,073 --> 01:00:19,866
That's because we
are in the process

1276
01:00:19,866 --> 01:00:22,661
of accidentally leaving
our GoPro behind.

1277
01:00:22,661 --> 01:00:24,371
♪

1278
01:00:24,371 --> 01:00:26,289
The next step on
our little journey

1279
01:00:26,289 --> 01:00:30,210
on Damnation Alley
is Las Vegas.

1280
01:00:30,210 --> 01:00:33,213
Nothing should
be here but dust.

1281
01:00:33,213 --> 01:00:37,008
Vegas exists due to an
overlap of weird factors.

1282
01:00:37,008 --> 01:00:39,761
Trucking routes,
the mafia, the military,

1283
01:00:39,761 --> 01:00:41,680
and the entertainment business.

1284
01:00:41,680 --> 01:00:44,891
Vegas is gorgeous
hyperreality,

1285
01:00:44,891 --> 01:00:46,935
but most of the stuff
people like here

1286
01:00:46,935 --> 01:00:48,687
is not my cup of tea.

1287
01:00:48,687 --> 01:00:52,148
I don't gamble, and I
don't like Penn & Teller.

1288
01:00:52,148 --> 01:00:54,109
I'd rather be locked
into a basement

1289
01:00:54,109 --> 01:00:56,194
full of Philip Glass
recordings.

1290
01:00:56,194 --> 01:00:58,113
But I'm no party pooper.

1291
01:00:58,113 --> 01:01:08,415
♪

1292
01:01:08,415 --> 01:01:10,208
Let's go to the outskirts

1293
01:01:10,208 --> 01:01:13,420
and visit my friend, Kristina
Amerson, for a coffee break,

1294
01:01:13,420 --> 01:01:15,422
and let Eddie fly his drones.

1295
01:01:15,422 --> 01:01:17,674
He hasn't flown his
babies in two days

1296
01:01:17,674 --> 01:01:20,302
and that means
severe withdrawal.

1297
01:01:20,302 --> 01:01:23,263
♪

1298
01:01:23,263 --> 01:01:26,349
We spot an interesting RV.

1299
01:01:26,349 --> 01:01:28,268
♪

1300
01:01:28,268 --> 01:01:31,396
It belongs to Kelly Poots.

1301
01:01:31,396 --> 01:01:33,940
He repairs CB radios.

1302
01:01:33,940 --> 01:01:36,443
Back when this was
really booming,

1303
01:01:36,443 --> 01:01:40,363
um, a lot of people used it
and they repaired it,

1304
01:01:40,363 --> 01:01:43,325
you know, that's the--
the component level,

1305
01:01:43,325 --> 01:01:44,701
if something broke,
then you fixed something

1306
01:01:44,701 --> 01:01:46,119
inside the radio.

1307
01:01:46,119 --> 01:01:48,413
And nowadays,
everything, if it breaks,

1308
01:01:48,413 --> 01:01:50,415
you throw it in the garbage,
you buy another one,

1309
01:01:50,415 --> 01:01:52,375
and that's, unfortunately,
that's the way the whole world

1310
01:01:52,375 --> 01:01:54,210
is going through
a bunch of stuff.

1311
01:01:54,210 --> 01:01:58,548
But I see the last--at least
three or four years anyway,

1312
01:01:58,548 --> 01:02:02,135
that people are really
afraid of terrorists

1313
01:02:02,135 --> 01:02:03,929
and government and weather

1314
01:02:03,929 --> 01:02:07,349
and things going
on in the world,

1315
01:02:07,349 --> 01:02:10,602
and these still are 12-volt.

1316
01:02:10,602 --> 01:02:12,354
They hook up--when
something happens,

1317
01:02:12,354 --> 01:02:15,523
these are garbage, you go
in the--boom, you're done.

1318
01:02:15,523 --> 01:02:18,193
These, you can
still communicate

1319
01:02:18,193 --> 01:02:21,112
at least five, ten miles

1320
01:02:21,112 --> 01:02:23,323
without any kind
of technology.

1321
01:02:23,323 --> 01:02:26,409
And everybody just had 'em
because it was convenient.

1322
01:02:26,409 --> 01:02:29,579
The economy crashed,
everything went south,

1323
01:02:29,579 --> 01:02:32,415
and now we have a whole
different crew of people

1324
01:02:32,415 --> 01:02:33,917
driving the trucks

1325
01:02:33,917 --> 01:02:36,086
that don't even know
what a radio is.

1326
01:02:36,086 --> 01:02:39,506
You know, they see this,
"Oh, okay," you know,

1327
01:02:39,506 --> 01:02:41,633
and they don't know what--

1328
01:02:41,633 --> 01:02:43,468
Like the guy that
was just here.

1329
01:02:43,468 --> 01:02:45,011
He come to the
door and he says,

1330
01:02:45,011 --> 01:02:46,930
"Oh, my radio's not working."

1331
01:02:46,930 --> 01:02:49,015
I said, "Well, bring it in."

1332
01:02:49,015 --> 01:02:50,642
"What, I've got
to bring it in?

1333
01:02:50,642 --> 01:02:53,186
I don't understand."

1334
01:02:53,186 --> 01:02:55,814
In retrospect,
only those technologies

1335
01:02:55,814 --> 01:02:57,565
that prove functional
for a culture

1336
01:02:57,565 --> 01:03:02,320
and can be integrated into
everyday life are left over.

1337
01:03:02,320 --> 01:03:05,657
We need to talk more about
the fascinating underworld

1338
01:03:05,657 --> 01:03:09,911
of Dead Media, about
the abandoned branches

1339
01:03:09,911 --> 01:03:12,372
of the tree of
media creation,

1340
01:03:12,372 --> 01:03:15,041
from cuneiform tablets
to Apple Newton,

1341
01:03:15,041 --> 01:03:18,628
from passenger
pigeons to MySpace.

1342
01:03:18,628 --> 01:03:20,714
♪

1343
01:03:20,714 --> 01:03:24,050
Something draws me northwest.

1344
01:03:24,050 --> 01:03:26,302
I crave ice cream.

1345
01:03:26,302 --> 01:03:48,199
♪

1346
01:03:48,199 --> 01:03:50,577
While Eddie is a
bit too energetic

1347
01:03:50,577 --> 01:03:52,912
and floods the bathroom...

1348
01:03:52,912 --> 01:03:56,249
I finally get my ice cream.

1349
01:03:56,249 --> 01:04:00,336
I think we are very close.

1350
01:04:00,336 --> 01:04:02,464
Dirt road.

1351
01:04:02,464 --> 01:04:04,841
Follow the dirt road.

1352
01:04:04,841 --> 01:04:07,552
♪ Follow the dirt road ♪♪

1353
01:04:07,552 --> 01:04:16,853
♪

1354
01:04:16,853 --> 01:04:21,232
Somewhere beyond
this gate is Area 51.

1355
01:04:21,232 --> 01:04:23,318
Nobody really knows
what's going on inside,

1356
01:04:23,318 --> 01:04:25,361
but the reality
of military life

1357
01:04:25,361 --> 01:04:27,238
is certainly far
more hilarious

1358
01:04:27,238 --> 01:04:31,701
than anything Roland Emmerich
could ever come up with.

1359
01:04:31,701 --> 01:04:34,871
My friend, Trevor Paglen,
does a lot of research

1360
01:04:34,871 --> 01:04:38,166
to make this hidden world
visible and more accessible.

1361
01:04:38,166 --> 01:04:40,210
- Uh, wonderful.
- Good to see you, Johannes.

1362
01:04:40,210 --> 01:04:41,836
I'm surprised that
it's actually working,

1363
01:04:41,836 --> 01:04:45,590
so, um, good to have you
and, please, tell me

1364
01:04:45,590 --> 01:04:48,551
a little bit about the
blackness behind me.

1365
01:04:48,551 --> 01:04:51,846
Okay, so Area 51, right
by where you're standing,

1366
01:04:51,846 --> 01:04:54,516
is inside a much
larger restricted area

1367
01:04:54,516 --> 01:04:56,184
called the Nellis Range,

1368
01:04:56,184 --> 01:04:59,437
and the Nellis Range is a
giant restricted military,

1369
01:04:59,437 --> 01:05:02,607
um, area in Nevada

1370
01:05:02,607 --> 01:05:05,318
that's about the
size of Switzerland.

1371
01:05:05,318 --> 01:05:09,030
Area 51 is basically
a black facility.

1372
01:05:09,030 --> 01:05:10,782
But there's other
places as well

1373
01:05:10,782 --> 01:05:14,119
like the Tonopah Test Range,
for example, is in there.

1374
01:05:14,119 --> 01:05:16,538
On the southern border is
the Creech Air Force Base

1375
01:05:16,538 --> 01:05:18,123
which is where
they fly all the drones

1376
01:05:18,123 --> 01:05:20,125
around the world from
via satellite uplink.

1377
01:05:20,125 --> 01:05:22,127
The military loves patches.

1378
01:05:22,127 --> 01:05:24,546
Almost everything
it does has patches,

1379
01:05:24,546 --> 01:05:27,882
even, oddly enough, programs,
units, and activities

1380
01:05:27,882 --> 01:05:30,927
that are officially secret.

1381
01:05:30,927 --> 01:05:33,721
It says,
"Classified Flight Test,"

1382
01:05:33,721 --> 01:05:38,143
and it has this alien
eating a stealth bomber.

1383
01:05:38,143 --> 01:05:41,104
And this stealth bomber has

1384
01:05:41,104 --> 01:05:43,690
this weird sigma
symbol in here

1385
01:05:43,690 --> 01:05:46,943
and what that represents
is invisibility, right?

1386
01:05:46,943 --> 01:05:49,279
So that's when they're doing
a radar cross-section test,

1387
01:05:49,279 --> 01:05:51,030
this is what
they're looking for

1388
01:05:51,030 --> 01:05:54,325
in a stealth airplane, something
approaching invisibility.

1389
01:05:54,325 --> 01:05:59,038
Um, the--here's
the numbers, the 509.

1390
01:05:59,038 --> 01:06:02,917
The 509 is the 509th
bombing squadron

1391
01:06:02,917 --> 01:06:05,211
whose lineage goes back,

1392
01:06:05,211 --> 01:06:08,047
actually, to Roswell,
New Mexico, which is, hence,

1393
01:06:08,047 --> 01:06:10,300
where this alien
figure comes from.

1394
01:06:10,300 --> 01:06:11,718
It's kind of talking
about Roswell,

1395
01:06:11,718 --> 01:06:14,262
but then also
Area 51 is an alien.

1396
01:06:14,262 --> 01:06:18,183
You see this a lot in patches
associated with Area 51

1397
01:06:18,183 --> 01:06:21,144
where they use aliens
a lot in their patches.

1398
01:06:21,144 --> 01:06:23,354
And if you're a
conspiracy theorist,

1399
01:06:23,354 --> 01:06:25,023
some people interpret that
as like, "Oh, my God,

1400
01:06:25,023 --> 01:06:26,900
they have aliens
at Area 51,"

1401
01:06:26,900 --> 01:06:28,651
but, you know,
the other part of it

1402
01:06:28,651 --> 01:06:30,862
is that they've appropriated
that image of the alien

1403
01:06:30,862 --> 01:06:33,781
and incorporated it
into their own mythology.

1404
01:06:33,781 --> 01:06:38,828
Here at the bottom it says,
"Gustatus Similis Pullus,"

1405
01:06:38,828 --> 01:06:42,582
and what that means is, it
says, "Tastes like chicken."

1406
01:06:42,582 --> 01:06:46,169
It's government-funded
fraternity humor on crack.

1407
01:06:46,169 --> 01:06:53,968
♪

1408
01:06:53,968 --> 01:06:56,721
Long drive to Phoenix is long.

1409
01:06:56,721 --> 01:07:00,600
♪

1410
01:07:00,600 --> 01:07:03,061
Time enough to ponder.

1411
01:07:03,061 --> 01:07:06,231
Did you know that if you
removed all nerve cells

1412
01:07:06,231 --> 01:07:07,941
from your brain
and laid them out

1413
01:07:07,941 --> 01:07:11,319
end-to-end in a straight
line, you would die?

1414
01:07:13,780 --> 01:07:15,406
We are super excited.

1415
01:07:15,406 --> 01:07:18,534
We are visiting the
headquarters of Bad Dragon,

1416
01:07:18,534 --> 01:07:22,747
flourishing producers of
fine fantasy sex toys.

1417
01:07:22,747 --> 01:07:27,210
Only a few nerdverts
have that privilege.

1418
01:07:27,210 --> 01:07:30,171
The location is kept
a strict secret.

1419
01:07:30,171 --> 01:07:33,967
It's wonderful to be here,
and what we can see

1420
01:07:33,967 --> 01:07:37,845
is a huge variety of dicks.

1421
01:07:37,845 --> 01:07:40,348
- Oh, yeah.
- Bad Dragon started

1422
01:07:40,348 --> 01:07:44,978
as a WordPress blog
about your endeavors

1423
01:07:44,978 --> 01:07:49,440
of creating molds and doing
do-it-yourself prosthetics.

1424
01:07:49,440 --> 01:07:52,151
When we started out, like,
basically what happened

1425
01:07:52,151 --> 01:07:55,363
is I was working 14-hour days
between university and a job,

1426
01:07:55,363 --> 01:07:57,490
and it was all in
front of the computer,

1427
01:07:57,490 --> 01:08:01,202
and 14 hours a day
in your house

1428
01:08:01,202 --> 01:08:02,996
studying and doing
computer stuff,

1429
01:08:02,996 --> 01:08:05,748
you know, it gets very boring,
and I wanted to get out

1430
01:08:05,748 --> 01:08:07,792
and, you know, do something and
learn some practical things

1431
01:08:07,792 --> 01:08:09,961
and, you know, learn some
new skills or something

1432
01:08:09,961 --> 01:08:11,796
and take up a hobby.

1433
01:08:11,796 --> 01:08:15,675
And so I what I did is I
decided to try sculpting.

1434
01:08:15,675 --> 01:08:17,593
And so what I did is I
went and bought some clay,

1435
01:08:17,593 --> 01:08:19,595
some air-drying clay,
hobby clay, right,

1436
01:08:19,595 --> 01:08:22,890
from the art store,
and took it home

1437
01:08:22,890 --> 01:08:25,935
and said, "I'm gonna teach
myself how to sculpt,"

1438
01:08:25,935 --> 01:08:28,313
and I decided I was
gonna go sculpt dragons

1439
01:08:28,313 --> 01:08:30,148
and fantasy creatures
and all the rest of this,

1440
01:08:30,148 --> 01:08:32,942
and I had great aspirations
of I'd have this new hobby,

1441
01:08:32,942 --> 01:08:35,862
and then proceeded to
find that the only thing

1442
01:08:35,862 --> 01:08:37,363
I could sculpt with any
degree of competency

1443
01:08:37,363 --> 01:08:39,157
was dragon dildos.

1444
01:08:39,157 --> 01:08:42,160
And what was funny was I,
you know, just sculpted stuff,

1445
01:08:42,160 --> 01:08:43,661
you know, you squidge it around,
"Oh, that's kind of

1446
01:08:43,661 --> 01:08:45,121
sort of a dragon
dick, you know,"

1447
01:08:45,121 --> 01:08:46,831
and then shared it
with your friends

1448
01:08:46,831 --> 01:08:48,416
and, you know,
posted pictures online,

1449
01:08:48,416 --> 01:08:51,794
and people saying, "Hey,
so when can I buy one?

1450
01:08:51,794 --> 01:08:53,713
When's this toy coming out?"

1451
01:08:53,713 --> 01:08:56,299
And I'm like, "Really,
really, you want this?"

1452
01:08:56,299 --> 01:08:58,968
Now Bad Dragon is
a thriving company

1453
01:08:58,968 --> 01:09:02,305
employing over 40 people,
who have a lot of fun

1454
01:09:02,305 --> 01:09:05,016
while really doing
groundbreaking work.

1455
01:09:05,016 --> 01:09:08,644
Every day they use thousands
of dollars worth of silicone

1456
01:09:08,644 --> 01:09:10,271
and ship hundreds of toys,

1457
01:09:10,271 --> 01:09:12,815
many of them
custom-made pieces.

1458
01:09:12,815 --> 01:09:16,235
The sex toy industry is a
very uncanny environment,

1459
01:09:16,235 --> 01:09:18,696
and Bad Dragon doesn't
even try to compete

1460
01:09:18,696 --> 01:09:20,406
with the harsh reality

1461
01:09:20,406 --> 01:09:23,534
of dildo-producing
sweatshops in China.

1462
01:09:23,534 --> 01:09:26,496
Varka and his fellow
cocksmiths are nerds

1463
01:09:26,496 --> 01:09:29,749
and have a very imaginative
perspective on designing,

1464
01:09:29,749 --> 01:09:31,918
manufacturing, and promoting.

1465
01:09:31,918 --> 01:09:33,461
Werewolf strap-ons?

1466
01:09:33,461 --> 01:09:35,588
Basilisk vaginas?

1467
01:09:35,588 --> 01:09:37,507
Shut up and take my money!

1468
01:09:37,507 --> 01:09:39,592
Nerds like assembling in clans

1469
01:09:39,592 --> 01:09:43,096
that always end up in
tribal warfare scenarios

1470
01:09:43,096 --> 01:09:45,139
that are very,
very unhealthy.

1471
01:09:45,139 --> 01:09:47,350
Now add gender and sexuality

1472
01:09:47,350 --> 01:09:50,478
and you usually end up
in a toxic wasteland.

1473
01:09:50,478 --> 01:09:53,606
The story of Bad Dragon
and its message of openness

1474
01:09:53,606 --> 01:09:56,234
and acceptance is
telling a different story

1475
01:09:56,234 --> 01:09:58,403
and a super encouraging one.

1476
01:09:58,403 --> 01:09:59,737
Johannes, what the
hell are you doing?

1477
01:09:59,737 --> 01:10:01,447
I think he was
just laying down.

1478
01:10:01,447 --> 01:10:03,074
Yeah, I'm just
laying there, yeah.

1479
01:10:03,074 --> 01:10:06,702
Okay, and, now,
bring the dicks.

1480
01:10:06,702 --> 01:10:08,162
♪

1481
01:10:08,162 --> 01:10:09,789
I feel like I'm in
San Francisco again,

1482
01:10:09,789 --> 01:10:11,290
seeing some
performance art

1483
01:10:11,290 --> 01:10:13,042
and wondering, "What
the hell is going on?"

1484
01:10:21,342 --> 01:10:22,969
Ah, you don't get it.

1485
01:10:22,969 --> 01:10:25,054
Let's go to Olive Garden.

1486
01:10:25,054 --> 01:10:28,224
It is a fascinating example
of corporate culture.

1487
01:10:28,224 --> 01:10:31,894
Its menu is entirely based
on customer statistics.

1488
01:10:31,894 --> 01:10:33,938
It offers as Italian food

1489
01:10:33,938 --> 01:10:37,650
what Americans think
Italian food is.

1490
01:10:37,650 --> 01:10:40,653
It's a gastro-empirical
feedback loop,

1491
01:10:40,653 --> 01:10:42,321
and it knocks us straight

1492
01:10:42,321 --> 01:10:45,450
into a well-deserved
Alfredo coma.

1493
01:10:45,450 --> 01:10:52,290
♪

1494
01:10:55,960 --> 01:10:58,921
What does my subconscious

1495
01:10:58,921 --> 01:11:02,091
want to tell me?

1496
01:11:02,091 --> 01:11:05,928
Maybe the physically
impossible promise

1497
01:11:05,928 --> 01:11:09,765
of unlimited breadsticks

1498
01:11:09,765 --> 01:11:13,436
haunts my skeptical mind.

1499
01:11:13,436 --> 01:11:15,813
Or maybe it tells me

1500
01:11:15,813 --> 01:11:18,983
that we should
go to Flagstaff

1501
01:11:18,983 --> 01:11:22,069
and check out Meteor Crater.

1502
01:11:22,069 --> 01:11:24,071
♪

1503
01:11:24,071 --> 01:11:26,032
"The world's best preserved

1504
01:11:26,032 --> 01:11:29,494
meteorite impact
site on Earth."

1505
01:11:29,494 --> 01:11:31,746
♪

1506
01:11:31,746 --> 01:11:33,956
Meteor Crater is the
result of a collision

1507
01:11:33,956 --> 01:11:36,250
between an asteroid
and our planet,

1508
01:11:36,250 --> 01:11:39,378
before Bruce Willis
could stop it.

1509
01:11:39,378 --> 01:12:11,118
♪

1510
01:12:12,954 --> 01:12:17,458
This is an impact
simulation using impact.

1511
01:12:17,458 --> 01:12:21,045
And we're not allowed to
do "Arial" photography.

1512
01:12:21,045 --> 01:12:23,673
I wonder if we can use
Helvetica instead.

1513
01:12:23,673 --> 01:12:30,680
♪

1514
01:12:30,680 --> 01:12:34,225
We make a stop at the dinosaur
tracks near Tuba City.

1515
01:12:34,225 --> 01:12:36,602
♪

1516
01:12:36,602 --> 01:12:38,396
Very impressive.

1517
01:12:38,396 --> 01:12:42,149
Our Navajo guide, Virgil
Secody, is very helpful.

1518
01:12:42,149 --> 01:12:43,693
West side of Tuba City,
right here,

1519
01:12:43,693 --> 01:12:45,820
is a little town on top,
that's where I'm from,

1520
01:12:45,820 --> 01:12:49,156
but back here, we've got
some corn fields on top.

1521
01:12:49,156 --> 01:12:51,492
That's where my
grandpa's ranch at.

1522
01:12:51,492 --> 01:12:52,994
I come from back there.

1523
01:12:52,994 --> 01:12:55,037
How far would you
actually find tracks here?

1524
01:12:55,037 --> 01:12:56,747
Well, in this area,
it's probably like

1525
01:12:56,747 --> 01:12:58,165
a quarter acre right here.

1526
01:12:58,165 --> 01:13:00,710
Full of bones and then
tracks everywhere.

1527
01:13:00,710 --> 01:13:03,045
During the summer, there's
a bunch of people stopping.

1528
01:13:03,045 --> 01:13:05,756
Everybody took off
'cause it's kind of cold,

1529
01:13:05,756 --> 01:13:09,010
so it's just me
and him, that guy,

1530
01:13:09,010 --> 01:13:11,637
we're still waiting
for some customers.

1531
01:13:11,637 --> 01:13:13,472
In the end, he asks
for a donation,

1532
01:13:13,472 --> 01:13:15,057
and we gladly help.

1533
01:13:15,057 --> 01:13:17,852
Another reminder that
the socio-economic status

1534
01:13:17,852 --> 01:13:19,770
of the region is dire.

1535
01:13:19,770 --> 01:13:21,564
We leave behind
a little warning

1536
01:13:21,564 --> 01:13:23,399
for all the colonialists

1537
01:13:23,399 --> 01:13:25,860
and creationists
for that matter.

1538
01:13:25,860 --> 01:13:27,945
Monotheism is a dictatorship.

1539
01:13:27,945 --> 01:13:30,823
The number of
the beast is one.

1540
01:13:30,823 --> 01:13:34,744
Come here and get your
well-deserved face-melting!

1541
01:13:34,744 --> 01:13:36,912
♪

1542
01:13:36,912 --> 01:13:39,582
Bilingual Navajo
speakers were recruited

1543
01:13:39,582 --> 01:13:41,667
during World War II
by the Marines

1544
01:13:41,667 --> 01:13:45,212
to speak Navajo language
as an unbreakable code,

1545
01:13:45,212 --> 01:13:48,090
and it helped
the U.S. win the war.

1546
01:13:48,090 --> 01:13:51,510
Teddy Draper, Sr., one of
the Navajo Code Talkers,

1547
01:13:51,510 --> 01:13:53,471
later commented that
when he was going

1548
01:13:53,471 --> 01:13:55,640
to boarding school
before the war,

1549
01:13:55,640 --> 01:13:58,768
the U.S. government told
him not to speak Navajo,

1550
01:13:58,768 --> 01:14:02,313
but during the war,
they wanted him to speak it.

1551
01:14:02,313 --> 01:14:05,191
A precise summary
of the problem,

1552
01:14:05,191 --> 01:14:08,945
amplified by the fact that
the only Code Talker Museum

1553
01:14:08,945 --> 01:14:11,530
on the planet is
in a Burger King,

1554
01:14:11,530 --> 01:14:12,948
with the biggest exhibit

1555
01:14:12,948 --> 01:14:15,076
being a printout
of Nicolas Cage.

1556
01:14:15,076 --> 01:14:21,540
♪

1557
01:14:21,540 --> 01:14:26,504
No idea how, but we make
it to Durango, Colorado,

1558
01:14:26,504 --> 01:14:31,550
a former mining and smelting
town turned tourist mecca.

1559
01:14:31,550 --> 01:14:33,552
A lovely place
full of wonders.

1560
01:14:33,552 --> 01:14:35,221
Not only because
my good friend,

1561
01:14:35,221 --> 01:14:38,599
Ryan Finnigan, lives here
and creates crazy tech art

1562
01:14:38,599 --> 01:14:41,936
like Benny the Booze Organ,

1563
01:14:41,936 --> 01:14:45,606
or this floating
speaker system,

1564
01:14:45,606 --> 01:14:49,902
or a machine that
turns itself off.

1565
01:14:49,902 --> 01:14:52,154
Ryan runs CarbonForm Design,

1566
01:14:52,154 --> 01:14:53,948
and creates new
techniques for metalwork,

1567
01:14:53,948 --> 01:14:57,910
like etching photographs
and similar glorious things.

1568
01:14:57,910 --> 01:15:00,246
Durango is very Wild West.

1569
01:15:00,246 --> 01:15:02,581
♪

1570
01:15:02,581 --> 01:15:04,542
Fap, fap, fap.

1571
01:15:04,542 --> 01:15:07,211
We check out the
Powerhouse Science Center,

1572
01:15:07,211 --> 01:15:10,089
a former electric power
plant that lit up Durango

1573
01:15:10,089 --> 01:15:12,383
even before New York City
or Chicago.

1574
01:15:12,383 --> 01:15:14,760
It was designed by
inventor, futurist,

1575
01:15:14,760 --> 01:15:18,305
and kind of mad scientist,
Nikola Tesla.

1576
01:15:18,305 --> 01:15:20,599
Yes, this guy.

1577
01:15:20,599 --> 01:15:23,436
One of my favorite nerd
battles of all times

1578
01:15:23,436 --> 01:15:26,397
was the "War of the Currents."

1579
01:15:26,397 --> 01:15:28,607
Industrialist
Westinghouse was promoting

1580
01:15:28,607 --> 01:15:32,194
Tesla's alternating
current, AC,

1581
01:15:32,194 --> 01:15:37,158
while Thomas Edison tried
to sell direct current, DC.

1582
01:15:37,158 --> 01:15:40,202
Edison toured the U.S.
on a PR campaign

1583
01:15:40,202 --> 01:15:42,788
and killed cats
and cows with AC,

1584
01:15:42,788 --> 01:15:45,583
just to discourage
people from using it.

1585
01:15:45,583 --> 01:15:49,086
His desire to
disparage the AC system

1586
01:15:49,086 --> 01:15:52,423
even led to the invention
of the electric chair,

1587
01:15:52,423 --> 01:15:55,217
even though he opposed
capital punishment.

1588
01:15:55,217 --> 01:15:57,845
A man with priorities.

1589
01:15:57,845 --> 01:16:01,640
Twitter tells me that a truly
great one died yesterday:

1590
01:16:01,640 --> 01:16:03,225
Terry Pratchett.

1591
01:16:03,225 --> 01:16:06,103
One of the few fantasy
authors who was a knight

1592
01:16:06,103 --> 01:16:10,024
and owned a greenhouse
full of carnivorous plants.

1593
01:16:10,024 --> 01:16:12,234
You will be surely missed.

1594
01:16:12,234 --> 01:16:18,407
♪

1595
01:16:20,951 --> 01:16:22,244
What a sunny day.

1596
01:16:22,244 --> 01:16:24,330
We drive out to
Smelter Mountain

1597
01:16:24,330 --> 01:16:28,542
and strap one of Sean Bonner's
Geiger counters to a drone.

1598
01:16:28,542 --> 01:16:31,378
And there is a
reason for that.

1599
01:16:31,378 --> 01:16:35,424
The Durango Uranium Mill
was a uranium recovery plant

1600
01:16:35,424 --> 01:16:38,219
set up secretly in 1943

1601
01:16:38,219 --> 01:16:41,263
to produce uranium for
the Manhattan Project,

1602
01:16:41,263 --> 01:16:44,183
the project to create
the first atom bomb.

1603
01:16:44,183 --> 01:16:46,435
The area underwent clean-up,

1604
01:16:46,435 --> 01:16:48,854
but can we trust
the government?

1605
01:16:48,854 --> 01:16:53,442
Hmm, let's send in a probe
and get some measurements.

1606
01:16:53,442 --> 01:16:56,153
♪

1607
01:16:56,153 --> 01:16:59,198
What a picturesque view
of Lake Nighthorse.

1608
01:16:59,198 --> 01:17:02,952
Let's turn the drone
and check out the dark side.

1609
01:17:02,952 --> 01:17:05,412
I wish this pile of gravel

1610
01:17:05,412 --> 01:17:07,873
would turn into
a giant creature

1611
01:17:07,873 --> 01:17:12,044
and use our drone
to take a selfie.

1612
01:17:12,044 --> 01:17:14,046
Okay, we have enough data.

1613
01:17:14,046 --> 01:17:16,382
♪

1614
01:17:16,382 --> 01:17:17,800
They must have done
a really good job

1615
01:17:17,800 --> 01:17:19,343
of keeping it in there.

1616
01:17:19,343 --> 01:17:20,761
Well, seems okay.

1617
01:17:20,761 --> 01:17:24,306
Taxpayers' money well spent.

1618
01:17:24,306 --> 01:17:26,684
Today is the
nerdiest of all days:

1619
01:17:26,684 --> 01:17:28,686
Pi Day.

1620
01:17:28,686 --> 01:17:45,744
♪

1621
01:17:45,744 --> 01:17:47,288
Ah!

1622
01:17:47,288 --> 01:17:48,998
♪

1623
01:17:48,998 --> 01:17:50,916
The rest of the
night is blurry

1624
01:17:50,916 --> 01:17:53,794
and I dream of a
spirit named Jeannie

1625
01:17:53,794 --> 01:17:56,088
who torments an astronaut.

1626
01:17:56,088 --> 01:17:58,257
♪

1627
01:17:58,257 --> 01:18:00,801
Durango has a weekly
atheist meet-up,

1628
01:18:00,801 --> 01:18:04,889
and I'm talking about real
atheists, not agnostics.

1629
01:18:04,889 --> 01:18:07,850
Agnostics are like
vegetarians who eat fish.

1630
01:18:07,850 --> 01:18:09,560
We meet our host, Ryan,

1631
01:18:09,560 --> 01:18:11,770
in front of Durango's
Cowboy Church

1632
01:18:11,770 --> 01:18:14,148
during Sunday
morning service.

1633
01:18:14,148 --> 01:18:15,649
Maybe I could talk
a little more broadly

1634
01:18:15,649 --> 01:18:17,401
about kind of the
differences between

1635
01:18:17,401 --> 01:18:19,987
the foundational
thinking methodologies

1636
01:18:19,987 --> 01:18:22,531
that kind of span over into
religion and science also.

1637
01:18:22,531 --> 01:18:26,410
Um, so, I mean, obviously,
the foundational difference

1638
01:18:26,410 --> 01:18:28,996
is that if you're starting
first from a conclusion

1639
01:18:28,996 --> 01:18:31,248
and moving backwards, always
attempting to find evidence

1640
01:18:31,248 --> 01:18:32,791
to support your position,

1641
01:18:32,791 --> 01:18:35,502
like religious mythopoeic
speculation models,

1642
01:18:35,502 --> 01:18:39,256
um, comparative to
scientific empiricism

1643
01:18:39,256 --> 01:18:41,550
where you start with
evidence, you observe,

1644
01:18:41,550 --> 01:18:43,552
find evidence, and then
infer from that evidence

1645
01:18:43,552 --> 01:18:47,181
what seems to be the best
explanation offered thus far,

1646
01:18:47,181 --> 01:18:48,933
which is always
an approximation,

1647
01:18:48,933 --> 01:18:51,518
and the value of your position
is not in the conclusion,

1648
01:18:51,518 --> 01:18:54,688
not in what your ultimate
belief ends up being.

1649
01:18:54,688 --> 01:18:56,815
It's in the way in
which you got there.

1650
01:18:56,815 --> 01:18:59,109
It's the process,
it's the methodology.

1651
01:18:59,109 --> 01:19:00,778
The conclusion is always
potentially fallible.

1652
01:19:00,778 --> 01:19:02,738
It'll always change
based on new evidence

1653
01:19:02,738 --> 01:19:04,448
as anomalies occur

1654
01:19:04,448 --> 01:19:07,326
and you're forced to
reconsider that new evidence.

1655
01:19:07,326 --> 01:19:09,745
Whereas from a
top-down structure,

1656
01:19:09,745 --> 01:19:11,830
um, where you start
with the conclusion,

1657
01:19:11,830 --> 01:19:13,958
you're always susceptible
to confirmation bias.

1658
01:19:13,958 --> 01:19:17,002
You're always gonna just
attempt to find evidence

1659
01:19:17,002 --> 01:19:18,379
that just supports
your position

1660
01:19:18,379 --> 01:19:20,798
because the value
in your conclusion

1661
01:19:20,798 --> 01:19:23,258
is in your conclusion
and not your method.

1662
01:19:23,258 --> 01:19:24,927
For instance, there
was a classic debate

1663
01:19:24,927 --> 01:19:27,054
just recently between
Ken Ham and Bill Nye,

1664
01:19:27,054 --> 01:19:29,598
it was all over the
internet, on creationism,

1665
01:19:29,598 --> 01:19:31,934
and at the end of it, one of
the questions was asked was:

1666
01:19:31,934 --> 01:19:33,727
what would change
your position?

1667
01:19:33,727 --> 01:19:34,853
Or what would
change your mind?

1668
01:19:34,853 --> 01:19:36,522
And Bill Nye said, "Evidence,"

1669
01:19:36,522 --> 01:19:38,565
and Ken Ham said, "Nothing."

1670
01:19:38,565 --> 01:19:41,819
And that's not the type
of thinker that you want

1671
01:19:41,819 --> 01:19:44,280
functionally in a democracy
aside of you voting

1672
01:19:44,280 --> 01:19:46,532
because when we start facing

1673
01:19:46,532 --> 01:19:48,325
much more complex
moral dilemmas

1674
01:19:48,325 --> 01:19:50,452
in the near future with AI

1675
01:19:50,452 --> 01:19:52,121
and the types of moral
dilemmas that are going

1676
01:19:52,121 --> 01:19:54,707
to be brought about by
advancing technology,

1677
01:19:54,707 --> 01:19:56,417
we need to have
a healthy debate.

1678
01:19:56,417 --> 01:19:59,962
Christianity is a death
cult gone horribly wrong.

1679
01:19:59,962 --> 01:20:24,111
♪

1680
01:20:24,111 --> 01:20:27,364
I experience a moment
of ontological panic.

1681
01:20:28,365 --> 01:20:29,825
♪

1682
01:20:29,825 --> 01:20:33,078
Today is a day about death,

1683
01:20:33,078 --> 01:20:35,539
but not in a bad way.

1684
01:20:35,539 --> 01:20:46,550
♪

1685
01:20:46,550 --> 01:20:48,761
I'm the least
spiritual person ever,

1686
01:20:48,761 --> 01:20:50,679
but this place is awe-inspiring,

1687
01:20:50,679 --> 01:20:53,599
and unknowing future
generations will definitely

1688
01:20:53,599 --> 01:20:56,894
mistake this place
for a place of worship.

1689
01:20:56,894 --> 01:21:00,689
Metal flowers who
listened to dead stars.

1690
01:21:00,689 --> 01:21:03,275
What's also dead
is our cell phones.

1691
01:21:03,275 --> 01:21:05,736
The VLA is such a sensitive
receiving system

1692
01:21:05,736 --> 01:21:08,238
that it could detect
a cell phone's radio signal

1693
01:21:08,238 --> 01:21:09,948
at the distance of Jupiter.

1694
01:21:09,948 --> 01:21:13,077
♪

1695
01:21:13,077 --> 01:21:16,246
Trinity Site, the location
of the first nuclear explosion,

1696
01:21:16,246 --> 01:21:18,248
is not far from here.

1697
01:21:18,248 --> 01:21:21,085
Now we know where all
the uranium from Durango

1698
01:21:21,085 --> 01:21:24,880
got turned into
thermal radiation.

1699
01:21:24,880 --> 01:21:28,509
A couple of miles down the road
is Blanchard Rock Shop,

1700
01:21:28,509 --> 01:21:31,929
selling beautiful
geological wonders.

1701
01:21:31,929 --> 01:21:33,889
One of these wonders
isn't geological per se,

1702
01:21:33,889 --> 01:21:36,475
but a unique man-made artifact:

1703
01:21:36,475 --> 01:21:39,019
Trinitite, the glass formed

1704
01:21:39,019 --> 01:21:41,855
by the first nuclear explosion.

1705
01:21:41,855 --> 01:21:44,733
Allison Cameron runs the
rock shop with her husband,

1706
01:21:44,733 --> 01:21:46,985
but she bought if from
the Blanchard family

1707
01:21:46,985 --> 01:21:49,238
in the early 1990s.

1708
01:21:49,238 --> 01:21:51,615
Mr. Blanchard,
the founder of the shop,

1709
01:21:51,615 --> 01:21:55,327
was a kind, and freedom-loving,
and adventurous man.

1710
01:21:55,327 --> 01:21:58,872
He had a rattlesnake pit that
tourists threw coins into,

1711
01:21:58,872 --> 01:22:02,251
and he climbed down every
day to get the money out.

1712
01:22:02,251 --> 01:22:06,213
Just the right kind of guy to
venture into a nuclear test site

1713
01:22:06,213 --> 01:22:08,841
to harvest Trinitite to sell.

1714
01:22:08,841 --> 01:22:11,301
They made it a national
historic site,

1715
01:22:11,301 --> 01:22:13,929
which made it a federal offense
to remove from the site,

1716
01:22:13,929 --> 01:22:15,389
to remove the Trinitite.

1717
01:22:15,389 --> 01:22:17,599
So you can go out
there once a year now--

1718
01:22:17,599 --> 01:22:19,893
it used to be twice a year,
but now it's only once a year,

1719
01:22:19,893 --> 01:22:22,980
the first Saturday of April--
and see the site,

1720
01:22:22,980 --> 01:22:24,731
but you're not allowed
to pick it up.

1721
01:22:24,731 --> 01:22:26,817
It is a federal offense
to remove it from the site.

1722
01:22:26,817 --> 01:22:28,861
It'd be like going to
Mount Rushmore and chipping

1723
01:22:28,861 --> 01:22:32,072
on George Washington's
nose or something.

1724
01:22:32,072 --> 01:22:35,576
But I, fortunately,
have a whole bunch of it,

1725
01:22:35,576 --> 01:22:37,703
and it's some pretty
rare stuff to have.

1726
01:22:37,703 --> 01:22:39,621
This is my favorite piece of it.

1727
01:22:39,621 --> 01:22:43,584
Ah, oh my, look at that,
May I touch it.

1728
01:22:43,584 --> 01:22:46,587
Oh, beautiful.

1729
01:22:46,587 --> 01:22:49,715
Most of 'em are flat, because
what happened when the bomb

1730
01:22:49,715 --> 01:22:52,634
was detonated, it says
it fused the ground.

1731
01:22:52,634 --> 01:22:54,261
It did, but it didn't.

1732
01:22:54,261 --> 01:22:58,098
What happened is it liquefied
the sand in the air,

1733
01:22:58,098 --> 01:23:00,434
and then it splattered
to the ground like paint.

1734
01:23:00,434 --> 01:23:02,853
So most of the Trinitite
is gonna be flat,

1735
01:23:02,853 --> 01:23:05,522
not three-dimensional
like this so much,

1736
01:23:05,522 --> 01:23:08,483
but it's gonna be flat
and the bottom side

1737
01:23:08,483 --> 01:23:10,444
is going to be sand.

1738
01:23:10,444 --> 01:23:13,113
It's gonna be sandy, where
the top is gonna be glassier.

1739
01:23:13,113 --> 01:23:16,325
Oh, wonderful, so, and how much

1740
01:23:16,325 --> 01:23:19,953
of the Trinitite
did he carry out?

1741
01:23:19,953 --> 01:23:22,789
- Not enough.
- I guess, how much

1742
01:23:22,789 --> 01:23:25,334
- would that sell, let's say?
- That piece there,

1743
01:23:25,334 --> 01:23:28,378
I would sell that piece
for about $5,000.

1744
01:23:28,378 --> 01:23:31,173
In 1992, Mr. Blanchard
told his wife

1745
01:23:31,173 --> 01:23:32,966
that he would shoot himself.

1746
01:23:32,966 --> 01:23:34,676
She said that he
should go outside,

1747
01:23:34,676 --> 01:23:37,554
because she didn't want
a bloody mess in the kitchen.

1748
01:23:37,554 --> 01:23:41,183
Five minutes later,
she heard a shot from outdoors.

1749
01:23:41,183 --> 01:23:42,726
He was in charge of his life.

1750
01:23:42,726 --> 01:23:45,395
He did not want anybody
controlling his life.

1751
01:23:45,395 --> 01:23:48,565
He didn't believe in
being a burden to anyone.

1752
01:23:48,565 --> 01:23:50,692
He didn't want the government
taking care of him,

1753
01:23:50,692 --> 01:23:52,903
and didn't want his wife
taking care of him.

1754
01:23:52,903 --> 01:23:57,699
So he decided to kill himself
on June 30th of '92,

1755
01:23:57,699 --> 01:23:59,660
and it's kinda
an interesting story,

1756
01:23:59,660 --> 01:24:01,870
because I have a lot
of connections with this place

1757
01:24:01,870 --> 01:24:04,706
before I ever even
knew it existed.

1758
01:24:04,706 --> 01:24:08,126
I almost died on
June 30th of 1987.

1759
01:24:08,126 --> 01:24:12,422
♪ We'll meet again ♪

1760
01:24:12,422 --> 01:24:15,133
♪ Don't know where ♪

1761
01:24:15,133 --> 01:24:18,178
♪ Don't know when ♪

1762
01:24:18,178 --> 01:24:22,224
♪ But I know we'll meet again

1763
01:24:22,224 --> 01:24:26,270
some sunny day ♪

1764
01:24:26,270 --> 01:24:28,897
The first American
in space was Ham,

1765
01:24:28,897 --> 01:24:31,108
the Astrochimp.

1766
01:24:31,108 --> 01:24:33,235
Ham was known as Number 65

1767
01:24:33,235 --> 01:24:36,029
before his space flight,
and only renamed Ham

1768
01:24:36,029 --> 01:24:40,617
upon his successful
return to Earth.

1769
01:24:40,617 --> 01:24:43,078
His final resting place is at

1770
01:24:43,078 --> 01:24:48,041
the International Space Hall
of Fame in Alamogordo.

1771
01:24:48,041 --> 01:24:50,627
Well, let's say Ham's
final resting place

1772
01:24:50,627 --> 01:24:52,337
minus his skeleton.

1773
01:24:52,337 --> 01:24:54,172
That is somewhere else.

1774
01:24:54,172 --> 01:24:55,966
♪

1775
01:24:55,966 --> 01:24:58,760
Remember E.T.,
the friendly alien?

1776
01:24:58,760 --> 01:25:00,971
E.T. died a horrible
death in shame,

1777
01:25:00,971 --> 01:25:03,473
and was buried in a mass grave.

1778
01:25:03,473 --> 01:25:04,850
Believe me.

1779
01:25:04,850 --> 01:25:09,479
This is the Atari video
game mass burial site.

1780
01:25:09,479 --> 01:25:13,317
In 1983, Atari got rid
of all the unsold copies

1781
01:25:13,317 --> 01:25:15,652
of "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial",

1782
01:25:15,652 --> 01:25:19,031
one of the biggest commercial
failures in video gaming,

1783
01:25:19,031 --> 01:25:21,825
by dumping them
in a landfill.

1784
01:25:21,825 --> 01:25:24,953
The end of several eras.

1785
01:25:24,953 --> 01:25:29,207
♪ Some sunny day ♪

1786
01:25:29,207 --> 01:25:41,887
♪

1787
01:25:41,887 --> 01:25:44,556
Gotcha!

1788
01:25:44,556 --> 01:25:46,892
Ufology is the perfect religion

1789
01:25:46,892 --> 01:25:49,978
for the troubled postmodern age.

1790
01:25:49,978 --> 01:25:53,440
It's a convincing blend of
a strong belief in technology,

1791
01:25:53,440 --> 01:25:55,776
of helplessness and masochism,

1792
01:25:55,776 --> 01:25:58,987
spiced up with a full-grown
inferiority complex.

1793
01:25:58,987 --> 01:26:02,032
♪

1794
01:26:02,032 --> 01:26:04,576
Driving through Northwestern
Texas feels a bit

1795
01:26:04,576 --> 01:26:07,621
like time dilation, and
I fear the world is suddenly

1796
01:26:07,621 --> 01:26:10,665
ruled by apes when
we stop at a gas station.

1797
01:26:10,665 --> 01:26:19,216
♪

1798
01:26:19,216 --> 01:26:21,843
Austin is great,
and I have to say this

1799
01:26:21,843 --> 01:26:25,138
because my ex-wife is
coproducing this film.

1800
01:26:25,138 --> 01:26:27,766
South by Southwest
Interactive is happening,

1801
01:26:27,766 --> 01:26:30,477
the biggest techie
culture event in the U.S.,

1802
01:26:30,477 --> 01:26:33,355
and the streets are
swamped with badgers.

1803
01:26:33,355 --> 01:26:35,190
That's how the locals
call the thousands

1804
01:26:35,190 --> 01:26:37,317
of festival guests
very fittingly.

1805
01:26:37,317 --> 01:26:41,530
It feels like a citywide
start-up swinger club.

1806
01:26:41,530 --> 01:26:45,784
We meet cyberpunk veterans Jon
Lebkowsky and Bruce Sterling.

1807
01:26:45,784 --> 01:26:48,912
Old friends and collaborators,
and Bruce was the first person

1808
01:26:48,912 --> 01:26:51,915
I interviewed for
monochrom in 1993.

1809
01:26:58,380 --> 01:27:01,842
I hosted a conference on the--
well, like an online forum

1810
01:27:01,842 --> 01:27:04,177
for Mondo 2000, the magazine

1811
01:27:04,177 --> 01:27:05,929
that was published at the time.

1812
01:27:05,929 --> 01:27:08,890
And people kinda showed up
who were sort of in this mode

1813
01:27:08,890 --> 01:27:11,435
and thinking about
these sorts of things.

1814
01:27:11,435 --> 01:27:15,063
And there was a guy who called
himself The Alien who showed up,

1815
01:27:15,063 --> 01:27:18,775
and he started talking
about how he was a cyberpunk.

1816
01:27:18,775 --> 01:27:21,445
I didn't really think of it
as a thing you could be

1817
01:27:21,445 --> 01:27:24,865
or as a political movement
or anything like that.

1818
01:27:24,865 --> 01:27:28,076
And suddenly people like this
guy were starting to show up

1819
01:27:28,076 --> 01:27:31,163
saying that they were cyberpunks
and that this was a reality

1820
01:27:31,163 --> 01:27:33,790
that they were living
or expected to live,

1821
01:27:33,790 --> 01:27:35,667
and it's like, "Wow, you know?"

1822
01:27:35,667 --> 01:27:39,463
That was super fun, and I
remember when I left the U.S.

1823
01:27:39,463 --> 01:27:43,675
and was hanging with the
Milanese cyberpunk underground,

1824
01:27:43,675 --> 01:27:47,429
guys from ShaKe Press,
or "Shake,"

1825
01:27:47,429 --> 01:27:49,055
And you know, these
were guys who were like

1826
01:27:49,055 --> 01:27:51,141
Milanese anarchists,
but they'd been reading a lot

1827
01:27:51,141 --> 01:27:53,351
of cyberpunk, and they'd
sorta decided to like,

1828
01:27:53,351 --> 01:27:56,605
carry it into daily life
and their normal, you know,

1829
01:27:56,605 --> 01:27:59,316
'80s, Italian,
left-wing drop-out world

1830
01:27:59,316 --> 01:28:02,736
of, you know, squats,
and bicycle repair shops,

1831
01:28:02,736 --> 01:28:05,363
and you know,
socialist communes.

1832
01:28:05,363 --> 01:28:06,698
And I thought,
"Okay, you know,

1833
01:28:06,698 --> 01:28:08,325
like, the genie's
out of the bottle.

1834
01:28:08,325 --> 01:28:12,078
These Milanese kids are
just like all over this."

1835
01:28:12,078 --> 01:28:16,333
And they had names like
Wrath of Valvole and Goma.

1836
01:28:16,333 --> 01:28:20,462
A lot of the effective cyberpunk
writing was very critical

1837
01:28:20,462 --> 01:28:24,216
of American politics because
it was basically Canadian.

1838
01:28:24,216 --> 01:28:28,678
The last thing I wanna get to
before they take our chairs is--

1839
01:28:28,678 --> 01:28:32,140
No, no, you're welcome to 'em,
we gotta go anyway.

1840
01:28:32,140 --> 01:28:34,226
I have a present for you guys.

1841
01:28:34,226 --> 01:28:38,271
So, it's a project I did
with Heather Kelley,

1842
01:28:38,271 --> 01:28:42,442
and it's called Dogs Playing
Dungeons & Dragons.

1843
01:28:42,442 --> 01:28:45,904
- Dogs playing D & D, yeah.
- It's fantastic.

1844
01:28:45,904 --> 01:28:48,740
- You can put it somewhere.
- I'm gonna commemorate it.

1845
01:28:48,740 --> 01:28:51,785
- Arf, arf, arf.
- Needs to be online.

1846
01:28:51,785 --> 01:28:54,746
- You're welcome.
- Thank you, thank you.

1847
01:28:54,746 --> 01:28:56,831
- Making a mess here.
- Oh, no worries.

1848
01:28:56,831 --> 01:29:01,086
It's kinda like a Stonehenge
of chairs, I really like...

1849
01:29:01,086 --> 01:29:03,797
Steve Jackson Games
is based in Austin.

1850
01:29:03,797 --> 01:29:05,882
They created one of
the best pen and paper

1851
01:29:05,882 --> 01:29:08,802
role-playing systems, GURPS.

1852
01:29:08,802 --> 01:29:10,845
Part of the series
was a role-playing

1853
01:29:10,845 --> 01:29:13,682
scenario book for Cyberpunk.

1854
01:29:13,682 --> 01:29:15,976
The company got raided
by the Secret Service,

1855
01:29:15,976 --> 01:29:18,228
because they thought
it was an actual manual

1856
01:29:18,228 --> 01:29:19,854
for cybercriminals.

1857
01:29:19,854 --> 01:29:22,983
Fantasy and reality can
short-circuit in odd ways,

1858
01:29:22,983 --> 01:29:25,235
especially if you
add incompetence.

1859
01:29:25,235 --> 01:29:26,945
In the case of the
Steve Jackson Raid,

1860
01:29:26,945 --> 01:29:29,573
it ended in the confiscation
of their computers,

1861
01:29:29,573 --> 01:29:32,409
and a minor uproar in
the alternative scene.

1862
01:29:32,409 --> 01:29:35,495
But a short drive north
and we can visit a location

1863
01:29:35,495 --> 01:29:39,082
where incompetence really
led to a horror scenario.

1864
01:29:39,082 --> 01:29:41,668
The Branch Davidian
Compound near Waco

1865
01:29:41,668 --> 01:29:44,796
was the stage
of a 51-day standoff

1866
01:29:44,796 --> 01:29:47,132
between the church
members, the ATF,

1867
01:29:47,132 --> 01:29:50,010
and the FBI in 1993.

1868
01:29:50,010 --> 01:29:53,555
It ended in the death
of most of the Davidians.

1869
01:29:53,555 --> 01:29:57,183
I'm leaving behind
some Kool-Aid.

1870
01:29:57,183 --> 01:30:00,604
You think that I'm getting
my cult metaphors mixed up here?

1871
01:30:00,604 --> 01:30:02,647
Well, no.

1872
01:30:02,647 --> 01:30:06,526
The Kool-Aid is for the public,
who drank it in big gulps

1873
01:30:06,526 --> 01:30:09,738
by accepting the official
story too easily.

1874
01:30:09,738 --> 01:30:11,448
The Davidians were surely nuts,

1875
01:30:11,448 --> 01:30:13,742
but it was also one
of the biggest fuck-ups

1876
01:30:13,742 --> 01:30:16,286
in the history
of law enforcement.

1877
01:30:16,286 --> 01:30:26,921
♪

1878
01:30:26,921 --> 01:30:29,132
Oliver Stone's
movie interpretation

1879
01:30:29,132 --> 01:30:31,217
was probably too blown up,

1880
01:30:31,217 --> 01:30:35,138
but I will never forget
this quote from the film.

1881
01:30:35,138 --> 01:30:38,516
"What is past is prologue."

1882
01:30:38,516 --> 01:30:40,393
A motto to live by.

1883
01:30:40,393 --> 01:30:42,228
It's actually from
Shakespeare's Tempest,

1884
01:30:42,228 --> 01:30:44,564
but I never read that one.

1885
01:30:44,564 --> 01:30:46,483
♪

1886
01:30:46,483 --> 01:30:48,693
Driving, driving, driving,

1887
01:30:48,693 --> 01:30:52,197
and we have only one thing
that keeps us sane,

1888
01:30:52,197 --> 01:30:54,074
talk radio.

1889
01:30:54,074 --> 01:30:57,327
And we are so focused
on it that I miss a call.

1890
01:30:57,327 --> 01:30:59,120
I check my voice box.

1891
01:30:59,120 --> 01:31:02,999
Howdy, Johannes, it's Dan
Wilcox, AKA danomatika online.

1892
01:31:02,999 --> 01:31:05,543
You should be just pulling
up into my hometown

1893
01:31:05,543 --> 01:31:07,128
of Huntsville, Alabama.

1894
01:31:07,128 --> 01:31:09,714
Remember that's Hunts-vull,
not Hunts-ville.

1895
01:31:09,714 --> 01:31:11,549
You don't wanna say
it Yankee style.

1896
01:31:11,549 --> 01:31:14,177
Growing up there was pretty
interesting, it's like living

1897
01:31:14,177 --> 01:31:17,514
in an island of engineers
in a sea of rednecks.

1898
01:31:17,514 --> 01:31:21,434
Yeah, and you should be just
coming in on, I assume, I-565.

1899
01:31:21,434 --> 01:31:23,061
You should be rounding
the corner and seeing

1900
01:31:23,061 --> 01:31:25,689
the giant lit up space penis,
that is the Saturn V

1901
01:31:25,689 --> 01:31:27,524
from the U.S. Space
and Rocket Center.

1902
01:31:27,524 --> 01:31:28,858
Spent a lot of time there.

1903
01:31:28,858 --> 01:31:31,277
I went to space camp
when I was eighth grade.

1904
01:31:31,277 --> 01:31:32,946
Yeah, growing up there
was pretty interesting.

1905
01:31:32,946 --> 01:31:34,823
It's a big Department
of Defense town

1906
01:31:34,823 --> 01:31:36,991
with a lot of
defense contractors,

1907
01:31:36,991 --> 01:31:39,536
and a very large army base
called Redstone Arsenal

1908
01:31:39,536 --> 01:31:42,288
which has Marshall Space Flight
Center from NASA on there.

1909
01:31:42,288 --> 01:31:45,208
A lot of amazing smart people,
my dad being one them.

1910
01:31:45,208 --> 01:31:48,253
He was an aerospace engineer,
and for some reason,

1911
01:31:48,253 --> 01:31:50,880
it makes me think--
he worked for a long time

1912
01:31:50,880 --> 01:31:52,549
on this huge project
called Safeguard

1913
01:31:52,549 --> 01:31:54,634
which was an anti-ballistic
missile defense system

1914
01:31:54,634 --> 01:31:57,721
deployed in the mid '70s,
and it was only deployed

1915
01:31:57,721 --> 01:31:59,681
for one month, and
then it was taken off

1916
01:31:59,681 --> 01:32:01,558
due to the SALT II treaty.

1917
01:32:01,558 --> 01:32:04,185
So I guess it totally
did its job, right?

1918
01:32:04,185 --> 01:32:06,104
Pretty amazing that--
you know, back then,

1919
01:32:06,104 --> 01:32:08,690
that was a time when the
United States actually built

1920
01:32:08,690 --> 01:32:10,525
huge, amazing
large-scale systems,

1921
01:32:10,525 --> 01:32:12,610
and hey, now we build apps.

1922
01:32:12,610 --> 01:32:15,405
But whatever, at least we can
talk to each other on the phone,

1923
01:32:15,405 --> 01:32:17,699
except that you're not
picking up, but whatever.

1924
01:32:17,699 --> 01:32:19,451
Go drink a beer under
the Saturn V.

1925
01:32:19,451 --> 01:32:20,744
Talk to you later, ciao.

1926
01:32:20,744 --> 01:32:22,412
And certainly we do.

1927
01:32:22,412 --> 01:32:24,539
♪

1928
01:32:24,539 --> 01:32:26,583
We enjoy some very decent

1929
01:32:26,583 --> 01:32:30,086
German-ish sausages and beer.

1930
01:32:30,086 --> 01:32:34,674
The whole museum is a shrine
for Wernher von Braun,

1931
01:32:34,674 --> 01:32:36,843
who is one of the best
examples of the horrors

1932
01:32:36,843 --> 01:32:39,304
and wonders of the 20th century.

1933
01:32:39,304 --> 01:32:41,473
His rockets sent
people to the moon,

1934
01:32:41,473 --> 01:32:44,392
but he could only do that
because he worked for the Nazis

1935
01:32:44,392 --> 01:32:47,103
building V2 rockets
to destroy London.

1936
01:32:47,103 --> 01:32:49,981
Well, more people died in
the labor camp where they built

1937
01:32:49,981 --> 01:32:52,567
the V2 rockets
than did in London.

1938
01:32:52,567 --> 01:32:56,279
"Through Hardship To The Stars"
is not just a saying.

1939
01:32:56,279 --> 01:32:58,323
It's a curse,

1940
01:32:58,323 --> 01:33:01,409
but there is something
like symbolic karma.

1941
01:33:01,409 --> 01:33:03,995
Remember the shiny
American flags,

1942
01:33:03,995 --> 01:33:05,997
the message of triumph
of a system

1943
01:33:05,997 --> 01:33:07,832
of living over another?

1944
01:33:07,832 --> 01:33:10,543
While the $5.50 nylon flags

1945
01:33:10,543 --> 01:33:13,755
are still waving
on the windless orb,

1946
01:33:13,755 --> 01:33:17,133
they are not flags of the United
States of America anymore.

1947
01:33:17,133 --> 01:33:20,094
All material experts
have no doubt about it,

1948
01:33:20,094 --> 01:33:24,724
the flags are now
completely white, faded.

1949
01:33:24,724 --> 01:33:27,185
The beautiful outcome
of the indifference

1950
01:33:27,185 --> 01:33:29,604
of years of cosmic bombardment.

1951
01:33:29,604 --> 01:33:32,816
♪

1952
01:33:32,816 --> 01:33:36,694
From the darkness of outer
to the darkness of inner space.

1953
01:33:36,694 --> 01:33:38,988
No, not Martin Short's
gallbladder,

1954
01:33:38,988 --> 01:33:41,115
but Mammoth Cave in Kentucky,

1955
01:33:41,115 --> 01:33:44,661
the longest cave system
known in the world.

1956
01:33:44,661 --> 01:33:48,164
Last time I was here, I was 11.

1957
01:33:48,164 --> 01:33:51,543
I remember I asked a park ranger
where I could buy ice cream,

1958
01:33:51,543 --> 01:33:53,711
and he sent me to the bathroom.

1959
01:33:53,711 --> 01:33:56,464
I guess my accent
got better since then.

1960
01:33:56,464 --> 01:33:59,467
♪

1961
01:33:59,467 --> 01:34:01,719
African Americans
played a vital role

1962
01:34:01,719 --> 01:34:04,472
in the development
of cave tour routes.

1963
01:34:04,472 --> 01:34:06,808
Stephen Bishop was one
of the lead explorers

1964
01:34:06,808 --> 01:34:10,186
of the cave system,
he was a slave.

1965
01:34:10,186 --> 01:34:14,858
He gained his freedom in 1856,
and sadly died a year later.

1966
01:34:14,858 --> 01:34:17,694
But his legendary mapping
work laid the foundation

1967
01:34:17,694 --> 01:34:20,363
for future explorers.

1968
01:34:20,363 --> 01:34:23,992
One of them was Will Crowther,
a programmer and caver,

1969
01:34:23,992 --> 01:34:26,786
who wrote the first
text adventure game,

1970
01:34:26,786 --> 01:34:30,665
Adventure, in my
birth year of 1975.

1971
01:34:30,665 --> 01:34:33,042
Having just gone through
a divorce, he was looking

1972
01:34:33,042 --> 01:34:35,795
for a way to connect
with his two kids.

1973
01:34:35,795 --> 01:34:39,007
So he wrote a text-based
cave game based on

1974
01:34:39,007 --> 01:34:42,427
many of the locations that
Bishop discovered and named.

1975
01:34:42,427 --> 01:34:45,555
The game triggered
a global chain reaction.

1976
01:34:45,555 --> 01:34:48,516
Most importantly,
inspiring Roberta Williams,

1977
01:34:48,516 --> 01:34:51,185
the godmother of graphic
adventure gaming.

1978
01:34:51,185 --> 01:34:53,563
A lone woman in
a male-dominated field,

1979
01:34:53,563 --> 01:34:56,190
and one of my absolute heroines.

1980
01:34:56,190 --> 01:34:59,777
An interesting arc
of oppression, exploration,

1981
01:34:59,777 --> 01:35:01,988
personal loss, and creation,

1982
01:35:01,988 --> 01:35:05,533
and deeply rooted in the
troubled history of the U.S.

1983
01:35:05,533 --> 01:35:10,788
♪

1984
01:35:10,788 --> 01:35:12,373
Guess where I am.

1985
01:35:12,373 --> 01:35:23,217
♪

1986
01:35:23,217 --> 01:35:24,969
Beautiful Pittsburgh.

1987
01:35:24,969 --> 01:35:29,349
Birthplace of Michael Keaton
and chemical mace.

1988
01:35:29,349 --> 01:35:32,393
Look close,
focus on my underpants.

1989
01:35:32,393 --> 01:35:35,229
Can you see the 3D dolphin?

1990
01:35:35,229 --> 01:35:37,982
In fiction, Pittsburgh
is the origin

1991
01:35:37,982 --> 01:35:40,276
of the Videodrome signal.

1992
01:35:40,276 --> 01:35:43,696
In reality, it is known for
being one of the few cities

1993
01:35:43,696 --> 01:35:46,908
that made a successful
transition from a steel-based

1994
01:35:46,908 --> 01:35:49,327
to a knowledge-based economy.

1995
01:35:49,327 --> 01:35:50,995
Both equally cruel.

1996
01:35:50,995 --> 01:35:54,415
Wait to cross technology.

1997
01:35:54,415 --> 01:35:56,250
Do you know this fellow?

1998
01:35:56,250 --> 01:35:58,336
He created one of
the most interesting

1999
01:35:58,336 --> 01:36:01,297
political mythologies
of pop culture.

2000
01:36:01,297 --> 01:36:05,802
George Romero and his radical
consumers, the Zombies.

2001
01:36:05,802 --> 01:36:07,845
We drive to
Monroeville Mall,

2002
01:36:07,845 --> 01:36:11,516
location of Dawn of
the Dead from 1978,

2003
01:36:11,516 --> 01:36:14,769
to chat with leftist critic
and computer game designer,

2004
01:36:14,769 --> 01:36:17,855
Paolo Pedercini.

2005
01:36:17,855 --> 01:36:20,566
I think the ironic
part of this history

2006
01:36:20,566 --> 01:36:23,069
is that the shopping
mall indoors

2007
01:36:23,069 --> 01:36:26,239
was actually devised
and invented

2008
01:36:26,239 --> 01:36:29,033
by, yes, a Viennese architect

2009
01:36:29,033 --> 01:36:32,704
who escaped from Austria
during World War II

2010
01:36:32,704 --> 01:36:36,416
and seek refuge
in the United States.

2011
01:36:36,416 --> 01:36:38,626
And he tried to essentially

2012
01:36:38,626 --> 01:36:41,462
counter the suburban sprawl.

2013
01:36:41,462 --> 01:36:44,632
He tried to bring some lessons

2014
01:36:44,632 --> 01:36:48,553
from Europe, I guess,
to recreate the social--

2015
01:36:48,553 --> 01:36:50,722
the social context of a market,

2016
01:36:50,722 --> 01:36:53,266
of a square.

2017
01:36:53,266 --> 01:36:55,601
And through times,

2018
01:36:55,601 --> 01:36:58,062
he kind of realized how
his original concept of

2019
01:36:58,062 --> 01:37:01,858
recreating a piazza and sort of
like bringing people together,

2020
01:37:01,858 --> 01:37:05,695
creating a cultural center,
not just a consuming center,

2021
01:37:05,695 --> 01:37:09,949
he kinda realized how it
kind of failed as a project.

2022
01:37:09,949 --> 01:37:11,701
We are talking about
like a public space

2023
01:37:11,701 --> 01:37:13,995
while there is
a security guard here

2024
01:37:13,995 --> 01:37:17,290
probably trying to shut us down,
because this is a social space.

2025
01:37:17,290 --> 01:37:20,501
It's meant to be a sort
of simulation of a square,

2026
01:37:20,501 --> 01:37:22,295
but it's actually
a very private space,

2027
01:37:22,295 --> 01:37:25,048
and they're gonna kick us out
in five minutes, you know?

2028
01:37:25,048 --> 01:37:27,341
I think there is a strong
connection between

2029
01:37:27,341 --> 01:37:30,553
this kind of space
and geek and nerd culture

2030
01:37:30,553 --> 01:37:34,807
because geeks find their own
communities online essentially.

2031
01:37:34,807 --> 01:37:37,727
I think there is a strong
connection between

2032
01:37:37,727 --> 01:37:40,188
living your teenage years

2033
01:37:40,188 --> 01:37:43,191
in kind of an
isolated environment

2034
01:37:43,191 --> 01:37:45,860
that you depend on
the car transportation.

2035
01:37:45,860 --> 01:37:49,697
So you are always with your
family, always in your--

2036
01:37:49,697 --> 01:37:52,992
in your domestic environment.

2037
01:37:52,992 --> 01:37:55,912
Security is tight, because
a couple of months ago

2038
01:37:55,912 --> 01:37:59,415
a teen girl fight
turned into a giant mob.

2039
01:37:59,415 --> 01:38:00,833
Wow.

2040
01:38:00,833 --> 01:38:03,920
That's even more
terrifying than zombies.

2041
01:38:03,920 --> 01:38:07,632
If you are 15 and want to
rebel against your parents,

2042
01:38:07,632 --> 01:38:11,052
there is a store
for that, Hot Topic.

2043
01:38:11,052 --> 01:38:13,805
A reminder that we shouldn't
fear the end of the world,

2044
01:38:13,805 --> 01:38:16,432
but its never-ending decay.

2045
01:38:16,432 --> 01:38:20,186
Watch children.

2046
01:38:20,186 --> 01:38:23,773
We flee to Punxsutawney,
Pennsylvania.

2047
01:38:23,773 --> 01:38:27,026
The center of this community
is a rodent on welfare.

2048
01:38:27,026 --> 01:38:29,654
Punxsutawney Phil, known
everywhere because of a film

2049
01:38:29,654 --> 01:38:33,157
that took the world by
snowstorm, Groundhog Day.

2050
01:38:33,157 --> 01:38:34,909
The never-ending loop
of small-town life

2051
01:38:34,909 --> 01:38:36,869
that brainwashes
a cynic into true love

2052
01:38:36,869 --> 01:38:39,247
is one of my favorite
conservative plots.

2053
01:38:39,247 --> 01:38:41,958
Only beaten by Ghostbusters,
a film that honestly tries

2054
01:38:41,958 --> 01:38:43,960
to convince us that a free
market can save the world,

2055
01:38:43,960 --> 01:38:46,045
and that Environmental
Protection Agency inspectors

2056
01:38:46,045 --> 01:38:47,588
don't have penises.

2057
01:38:47,588 --> 01:38:50,633
Oh, the Euro is worth
less than the dollar,

2058
01:38:50,633 --> 01:38:53,219
for the first time
in recorded history.

2059
01:38:53,219 --> 01:38:56,806
Greece, ♪ I got you babe ♪♪

2060
01:38:56,806 --> 01:38:58,808
♪

2061
01:38:58,808 --> 01:39:01,477
Boston, Massachusetts.

2062
01:39:01,477 --> 01:39:04,063
We visit the makerspace
Artisan's Asylum,

2063
01:39:04,063 --> 01:39:07,150
and in front of Stompy,
a 4,000-pound,

2064
01:39:07,150 --> 01:39:09,193
six-legged hydraulic robot,

2065
01:39:09,193 --> 01:39:12,530
we meet my good friend,
Kit Stubbs.

2066
01:39:12,530 --> 01:39:16,075
Kit has a PhD in Robotics
from Carnegie Mellon,

2067
01:39:16,075 --> 01:39:19,078
but will not talk
about robots at all.

2068
01:39:19,078 --> 01:39:21,873
Kit decided to change careers
and work in the field

2069
01:39:21,873 --> 01:39:24,917
of sex tech and sex education.

2070
01:39:24,917 --> 01:39:28,921
Disclaimer, our Canon's SD
card committed suicide,

2071
01:39:28,921 --> 01:39:33,551
but monochrom's Evelyn
fixed the footage in post.

2072
01:39:33,551 --> 01:39:37,054
The stereotype of nerd doesn't
include sex, or does it?

2073
01:39:37,054 --> 01:39:38,973
It's a double-edged sword
though, because on the one hand,

2074
01:39:38,973 --> 01:39:41,392
you have the, like, poor nerd
who can never get laid,

2075
01:39:41,392 --> 01:39:43,352
and on the other hand,
you have a lot

2076
01:39:43,352 --> 01:39:47,273
of nerd cultural stories

2077
01:39:47,273 --> 01:39:50,818
in which the nerd, through
persistence, gets the girl.

2078
01:39:50,818 --> 01:39:53,738
And it's the horrible
sort of entitlement culture

2079
01:39:53,738 --> 01:39:56,240
where if you just work
hard enough, you know,

2080
01:39:56,240 --> 01:39:59,452
the person that you want
will suddenly fall for you,

2081
01:39:59,452 --> 01:40:01,078
which is just
absolutely horrible.

2082
01:40:01,078 --> 01:40:04,498
What I have found is that
a lot of geeky people,

2083
01:40:04,498 --> 01:40:07,752
who are interested in thinking
about different kinds

2084
01:40:07,752 --> 01:40:09,962
of problems, find
sexuality fascinating.

2085
01:40:09,962 --> 01:40:12,131
So I self-identify
as a sex geek,

2086
01:40:12,131 --> 01:40:14,842
and I know a number of other
folks who do as well.

2087
01:40:14,842 --> 01:40:16,469
And so what you're just
taking is you're taking

2088
01:40:16,469 --> 01:40:19,180
all that passion, right,
of how you love something,

2089
01:40:19,180 --> 01:40:21,849
because nerds, we get into
a thing and we love it,

2090
01:40:21,849 --> 01:40:24,852
and we talk about it, and
we make our own creations

2091
01:40:24,852 --> 01:40:27,855
that are inspired by whatever
fandom we're talking about.

2092
01:40:27,855 --> 01:40:29,774
You can do the same
thing with sex.

2093
01:40:29,774 --> 01:40:32,151
You know, there's
sex-positive podcasts,

2094
01:40:32,151 --> 01:40:34,737
and making their own toys,
like I do, or you're going

2095
01:40:34,737 --> 01:40:37,615
to Cons and you're talking
with people about sexuality.

2096
01:40:37,615 --> 01:40:39,784
Like all that stuff
still happens.

2097
01:40:39,784 --> 01:40:43,746
By identifying myself
as a sex geek publicly,

2098
01:40:43,746 --> 01:40:46,332
that is a political act
in this culture,

2099
01:40:46,332 --> 01:40:48,834
because we live in this
very sex-negative culture

2100
01:40:48,834 --> 01:40:51,003
where sex is this kind
of shameful activity

2101
01:40:51,003 --> 01:40:53,005
that we don't really
wanna talk about,

2102
01:40:53,005 --> 01:40:56,133
and yet it's everywhere
in the media, complicated.

2103
01:40:56,133 --> 01:40:58,678
I'm trying to use
my privilege in ways

2104
01:40:58,678 --> 01:41:01,847
to help people feel
kind of more accepting

2105
01:41:01,847 --> 01:41:06,310
of their own desires, other
people's desires, and yeah.

2106
01:41:06,310 --> 01:41:09,981
Sex geek, it's a thing,
it's a great thing.

2107
01:41:09,981 --> 01:41:12,525
Kit encouraged a wave
of new sex geeks

2108
01:41:12,525 --> 01:41:16,279
and the feedback is exciting.

2109
01:41:18,781 --> 01:41:25,413
♪

2110
01:41:25,413 --> 01:41:26,831
I fear two things:

2111
01:41:26,831 --> 01:41:29,333
Shoggoths and Goatse,

2112
01:41:29,333 --> 01:41:31,502
and both out of nostalgia.

2113
01:41:31,502 --> 01:41:35,006
Here is the tombstone
of H.P. Lovecraft.

2114
01:41:35,006 --> 01:41:38,759
We are not allowed to film,
so please don't tell Pickman.

2115
01:41:38,759 --> 01:41:42,305
H.P. Lovecraft loved
cheese and hated fish,

2116
01:41:42,305 --> 01:41:46,100
was a racist, and died,
without any success as a writer,

2117
01:41:46,100 --> 01:41:48,436
a horrible death of cancer.

2118
01:41:48,436 --> 01:41:50,438
Maybe too much cheese,
not enough fish.

2119
01:41:50,438 --> 01:41:54,942
♪ It's beginning to look
a lot like fish-men

2120
01:41:54,942 --> 01:41:58,571
everywhere I go ♪

2121
01:41:58,571 --> 01:42:01,532
Lovecraft was very
important for me.

2122
01:42:01,532 --> 01:42:03,701
He was the first of many idols

2123
01:42:03,701 --> 01:42:06,162
that I learned to question
and disagree with,

2124
01:42:06,162 --> 01:42:07,830
and I needed that to grow up.

2125
01:42:07,830 --> 01:42:11,709
♪ I'm beginning to hear
a lot of fish-men

2126
01:42:11,709 --> 01:42:15,379
right outside my door ♪

2127
01:42:15,379 --> 01:42:19,675
♪ As I try to escape in fright
to the moonlit Innsmouth night

2128
01:42:19,675 --> 01:42:23,346
I can hear some more ♪♪

2129
01:42:23,346 --> 01:42:25,348
♪

2130
01:42:25,348 --> 01:42:28,601
Is love our true destiny?

2131
01:42:28,601 --> 01:42:30,811
No, it's Hopewell Junction,
New York,

2132
01:42:30,811 --> 01:42:33,814
to meet Jason Scott,
computer historian.

2133
01:42:33,814 --> 01:42:37,193
Nerds care about history,
but until somebody

2134
01:42:37,193 --> 01:42:40,237
kind of walks them through
what exactly happened,

2135
01:42:40,237 --> 01:42:43,074
the stories they'll tell you
will be extremely self-centered

2136
01:42:43,074 --> 01:42:46,702
and extremely oriented
towards their world view.

2137
01:42:46,702 --> 01:42:49,330
Okay, so,

2138
01:42:49,330 --> 01:42:52,458
currently we're located
in the information cube,

2139
01:42:52,458 --> 01:42:54,877
which is actually an information
shipping container,

2140
01:42:54,877 --> 01:42:57,880
which is a shipping container
I started renting

2141
01:42:57,880 --> 01:43:00,758
a number of years ago when
I moved out of my old house

2142
01:43:00,758 --> 01:43:02,385
and moved to New York State.

2143
01:43:02,385 --> 01:43:05,638
And I had collected
all variety of technology,

2144
01:43:05,638 --> 01:43:09,266
just various pieces of
human and computer culture,

2145
01:43:09,266 --> 01:43:12,603
and wanted to store them
in some sort of way

2146
01:43:12,603 --> 01:43:15,272
that I could then figure
out what to do next.

2147
01:43:15,272 --> 01:43:17,691
What I've done next, of course,
is just amass more stuff.

2148
01:43:17,691 --> 01:43:19,068
You stay where you are.

2149
01:43:19,068 --> 01:43:22,405
So, here's a Hello Kitty
personal pleasure toy.

2150
01:43:22,405 --> 01:43:24,198
A Pac-Man energy drink.

2151
01:43:24,198 --> 01:43:28,452
This was during the insane
energy drink wars of the 2000s.

2152
01:43:28,452 --> 01:43:30,871
This was a bunch of Baby
Boomers who thought that

2153
01:43:30,871 --> 01:43:33,833
they could explain the
computer revolution by using

2154
01:43:33,833 --> 01:43:36,001
50 and 60-year-old writers.

2155
01:43:36,001 --> 01:43:38,045
A bright and disgusting color.

2156
01:43:38,045 --> 01:43:40,548
This thing sank without a trace,
nobody ever heard of it again.

2157
01:43:40,548 --> 01:43:43,384
Sometime around, you know,
the '50s and '60s,

2158
01:43:43,384 --> 01:43:45,219
we were producing
a lot of electronics,

2159
01:43:45,219 --> 01:43:47,680
especially post-war,
but nobody looked at it

2160
01:43:47,680 --> 01:43:49,598
as a pure historical force.

2161
01:43:49,598 --> 01:43:51,225
It was just products.

2162
01:43:51,225 --> 01:43:54,353
In the same way you
might not get worked up

2163
01:43:54,353 --> 01:43:56,730
about a traffic cone, or you
might not get worked up

2164
01:43:56,730 --> 01:43:58,774
about a shopping cart,
you wouldn't get worked up

2165
01:43:58,774 --> 01:44:01,986
about a computer or a piece
of electronic equipment.

2166
01:44:01,986 --> 01:44:04,655
And what we've discovered
is that, no, it has real

2167
01:44:04,655 --> 01:44:07,283
historical value
and meaning and where is it?

2168
01:44:07,283 --> 01:44:10,411
Floppy disks,
if you're a younger kid,

2169
01:44:10,411 --> 01:44:12,538
look, it's a bunch
of save icons.

2170
01:44:12,538 --> 01:44:16,083
What I and others have
to do is go through them,

2171
01:44:16,083 --> 01:44:18,502
pull out the data that's on
them, and store them online

2172
01:44:18,502 --> 01:44:21,172
so that later,
in 40 or 50 years,

2173
01:44:21,172 --> 01:44:23,632
we're still able to figure
out what these things were.

2174
01:44:23,632 --> 01:44:27,553
The third font disk, this
is the second font disk.

2175
01:44:27,553 --> 01:44:29,555
This is the first font disk.

2176
01:44:29,555 --> 01:44:32,349
This is the disk that lets
you read the other fonts.

2177
01:44:32,349 --> 01:44:35,144
Manuals to machines
or equipment or software

2178
01:44:35,144 --> 01:44:39,023
that no longer exists, and
this is vital to understand

2179
01:44:39,023 --> 01:44:41,233
where we came from
in terms of programming,

2180
01:44:41,233 --> 01:44:43,986
and what different machines did,
and what roles people played.

2181
01:44:43,986 --> 01:44:47,156
There's even, to a lighter
extent, a patent aspect

2182
01:44:47,156 --> 01:44:49,450
to understanding
who patented what when.

2183
01:44:49,450 --> 01:44:52,203
Minimum COBOL, this is
a business language

2184
01:44:52,203 --> 01:44:54,079
that computers used
on mainframes,

2185
01:44:54,079 --> 01:44:56,040
and is still in
use in some places.

2186
01:44:56,040 --> 01:44:58,751
American civilization and
perhaps worldwide civilization

2187
01:44:58,751 --> 01:45:00,211
still runs on COBOL.

2188
01:45:00,211 --> 01:45:02,087
When somebody says to me
like, "I think you have

2189
01:45:02,087 --> 01:45:05,174
a hoarding problem,"I go,
"Well, I'll take your opinion

2190
01:45:05,174 --> 01:45:08,469
and I will carefully stack
it with all the others."

2191
01:45:08,469 --> 01:45:12,932
We leave, and I'm glad Jason
didn't delve too deep.

2192
01:45:12,932 --> 01:45:16,352
I feared he would
awake the Balrog.

2193
01:45:16,352 --> 01:45:19,063
En route to New York, or N'Ork,

2194
01:45:19,063 --> 01:45:22,483
as they call it in
A Canticle For Leibowitz.

2195
01:45:22,483 --> 01:45:24,068
Laughing Squid's Scott Beale

2196
01:45:24,068 --> 01:45:26,529
is hosting a Traceroute
party for us.

2197
01:45:26,529 --> 01:45:28,781
A good chance to record drunk,

2198
01:45:28,781 --> 01:45:31,200
nostalgic statements.

2199
01:45:31,200 --> 01:45:35,621
It's really weird
being mainstream now.

2200
01:45:35,621 --> 01:45:38,499
And I used to write down URLs

2201
01:45:38,499 --> 01:45:40,876
in my little notebook so
I could go when I get back

2202
01:45:40,876 --> 01:45:43,420
to a computer to look
up the websites.

2203
01:45:43,420 --> 01:45:46,507
URL, university
tilde user, you know.

2204
01:45:46,507 --> 01:45:48,425
So that's pretty precious,
I mean, really.

2205
01:45:48,425 --> 01:45:50,678
This recent hype

2206
01:45:50,678 --> 01:45:54,348
that I call "nerdsploitation,"

2207
01:45:54,348 --> 01:45:56,350
because for example, you know,

2208
01:45:56,350 --> 01:45:58,644
you have this
Big Bang Theory, right?

2209
01:45:58,644 --> 01:46:00,646
I mean, it kind of feels weird.

2210
01:46:00,646 --> 01:46:03,607
I mean, I definitely
think the nerds-nerds-

2211
01:46:03,607 --> 01:46:07,027
nerds-nerds-nerds-nerds,

2212
01:46:07,027 --> 01:46:09,029
they definitely tend to
be the early adopters.

2213
01:46:09,029 --> 01:46:12,449
They tend to be way
more engaged on a whole.

2214
01:46:12,449 --> 01:46:14,868
♪

2215
01:46:14,868 --> 01:46:16,954
Baby Jesus,
please open my motel room.

2216
01:46:16,954 --> 01:46:19,123
♪

2217
01:46:19,123 --> 01:46:20,374
Baby Jesus.

2218
01:46:20,374 --> 01:46:22,376
♪

2219
01:46:22,376 --> 01:46:24,878
To Raymond Rocello
and his orchestra,

2220
01:46:24,878 --> 01:46:26,964
whose smooth jazz

2221
01:46:26,964 --> 01:46:30,342
got interrupted too many times.

2222
01:46:30,342 --> 01:46:32,636
Welcome to Grover's Mill,
New Jersey,

2223
01:46:32,636 --> 01:46:35,180
picked by Orson Welles in 1938

2224
01:46:35,180 --> 01:46:38,434
as the location of a
fictitious Martian invasion

2225
01:46:38,434 --> 01:46:40,936
for a live radio
dramatization of--

2226
01:46:40,936 --> 01:46:43,606
The "War of the Worlds"
by H.G. Wells.

2227
01:46:43,606 --> 01:46:45,899
It caused a mass panic.

2228
01:46:45,899 --> 01:46:47,443
I demonstrate.

2229
01:46:47,443 --> 01:46:55,326
♪

2230
01:46:55,326 --> 01:46:59,079
Concerned citizens even shot
a nearby water tower

2231
01:46:59,079 --> 01:47:02,082
thinking it was one
of the alien invaders.

2232
01:47:02,082 --> 01:47:04,251
What is there to learn?

2233
01:47:04,251 --> 01:47:06,962
Nothing, but the true
lesson of life,

2234
01:47:06,962 --> 01:47:09,673
when and when not
to give a fuck.

2235
01:47:09,673 --> 01:47:13,594
♪

2236
01:47:13,594 --> 01:47:17,640
Hello, Washington,
District of Columbia!

2237
01:47:17,640 --> 01:47:20,017
The Pentagon,
always a good excuse

2238
01:47:20,017 --> 01:47:22,978
for liberal American self-hate.

2239
01:47:22,978 --> 01:47:24,980
Arlington National Cemetery.

2240
01:47:24,980 --> 01:47:26,774
We pay our tributes.

2241
01:47:26,774 --> 01:47:34,990
♪

2242
01:47:34,990 --> 01:47:37,660
But my fondest memory
is one of fiction.

2243
01:47:37,660 --> 01:47:40,829
The last minutes
of the glorious 1970s

2244
01:47:40,829 --> 01:47:44,166
paranoia movie, Capricorn One.

2245
01:47:44,166 --> 01:47:46,960
NASA fakes a Mars landing,
and when something goes wrong

2246
01:47:46,960 --> 01:47:49,880
they need to kill off
the astronauts for real.

2247
01:47:49,880 --> 01:47:53,592
But James Brolin survives,
and shows up at his own funeral,

2248
01:47:53,592 --> 01:47:55,511
in hyper-slo-mo.

2249
01:47:55,511 --> 01:47:57,805
I couldn't believe how
cool that ending was.

2250
01:47:57,805 --> 01:48:00,307
And I wish I could still
believe in such fantasies,

2251
01:48:00,307 --> 01:48:02,434
still believe in
the great narrative

2252
01:48:02,434 --> 01:48:05,145
of truth versus lies.

2253
01:48:05,145 --> 01:48:06,855
But it's just a fantasy.

2254
01:48:06,855 --> 01:48:09,650
I know that nerds like the
story of the lone underdog,

2255
01:48:09,650 --> 01:48:11,610
but it's ultimately
self-degrading

2256
01:48:11,610 --> 01:48:14,822
and conceals the real problems.

2257
01:48:14,822 --> 01:48:18,409
It's not the evil feminists,
if you're a

2258
01:48:18,409 --> 01:48:20,828
It's not evil patents,
if you are part

2259
01:48:20,828 --> 01:48:23,247
of the fellowship
of open-source.

2260
01:48:23,247 --> 01:48:25,040
It's not the evil NSA,

2261
01:48:25,040 --> 01:48:28,502
if you're a privacy
hacker martyr.

2262
01:48:28,502 --> 01:48:30,504
All of these are
third degree symptoms

2263
01:48:30,504 --> 01:48:32,715
and reductionist blunder.

2264
01:48:32,715 --> 01:48:35,342
All that exists in and through

2265
01:48:35,342 --> 01:48:37,428
and because of capitalism,

2266
01:48:37,428 --> 01:48:40,264
a totalitarian economic
game that encompasses

2267
01:48:40,264 --> 01:48:42,683
our planet since the late 1700s,

2268
01:48:42,683 --> 01:48:45,269
and there is no difference
if you live in Austria,

2269
01:48:45,269 --> 01:48:47,813
Iran, or Arlington, Virginia.

2270
01:48:47,813 --> 01:48:50,691
The basic rules are the same.

2271
01:48:50,691 --> 01:48:54,236
Capitalism separates us,
forces us into alienation

2272
01:48:54,236 --> 01:48:56,905
and de-solidarity,
and many nerds are just

2273
01:48:56,905 --> 01:49:00,451
willing cannon fodder
for its next upgrade.

2274
01:49:00,451 --> 01:49:04,329
Google Campus is like Logan's
Run with free shuttle busses

2275
01:49:04,329 --> 01:49:07,499
to visit Peter Ustinov
sleep on the street.

2276
01:49:07,499 --> 01:49:09,918
They initially set themselves up

2277
01:49:09,918 --> 01:49:12,087
as essentially Neverland,

2278
01:49:12,087 --> 01:49:13,672
a place where you
never had to grow up,

2279
01:49:13,672 --> 01:49:16,425
a place where everything
was there for you

2280
01:49:16,425 --> 01:49:19,887
so that you could spend
every waking moment

2281
01:49:19,887 --> 01:49:21,680
working for the company.

2282
01:49:21,680 --> 01:49:24,641
And for the nerd type, the one
that's built up this bubble

2283
01:49:24,641 --> 01:49:27,144
of existence and this way
of looking at the world

2284
01:49:27,144 --> 01:49:30,647
from the outside--
was and continues to be

2285
01:49:30,647 --> 01:49:32,775
really, really
appealing to them.

2286
01:49:32,775 --> 01:49:36,069
The thing that drove me nuts
when I went to Facebook

2287
01:49:36,069 --> 01:49:39,823
was they had this DJ booth,
and they had vodka bottles

2288
01:49:39,823 --> 01:49:42,534
with little spouts attached
to them so you could

2289
01:49:42,534 --> 01:49:45,287
nail down the vodka
and do some DJ spinning.

2290
01:49:45,287 --> 01:49:47,456
And I was like, "Well,
that explains Facebook."

2291
01:49:47,456 --> 01:49:57,883
♪

2292
01:49:57,883 --> 01:50:01,595
Kind of overwhelmed
and a bit in a bad mood,

2293
01:50:01,595 --> 01:50:05,682
and this doesn't
make it any better.

2294
01:50:05,682 --> 01:50:09,186
Well, last day.

2295
01:50:09,186 --> 01:50:12,022
In 1955, someone
in the film industry

2296
01:50:12,022 --> 01:50:14,817
decided to put an explosive
under a blood-bag

2297
01:50:14,817 --> 01:50:17,110
to simulate a gunshot wound.

2298
01:50:17,110 --> 01:50:19,488
This technique is still
in use and performers

2299
01:50:19,488 --> 01:50:22,324
get hurt by shrapnel
all the time.

2300
01:50:22,324 --> 01:50:25,661
Steve Tolin is a marvelous
special effects problem-solver.

2301
01:50:25,661 --> 01:50:29,581
So he created a completely new
system based on air pressure.

2302
01:50:29,581 --> 01:50:31,750
Eureka, but originally,

2303
01:50:31,750 --> 01:50:34,002
Steve wanted to
become a biologist.

2304
01:50:34,002 --> 01:50:37,256
In my heart, I'm a creature
creator above all else.

2305
01:50:37,256 --> 01:50:40,092
You know, and I think
that that really is because

2306
01:50:40,092 --> 01:50:43,512
of the biology foundation
that I've got.

2307
01:50:43,512 --> 01:50:45,389
So with biology,
what you're doing

2308
01:50:45,389 --> 01:50:47,140
is you've got the
form of something,

2309
01:50:47,140 --> 01:50:48,851
and you're gonna try to figure
out what the function is.

2310
01:50:48,851 --> 01:50:50,477
You're gonna figure out what
the hell does this thing--

2311
01:50:50,477 --> 01:50:53,230
where does he live, what
does he eat, what eats it.

2312
01:50:53,230 --> 01:50:55,566
With a creature in a movie
I've got the obvious scenario

2313
01:50:55,566 --> 01:50:58,068
where they give me a script and
they told me who he's gonna eat,

2314
01:50:58,068 --> 01:51:00,445
they told me what is gonna
try to kill it, how it moves,

2315
01:51:00,445 --> 01:51:02,865
where it lives, and so
my job then is to totally

2316
01:51:02,865 --> 01:51:05,784
reverse-engineer
the function of it

2317
01:51:05,784 --> 01:51:07,744
into what the form would be.

2318
01:51:07,744 --> 01:51:10,539
You wanted to go into biology,

2319
01:51:10,539 --> 01:51:13,584
and you do creature effects,
you do puppets.

2320
01:51:13,584 --> 01:51:15,919
And now you're working
for the Jesus nerds,

2321
01:51:15,919 --> 01:51:19,464
you're working for
a museum for creationists.

2322
01:51:19,464 --> 01:51:21,758
So the point that
I was just making

2323
01:51:21,758 --> 01:51:24,052
is really evident when
I'm working with creationists.

2324
01:51:24,052 --> 01:51:25,846
I've done it in the past,
I've worked for the museum

2325
01:51:25,846 --> 01:51:28,223
they built initially,
and you really feel like

2326
01:51:28,223 --> 01:51:30,100
that kinda sense,
in that group of people,

2327
01:51:30,100 --> 01:51:32,644
of trying to recreate
God's work.

2328
01:51:32,644 --> 01:51:34,438
It's much more specific even
than what I'm talking about--

2329
01:51:34,438 --> 01:51:37,024
I'm trying to recreate what
exists, and they definitely

2330
01:51:37,024 --> 01:51:40,235
are trying to recreate
what they see

2331
01:51:40,235 --> 01:51:42,446
as having been created
ahead of them.

2332
01:51:42,446 --> 01:51:46,074
And they are now recreating
a full size ark, Noah's Ark.

2333
01:51:46,074 --> 01:51:48,076
They're rebuilding the entire
thing, it's gonna be, I think,

2334
01:51:48,076 --> 01:51:50,704
3 stories tall and
whatever, 500 cubits long.

2335
01:51:50,704 --> 01:51:53,165
I mean, it's gonna be a giant
place that you can go inside,

2336
01:51:53,165 --> 01:51:54,958
and they're recreating
everything.

2337
01:51:54,958 --> 01:51:56,710
And again, this is what was
so fascinating about it to me

2338
01:51:56,710 --> 01:51:59,046
because if you look about
it in terms of form

2339
01:51:59,046 --> 01:52:01,131
following function,
function sometimes is,

2340
01:52:01,131 --> 01:52:02,716
okay, so how does
the thing work?

2341
01:52:02,716 --> 01:52:04,676
Like what is the physical
part of how it works,

2342
01:52:04,676 --> 01:52:06,261
but then there's also
the function of like,

2343
01:52:06,261 --> 01:52:08,347
how does it function
theologically?

2344
01:52:08,347 --> 01:52:10,182
You know, and so what's
the form in terms of--

2345
01:52:10,182 --> 01:52:13,393
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah.

2346
01:52:36,750 --> 01:52:39,086
I had always heard
your entire life

2347
01:52:39,086 --> 01:52:40,963
flashes in front of your eyes

2348
01:52:40,963 --> 01:52:44,591
the second before you die.

2349
01:52:44,591 --> 01:52:47,052
First of all, that one second

2350
01:52:47,052 --> 01:52:49,846
isn't a second at all.

2351
01:52:49,846 --> 01:52:52,432
It stretches on forever,

2352
01:52:52,432 --> 01:52:55,143
like Hilbert space.

2353
01:52:55,143 --> 01:52:58,021
For me, it was eating
barbecue-flavored chips

2354
01:52:58,021 --> 01:53:02,401
while playing Micro Machines
on my AT 386.

2355
01:53:02,401 --> 01:53:04,611
♪

2356
01:53:04,611 --> 01:53:07,614
Or visiting Skywalker Ranch
and touching the real

2357
01:53:07,614 --> 01:53:11,618
Holy Grail from Indiana Jones.

2358
01:53:11,618 --> 01:53:14,997
Or watching American Beauty
for the first time,

2359
01:53:14,997 --> 01:53:17,874
and being the only one
in the theatre to understand

2360
01:53:17,874 --> 01:53:22,004
its true reactionary agenda.

2361
01:53:22,004 --> 01:53:26,383
I guess I could be pretty pissed
off about what happened to me,

2362
01:53:26,383 --> 01:53:28,719
but then I remember to relax,

2363
01:53:28,719 --> 01:53:31,263
and stop trying
to hold on to it,

2364
01:53:31,263 --> 01:53:35,892
and then it flows through
me like Russian hydrazine,

2365
01:53:35,892 --> 01:53:39,396
and I can't feel anything
but gratitude for every single

2366
01:53:39,396 --> 01:53:43,650
moment of my stupid little life.

2367
01:53:43,650 --> 01:53:46,987
You have no idea what I'm
talking about, I'm sure,

2368
01:53:46,987 --> 01:53:49,364
but don't worry.

2369
01:53:49,364 --> 01:53:50,907
You will someday.

2370
01:53:50,907 --> 01:56:32,986
♪

2371
01:56:32,986 --> 01:56:34,654
♪ The force ♪

2372
01:56:34,654 --> 01:56:37,032
♪

2373
01:56:37,032 --> 01:56:38,575
♪ The force ♪

2374
01:56:38,575 --> 01:56:41,036
♪

2375
01:56:41,036 --> 01:56:42,412
♪ The force ♪

2376
01:56:42,412 --> 01:56:44,998
♪

2377
01:56:44,998 --> 01:56:46,458
♪ The force ♪

2378
01:56:46,458 --> 01:56:48,084
♪

2379
01:56:48,084 --> 01:56:50,253
♪ The fucking force ♪

2380
01:56:50,253 --> 01:56:52,589
♪

2381
01:56:52,589 --> 01:56:56,384
♪ The motherfucking force ♪

2382
01:56:56,384 --> 01:56:59,221
♪ The force,
the motherfucking force ♪

2383
01:56:59,221 --> 01:57:02,891
♪

2384
01:57:06,645 --> 01:58:07,580
♪

2385
01:58:07,580 --> 01:58:09,124
♪ eBay ♪

2386
01:58:09,124 --> 01:58:09,916
♪ The force ♪

2387
01:58:09,916 --> 01:58:11,710
♪

2388
01:58:11,710 --> 01:58:13,128
♪ eBay ♪

2389
01:58:13,128 --> 01:58:14,045
♪ The force ♪

2390
01:58:14,045 --> 01:58:15,588
♪

2391
01:58:15,588 --> 01:58:17,090
♪ eBay ♪

2392
01:58:17,090 --> 01:58:18,091
♪ The force ♪

2393
01:58:18,091 --> 01:58:19,634
♪

2394
01:58:19,634 --> 01:58:21,928
- ♪ eBay ♪
- ♪ The fucking force ♪

2395
01:58:21,928 --> 01:58:23,680
♪

2396
01:58:23,680 --> 01:58:26,266
- ♪ eBay ♪
- ♪ The motherfucking force ♪

2397
01:58:26,266 --> 01:58:27,642
♪

2398
01:58:27,642 --> 01:58:29,519
- ♪ eBay ♪
- ♪ The force,

2399
01:58:29,519 --> 01:58:31,313
the motherfucking force ♪

2400
01:58:31,313 --> 01:58:35,233
♪ My kingdom and my horse ♪

2401
01:58:35,233 --> 01:58:38,862
♪ My kingdom and my horse ♪

2402
01:58:41,990 --> 01:59:11,603
♪

2403
01:59:11,603 --> 01:59:13,104
♪ eBay ♪

2404
01:59:13,104 --> 01:59:14,647
♪ The force ♪

2405
01:59:14,647 --> 01:59:15,607
♪

2406
01:59:15,607 --> 01:59:17,108
♪ eBay ♪

2407
01:59:17,108 --> 01:59:17,984
♪ The force ♪

2408
01:59:17,984 --> 01:59:19,611
♪

2409
01:59:19,611 --> 01:59:21,071
♪ eBay ♪

2410
01:59:21,071 --> 01:59:22,155
♪ The force ♪

2411
01:59:22,155 --> 01:59:23,698
♪

2412
01:59:23,698 --> 01:59:25,992
- ♪ eBay ♪
- ♪ The fucking force ♪

2413
01:59:25,992 --> 01:59:27,660
♪

2414
01:59:27,660 --> 01:59:30,163
- ♪ eBay ♪
- ♪ The motherfucking force ♪

2415
01:59:30,163 --> 01:59:31,664
♪

2416
01:59:31,664 --> 01:59:33,208
- ♪ eBay ♪
- ♪ The force,

2417
01:59:33,208 --> 01:59:35,335
the motherfucking force ♪

2418
01:59:35,335 --> 01:59:39,255
♪ My kingdom and my horse ♪

2419
01:59:39,255 --> 01:59:42,884
♪ My kingdom and my horse ♪

2420
01:59:42,884 --> 01:59:44,302
♪

2421
01:59:46,763 --> 01:59:49,349
♪

2422
01:59:51,226 --> 01:59:53,520
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2422
01:59:54,305 --> 02:00:00,789
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