Nothing Ever Stops Existing

*SPOILERS:*
0:00 - Atmospheric Memory (Museum Exhibit)
2:50 - Charles Babbage
9:34 - DEVS
14:25 - Story of Your Life/Arrival
19:18 - Slaughterhouse-Five
24:04 - 1000xResist
30:57 - Real-life physics
32:49 - Geographies of Solitude (Documentary)
34:16 - Conclusion

*Sources:*
Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut, 1969
Stories of Your Life and Others,Ted Chiang, 2002
DEVS, Alex Garland, 2020
1000xResist, Sunset Visitor, 2024
Atmospheric Memory, museum exhibit designed by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer
Ninth Bridgewater Treatise, Charles Babbage, 1837
When We Cease to Understand the World, Benjamín Labatut, 2020
Geographies of Solitude, Jacquelyn Mills, 2023
Arrival, Denis Villeneuve, 2016

*Music Used (chronologically):* Lear (Pauline Oliveros), Symphony No. 7 (Beethoven via John Michel, Wikicommons), The Occupants (1000xResist), A Teardrop ~Zip (1000xResist), Water Run (1000xResist), Bells of Laguna Bend (Cyberpunk 2077), That Was Only For You To See (1000xResist), Tear Gas (1000xResist), Hiding (1000xResist), The Nomai (Outer Wilds), Watcher Haunted (1000xResist), Smooth Talking (Nocturnal Spirits), Possible Futures (Citizen Sleeper)

Additional music and sound effects from Epidemic Sound
Additional footage from Getty Images, Storyblocks, and Reuters Archive

Description Credit: Toni Morrison, “The Site of Memory”

[Champiness]

Hearing “this video contains spoilers for a variety of things; chapter timestamps in the description” and then checking to find a chapter called “Real-life physics” has me concerned

[ervinpepper]

Jacob Geller makes videos that, when I see the title of them, make me say to myself "that is such a Jacob Geller video title"

[jsbarretto]

Lovely video. I have a little personal anecdote that slots surprisingly neatly into the themes of this video.

71 years ago, my grandfather took a cycling trip around the perimeter of France with a friend. He kept a diary, meticulously documenting the events of almost every day. Last month, my brothers and I embarked on the same journey, following in his footsteps. I'd avoided reading the diary beforehand, so every day I'd read about his experience at the same time that I had them myself: the places he'd visited, the food he'd eaten, the people he'd found, and at the same time we'd see the same sights. Some days we were ahead of him, some days we were behind.

After a few days, I realised that something very surprising was happening. 71 years later, and 40 years after the death of this man we never knew, we stopped talking about him in the past tense. It took me a while to notice it, but it slowly became more obvious. We'd say things like "he's just 10 kilometres ahead of us now" or "he's over there as he's taking that photo". Seven decades, suddenly erased - an experience that felt almost out of time - and in those few days he felt closer and more alive than he ever had before. It was a strange experience, and something I doubt I shall ever have again.

[LividE]

I understand that in the sentence "essays unimpeded by predatory copyright claims like those from Big Joel", "those" are meant to be essays, but personally I think it's a lot funnier to imagine essayists flocking to Nebula to avoid to copyright scourge of YouTube that is Big Joel

[dodgyrhubarb]

It's so cool how Alan Wake decided to become a video essayist after all he's been through.

[Spartacus]

Not even 2 minutes in, and I can't help but think of this quote in Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett: "In the Ramtop village where they dance the real Morris dance, for example, they believe that no one is finally dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away—until the clock he wound up winds down, until the wine she made has finished its ferment, until the crop they planted is harvested. The span of someone’s life, they say, is only the core of their actual existence."

[km]

I love how jacob geller videos always go into very conceptual philosophical realms while remaining absolutely accessible at every point. I feel like I notice this even more when I know more about the subjects he talks about. He explains what the word teleological means in one sentence the moment it becomes relevant, he pulls the important ideas out of quantum physics and then moves on with it. The restraint in his writing is insane. And it all comes together in such a compact way. What the hell

[LeoVader]

phenomenal piece as always. honored to have heard my name in it.

[hadleybrine]

That was a long way to say "you're gonna carry that weight". And what a marvelous way that was.

[paketiq]

The premise of "Devs" really reminds me of "I don't know, Timmy, being God is a big responsibility" written by qntm in 2007, where programmers model an exact copy of their own universe by just giving it initial parameters of the big bang as input

[delbertdoppler]

I think it's the first time an editing choice alone manages to give me chills. When the mirrors were desynchronised for the first time, I lost it a little. Usually I get chills from music or from what is said, almost never from what I see. I guess here it was also from what was being said, but the editing choice just floored me in the best way.

I cannot express how impatient I am to receive "How a game lives".

[janesk]

It's weird how good Jacob Geller is at writing essays that make me cry. So many of his essays I'll just suddenly burst into tears as his argument begins to reach its crux. Truly touching stuff.

[camerontauxe]

A new Jacob Geller video appears in my subscriptions with a title and thumbnail like this and I think "Oh cool, guess I'll be having an existential crisis today"

[ConvincingPeople]

The bit about the simultaneous freedom and obligations inherent to both hard determinism and the total rejection of it hit something soft inside me in a way which was simultaneously deeply reassuring and completely haunting. Bravo.

[purplehaze]

I've always taken comfort in the fact that, when I pass on, _I_ may end, but I will also continue in a thousand new forms; even if "me"-me simply.. ceased to be quite some time ago. It might not be the most glamorous thing in the world to have my material incorporated into the worms, the soil, and whatever plants grow in the soil - but I wouldn't have it any other way, frankly. As long as I'm contributing to the life of another being, is it really so bad mine ended?

[hyperelliptik]

The Uncertainty Principle is the best argument against determinism out there. It’s literally woven into reality’s fabric.

[Furball]

I love how you not only seem to have a passion for these weirder art projects that dive deep into the human existence, but also a great talent of telling about them. You have an ability to tell a story in a way that is both calming and grippingly intense. I haven't encountered such before, and I find it truly amazing.

[jacobiannava]

As a musician: disturbed. As a human: endlessly fascinated.

[jannesnagel]

I always felt determinism is more compatible with free will than randomness. You are determined to act like you act, you are determined to want what you actually want. You will be determined by yourself and what happens to you. You have control to react like you would.

[TimeTravelerJessica]

Thank you so much for this video. I've had a very bad year and have been in a very bad place mentally and feeling very helpless and hopeless. Something about "There is a now, you are in it. There is a then, you will receive it, " hit very hard, as did the discussion about how determinism and non- determinism afford massive weight to actions in different ways. This video kicked my butt in the best way possible.