Nothing like an existential crisis first thing in the morning

Hey everyone! This is the culmination of three months of constant work. I found this topic to be particularly dense, so I wanted to spend extra time making sure the edit made 'strange loops' easier to understand. For that reason as well, I am making the script public for you. If you're like me, you like to have text to refer back to. (Available here: www.patreon.com/posts/18057898 ) I'm gonna try and answer all your comments. Have a good rest of your weekend! Much love, Will

I really miss you man. You’re videos have had a huge impact on my life and my sobriety. I’m eternally grateful for your loop

Just a heads-up, I bet Douglas Hofstadter would be really glad to hear about this video--I once emailed him to say I had made a few videos explaining Godel's Incompleteness Theorem using his ideas and he seemed happy that people are grappling with and spreading his ideas in the wide world. His email was pretty easy to find, too, from what I recall.

Great topic with excellent presentation as always.

i've had these notion of "our brains packaging impossibly complex functions into understandable symbols" in alot of vague thoughts but this video articulated everything really well, good job!

The strange loop of consciousness was understood well here. “Those who speak do not know, those who know do not speak”. This quote sums it up.

One of the highest quality video essays I've ever seen--fantastic work. I hope for nothing but success with your channel.

You are making some of the best, most well produced content I've seen on UKposts in awhile. Keep up the great work man, this stuff is really eye opening.

Dude you make some of the best content on youtube You probably won't see this but I am thouroughly impressed with the research and the edit in this. You're really good at this and I'll wait however long it takes for your next great video.

High level shit. Love it.

My god, brilliant summation, visuals, and synthesis of ideas! This video is an almost ideal embodiment of the concept divined by Hofstadter: a strange 22 minute loop that somehow drops us off exactly where we started, but with a profound and renewed appreciation for what it means to be conscious. You’ve definitely earned a new patron!

This video is pure gold, really well edited and excellent content. We need more videos like this. Definitely worth the subscription.

Good to see Hofstadter getting a presentation, since he isn't talked about nearly enough. I came across Gödel, Escher, Bach when I was a youngster back in the mid 90s. Finally read the whole book in the early 2000s and realized I had just found something marvelous. I had "I am a Strange Loop" preordered from Amazon back when it came out. He has the most lucid deduction of how consciousness works of anyone I have read.

Back and better than ever! I hope this gets the views it wholeheartedly deserves, beautiful video Will.

Holy shit, what a well made video (even if most of it goes above my head). I don't comment too often but this deserves some praise and I can tell you put in a lot of hard work.

Amazing job on animations and descriptions of these ideas. I appreciate the very apparent hard work you put into your videos.

I watch a lot of video essays, so every so often I'll daydream about making one of my own. One idea I've been floating around is the philosophical implications of us being groups of atoms that got big enough to actually think about stuff. I'm under no illusion that I could make such a video as I'm neither an expert in physics or philosophy, but this video really scratched that itch and provided a lot of insight! I'll be sure to check out that book too. It's really invigorating to know that other people are thinking about the same things and sharing these ideas with each other. I'm sure this sounds trite, it's just - it's a good feeling seeing someone else having made the video essay I've been daydreaming about, and to get a book recommendation out of it! Great work.

I don't think that I have ever commented on a YT video or it has at least been a very long time but this video is one of the best I have ever seen. How it is done is very well balanced between entertaining and enlightening. I watch a lot of video essays and this channel is on par with the ones that have teams and serious budgets behind them. Very inspiring to see that a one man show can produce such quality. I strongly recommend the channel and all the other videos, they all good! Thanks Will

What an incredible, well-made, and poignant video. I can't even imagine the amount of work that goes into these, but I hope you keep it up, some of the best video essays I've seen.

Your videos are always my favorite thing on UKposts and I often watch them multiple times and show them to people when I can, and I will say that this is by far and away my favorite that you’ve done. I just donated to your Patreon. Wish I could have done more but happy to be able to do what I can. Also I have to get this book!

great to see this kind of content, so few channels are willing to cover this sort of thing, and it's always nice hearing what other people's takeaways were from works like Hofsteader's

This was incredible, nearly brought me to tears man! Entwined loops, amazing.

Really amazingly incredible. Your videos are so instructive and relaxing at the same time, it really feels like some sort of therapy

The best video of this year so far (no exaggeration). I liked how you presented and developed the theme, and really comes to me the part of simbols that can be related to Young study's on archetypes. Continue the work, it's amazing!

I've been crying almost since the video started. You've discovered to me one of my - probably- favourite writers by your hand. I admire you because of your job, how you worked with this and the emotional result. The matter you work with in the video is, without any doubt, an important issue (perhaps the important one). Tank you very much.

Thank you for making this. I was going to stop half way as it nearly trigged an existential panic attack (legit terrifying to be in one). I am glad I continued and didn't let that feeling "win" as learning about our individual and shared strange loops brought back a feeling of love and unity, not terror the fear that I have been dealing with the last 14 months. Thank you for activating those pathways in my head again - to feel connected, not disconnected and scared of my brain.

This video hit home with me very deep, thanks for compiling this wonderful video. I will definitely check out the book and explore more into this understanding. Thanks again!

This gave me an existential crisis. I'm thinking of creating vaguely similar videos sometime and you are literally my best inspiration(as well as kurzgesagt) Thank you and never stop making videos.

I have been contemplating this for the past year or so, struggling to find a way to put it into words. This is poetic.

This video starts off feeling deeply personal and universally relatable from its use of the second person in its title to the analysis of the first person in the intro, but then I got the feeling I was descending into something entirely esoteric, and just at the peak of that feeling, it brought me back to familiar imagery and an even sturdier sense of something that is the absolute antithesis of being esoteric. A strange loop indeed... Bravo!

Gosh darnit you are a legend. This is amazing. Thank you will for creating this kind of content.

This was poignant, refreshing and existentially beautiful. The impact of this high calibre work of art is insurmountably positive, the effects of which will ripple eternally. I hope you and whoever raised you are proud.

Beautifully edited and amazing work again Will, I love being a Fan, keep going man. Or maybe my compliment should be given to every single one of your individual cells.

2020, still one of the best videos I've ever seen. Clear, informative, powerful.

great stuff man, it's so hard to find something like this nowdays. thank you for your extremelly sweet content

This has been sitting in my "Watch Later" list since it was released, I knew I wasn't going to be ready for it. I just finished the vid. I'm still not. Thank you.

This is outrageously high quality and beyond insightful. Comments, likes, and subscribes cannot adequately reward the level of this work, the information imparted, or the depth the material is given. Thank you for your diligence. What you have created is special.

You are brilliant. Thank you for this! You are amazing at explaining these concepts logically with very helpful visuals.

holy moly this video really is well put together. I really appreciate the time & energy you put into making your videos and looking forward to each new one :)

Appreciate all the work you put into this edit.

Wow this video was incredible, so well put together and executed. Keep up the work!

I literally can't avoid showing my friends your stuff! Excellent job, as usual!

I agree with you and love the way you presented the most complicated, enchanting book in such a comprehensible way. I am A Strange Loop certainly did change my life and the way I perceived myself and everything around me. So glad to have bumped into this video.

One of the most interesting channels on youtube, a must watch. Well articulated and well edited, my thanks seem endless

Your content is so great. Amazing and complex topics, explained clearly and straightforward

one of the most moving and incisive videos i've ever come across. it leaves an impact each time i watch it. thank you for making this.

Hofstadter makes fascinating books. Thanks for presenting his ideas so clearly. Fantastic video as always!

I just came across this randomly, and I gotta say bravo. This was very impressive, & well put together

I read this book about 12 years ago and loved it. You did a fantastic job of illustrating its central theme. The visuals are great!

That was wonderful! Thanks for creating such a good representation of Hofstadter's book.

Great work on taking something complex and articulating it in such a simple way!

Will, I just watched this for the second time. I am donating to your Patreon account based upon my first viewing. You have done a fabulous job of explaining and explicating Hofstadter’s book. I realize that I will have to watch it many more times now, and re-read Hofstadter, because for me the implications of the worldview are staggering. Thank you so much for putting this together. Mind-blowing.

I love your videos! I have ordered the book for myself, and I need to rewatch this very well produced video about 7 more times to really understand your through-line to your conclusion! Bravo sir!

I rarely comment on UKposts but just wanted to let you know that this was one of the most well conceptualised and presented educational videos I have ever seen on UKposts and was at the same time profoundly beautiful. Bravo!

this is amazing i love this video the quality of the videos and how you give the information and then make it so understandable your gonna blow up man can’t wait!

I can't believe this video has only 35K views. This was amazing. The Editing. The topic. And the writing. I just added a new book to my read list. And you just got a sub!

I am amazed! First time I see a video of yours even if (evidently) for some reason I subscribed some time ago. I will catch up with the others asap. I have no words! bravo!!!!! greeting from Italy! thanks for the script, that none of us should take for granted!! I wish you tons of subscribers.

Your videos are incredibly, consistently great. Well worth the wait.

There's a few times i took LSD and during my trips there were moments when reality itself just felt like an infinite loop

I've been looking for a channel that discusses these topics for a while now. Love it.

Great stuff dude! Keep making content, your videos just get better and better

BROOO. Thank you. Your vibrations have touched mine. That’s so cool. I’m definitely going to get my hands on this book.

Extremely fascinating and extremely well done. Love it

Excellent video. Clear, concise, to the point without skipping the difficult questions. It could be shown to almost anybody and people would understand at least something in it. Such simplicity is difficult to achieve and so I must really thank you for your work.

It's your duty in life to keep making such high quality videos. I love you!!

what a beautiful video

What a masterful production. Thanks for this gem

This made my day

Brilliant video! Thanks for going to this effort for us 👏👏

This honestly may be the greatest video essay I’ve ever seen

Thank you for your work Will. This is fascinating!

This was beautiful and I thoroughly enjoyed every second.

Thank you for such a thoughtful quality content. I wish you a happy summer.

Wow, It's one of the highest quality videos I have ever seen. Amazing work!

Thankyou soo much its really clear and neat! Keep up the good work my friend!!

Proving the self is circular reasoning, but the existence of the self is axiomatic.

There's a very crucial twist to the loop that wasn't expressed here: my being is already structured in such a way that IRRESPECTIVE of what the individuals on the lower levels "want" (like quantum particles, molecules, neurons or larger functional areas) the whole structure AS A WHOLE constrains those lower level actions into a coherent "macro action". Just like individuals build and make up a society, once it’s set in place it takes a mind of its own, constraining the individuals that made it (driving laws, legal procedures, even things like rites of passage, etc). I, the lower level individual, do the things i do because the society has imposed them on me (i dress, i go to work, i drive on the right, i don’t steal, i choose one girl and call it my “wife", i pay taxes, i go on "vacations”, i call myself “sir" and go by the name of "John Nash" and can’t change it at my whim, etc etc). Off course, the organism does this to a whole other level, as a society isn’t coming close to being a living organism. Also, society is in large part built around the good of the individual. For living organisms, it’s the other way around-the lower level individuals are organized around the good of the higher level entity. Many people could derive from the video that whatever the lower level molecules and neurons decide, than that's what the whole being does - but this is not a complete understanding of the strange glorious dimensions of a loop. For instance, there is an area that's been discovered to control our attention, BUT IT WOULD BE WRONG to say that area X controls my attention. In reality , area X takes a huge number of inputs from other areas, F, H, D, Y, W, etc, which in their turn are each taking inputs from another huge number of areas. If you follow these immensely complex loops you eventually see how the whole structure folds back onto itself, and THERE ISN'T ANY ONE SINGLE SUBSTRUCTURE THAT MAKES IMPORTANT DECISIONS. Area X by itself doesn't do shit, so in a way you could say that area X in fact DOESN'T control attention. Similarly, a steering wheel can be said to be responsible for a car’s direction, but take it off the car and put it on the asphalt. Does it do anything? This is because a car’s ability to turn resides in everything taken as a whole: rubber, rims, bolts, chassis, motor, etc. I’m not paying attention to this subject because "my attention area made me do it". I’m paying attention because this is what my whole being is doing. We really are conscious selves that have a significant degree of auto-regulation. Indeed, neurons have absolutely no idea what they are doing, but the WHOLE does! We are a very real natural phenomenon - selves do really exist: medium.com/@rares_mircea_82/we-have-no-personal-essence-and-we-have-no-free-will-c9d6be7fce3c#201d

This is beautiful. Thanks so much for this channel.

Top video. Really enjoyed it. I was looking for more info on the book and this is the perfect way to consume that for me. Thanks!

Thank you for your thoughtful and well presented work!

I read G.E.B. during my formative teenage years, and IaaSL much later, as an adult. They have both shaped my thinking, and probably the course of my life. Thank you for this well made explication of one of my favorite books of all time.

Great video, so much work and effort went into this :)

this was awesome. going to pick up 'i am a strange loop' right now. thanks, man!!!

What a wonderful video essay. Fantastic work!

Bravo! Excellent approach & refreshing content. Thank you. Keep it up!

This video makes me excited AND nostalgic for the life im going to have so i guess that means i'm glad to be alive.

Very interesting and well put together. The Schod is back!

Thank you so much for your knowledgeable work here, man.

Well done Will. Just starting to read this book. An excellently put together video and the first of yours I’ve come across. So, so, good man. Wish ‘i’ could put that more eloquently

that explanation of an illusion as an analogy to emergent pattterns from physical interacting forces is spot on and really is a critical concept when trying to understand how the brain produces the self.

“I” really loved this keep up the great content man

A beautiful exploration of some very complex ideas. Exactly what I was looking for to share with friends unable to face Hofstadter's full manuscript. Thank you for sharing :)

Well, I've subscribed. Once i get to a place where I can, I'll donate to your patreon. You provided such great information in a truly captivating format. Thank you for your creation, and sharing it with the world.

So greatful that we can have this sort of content a couple of clicks away from us! Thank you for this!

this is so good, thanks for ur effort.

Finding you on the bottom of my youtube page is a first world tragedy. You always show great quality in your work, which is both inspiring and commendable. You deserve nothing but praise.

Why this video has less than a millions views, baffles me. So many amazing concepts compressed into a concise and entertaining video... - The HARD Problem of Conciousness - Emergence - The Principle of Computational Equivalence - Godel's Incompleteness Theorm - Spinors [The Art of M.C. Escher] The animation of the WATER FALL is SPOT ON!

Subscribed! Extremely well done and made me think a lot about the true strangeness of the entire situation we're in called waking consciousness

Another great video. It is nice seeing youtuber who creates interesting videos from which you not onle learn something new but gives a food for thought. Thanks for Awesome 20min XD Keep creating great content.