This was an incredible video! So many beautiful shots and photos throughout, would love to see more videos like this from you. Where was that rocky area y’all were at? I used to live up in the Dayton when I was a kid but I don’t remember areas like that up there in the Ohio/Indy/Kentucky regions.
I wanna share a few rambling thoughts that have been bouncing around in my head recently in response to a lot of topics you have touched on recently:
Regarding AI
Lately I’ve seen so much pushback against AI that it has me feeling optimistic about everything. In my personal opinion I think that the AI companies overpromised and underdelivered on what they are capable of, we’re 4ish years into ChatGPT becoming popular and everyone seems to have gotten over the novelty of it. They shot their shot too soon, they’re hemorrhaging money, and they’re consuming resources at an insane rate all to generate shitty fake media. AI is a nice tool that can be helpful in some use cases but that’s all it is, it’s a tool. To me it’s like a suped up search engine, but even then the quality of it has declined so much recently. I think a lot of people are starting to realize it’s mostly hype and that it doesn’t actually deliver on what Tech CEOs are promising and it isn’t going to legitimately replace employees/art/culture/humanity/etc. I think the AI bubble is going to pop in 2029, I think it will be propped up until then by the current administration in the US government because our economy is so dependent on it at the moment. At that point, I don’t see anybody ever trusting it again after the fallout from the bubble popping.
I’m hopeful that backlash against AI actually leads to a new age renaissance of artistry and creativity. It’s incredible seeing how excited people get when folks make art themselves versus the disappointment people feel when “art” is generated with AI. There seems to be a growing thoughtfulness in the way that people are approaching the world with the way people are praising authenticity, candidness, intentionality, etc. Recerntly I’ve seen so many more people just making something for the passion of it rather than for the money. I believe communities like this and similar stuff (like indie web stuff) is great for fostering a real sense of community and appreciation for human created media and discussion.
Regarding thoughtfulness
Another one of my favorite Youtube channels is Speeed, people in their comments often refer to James Pumphrey as the internet’s big brother because of the wisdom that he tries to share while still being a fun guy (much needed positive male role model in the age of manosphere bullshit but that’s a separate discussion.) In one of my favorite videos of theirs, James says “It’s easy to talk yourself out of a good time, it’s a lot harder to talk yourself into one.” In a Vlogbrothers video, Hank Green states that hopelessness is usually the less rational position. In a recent episode of Dual Comm you or BBK quoted someone with something along the lines of “We live in the best time in human history, things used to be bad, things could still be better.” All of these ideas stick with me and have helped me try to approach things more optimistically in a recent months.
From 2016 up until recently I felt hopeless and like everything was ending. This feeling peaked in 2020 and the depression from that led to me neglecting my health and left me in a slump for a few years. I think the feelings of hopelessness that is common among younger people is by design. I believe that a lot of things online are designed to make someone feel like everything sucks, like they’re not good enough, like the world is ending, etc. It makes it a lot easier to sell people answers to their problems whether it’s a sick new product, a strongman politician that has all the answers, etc. It’s a nasty abusive tactic that’s meant to drain moral and the will to pushback for any sort of progress.
Speaking for myself, those tactics were working on me, I really did feel hopeless about everything and like everything was pointless. But you know what? I’ve somehow found myself missing good memories of the COVID years and we’re still here, the world didn’t end. Despite all the dumb bullshit of those years, the highlights stick out to me. Now I just look back and get frustrated at myself for not appreciating good moments more while I was in the moment. I’m frustrated that my partner and I haven’t had a kid yet because we were so scared of the state of the world that we wanted to wait to decide if things would be better for them (newsflash to my past self - there’s always going to be shit to stress about.) I think that experience and realization combined with the perspective that those aforementioned quotes are trying to convey lead to a healthier state of mind. We gotta appreciate what we have now while we’re in the moment, we have to acknowledge that a lot of things used to be much worse, and there are still a lot of things that need improving. I really dig the idea of trying to make the world a better place for the people that come after us and I have been trying to spread some love and positivity wherever I can in real life by listening to and supporting people and online by sharing words of support for content I enjoy reading/watching/listening to online.
Your videos help approach things with a more thoughtful attitude, and I’m very grateful for the perspective that you and other thoughtful people like yourself share. Thank you and I look forward to being part of this wonderful community you are building!