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In the belly of the MrBeast

kevinmunger.substack.com

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Re: In the belly of the MrBeast

#71
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They changed the definition of 'literally' to fit the modern meaning. You can no longer call it abuse now as the misuse fits the new definition. See definition 2 here: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/literal...

Literally false: https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/misuse-of-literally Use of literally in, well, the non-literal sense dates back hundreds of years.

[deleted]

Re: In the belly of the MrBeast

#72
post #2

At the top of the heap (Mr Beast, Nastya, Ryan, etc), this is true: > The ideal creator has no distance between themselves and their persona. They have been interpellated by audience metrics; their subjective experience already takes audience reactions into account. > Or more simply, YouTubers are not “Creators” but Creations. Audiences, rationalized by the platform, and the vloggers who upload the videos those audie…

>but also a primary focus on meaningful content relevent to viewers. These people may not be getting rich from their vlogging, but it's also not fair to call what most of them are doing "vlogging", either. It's video-based short form content curation for a clearly identified audience.

There's a fine line between "content created for X people interested in Y topic in Z form" and "content that's relevant to my viewers."

The former is a channel that is avoiding the "creator" described by the author. The latter is on a path towards the author's "creator."

For a long time, the two can be very similar. The group you are tailoring your content for and your viewers won't necessarily diverge quickly, especially in niche areas or highly technical fields. But they will inevitably diverge.

Worth noting that the form this takes will depend on the topic.

It's rare to find a creator that can avoid this trap long-term. I see it even with small channels I follow.

Re: In the belly of the MrBeast

#73
post #5

> The ideal creator has no distance between themselves and their persona. They have been interpellated by audience metrics; their subjective experience already takes audience reactions into account. Isn't this sort of one of the themes from The Prestige(2006)? That certain magicians were so dedicated to their craft that they became inseparable from it. The performance never actually stopped

This isn't purely new, either. I'm perhaps dating myself a bit but I recall that over the years I have seen a few actors have this weird vibe where they're never "human", they always "on" and seem like their actor-thing has totally subsumed their humanity. David Cassidy and Shirley McClain come to mind for me on this.

Johnny Depp maybe?

Re: In the belly of the MrBeast

#74

Interesting experience to read an essay of such insight regarding a subject that is the opposite of insight. Best thing I’ve read this week. I am happy to say I have never seen a Mr. Beast video, and now I will be sure never to see one in the future.

"YouTubers" are one of those things that a lot of people are interested in, yet everything I learn about them makes me not want to start.

The world has so much good film, music, novels, even video games and TV - in a choice between any of those and watching a YouTuber, why would anyone choose the latter?

Re: In the belly of the MrBeast

#75

> in cybernetic terms, a long lag time in production is deadly. Does "long lag time" or "deadly" mean something else in cybernetic terms than in regular terms? I found the "in cybernetics terms" insert quite puzzling.

Cybernetics has a lot (everything?) to do with feedback loops; the word itself comes from the Greek for "steersman". If you have a long feedback loop in a process that is supposed to self govern, it would be potentially deadly to the equilibrium.

Re: In the belly of the MrBeast

#76

I'm interested in how many people here on HN watch Mr Beast - I've never watched any of his videos ever, and I spend far too much time on YT.

I don't, on principle.

A few years ago, if you opened up YouTube without being logged in, the algorithm would show you its default recommendations in the purest state, uninfluenced by your proclivities. MrBeast and similar dumpster clickbait videos were prominently featured. These days, I think you have to at least search for and watch some things before you are told what to watch.

If MrBeast has ever shown up on my YT front page in the past, I slapped YT's hand until it stopped. Haven't had a problem since.

Re: In the belly of the MrBeast

#77
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Possibly true, but I'm sure you'd agree that it can't really be called steadily since around 2010-2014

There is a straight line through 70s Falwell, 90s Limbaugh, tea party, to MAGA. All fueled by a self-reinforcing rage machine.

Left leaning folks are swept up in rage machines too.

Leaf through the BoingBoing BBS sometime to get a sense for it.

Re: In the belly of the MrBeast

#78
post #40
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

10? We’ve been getting steadily more polarized since at least the 80s.

So basically since when cable TV came into mainstream existence.

Turning attention away from each other and toward images of each other

Re: In the belly of the MrBeast

#80

It's interesting how this is happening in software engineering YouTube content as well. It seems like things like "go sucks rust is great! Now rust sucks and zig is great!!" get way more views since it is basically clickbait for nerds. It's too bad that nuanced discussion doesn't do too well on social media.

It also reminds me how the most upvoted comments on Reddit often reflect the consensus opinion but not necessarily the truth.
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