00:00:00 ◼ ► I discovered that at this time of night. My office turns into a yoga studio before we start follow up. [TS]
00:00:14 ◼ ► There's been some you know say back in comments going around that you know we always start the podcast with this sort [TS]
00:00:19 ◼ ► of follow up and correcting mistakes and re discussing things from the episode before and some people like that [TS]
00:00:34 ◼ ► Why do you want to do this as well and I I like I like you to think I don't want you to think you're the boss. [TS]
00:00:39 ◼ ► OK Why is this the best way to stop the podcasts. You know do you feel strongly about this. [TS]
00:00:46 ◼ ► I do I do if I do feel strongly about follow up first because if someone is listening to the podcasts in chronological [TS]
00:00:55 ◼ ► order it makes sense to do follow up as the first section because if they're listening to a bunch of episodes in a row [TS]
00:01:02 ◼ ► when they finish episode three the start of episode four follows very naturally from what we were talking about in the [TS]
00:01:10 ◼ ► previous one so the follow up is obviously the next section and when we when we started [TS]
00:01:18 ◼ ► when I was thinking about doing a podcast I did think maybe maybe we will record the follow up first because that's a [TS]
00:01:25 ◼ ► thing that makes more sense to talk about kind of chronologically and then just edit it so with at the end [TS]
00:01:31 ◼ ► and in the main topic is in the beginning but I don't I don't think that works because in all of our podcast [TS]
00:01:36 ◼ ► when we do the main topic we almost always reference something that was in the follow up in the beginning so I don't [TS]
00:01:45 ◼ ► I think follow up has to be first because like any conversation you're going to refer back to it later on which is [TS]
00:01:52 ◼ ► exactly what we do. I could say I I wasn't sure at the start but I've been become a real convert. [TS]
00:02:04 ◼ ► and anything to sort of you know put yes put is strong stuff the stuff you know don't bury the lead [TS]
00:02:15 ◼ ► or a different creature in that way they are just like a like a chair and I think it's OK [TS]
00:02:25 ◼ ► Yeah I think you know if people enjoy the podcast which I which I hope they do if they're still listening at this point [TS]
00:02:31 ◼ ► eight episodes in I think it is presumably they're listening because they still like it [TS]
00:02:36 ◼ ► and I know at least for the pod cast that I listen to it's very much to me it feels like I get to sit in on a [TS]
00:02:44 ◼ ► conversation with people who I would not normally get to sit in on a conversation with. [TS]
00:02:54 ◼ ► when you sit down with your friends you catch up on what's happened since the last time you sat down together. [TS]
00:03:03 ◼ ► What's my strongest opening story to tell my friends and I sit down we're going to lead with a bang [TS]
00:03:10 ◼ ► but right now we've got a lead with the main story so that that's not how friends talk to each other and you [TS]
00:03:15 ◼ ► and I are friends and we're sitting down so I think it's very natural for followup to come first. [TS]
00:03:19 ◼ ► All right let's do a follow up what do you got from last time so I just had to make make a reference for people who [TS]
00:03:30 ◼ ► It's great there's a lot of very good conversation on the Reddit but unbelievably last time [TS]
00:03:35 ◼ ► when we put our podcast up we made reference in the middle of that podcast to possibly somebody about to get on an [TS]
00:03:43 ◼ ► airplane you know who may have just downloaded that and you were talking about plane crashes. [TS]
00:03:53 ◼ ► when I put it up the very first comments on the Reddit mere minutes after uploading someone. [TS]
00:04:06 ◼ ► I'm just about to board a plane and go to the book and was going to book I brought with me. [TS]
00:04:14 ◼ ► and then if it is with you guys are too good to me it's just a very very nice comments. [TS]
00:04:23 ◼ ► But knowing that he was about to go into an episode where we discussed plane crashes for a not a trivial amount of time [TS]
00:04:31 ◼ ► I just couldn't believe the coincidence that happened there that the very first comment was exactly the thing that we [TS]
00:04:37 ◼ ► So anyway the best thing about that was like in the podcast you made that joke about someone on a plane listening to it [TS]
00:04:44 ◼ ► and then you like spoke directly to them for a joke and you said I hope you're enjoying this team right [TS]
00:04:49 ◼ ► and that guy's name was Tom. Right so. SO CLOSE TO BEING Well it would have been it would have been just perfect. [TS]
00:05:04 ◼ ► and we were discussing before recording now that there's a lot of activity there and it's great [TS]
00:05:09 ◼ ► and I really do look over the discussion so any time you want to talk about whatever we discuss on the podcast the [TS]
00:05:17 ◼ ► and there will be a link in the show notes to whatever we have a link is for this episode. So I'll put that there. [TS]
00:05:36 ◼ ► or you did not give him a panic attack on the flight really I would say that must be your fault. [TS]
00:05:40 ◼ ► You know what's amazing Gray what like we're talking about we're talking like you know week later however long it's [TS]
00:05:46 ◼ ► been and we're not really much closer to knowing what happened to that Malaysia Airlines plane. [TS]
00:05:51 ◼ ► Oh yeah you have to you have to file these things for me so you must know what's going on you're not that you're not [TS]
00:06:01 ◼ ► but no last last headline I saw was something about a presumably a hijacking is that the current state of Idaho [TS]
00:06:15 ◼ ► but the latest is they seem to be having all the satellite imagery of possible debris. [TS]
00:06:21 ◼ ► You know thousands of kilometers off the coast of Perth in Australia quite some distance from where that plane was [TS]
00:06:29 ◼ ► Basically it's done the hard left and then just if this is if it's there it's on a hard left and just flying [TS]
00:06:36 ◼ ► and flying and flying and then maybe read a few maybe being crashed into the ocean like in like the most remote. [TS]
00:06:45 ◼ ► Pretty much the most remote place this could happen. So. Something's going on man who's crazy. [TS]
00:06:54 ◼ ► but this is going to be this is I keep thinking it's going to be something simple and maybe it still will [TS]
00:07:00 ◼ ► when this is looking stranger and stranger. Staging and staging to Brady's plane crash Kona hello internet. [TS]
00:07:09 ◼ ► I have a feeling like I would I would not want to be but I feel like you could make this a regular segment every week. [TS]
00:07:18 ◼ ► I feel that the depth of your love for this topic is quite deep and they are not talking about freebasing anyway. [TS]
00:07:24 ◼ ► We're not talking about freebooting anymore although I do have a follow up item about it [TS]
00:07:29 ◼ ► OK I tell you what you stirred up a right hornet's nest in the last episode with this language education. [TS]
00:07:38 ◼ ► Yes yes I do know you knew it you knew it was going to happen to you. I did know that it was going to happen. [TS]
00:07:45 ◼ ► and in addition to reading all of the Reddit comments Derek of Veritasium is here in London [TS]
00:07:53 ◼ ► and he's taken some time out to see me and I saw Derek earlier today and the day before. [TS]
00:08:00 ◼ ► And I can say that he probably spent at least eight hours of human effort one on one trying to convince me otherwise [TS]
00:08:12 ◼ ► for my opinions about dropping language classes from the curriculum and you could say you got off lightly. [TS]
00:08:19 ◼ ► When Terry decides he's right about something I know is it's nothing I think it's only because he had to fit me in [TS]
00:08:28 ◼ ► Otherwise you know I left I left to Derek just just a couple hours ago at the pub I think he would still be sitting [TS]
00:08:44 ◼ ► and he says now we see if his opinion is different to yours he's a big advocate of extensive language teaching in [TS]
00:08:52 ◼ ► schools can you sort of summarize his position for us. The answer is I cannot summarize it for this. [TS]
00:09:01 ◼ ► And I kept I kept mentioning this to him in the bar because he had he had actually a letter to me he had written this [TS]
00:09:07 ◼ ► whole thing on his i Phone that it was like a bullet pointed argument about all the ways in which I was wrong [TS]
00:09:14 ◼ ► and all the ways in which I should I should reconsider my my positions and to to be fair to Derek. [TS]
00:09:22 ◼ ► I cannot I think possibly try to summarize his arguments without getting it just just wrong [TS]
00:09:29 ◼ ► or making him more infuriated because with eight hours there's a lot of nuance that you can tune in to. [TS]
00:09:35 ◼ ► We can suffice it to say that I was not I was not moved by Derek. I have not changed my opinion in any way. [TS]
00:09:50 ◼ ► but there are a few there are a few interesting interesting kind of things to bring up about that. [TS]
00:10:03 ◼ ► and in some of the feedback that I got was comments about the benefits of learning languages cognitive benefits that [TS]
00:10:11 ◼ ► are not necessarily the language themselves but things that you get from learning a second language [TS]
00:10:18 ◼ ► and I want to be clear. I don't doubt that there are benefits to learning another language. [TS]
00:10:24 ◼ ► But my my point was that I don't think the school system as it currently exists actually produces people who are able [TS]
00:10:34 ◼ ► So you can talk to me as much as you want about the benefits of learning other languages [TS]
00:10:40 ◼ ► but the current school system just doesn't do that so it's sort of it's sort of irrelevant how awesome it is to speak a [TS]
00:10:46 ◼ ► second language when we're not coming out with kids who actually do speak other languages so. [TS]
00:10:51 ◼ ► I would say that that was part of the part of the feedback that I got you have to let you teach people sport [TS]
00:11:01 ◼ ► but the process of playing the game taught them to say no I did have a health benefit taught them things about teamwork [TS]
00:11:07 ◼ ► it taught them things it improve their coordination it did lots of other things even though they're coming out of a [TS]
00:11:13 ◼ ► major league baseball or at the end and yeah I know you realize this but you seem to say I realize this [TS]
00:11:21 ◼ ► I guess I guess I just my my thought on this is that the the the things that I have seen about the benefits of learning [TS]
00:11:33 ◼ ► When a person has basic competence in the language here are the benefits that they also have [TS]
00:11:37 ◼ ► and so my my position is is that I don't think most language courses have their students reach basic conversational [TS]
00:11:45 ◼ ► competence to to get those benefits like it's like a threshold effect I was I didn't mention it [TS]
00:11:51 ◼ ► but I also want to be clear because there could be really angry otherwise that was that was not the sole of his [TS]
00:12:00 ◼ ► It sounded like he actually had quite a successful schooling experience in general which included which by the way [TS]
00:12:12 ◼ ► when they started doing French which I think if you're going if you're going to teach language you might as well start [TS]
00:12:17 ◼ ► when kids are very young. Right if we're going to do this let's do it right and and start from the very beginning. [TS]
00:12:24 ◼ ► But yeah so he he had a very different experience with me and I'm slightly exhausted [TS]
00:12:29 ◼ ► but unmoved you realise you realise I've got next he's coming to me for three days now. [TS]
00:12:35 ◼ ► and I am I just going to people with language stuff you maybe you maybe I do have I do have a personal piece of advice [TS]
00:12:46 ◼ ► I have a major regret which is that when I met Eric we met in the Natural History Museum here in London. [TS]
00:12:53 ◼ ► I gave Derek a hug to say hello. You know I haven't seen you in a while a hug and I really shouldn't have. [TS]
00:13:01 ◼ ► Because Derek was was sick but I thought let me let me express my great friendship to Derek. Nice big hello hug. [TS]
00:13:14 ◼ ► Derek gave me a disease from physical proximity I'm absolutely sure he is now on his way to you acting as the Typhoid [TS]
00:13:26 ◼ ► and the Mrs may be experiencing symptoms of not feeling very well so I do also apologize to listeners if my voice isn't [TS]
00:13:40 ◼ ► and a whole bunch of other medicines that I'm shoving in to my face right now to try to sound more normal so I'm sorry [TS]
00:13:48 ◼ ► Where going when sharing a hot tub with Derek so we're in for a world we're going to the spa the hot spots are in Bath. [TS]
00:14:06 ◼ ► It's actually funny that this bit of a trend I've noticed since we started the podcast [TS]
00:14:15 ◼ ► but it's really funny because I'm getting that short a mouse like you recommended that we close because I think we've [TS]
00:14:20 ◼ ► made our positions clear that you are pretty ruthless with a mile in terms of not reading it and deleting it [TS]
00:14:27 ◼ ► and I was a bit more of a softy and I say that I sometimes read a mouse in cages and yeah I'm in there [TS]
00:14:40 ◼ ► when read by your mouth I know there's a chance you're ready so can you tell gray this so can you make my argument for [TS]
00:14:47 ◼ ► me. So anyway this is perfect. Like this is quite a lot. This way you can filter out the interesting things. [TS]
00:14:54 ◼ ► So and I think we should be a policy right forward for any and all feedback in an e-mail form. [TS]
00:15:02 ◼ ► Female Brady if you didn't read your message I think this is great I really like this. [TS]
00:15:07 ◼ ► You are basically now a human being easy an email filter for me for the feedback so go ahead tell me what is the [TS]
00:15:33 ◼ ► Anyway I did get this email from a Jew named Sean I don't know if I should say his surname because he might like it [TS]
00:15:42 ◼ ► I'm always really reluctant to use people synonyms you know I say the general policy let's stick with first names [TS]
00:15:48 ◼ ► showing you know who you are your name out. It was very good. You made a lot of good points. [TS]
00:15:52 ◼ ► Some I agree with some I have no opinion on but some I didn't make in our discussion. [TS]
00:16:00 ◼ ► I mean like most things in life I have no really firm position on this whole language in school debate [TS]
00:16:06 ◼ ► but I try to put the other side because you put he put your side so strongly and he made some really good points [TS]
00:16:12 ◼ ► and I want to share a couple of them with one of the points you talked about in the last podcast how you think sort of [TS]
00:16:18 ◼ ► machine translation is moving along so quickly that that's one of the reasons speaking other languages will become sort [TS]
00:16:29 ◼ ► He politely but strongly disagreed with that and he think it seems to be an area he knows quite a lot about [TS]
00:16:36 ◼ ► and he hey think Square fifty if not one hundred years away from computerized language translation being really top [TS]
00:16:56 ◼ ► and he made a strong case for it so I just want to throw that in the mix I don't I don't know if you know my my my my [TS]
00:17:10 ◼ ► but my main thought about that is the scenario of the utility is it good enough for most people traveling in a foreign [TS]
00:17:20 ◼ ► and I think that that is the language barrier for most people I imagine especially especially if you are ever having to. [TS]
00:17:33 ◼ ► Like if you're translating a novel between languages I don't I don't think machine translation is going to be able to [TS]
00:17:38 ◼ ► do that kind of work for a very long time because I think that's why that that is not a question of communication [TS]
00:17:53 ◼ ► Yeah I will back off what I was going to say is I was reading a document while you're talking about. [TS]
00:18:00 ◼ ► The beginning points of machine language translation like what how do you begin to train these algorithms [TS]
00:18:09 ◼ ► and utilitarian the translations may be is that the starting point for this one algorithm that I was reading about was [TS]
00:18:15 ◼ ► the European Union corpus of laws because for those of you who are aware in the European Union I should know the socks [TS]
00:18:25 ◼ ► off my head but I think if there are something like twenty two or twenty four different official languages [TS]
00:18:32 ◼ ► and what that means is that any document that is issued in the European Union has to have legal copies in all of the [TS]
00:18:38 ◼ ► other languages which is why you can find these the statistics for how many human hours is employed in this endeavor [TS]
00:18:46 ◼ ► which is which is quite a lot for the record I just want to say I'm totally OK with that [TS]
00:18:50 ◼ ► but if you're going to designate something as an official language you need to produce documents in that language [TS]
00:18:56 ◼ ► but basically the result of that you end up having just this enormous treasure trove for computer linguistics of data [TS]
00:19:05 ◼ ► Thousands of documents that have been translated into this twenty something different languages [TS]
00:19:13 ◼ ► and by training algorithms a little where you can actually have them learn on their own [TS]
00:19:18 ◼ ► but the result means that like your translation style is going to sound probably as dry as a European Union legal memo [TS]
00:19:28 ◼ ► is going to sound so I don't I don't think that we're going to have translations of poetry that are anything [TS]
00:19:36 ◼ ► Well if that's your if that's your brief response to that first point out of a limit the number of Sean's points I [TS]
00:19:43 ◼ ► share with you and I will point out I'm only briefly summarizing I'm not I'm not pointing out his whole argument. [TS]
00:19:48 ◼ ► Another point he made that was very good that you were saying you're an advocate of coding computer programming as [TS]
00:20:00 ◼ ► A computer language is a change very quickly become outdated very quickly you know what. [TS]
00:20:05 ◼ ► What languages are we going to. Computer languages are we going to teach in SCO people going to come out. [TS]
00:20:23 ◼ ► or any any future podcast we talk about I mean computer programming languages in a very very broad way. [TS]
00:20:36 ◼ ► If I was having a computer language course that I would teach that would not be straight up computer languages so for [TS]
00:20:56 ◼ ► But what it was was the kids had to connect a bunch of sensors and buttons and switches to each other [TS]
00:21:05 ◼ ► and they had to make those connections using logic gates. So those are things like. [TS]
00:21:16 ◼ ► and the light sensor is active then make the buzzer sound so so I think any kind of teaching of logic to me falls under [TS]
00:21:27 ◼ ► this category of what a computer programming language is just the very idea of how do you talk to computers. [TS]
00:21:35 ◼ ► And so even though computer programmers in the audience right there in their head will explode [TS]
00:21:39 ◼ ► when I put this in the same category. But I would be totally happy to have a lot done in say spreadsheets. [TS]
00:21:45 ◼ ► There's an enormous amount of stuff you can do with a spreadsheet that is if then else right. [TS]
00:21:53 ◼ ► That's what I mean by computer programming just the idea of teaching how to communicate with computer. [TS]
00:22:07 ◼ ► But to specifically answer his question about the language I would say that the language is in the field seem to turn [TS]
00:22:16 ◼ ► There are languages that don't move very much and for example you know if you're using and it's twenty fourteen [TS]
00:22:25 ◼ ► and if you're using an i Phone those i Phones are still programmed in basically an in a variant of the language of C. [TS]
00:22:33 ◼ ► Which I got I mean off the top my head I'm going to say C. Is at least one nine hundred seventy S. [TS]
00:22:39 ◼ ► Kind of old so that's not it. I mean she's not a pretty language program a little bit in C. Sorry C. [TS]
00:22:45 ◼ ► Programmers it is kind of ugly. Lisp is beautiful for those in the audience who are listening and I do like Python. [TS]
00:23:01 ◼ ► The internal concepts but the logical gates of if then else and now and those things are universal in languages [TS]
00:23:09 ◼ ► and the syntactic differences between programming languages are not as large as you might think they are so let me read [TS]
00:23:24 ◼ ► And maybe this also is where we come to the interesting point where sort of the robot grey vs the human [TS]
00:23:34 ◼ ► Yeah the selling point for taking language from a is as you alluded to in the podcast the access point to culture [TS]
00:23:42 ◼ ► but I would include all human culture in that more than anything else in our makeup we want to understand language it [TS]
00:23:54 ◼ ► Language is what distinguishes us evolutionarily from the rest of the animals and is deeply low. [TS]
00:24:00 ◼ ► I want to have cognitive ability. The second part of that is undeniably true that humans are. [TS]
00:24:06 ◼ ► I mean especially little humans are just language absorbing machines that's clearly built straight into our D.N.A. [TS]
00:24:13 ◼ ► But that's that's something that kids do but I I feel I have to hear that first bit of it again [TS]
00:24:21 ◼ ► but I just just because that's a thing that humans intrinsically are good at when they're young. [TS]
00:24:28 ◼ ► I don't I don't see that as an as a convincing argument for why we should teach it in this very formulaic way [TS]
00:24:36 ◼ ► Well let me show it also made the point that Derek made which is that he thinks it's really important to start young. [TS]
00:24:46 ◼ ► And maybe if we started young we'd be less inclined to give it the flick later on but something else he said. [TS]
00:24:52 ◼ ► Just because something may be poorly taught is not an excuse for it to not be taught. [TS]
00:24:57 ◼ ► I mean I think he's saying there that you're throwing the baby out with the bathwater [TS]
00:25:07 ◼ ► I cover this in the dark because it did go on for forever wondering if this is a shoo in is actually like you know [TS]
00:25:17 ◼ ► Yeah yeah I would have just said that this cannot be the topic for stakes will be go on forever [TS]
00:25:24 ◼ ► but the language thing is very much connected with my with my opinions of how school in general works in a modern world [TS]
00:25:35 ◼ ► which having seen it as a professional in that environment is generally very poor I don't think I think the whole [TS]
00:25:45 ◼ ► and so I would leave it at that as like that there are very many things that I would change about the education system [TS]
00:25:51 ◼ ► and I just think language is particularly ill suited for the sit at a desk kind of learning method but there are many. [TS]
00:26:02 ◼ ► but obviously we still we still send kids to school so let's let it let's let the language get to final points I'm not [TS]
00:26:14 ◼ ► First if I meant to mention last time I didn't mention it if if you are a person who does want to learn languages there [TS]
00:26:21 ◼ ► is a great little app that I played around with on the i Phone on the i Pad called dual lingo or do I do lingo. [TS]
00:26:32 ◼ ► and I think that that dual lingo is a good example of how a well done program can really accelerate learning in an area [TS]
00:26:44 ◼ ► so I just played around that for a little while with my very rusty Spanish and it's done really well [TS]
00:26:54 ◼ ► and you just gave them this this one little app they could make a lot of progress in a way faster than they could just [TS]
00:27:03 ◼ ► and if if you are trying to learn a language I would recommend this app just just for my little experience playing [TS]
00:27:12 ◼ ► And the second thing that just going back to the e-mails I have a little note here which is again might make me sound [TS]
00:27:18 ◼ ► like a total monster but I did get one e-mail about language feedback from someone. [TS]
00:27:38 ◼ ► and it started right off like you know I have some points to make about language you know whatever kind of schools [TS]
00:27:49 ◼ ► And normally you know I delete e-mails that are very long but this was so long it caught my attention. [TS]
00:28:00 ◼ ► So Long It caught my attention just long enough to be able to do the keyboard command to pull up a word count which was [TS]
00:28:14 ◼ ► The little Internet the sponsor is audible dot com the leading provider of spoken information in entertainment. [TS]
00:28:20 ◼ ► Listen to audio books wherever and whenever you want and a great place to listen to audiobooks is [TS]
00:28:25 ◼ ► when you are sick in bed and just can't do anything else except lie there with your eyes closed all sad [TS]
00:28:35 ◼ ► and the i OS app for Audible has a little sleep timer so that if you think you're maybe not going to stay awake through [TS]
00:28:40 ◼ ► the length of your audio book you can have it automatically shut off after a certain amount of time which is very handy. [TS]
00:28:52 ◼ ► Gray in the past he was recording the episode that you're actually listening to now [TS]
00:28:55 ◼ ► and who was just mildly sick from his encounter with Derek but is now a lot worse off. [TS]
00:29:01 ◼ ► But that brings me to an audio book recommendation for you for a book called The Great Influenza. [TS]
00:29:11 ◼ ► It's about the flu epidemic of one nine hundred eighteen which in modern days we think of flu as a sort of [TS]
00:29:17 ◼ ► and forget how incredibly deadly It used to be in one thousand eight hundred seven times more people died of the flu [TS]
00:29:29 ◼ ► and the book chronicles what we think about how the disease got started and how it spread. [TS]
00:29:35 ◼ ► And from my perspective the most interesting thing was also just about how little was really known about effective [TS]
00:29:43 ◼ ► Basically pre-one nine hundred going to a doctor was just basically like rolling the dice maybe he'd make you better [TS]
00:29:52 ◼ ► And the great influence sort of lucky for us as a species came after some very basic medical knowledge was finally. [TS]
00:30:00 ◼ ► Put into practice I mean really stuff that you would think any first grade kid would know these days [TS]
00:30:09 ◼ ► and the audio version is narrated by a guy called Scott Brick who is one of my favorite audiobook narrators [TS]
00:30:17 ◼ ► and I'm sure I'll mention some stuff of his in the future as well. So give it a listen. [TS]
00:30:21 ◼ ► And of course you can listen to that book for free by signing up at Audible dot com slash hello internet. All one word. [TS]
00:30:29 ◼ ► So if you want to listen to it audible definitely has it with over one hundred fifty thousand titles [TS]
00:30:37 ◼ ► So get a free audio book and a thirty day trial today by signing up at Audible dot com slash hello internet. [TS]
00:30:43 ◼ ► That's Audible dot com slash hello internet. Or you can click the link in the show notes right now. [TS]
00:30:49 ◼ ► Anything you've been up to lately you've been pretty busy thinking about this actually like today a couple of hours ago [TS]
00:30:58 ◼ ► I'm just dropping in to you know make me sound like I don't just sit here and read the Kapadia and I got a paper cut. [TS]
00:31:08 ◼ ► The real tragedy you know this is how things are and then something else happened in two [TS]
00:31:13 ◼ ► or three things happened in a short space of time that were frustrating Mahon I was because I knew we were doing the [TS]
00:31:21 ◼ ► and then it made me realize just people who want to hear negative stuff in podcasts [TS]
00:31:33 ◼ ► I don't think people want to hear that I think you know I think I want to hear stuff that's what constructive [TS]
00:31:46 ◼ ► Is there a market for moaning and I don't hear pod cast such as people being miserable. [TS]
00:31:55 ◼ ► I think people being miserable in trysting ways can be very interesting. Yeah you know it all depends on. [TS]
00:32:03 ◼ ► It all depends on how the story is told a story about the tragedy of your paper cuts could be really great. [TS]
00:32:10 ◼ ► Millions rolling I would say this particular version of it was not it was not snow drawling I didn't I didn't I didn't [TS]
00:32:17 ◼ ► I didn't turn it into a ripping Yeah I did you know he didn't really sell it it was just a random event. [TS]
00:32:23 ◼ ► But there isn't just value in positive stuff there is there is definitely value in negative stuff [TS]
00:32:31 ◼ ► and I think particularly in as I did in many of the early episodes in self criticism I think there is there is there is [TS]
00:32:45 ◼ ► or self-critical is aware of genuine flaws in the way that people who are endlessly optimistic maybe are not yet an [TS]
00:32:59 ◼ ► or unaware of lots of things so I don't know if that exactly ties in with what you are talking about him [TS]
00:33:09 ◼ ► and really I don't know no no I just I was just thinking like you know I know in like a New Age happy clappy type way [TS]
00:33:21 ◼ ► You can you can start getting too negative sometimes but you can start seeing the negative in everything [TS]
00:33:32 ◼ ► And for people like like us they sort of work alone and you know get lost in their own minds quite a lot. [TS]
00:33:40 ◼ ► You know like you say I think like so so criticism and an awareness of problems is important [TS]
00:33:48 ◼ ► and I think it's important to to realize that we've got a pretty good life. Things are pretty good yeah. [TS]
00:33:55 ◼ ► Again this is this is the pod cast of first world You Tube or problem. Yeah exactly. [TS]
00:34:12 ◼ ► but you know it's again it depends on how things are how things are told I think I went to Sheffield this week [TS]
00:34:21 ◼ ► and did some sort of public speaking of couple of talks about each of them about my work and things like that. [TS]
00:34:34 ◼ ► and I want to make sure I give a mention to two other good videos but I quite enjoy. [TS]
00:34:45 ◼ ► It's not an I it's something I like is it something you have much experience with giving talks giving talks can be [TS]
00:34:51 ◼ ► I think I've sort of obliquely mentioned before that I used to have a sort of time management business before I got [TS]
00:34:58 ◼ ► into the You Tube world and I gave talks with that on occasion. And yeah I think I really liked it. [TS]
00:35:06 ◼ ► or you know you got such a seriously voice that everybody loves for public speaking it was something I put a lot of [TS]
00:35:18 ◼ ► and having been a teacher it's something that I think you get very used to talking in front of groups of people is [TS]
00:35:33 ◼ ► So maybe if this podcast thing doesn't work out we could do some kind of you know some sort of job growth. [TS]
00:35:39 ◼ ► Yeah I was going to become I think that if you could say oh yeah we get a little caravan tour up and down this island. [TS]
00:35:47 ◼ ► Yes this is something this is like completely unrelated to what we're talking about it's completely out of left field [TS]
00:35:52 ◼ ► but what we were saying to just remind me of and since we did this pod cast it's become a question I want to ask you. [TS]
00:36:00 ◼ ► If it became feasible in this kind of you know future technology world that people sometimes talk about to have your [TS]
00:36:08 ◼ ► kind of consciousness taken out of your body and into a computer or into the Internet [TS]
00:36:14 ◼ ► and you could just be completely remote from your body and live virtually does that a pity. [TS]
00:36:21 ◼ ► There are a lot of philosophical questions but that that there are a lot of philosophical problems with that question. [TS]
00:36:28 ◼ ► I don't want to turn into a big discussion about it and I know this is coming about a sane [TS]
00:36:32 ◼ ► and yet a some I think I saw a preview for some Johnny Depp film and that's going to do with that [TS]
00:36:37 ◼ ► and then we could do a how. And I hopefully will talk about it more. But just like on a gut level instinct. [TS]
00:36:43 ◼ ► Well you just mentioned that one of the philosophical issues with us because I try to be very consistent [TS]
00:36:52 ◼ ► and very evidence based in my thinking in my life I don't know if listeners are aware of this [TS]
00:37:00 ◼ ► But there is there is one that one area of a kind of unknowable question that I'm very aware of [TS]
00:37:08 ◼ ► and it is the transporter on Star Trek so my wife she would not describe herself as a big Trekkie I would say that she [TS]
00:37:17 ◼ ► is a big Trekkie and we watch Star Trek together sometimes and whenever they go in that in the transporter [TS]
00:37:25 ◼ ► and beam down to the surface of the planet. So I kind of assume that the crew members are dead. [TS]
00:37:35 ◼ ► and the creature has appeared on the surface of the planet is an exact recreation of them as they were [TS]
00:37:48 ◼ ► Kirk gets into the transporter and he's thinking about whatever green aliens probably. [TS]
00:38:00 ◼ ► And on the planet there is a different living thing that finishes that thought about green beans. Mike you're right. [TS]
00:38:13 ◼ ► I don't think there is any way to ever prove that because you know if you if you interrogated him if you had all these [TS]
00:38:34 ◼ ► I don't know how you prove it but I'm imagining the method is going to somehow involve tagging of the particles [TS]
00:38:41 ◼ ► or it's going to somehow involve quantum entanglement or something of that is going to be a way to prove that. [TS]
00:38:47 ◼ ► Like he's physically a different person. You know he's made from different molecules. [TS]
00:38:52 ◼ ► I mean that can be your only criteria it can't be that the configuration of brain waves and things. [TS]
00:38:58 ◼ ► Well we what we what we know from physics is that individual atoms are not different from each other all hydrogen atoms [TS]
00:39:16 ◼ ► and it also gets into some arguments about how does the transporter work in the first place which I think are all [TS]
00:39:21 ◼ ► Does the transporter recreate the person from the energy on the surface of the planet [TS]
00:39:25 ◼ ► or is it actually sending their individual atoms in a stream which I don't think is the official Star Trek explanation [TS]
00:39:38 ◼ ► and I can imagine that no matter how far science ever got that maybe they're just wouldn't ever be a way to demonstrate [TS]
00:39:46 ◼ ► this conclusively you know how do you know how you are telling me you know how you are telling me you watch the people [TS]
00:39:50 ◼ ► vs George Lucas and it made you feel uncomfortable that made the people really know it's discussions like this. OK so. [TS]
00:40:06 ◼ ► And they have an episode of Star Trek where they end up with duplicate people which to me seems like clearly the subset. [TS]
00:40:11 ◼ ► Anyway this is all a roundabout way to say that if there was some kind of technology that existed to transfer my [TS]
00:40:20 ◼ ► consciousness into a machine I would always be hesitant to use it because I would feel I would personally think that [TS]
00:40:33 ◼ ► this is actually the death of me and it is the creation of a thing that thinks that it is me [TS]
00:40:39 ◼ ► but there might not be any way to ever prove that. So I would in future worlds that I hope exist soon. [TS]
00:40:47 ◼ ► I am much more a fan of the I think for the the Ship of Theseus problem where you slowly augment [TS]
00:41:00 ◼ ► and I think OK maybe I am more amenable to this idea of augmenting the brain slowly over time. [TS]
00:41:18 ◼ ► Yes At the same acts the same it's the same kind of thing oh you know my memory is getting a little bit bad so we're [TS]
00:41:26 ◼ ► and slowly the brain becomes more chips than it is actually you know squishy delicate fragile organic matter [TS]
00:41:42 ◼ ► and if if there was a way to know for sure that the consciousness transfer would not kill me I would do it you know how [TS]
00:41:50 ◼ ► you define kill here like in a night like this is this is seems like a wishy washy definition of death even. Yeah. [TS]
00:41:58 ◼ ► This gets messy really quickly. I'm thinking of it as a continuous stream of consciousness. [TS]
00:42:06 ◼ ► but there are it's easy to poke holes in that kind of argument as well you know have you died every time you wake up in [TS]
00:42:15 ◼ ► So I'm not sure if it gives you hope because again I am I am first on the cyborg train with replacing any parts of my [TS]
00:42:32 ◼ ► Well if we're going to see brain advancements which are obviously the way to go because [TS]
00:42:35 ◼ ► and they let you make better decisions about what parts to replace if ever going to assume that my my brain is limited. [TS]
00:42:46 ◼ ► And that's partly because I have some visual problems with one of my eyes in particular so I already write like I have [TS]
00:42:52 ◼ ► this this sack of fluid in my face that isn't working perfectly and so I would like to replace it [TS]
00:43:00 ◼ ► and then the second thing I would replace would be my inner ear drums to have tonight is in both ears so I always hear [TS]
00:43:08 ◼ ► Yeah it's irritating but it's not you know certain people have it much worse than I do. [TS]
00:43:25 ◼ ► For me there was always a high pitch mean noise if a room gets too quiet so I replace my ears then next on the list you [TS]
00:43:32 ◼ ► know and then that would be the be the top priority but everything as soon as the machine is better. [TS]
00:43:37 ◼ ► I mean obviously just a fool to not you know upgrade to the the newer better model of whatever's in the bottle that off [TS]
00:43:44 ◼ ► topic that's what you want and it just was on my mind talking about talking about current [TS]
00:43:50 ◼ ► and first well gee two problems I will talk about something that's been in current news but in the context of things. [TS]
00:44:00 ◼ ► My channels appearing videos and sixty symbols which a lot as you know a lot of chemistry and physics. [TS]
00:44:05 ◼ ► Yes they traditionally have been kind of my more newsy channels in terms of if something happens in you know in the [TS]
00:44:12 ◼ ► world I'm able to react to it with those channels and you know the latest news in chemistry [TS]
00:44:26 ◼ ► I've always been able to quickly drive to the University of Nottingham where where I fit where most of my collaboration [TS]
00:44:33 ◼ ► and as you also know I've recently left Nottingham arrive I live quite I live about two to three hours drive from Nottingham [TS]
00:44:53 ◼ ► And obviously this means absolutely nothing to you who does not make fast rejecting videos [TS]
00:45:01 ◼ ► and I've been very frustrated by just recently because of the the announcement of the the polarized a lot I found in [TS]
00:45:10 ◼ ► the cosmic microwave background this kind of you know this this new evidence of primordial gravitational waves is very [TS]
00:45:18 ◼ ► exciting and I've been really came to make a video that will and I have finally done the interviews [TS]
00:45:27 ◼ ► but it's been quite frustrating not having not been quite so close to all my experts anymore. [TS]
00:45:33 ◼ ► First world a huge huge problem. I do I no longer have instant access to world class physicists. [TS]
00:45:40 ◼ ► What a terrible what a terrible thing has happened to me. For shame. As it has it. [TS]
00:45:47 ◼ ► So I faced this obviously a lot because of my terrible production cycle has changed by the time you make a video about [TS]
00:46:00 ◼ ► Topics are sold by the time I get around to them everything is change I think boy I'm glad I didn't do it you know that [TS]
00:46:16 ◼ ► Oh no I think what I think has nothing to my production right because I'm always I'm always behind you know I've always [TS]
00:46:22 ◼ ► got you know I must have twenty to thirty videos that if I never if I couldn't film again I could probably make another [TS]
00:46:32 ◼ ► and haven't got around to it so it hasn't it hasn't slowed me down in that respect but it has it does affect me [TS]
00:46:47 ◼ ► and I will win the Nobel Prize was always a fun one because I would always sit there with them. [TS]
00:46:51 ◼ ► Yeah there are like Yeah so we you know we have a video up within two or three hours [TS]
00:46:58 ◼ ► and you know I guess my background in news journalism has been has made that same very simple thing for me. [TS]
00:47:10 ◼ ► and it's that kind of first world a problem that no one will really sympathize with [TS]
00:47:22 ◼ ► and the answer is Well hopefully if I start late I might get it done but then I went down [TS]
00:47:32 ◼ ► Unbelievable unbelievable amounts of time and absolutely unbelievable. I apologize. [TS]
00:47:43 ◼ ► and I almost I almost look at that as a kind of guiding principle for the way I make a lot of decisions about how I [TS]
00:47:53 ◼ ► structure my life is that I don't necessarily want to react to things immediately. [TS]
00:48:03 ◼ ► I'm almost kind of glad that my production cycle is so slow because it forces me to pick topics that are going to be [TS]
00:48:11 ◼ ► relevant for a long time time time time the city airs I mean that's a great thing about your videos you know. [TS]
00:48:17 ◼ ► and if I if I was able to make videos faster I could see getting swept up into a much more following the news cycle system. [TS]
00:48:34 ◼ ► but for me I feel like that's something I want to stay away from as as much as possible. [TS]
00:48:40 ◼ ► And yeah it's OK if you've heard this phrase a Low Information Diet which is consciously making decisions about [TS]
00:48:54 ◼ ► and this is this is this is something that I definitely consciously do about trying to limit the number of sources of [TS]
00:49:01 ◼ ► news that can come in to come into my world and I think it can be really beneficial to slow down the pace of things [TS]
00:49:16 ◼ ► You know a lot of news that can come in is just not necessarily really relevant or or actionable to you [TS]
00:49:25 ◼ ► So you're not aware that Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin of broken up I am not aware of that but I say something. [TS]
00:49:37 ◼ ► and I said Oh I heard about that yeah I said that because if you listening now I hope that for a moment that made Derek [TS]
00:49:44 ◼ ► absolutely furious because when Derek came to visit me in London that was one of the first things that we talked about. [TS]
00:49:52 ◼ ► Yeah and he said to me in a cafe so if you heard about the electric waves in the cosmic background radiation [TS]
00:50:02 ◼ ► and he was absolutely apoplectic about how I had not come across this piece of information [TS]
00:50:08 ◼ ► and how was the biggest scientific discovery of the year and he was just horrified that I did not know. [TS]
00:50:13 ◼ ► But from my perspective we had a lovely conversation where Derek informed me all about this and so now [TS]
00:50:24 ◼ ► when someone tells you that Christmas going to poach are broken up you can say yeah yeah yeah I did hear about yeah I [TS]
00:50:31 ◼ ► and this is this is one of the things about kind of if I don't follow the news I don't really read the news that's very [TS]
00:50:45 ◼ ► Yeah and that's what I think is the great advantage right. There's a huge scientific discovery. [TS]
00:50:54 ◼ ► or if there's a really big thing going on in the news that really matters it's going to be impossible not to know [TS]
00:51:01 ◼ ► but the benefit of filtering out a whole bunch of little minor stuff that doesn't matter is I think huge. [TS]
00:51:10 ◼ ► You just don't occupy your mind with that stuff and it doesn't it doesn't take up it doesn't take up your time. [TS]
00:51:18 ◼ ► and she said Oh c'mon you know I have no idea you know I couldn't even tell you what I don't know is what you're [TS]
00:51:24 ◼ ► talking about. Yes I mean no way to know if you know it. Manchester United is so boring it is. Yes OK soccer soccer. [TS]
00:51:36 ◼ ► I write I don't envy you not being a slave to school like sport is I'm really into cricket I have heard Yeah and [TS]
00:51:48 ◼ ► and recently Australia have been playing some significant cricket series they had a really big one in Australia against [TS]
00:51:54 ◼ ► England that I was completely obsessed with and as you know there were these five day games and. [TS]
00:52:00 ◼ ► Last hours and so this epic thing and because it was in Australia and I live in the U.K. [TS]
00:52:05 ◼ ► It was a really bad time for me and I just couldn't sleep at night I was sleeping with my i Phone under my pillow [TS]
00:52:16 ◼ ► and what my it was obviously in my subconscious because I couldn't sleep if I fell asleep I would wake up ten minutes [TS]
00:52:21 ◼ ► an addict you're either you're an addict there man I know where you stand on addiction today I'm already regretting [TS]
00:52:30 ◼ ► I just I just I'm just so passionate about I just look at that matters so much to me it affects my mood so much house [TS]
00:52:38 ◼ ► trying to perform a cricket and this is where you can be found with a glad I'm not married to you. [TS]
00:52:52 ◼ ► If that's the only reason you're glad you're not married to me we got problems. Pretty high on the list you know. [TS]
00:52:57 ◼ ► Yeah if I was going to make a list of reasons not to marry Brady I don't think we'll be a good couple. [TS]
00:53:02 ◼ ► He gets grumpy if his sports team is losing you know this is you know this is common I know you laugh like it's a funny [TS]
00:53:11 ◼ ► little Brady thing you know this is really common in the world that mark particularly among men that their mood is [TS]
00:53:18 ◼ ► affected by the performance of sport teams they're passionate about you know this is common. [TS]
00:53:22 ◼ ► I can understand that that people get elated when their sports teams win and sad with their sports teams lose. [TS]
00:53:29 ◼ ► Does the the emotional drama of sports teams can that I mean that I guess that's why people follow them. [TS]
00:53:34 ◼ ► Partly but it sounds like you're just all a big grew up around the house because oil didn't didn't pull it out [TS]
00:53:42 ◼ ► when it went it wasn't like it won't be a long term thing like if we lose it within half an hour say it's a forgotten [TS]
00:53:48 ◼ ► thing. They were like a freezing if we lose sight of They'll lose if we lose. I find that so interesting. [TS]
00:54:05 ◼ ► and that's I think that's a very very natural to human kind of thing to do is is to associate well throw me a bone here [TS]
00:54:11 ◼ ► what's your demand let me laugh at you for a minute what something you become unreasonably passionate about no I don't [TS]
00:54:23 ◼ ► Maybe you have to ask my wife about things that become a passion about it I think from my perspective I think oh wow [TS]
00:54:38 ◼ ► when I was teaching physics lessons I would use the we when talking about scientific discoveries. [TS]
00:54:57 ◼ ► I think I'm using that in this way in the collective humanities sense of the word but it's the same thing as [TS]
00:55:07 ◼ ► I have discovered no exoplanets actual people who got Ph D.'s and who know what they're doing and put in the hours [TS]
00:55:16 ◼ ► and the work they discovered exoplanets exoplanets are automated now it's not even humans doing it's computers [TS]
00:55:24 ◼ ► but you know even then it's so that's not that we write it's OK an algorithm has discovered this is not me in any sense. [TS]
00:55:33 ◼ ► and every one of my students want it who do you mean by we owe humanity as a whole is who I mean by we. [TS]
00:55:52 ◼ ► I don't consider myself a straight man and I've lived in the U.K. For a long time now and it. [TS]
00:56:00 ◼ ► It's a real point of contention in my household with with my other half because I support Australia in sport. [TS]
00:56:12 ◼ ► and I actually go so far that I'm really really anti England because in sport Australians are traditionally quite anti [TS]
00:56:29 ◼ ► Well I think at this trial you will hear me say that and think well that's completely normal. [TS]
00:56:39 ◼ ► and it was a funny thing actually I was I was listening to a radio talk show recently [TS]
00:56:44 ◼ ► and they were talking about that we're talking about something where this became relevant [TS]
00:56:48 ◼ ► and they encourage They put a sign in and I don't find in radio talk shows but I fit because I really like this host [TS]
00:57:02 ◼ ► They put me on the juice a lot where I was going to say and they put me on and I had a bit of banter [TS]
00:57:12 ◼ ► Anyway in this particular talk show they had like a prize for the person who was the best best Cola [TS]
00:57:24 ◼ ► and because it was like a sports talk radio show The Ventures were like for a hardware store. [TS]
00:57:29 ◼ ► So they sent me these one hundred pounds worth of that just for a hardware store fifty pounds I can't remember. [TS]
00:57:34 ◼ ► Anyway they sent it to me I was so pleased that I won these hardware store purchase. [TS]
00:57:41 ◼ ► They're like this history for you that it was sent to me by my favorite radio presenter ha ha [TS]
00:57:49 ◼ ► I refuse to spend the veterans like I keep them is like a little memento I know you love memento Yeah as good [TS]
00:58:00 ◼ ► No chip that I won at a Monte Carlo Casino and I was so proud that I won on roulette. [TS]
00:58:05 ◼ ► I wanted to keep the chip as a souvenir and didn't cash it in so the casino still got my money. [TS]
00:58:10 ◼ ► You're going to have a lot of these little trinkets around your house by the time you're sixty you know all around you [TS]
00:58:22 ◼ ► Well hopefully I'll have at least somewhat robotic parts by the time I'm sixty actually you know you have you replace [TS]
00:58:31 ◼ ► Yeah I am I'm really counting on that I got like you know looking at my watch here [TS]
00:58:40 ◼ ► What is gonna end in use with the sort of I think that was supposed to be news in my life [TS]
00:58:45 ◼ ► and I we talked about you being turned into a robot and Star Trek's time reporting [TS]
00:58:55 ◼ ► or problems I would say that I have I have I'm experiencing with my current video what I think is best described as a [TS]
00:59:08 ◼ ► How long has it been since your last video that I don't know if I want to know so I want to look it up it's been too [TS]
00:59:15 ◼ ► What do you know we should you know you know the terrible thing is I can't actually remember my last one was because a [TS]
00:59:23 ◼ ► Yeah we should we should fund and not put on Reddit was something how many videos are put out between your teeth. [TS]
00:59:34 ◼ ► and I know that I'm not need to become a new game that would be really I'm going to do that. [TS]
00:59:43 ◼ ► God I wish I had not like this is that the focus has become a distraction is that a timesink Ana I will I will say no [TS]
00:59:53 ◼ ► and actually I guess you are moving house as well and yeah I just I want to know. So make a note about that. [TS]
01:00:02 ◼ ► The park I think I think it feeds into a potentially a future thing that would be worth a whole topic about different [TS]
01:00:10 ◼ ► but I can say basically that that no the pod cast has not taken time away from videos because the videos are a very [TS]
01:00:19 ◼ ► different sort of work. Yeah but this is this is what I would say is the lateness cascade. [TS]
01:00:33 ◼ ► and as I was going through it I realized about halfway through there's something interesting that I want to do with [TS]
01:00:42 ◼ ► but I know that that is going to take a lot of time to do because I may need help from some other people to actually [TS]
01:00:50 ◼ ► But but while I was working on the topic I realized because of the move I'm already kind of late [TS]
01:00:56 ◼ ► and overdue for my next video so I don't want to pick a big huge topic to work on now. [TS]
01:01:19 ◼ ► and get this video done by the end of March because there's something in particular that I want to do for April. [TS]
01:01:26 ◼ ► But now it looks like because of various things like the move like Derek infecting me with his virus [TS]
01:01:33 ◼ ► and taking up a whole bunch of my time today that was supposed to be working on a video image [TS]
01:01:38 ◼ ► and to me about languages and and a few a few other things and also just my own taking a long time [TS]
01:01:45 ◼ ► and I'm not trying to blame it on external factors like I just I'm slow with the video sometimes right. [TS]
01:01:50 ◼ ► So it doesn't look like I'm going to make it for the end of March because we're recording this what is today is the [TS]
01:02:00 ◼ ► OK yes never going to happen is the twenty seventh I was aiming for it to be on the thirty first. [TS]
01:02:06 ◼ ► So that obviously is not it's not going to happen but for now here here is the problem [TS]
01:02:11 ◼ ► and what I was realizing this morning when I thought oh God this is just spiraling out of control. [TS]
01:02:27 ◼ ► or four weeks now at this point to switch the topic see to hit for April because a topic B. [TS]
01:02:39 ◼ ► and this is just this is the kind of problem that I run into sometimes just switching from one to the other [TS]
01:02:46 ◼ ► when they're not fully complete and this is this is a problem in my own workflow and like trust me trust me internet. [TS]
01:02:54 ◼ ► I am constantly trying to prove my own workflow because nobody wants to upload more videos than me. [TS]
01:03:04 ◼ ► C G P Gary wants that video more than you do. There are some times when I have to make changes. [TS]
01:03:14 ◼ ► Usually it's killing a project because I just realize that a video just isn't working for whatever reason. [TS]
01:03:20 ◼ ► Usually this is boring. I realize one day I'm bored by my own script this is just not interesting. [TS]
01:03:26 ◼ ► So that was not a good sign when you're reading something I think I don't even care. [TS]
01:03:44 ◼ ► And this goes back to that computer talk for a second. I've been reading up on it. [TS]
01:03:54 ◼ ► It's a thing called scrum which developers in the audience will know about but it's. [TS]
01:04:00 ◼ ► It's a methodology for creating computer software because computer software is not similar to writing [TS]
01:04:15 ◼ ► and it's very hard to put an estimate on how long it's going to take to actually make the thing to a particular [TS]
01:04:27 ◼ ► We're prepared to try to systematize the process of making something creative and I've been looking into scrum [TS]
01:04:35 ◼ ► and a few others because part of their fundamental philosophy is about pre committing to completion of certain tasks in [TS]
01:04:47 ◼ ► a certain amount of time and disallowing changes in that until a certain amount of time has passed and. [TS]
01:04:56 ◼ ► and thinking Who I wonder are you the very people who follow me on Twitter No I use a very heavy getting things done [TS]
01:05:16 ◼ ► but basically I am also trying to improve my productive output and I'm very systematic about that [TS]
01:05:23 ◼ ► and I think that this is this is something I'm going to move to try for a little bit to see if I can avoid this [TS]
01:05:30 ◼ ► switching problem which I'm fully well aware sometimes ends up in this kind of lateness cascade because this is my [TS]
01:05:39 ◼ ► Yeah and I'll preface it by saying Your video is a very very good and they're better than my videos [TS]
01:05:47 ◼ ► and that is because you know you spend so much time on them so I would never criticize you for spending a lot of time [TS]
01:06:00 ◼ ► Yeah do I sometimes begin to wonder if you because you've become you become so preoccupied with procedures [TS]
01:06:11 ◼ ► and putting all these things in place to increase your productivity that they actually affect your productivity. [TS]
01:06:36 ◼ ► and you probably think I love to talk with other people about how they get work done. [TS]
01:06:44 ◼ ► Yeah but I think what one of the keys to an effective system is it has to be very light weight on a day to day basis. [TS]
01:06:54 ◼ ► So on a on any particular day I am not obsessed with how the system works and all of these various tricks [TS]
01:07:03 ◼ ► and I think that there is there's a term for that which is productivity porn writer that you are reading up about tips [TS]
01:07:12 ◼ ► and it's it's it's like a kind of pornography right you're not doing anything you're just consuming this material. [TS]
01:07:20 ◼ ► And I think that there is definitely something to that but I know him and my day to day it is not a driving thought [TS]
01:07:29 ◼ ► but as I mentioned one of my views I do have a weekly review system and that's when I think about this a lot [TS]
01:07:39 ◼ ► but by weekly review this doesn't this is not more than a really fifteen minute kind of think about how the work [TS]
01:07:51 ◼ ► and looking into the clouds of thinking oh I wonder how I could be more productive let me watch the crowd float by [TS]
01:08:00 ◼ ► Just terrible What are you doing are going to try this alpha beta test I'm going to try using this for a week [TS]
01:08:09 ◼ ► and it's time for me to completely review the system you know just make a video and then I want to what you really are. [TS]
01:08:16 ◼ ► OK Well let's let's talk about let's talk about the thing that I put off later was discussed [TS]
01:08:22 ◼ ► and now which is the amount of energy. So all productive systems have a kind of bottleneck in them somewhere. [TS]
01:08:32 ◼ ► Yeah there's going to be some point that is the slow point that you that you can't speed up no matter how much you try [TS]
01:08:48 ◼ ► That's the bottleneck everybody always thinks it is the animation it takes a really long time. [TS]
01:09:05 ◼ ► and just write say for eight hours in a row because there's a diminishing returns on improving the script [TS]
01:09:17 ◼ ► and I can see they're like oh boy the last two revisions today are worse than when I started. [TS]
01:09:23 ◼ ► I should I should have just stopped an hour ago because I actually made it worse than than it and in the beginning was. [TS]
01:09:35 ◼ ► It doesn't have a lot to do with just straight up animation or other problems that can happen with a video production. [TS]
01:09:43 ◼ ► So I guess what I'm trying to say here is this is sometimes difficult to talk about [TS]
01:09:49 ◼ ► but I even I even heard myself saying it in the I think the third episode we were discussing work life balance. [TS]
01:09:58 ◼ ► Yeah it is. It's very easy to talk about a lack of time because I think that's a socially acceptable construct. [TS]
01:10:18 ◼ ► Yeah right but time is not the resource that is really a question it is about how I wish I had a better word for [TS]
01:10:27 ◼ ► but it really is about energy management and you have certain amount of energy for certain kinds of projects. [TS]
01:10:39 ◼ ► Yeah I think concentration is a is a good way to put it because there's just a ton of very interesting research about [TS]
01:10:51 ◼ ► and you can plot that stuff on a graph to show how this is basically like a battery that starts off strong [TS]
01:11:00 ◼ ► So I can spend an hour editing at certain times and get loads done and spend an average king of the times [TS]
01:11:16 ◼ ► Intensity is another word for yeah yeah that's that's that's that's a good way to put it [TS]
01:11:30 ◼ ► but I would say on a on a really great day I have probably about four hours tops of very high quality writing. [TS]
01:11:41 ◼ ► Now that just means writing I do spend other time doing research and other administrative stuff. [TS]
01:11:49 ◼ ► But after four straight hours on a single scripts there's just nothing that that's going to happen. [TS]
01:12:00 ◼ ► When I talk about messing around with with productivity systems I have various ways that I'm trying to figure out how [TS]
01:12:12 ◼ ► and I have not successfully done that at this point not how I just this is so you know I've got to respect [TS]
01:12:26 ◼ ► but this sure I knew for two years ashore and it is hard for me with my background in newspapers [TS]
01:12:40 ◼ ► When I come from a world where you know I would go out and spend my day meeting people and interviewing people [TS]
01:12:51 ◼ ► and the writing is almost just a blast to do at the end for like you know twenty twenty minutes before deadline to get [TS]
01:12:58 ◼ ► the thing done and I know a newspaper story that I would draw is not a well crafted is one of the scripts. [TS]
01:13:04 ◼ ► Yeah but but here but let's let's be fair here right. Let's say you spend twenty to twenty. [TS]
01:13:11 ◼ ► Well as that let's make the numbers you say you spend one hour on a newspaper article [TS]
01:13:17 ◼ ► and then say I spent a hundred hours on a script my script is not one hundred times better than your newspaper article [TS]
01:13:25 ◼ ► I wrote some pretty bad ones in my day hopefully not going to be it doesn't scale linearly with hours input [TS]
01:13:34 ◼ ► and that's also a place where I think I have to be aware of of actually constraining possibly the writing time [TS]
01:13:46 ◼ ► But I actually I actually had it on my on my list here because I know you're a newspaper man. [TS]
01:13:51 ◼ ► What is your advice about writing fast or how did you write so quickly. Well I guess you had. [TS]
01:14:00 ◼ ► Like there was no choice you had to write quickly because you had to send to the people at this time so that it could [TS]
01:14:08 ◼ ► be printed on to the paper and delivered to people to read it over breakfast in the morning [TS]
01:14:15 ◼ ► There was no you know you talk about changing your mind and deciding Actually I'm not going to do that one [TS]
01:14:20 ◼ ► or you know external factors that just wasn't and that just was not an option you know. [TS]
01:14:31 ◼ ► and I think that just teaches you like you know it just teaches you to rot with the field with the you're in the mood [TS]
01:14:53 ◼ ► and do the job whereas other people here aren't don't have that background quite fancy becoming an author who quite [TS]
01:14:59 ◼ ► often just spend forever you know going back over a chapter one in improving or deciding this is no good [TS]
01:15:12 ◼ ► I will I will I just interject for a second because I want to make sure at this point I will just say that I completely [TS]
01:15:22 ◼ ► I come I come across as well from people sometimes who want to who want to be inspired when they write [TS]
01:15:27 ◼ ► and I know that I'm I'm not writing like a newspaper person but that is my experience as well is to train your brain. [TS]
01:15:34 ◼ ► OK look you're just writing in the morning and it doesn't matter if you don't feel like it [TS]
01:15:39 ◼ ► and that that is definitely that definitely works I think a younger version of myself who was way more foolish [TS]
01:15:47 ◼ ► and tried to write I mean it's like ten years ago I tried to write things I was waiting around to feel inspired [TS]
01:15:53 ◼ ► and that is just a loser's game where you know you're never going to get anything done that way right. [TS]
01:16:01 ◼ ► I'm sorry you're going to have to you're going to have to do this now so I I definitely agree with that. [TS]
01:16:07 ◼ ► Yeah I don't know maybe you should go work for a newspaper for a few years I would never do that. [TS]
01:16:13 ◼ ► Nah never worked for a newspaper I think you'd enjoy it I think I think I would not working for a newspaper I think is [TS]
01:16:19 ◼ ► a is a brilliant experience. You learn so much about so much. Like everyone wants to be on T.V. and Work in T.V. [TS]
01:16:34 ◼ ► and I always would say to them the best thing you can do is come work for a newspaper and people in T.V. [TS]
01:16:43 ◼ ► Louis learned so much and it's a real it's a real baptism of fire that you know they're also a bit rubbish. [TS]
01:16:53 ◼ ► Well that's a separate issue for you the main thing about writing quickly which is the deadline. [TS]
01:17:08 ◼ ► and maybe that's because you don't have to put videos on You Tube you find out how to let go. [TS]
01:17:17 ◼ ► Yeah I mean there is as we discussed before there is an implicit deadline of of a of a monthly cycle not hitting a [TS]
01:17:25 ◼ ► monthly cycle is is not the best but even though you say not the best you know. Yeah that's true I would have. [TS]
01:17:39 ◼ ► and I've gotten comments sometimes from from the inside of You Tube about we see you didn't upload anything this [TS]
01:17:49 ◼ ► October so freaking kept track of which was a little funny sometimes like oh maybe that is where you know you may be [TS]
01:17:57 ◼ ► you know you've something's wrong. Yes I send someone around to knock on the door make sure you're OK. [TS]
01:18:02 ◼ ► Yes maybe maybe or maybe they just write of advertising revenue. I think that's probably their primary concern. [TS]
01:18:12 ◼ ► and one of the reasons why this might be a little slower is that many of the times in US I don't really think about [TS]
01:18:21 ◼ ► this until now but we were talking earlier about how I used to give talks and when I when I was a trainee teacher [TS]
01:18:34 ◼ ► and I got caught doing this a couple times was a little embarrassing I would give a lesson to an empty room in the [TS]
01:18:39 ◼ ► school before giving a lesson to an actual classroom full of kids so I would I would get up in front [TS]
01:18:50 ◼ ► Sort of time it for handing out stuff and then OK what am I going to talk about here and how I was all restless [TS]
01:18:56 ◼ ► and presentations when I was doing it for my time management business. Same kind of thing I did the presentation. [TS]
01:19:09 ◼ ► when I'm doing the writing for the script because I know it's going to be a You Tube video. [TS]
01:19:20 ◼ ► And so I set up my my laptop somewhere where I can stand up like I'm going to be when I'm recording [TS]
01:19:28 ◼ ► and I do the whole thing out loud I'm talking it out as I go through the whole script. [TS]
01:19:35 ◼ ► And so I'm trying to think of it as how is this going to be set in an actual video. [TS]
01:19:48 ◼ ► but it doesn't change the fact that I definitely definitely do want to make more videos more quickly [TS]
01:20:00 ◼ ► I am always thinking about ways to try and try and squeeze more out without having the quality go down. [TS]
01:20:08 ◼ ► But yeah so far not greatly successful that I am as always astonished by how different you know it is like we are from [TS]
01:20:21 ◼ ► different planets sometimes that is it is like I would NEVER rehearse a talk or presentation [TS]
01:20:31 ◼ ► So you do do you did you did you rehearse that will not see that I don't understand at all. [TS]
01:20:39 ◼ ► You can't you can't get up and just but I mean obviously you did and you did a great but I couldn't get up [TS]
01:20:44 ◼ ► and give a talk spontaneously in front of a large group of people I would have to rehearse that a lot like obviously [TS]
01:20:51 ◼ ► like in that case Lee and I had a slot so I knew the order of things and I knew I knew the points I wanted to hit [TS]
01:20:58 ◼ ► and I was just not the slightest sofas like my pollute point you know it's a picture of that that means I'm going to [TS]
01:21:05 ◼ ► Think about it I do most of my thinking in the shower so I have quite a long shower [TS]
01:21:11 ◼ ► and which you know gets me trouble but so I do think about it and I think you know how to do this [TS]
01:21:17 ◼ ► and I want to say that and this is why I want to take it but I would never like rest of us. You know pretend to do it. [TS]
01:21:29 ◼ ► Yeah I mean you give a good presentation so I cannot I cannot argue with your method but no I mean thank you [TS]
01:21:41 ◼ ► but this is this is the same problem I would if you were Hearst for ten hours with a B ten times better Probably not. [TS]
01:21:48 ◼ ► So this is a question of of marginal utility of of how much additional time do you want to sink into something before [TS]
01:22:01 ◼ ► And so that's one of the reasons again just going back that's that's that's one of my thoughts about consciously [TS]
01:22:07 ◼ ► reducing the amount of time that I spend on writing the scripts to see if that if that has an effect. [TS]
01:22:12 ◼ ► But yeah anyway I should say like we we didn't plan to talk about it so obviously no we did not and I know [TS]
01:22:26 ◼ ► They are so I think we need to say for the record this is this is not the last word [TS]
01:22:35 ◼ ► Being someone who likes to prepare I'm sure one day you'd like to prepare and have a few more points. [TS]
01:22:40 ◼ ► Yes I don't so that I know we kind of stumbled over it and you're going to probably agonize now [TS]
01:22:48 ◼ ► and I'm going to agonize like you wouldn't believe all of this if I can for those of you because it is mine it is my [TS]
01:23:11 ◼ ► I'm always changing stuff up and I'm always I'm always tinkering around the edges. [TS]
01:23:17 ◼ ► But part of it is I've I've been having this feeling over the last few years you know really since I've been self [TS]
01:23:24 ◼ ► employed that the the very robust system that I made for myself as a teacher that works like you know just a great [TS]
01:23:43 ◼ ► And I have been working on this in quotes a review of the book Getting Things Done. [TS]
01:23:53 ◼ ► It's called getting things done ten years later because I've been using the system for a decade now. But. [TS]
01:24:00 ◼ ► My book review in quotes is now twenty two hundred words of basically my experience with the system [TS]
01:24:13 ◼ ► and less effective for me in this new role where where I'm doing script writing and so on. [TS]
01:24:20 ◼ ► I am this is that this is like a big thing in my life that I'm trying to work out by writing down because writing is a [TS]
01:24:26 ◼ ► kind of thinking and getting it out and saying OK where where is where are the issues here. [TS]
01:24:36 ◼ ► But it really is from my perspective it is a very slow very deliberate process I'm not always making changes all the [TS]
01:24:45 ◼ ► time and switching the system up so anyway someday that review will be published hopefully soon on my website. [TS]
01:24:53 ◼ ► and that was at the very least will be a much more clear thought through record of my experiences with this topic so we'll [TS]
01:25:02 ◼ ► get there but I'm sure this will come up on multiple occasions. Well I know there's been some. [TS]
01:25:18 ◼ ► Second I apologize to those people for this podcast because they clearly are not going to like this one we know we do [TS]
01:25:25 ◼ ► have we would like Normally we have let you know we do a follow up and then we have like what's going on [TS]
01:25:32 ◼ ► and ease into a topic that we never we didn't get to the topic side of things which is actually probably a good thing [TS]
01:25:38 ◼ ► because we hadn't decided on the topic yet as a very kind of you this is again we hadn't decided on the topic. [TS]
01:25:50 ◼ ► and I failed on that very very spectacularly so I was up there I was going to be another topic was going to be not [TS]
01:26:04 ◼ ► Yeah yeah I mean I was looking over my my my desperate list and trying to trying to come up with something [TS]
01:26:13 ◼ ► There is something there something we do have to mention though before we wrap up. [TS]
01:26:20 ◼ ► Yes which I have to give full credit was your genius idea to just cut it off there [TS]
01:26:31 ◼ ► Well actually it's interesting you say that because of something very important I'd like to say about that. [TS]
01:26:36 ◼ ► Yes that's we should cut off I can't do it again but I did it once. I'm not going to do this a second time. [TS]
01:26:53 ◼ ► Because because on the first one when I say Oh I had something I wanted to say about that. [TS]
01:27:05 ◼ ► and not tell them tell them you can find that now you're now you have to tell you what I've been a big gala what we're [TS]
01:27:21 ◼ ► Well I hope it's well written this is to have although I don't I don't how thinking through what are you going to say I [TS]
01:27:29 ◼ ► actually do want to know it if you are listening to TELL ME anyway even if you tell me. [TS]
01:27:36 ◼ ► OK the thing the thing that I was going to say is that I too am aware of the of the abruptness of the ending [TS]
01:27:44 ◼ ► and all I was all I was going to say was was to to say I would really like a little ending jingle sound the same way we [TS]
01:28:03 ◼ ► and so I was just going to say that if in the comment section if we have any audio engineers among the listeners that [TS]
01:28:09 ◼ ► if they want to try to come up with a little ending sound I wouldn't be opposed to that I would definitely be [TS]
01:28:14 ◼ ► interested to hear what people but people have been reaching go yeah I guess not you're not a song [TS]
01:28:20 ◼ ► but just some sort of little sound because I have to quick write like the podcast is over now [TS]
01:28:25 ◼ ► and just some sort of audio marker that is over in the same way there's an audio marker. When the advertising starts. [TS]