"Because you give total annihilation more than a line and it will swallow your story whole" made me think of Disco Elysium and how briefly The Pale's encroach is mentioned

Hi Jacob, great video as usual As an Australian Aboriginal person who came from an area of our country completely decimated by the bushfires I felt I may be able to gain more insight into what happened. Not only was it a general 'climate change' effect that caused what happened here. Native bushland has been managed by firetrails for tens of thousands of years. This is done by strategic backburning preventing areas from going up too quickly, or all at once, as eucalyptus trees are highly explosive. This is a method my people have employed as long as we've been here to ensure the safety of the tribes. Local, european based councils, have ignored this for decades. They backburn, sure, but they dont divide up the land correctly- they frequently cause minor bushfires in the colder months by simply setting alight a whole section of the bush. Tribe elders have begged for years for the handling of this to be passed back to our community in fear of this very thing happening. The fire trails would disappear, the safety would be compromised. Councils refused, swearing they knew better. So not only is it a climate issue, I feel the 2019 bushfires are deeply linked to colonialism. It was blatant arrogance that caused them. It's also important to consider- maybe not in terms of the management, but more the communal effect -the lasting impact these fires have had. 2019-2020 feels like a lifetime ago now, but I and everyone I knew was traumatised by seeing our home surrounded by the angriest flames you can imagine. Then, due to it happening over our tourist season, a lot of businesses went out. Then Covid, two more tourists seasons gone. Then the floods hit, since there was now no growth to prevent water rushing down the mountains into already marshy land. So many people lost their homes. If not from fire or flood, then from economic uncertainty. My home town was destroyed by it. Businesses and families that had existed for generations vanished in the blink of an eye. Our houses were bought by vacationing rich people, wanting a slice of the 'beach life', who then looked down on not only the poor white people of the area, but the aboriginal people. There is a presence of indigenous population in the cities, but its not like you see rurally- and my town had a very high population. I have been forced from my home by this series of events. I cannot work, as anywhere that would hire me closed, leaving behind chain stores only interested in the cheapest labour. I cannot rent, as all the houses have been bought and 'flipped' by people praying on the desperate, going to the highest bidder- usually someone wanting an AirBNB or a summer home. I went to the city and I enjoy my life here, but I mourn the days before the fires, as I never wanted to leave my home. It was peaceful, I enjoyed working in cafes in the summer and renting my run down, shack of a home not too far from the marshlands. People often reduce the fires down to one event, one moment in time that had no lasting impact- a curiousity, to those overseas. This is not the case. It dismantled communities, broke up families, ended lives. It has been treated callously by the international community and passed off as another example of climate change, but its so much more than that. It was willful, deliberate ignorance, down to a local level, based on racism and colonial history. My story is not unique. Its the fate of a lot of people I know. It was the cataclysm that created, for us, a mini apocalypse. And now, we watch the elite sit in their newly renovated waterside homes, knowing that eventually that same apocalypse comes for them. They just don't know it yet.

What a quote. "It is easier, at least for some to imagine learning to die than learning to fight".

Knocking it out of the park with that ending message Jacob, another incredible video

I remember going on a walk with my grandmother. We walked to a pond that we used to feed swans at. Our state was going through a severe drought, and the water level of the pond had receded dramatically. We tried to ignore the receded water. After all, most of the pond was still there. We could put it out of mind for a bit. But I couldn’t. I started crying. My grandmother comforted me. She said that she knew she would be dead long before the worst of climate change would affect her, but she knew exactly how I felt. She was in college when the Cuban Missile Crisis happened. She remembered what it felt like to have to walk around campus and go to class and eat in the dining hall and everything else knowing that the world would end. She could relate to the helpless anger I felt. She felt angry, at Kruschev, at Castro, at Kennedy, at LeMay, at McNamera, in the same way that I was angry at the oil barons and politicians of today. Now, as with my grandmother during the Crisis, I go about my life as normal, simmering with rage and hate and a desire for things to be better. I don’t know what the future will bring. But at least I know I won’t be alone

This is pushing me to closely analyse the cost of post apocalyptic media as entertainment. We are being sold the horrible future, and how we could excel in it, to distract us from what we've already lost.

That Jacob Geller moment when you say to yourself, "Oh, that one game would be a perfect fit in this essay," and then it appears halfway into the watch

Umurangi Generation looks amazing. My Te Reo is shaky, but I found it pretty striking that while umurangi does indeed mean “red sky”, that’s not a literal translation: red sky would probably be wherorangi. Umu means oven, so umurangi could more literally be translated as something like “oven skies” or “roast skies”. And that seems horrendously appropriate.

As someone born into the nuclear pre-apocalypse who had nightmares at ages six and seven and eight and nine of the world ending in sudden fire, and who now sees the slow death brought about by... _kaiju..._ I've long envied the generations whose only notions of the world ending came from their religions. How much nicer it must have been to imagine the world ending through the acts of gods than to know that perfectly normal human beings-just like you and me-were cheerfully flushing away the future of our species in the name of an ideology or a percentage.

I remember reading On the Beach as a kid. It was weird because youd expect it to be some massive horrifying emotionally shocking roller coaster, but instead what I felt was just... a vague sadness. Theres dread but theres just no point in relishing in it and so when you get to the end its not an ending that necessarily makes you cry because theres no "big sad" moment. Its all just treated normal

Tēnā koe, Jacob. Ngā mihi nui ki a koe- thanks for including our rēo in your work. Our language is a taonga, and so much is going into preserving it and making sure the younger generation feel empowered to speak and share in it. Appreciate your mahi and all you do!

Honestly, the use of In Your Hands alone was enough to get me teary. This song, from Gris, is the song of a mother passed to her child before her death. The final note of the tune as used in the game is two perfectly harmonized voices, symbolizing acceptance after a game of anger, denial, bargaining, and depression. In this video, that last note is cut. Because we can't accept this. I feel like this will be missed by many, but I wanted to draw attention to it because of how hard it hit me. Thank you for this wonderful piece of art, Jacob.

the Umarangi section has me so fucking mad i feel like i may burst. you’re always great at boiling down these subjects and eliciting the reaction they intend, even heightening it.

the mentions of the australia 2019 bushfires was a bit of a shock to me. i remember those - i remember my girlfriend had to evacuate because the fire was only a suburb away from her house. we both nearly lost everything. meanwhile our fucking PM went on holiday to hawaii. thank you for the acknowledgement of the fault of our government, fuck them for letting "kaiju" claim the land of the aboriginal people of australia.

We had an Extinction Rebellion protest at an intersection just a block down the street from my old apartment. I think the thing that stands out to me the most is the responses I heard after, of people complaining about how people - not even them, just people in general - were inconvenienced by it, and how that "drives people away" from the cause. Like maybe people would do something about the encroaching death of our planet, but because some protesters inconvenienced them they're not going to. It made me think thoughts I'm not going to put into print.

I think what i genuinely adore about these videos and Jacob's skills in speaking is that the comments are filled with people telling these close and intimate stories about their lives that they feel fit into the video's subject. Jacob's skills with language and words as a video essayist allows people to be honest and tell personal stories about themselves. It really does put his work on a level above other content creators in this area.

There was a short story I heard a fellow writer praising at length, but I can't recall the name of it, only the premise; The perspective character is woken up in the night by her boyfriend, who insists on taking her out that night to spend time together; tomorrow be damned. They do things like get iced cream and just spend time together around town. She isn't sure *why* he's acting this way, but isn't opposed to spending quality time either. Only, as the story goes on, it becomes gradually more apparent that something has happened to the sun, and the irradiated side of the Earth opposite them. He just wanted to spend one last night with his girlfriend, before the dawn came for them, while most of the country around them sleeps in blissful ignorance. All I know is it's very much *not* the show 'Into the Night' from 2020, which I only learned about minutes ago, which seems a lot cheesier and more 'Netflix original' in writing quality and tone. Whatever it is, the story has stuck with me... Despite having never read it. EDIT: It's Inconsistent Moon, by Larry Niven, courtesy of StephenLeaSheppard in the replies!

Hell. I realize I've lived my life in apathy. Im physically disabled and I've spent so long accepting it quietly. I've been called slurs, ive been through medical trauma, ive been treated subhuman and yet ive dealt with it because what else am i to do- argue? Fight back? Feeling nothing, feeling apathy towards it all, towards the injustice people like me faced is easier. I just smile and nod when im treated, or when others are treated badly because its easier. Apathy is easy but trying is so so difficult. My disability has become a punchline so i can make able bodied people feel comfortable my disability is something i laugh at treat badly and ignore because i dont want to cause problems. Im starting to think maybe that isnt right. This is my favorite video essay by you.

As an environmental scientist I truly think that this is art, you’ve done a wonderful job putting this together. I think we owe it to all the other living things on this planet to try our hardest to change

Just last week a game came out called Goodbye Volcano High which is just about this. It's about eight teenagers who are trying to live normal lives through an existential crisis. They're all dinosaur people and the crisis is a meteor but you probably have an idea of what it's a metaphor for

This video feels like taking an existential weight upon us and giving it the credence to carry and push it off. Fucking incredible.

Whenever the “pre-apocalypse” is discussed I always think about Never Let Me Go, it is this very sweet pastoral novel with this incredibly dark cloud of unavoidable death looming over it

Would like to note that Te Reo Māori as a language has had some wins against the boot of colonialism recently and is very much alive, not a dying language spoken by a dwindling number of people as I felt was perhaps unintentionally portrayed here. EDIT: in a sad update, Te Reo will NOT become mandatory in public schools in the near future, because New Zealand just voted in a right-wing government. No good.

Coming from a lakota background I feel like I live in a pre-apocalypse as I try to grasp what little knowledge of my people I can. My mother thought it best to never teach me her language and sent me off the Rez to live in white society with my father because she knew there would be no future for me there. It's depressing to think about and even worse when she admits part of her regrets it but she wouldn't change it as she saw no hope, still sees no hope, in the idea that our people and culture will survive. Personally I'm filled with such rage at the idea of just leaving it at that, I participate in protests, share as much as I can, and grab hold of any sense of community and knowledge of what we are now to try and keep something alive and breathing for the new generations. We are still here! That's my piece, just wanted to get it out there, thanks for the great video! Such a huge fan and legitimately brought to tears sometimes at how well you convey your points. Sending the best of vibes and wishes to all those who read this~ Keep on going, the fight isn't over until you give up.

Played Umurangi Generation and I LOVE their take on cyberpunk. Usually it's just cyberpunk from the 80s but this is so much more modern and the street culture influence mixes so good with it.

"Our choice, as is the choise of every generation, is whether to make the world contain more or less suffering" - Jacob Geller This line almost made me cry. I need to cry, I almost cried yesterday. Nevertheless, I am a Nursing Student. I want to become a Doctor one day. So, this quote struck a coard with me. I hope one day to be a man who can take the pain and suffering away from others. I want to heal, to fix, to mend. I make it my mission to Reduce Entropy. I am not alone in my fight. I am surrounded my many many beautiful people who share my common goal. And together, we make the world a better place. One step at a time, one day at a time. Thank You for making the world a more beautiful Place with your Art Jacob. I'll see you in the Future. - D.T.

I think seeing the aesthetics of 'art at the world's end' while being persuaded by other video essayists that it ISNT the end of the world has landed me in a place where, *SOME* worlds are ending, but we've picked and chosen whose... and when... and how...

in 2021 i wrote a poem for myself in the notes section of my phone about my own fear in the pre-apocalypse; though i didn’t have a word for it until now: “when the garden of humanity rots away and i lift my hands undirtied to weep into my shaking palms, the despair i will feel is the kind that chases itself around corners to gnaw at its own tail, and i will fall helplessly into the earth to decay” i am forever hopeful for better days ahead

It will always be funny to me that the canonical users of Zettaflare are different versions of Bahamut, and DONAL DUCK.

I am SO unbelievably happy to hear you talk about Umurangi Generation. I recently wrote a (not so perfect) essay about the game and I'm happy to be able to engage with it some more. When I wrote about Umurangi I was also grappling with the question of "are the characters here apathetic to the present, if they're just 'vibing' through the apocalypse?" And while, yes, they rage against the avoidable actions and decisions that led the world to where it was, I also see vibing on a rooftop as a kind of rebellion in the face of a now-unstoppable future. Especially under the context of indignity, where continued existence is and has been under threat, to live outside of the contexts that government and circumstance push you towards feels like rebellion. So, maybe the most cyber punk thing to do in Umurangi Generation is to take a nice picture, even if soon there won't be anyone around to enjoy it? but anyways idk i want to think about that more. love this game so much, thank you for this video.

I wish I could forget. I wish I could forget the daughters I lost in 2018. I wish I could forget all the horror that I have experienced and perpetrated. I wish I could forget all of the humans I love so much. I wish I could forget who I am and what I have to do with my destiny and life. I pray for forgetting. Your videos always help me to cry. I have a very hard time crying, these days, and you'll never know the kindness you give me when you make these video essays. I am a haunted man living a haunted life in a haunted world in a haunted universe.

The most devastating and haunting thing about a pre apocalyptic scenario is that most people will (likely) not act against it. They’ll allow themselves to be led over the cliff, or even work to hasten it thinking they are doing the “right” thing

The Pre-apocalypse is such a cool concept, I can't believe I never noticed it as it's own unique setting before. Also, I love Umurangi Generation so much, I only checked it out originally because of it's superficial similarity to the Jet Set Radio series, the music specifically lured me in, but what they built beyond that base was such a natural evolution and yet a completely new direction to take those aesthetics in. Plus, I've always thought Maori culture was super interesting. A game made for me, really

When I was 14 years old I had a nightmare where I am in my small hometown (France). In the sky I see a plane, then a black dot drop from the distant plane. In my nightmare this was meant a nuclear bomb, so I try to run as far as I can. I see military cars and fleeing the town. Realizing that even if I go we them I’ll die, I ran as fast as I can to my house. There I see all my family gatherings in the living room. I sense a feeling of end so hard at that moment like the bomb will explode, I just make a giant hug to all my family, I remember vividly the face of my grandparents and then Black. Enough time for my brain to process that I was dead, then I woke up and cried. I will always remember this nightmare… maybe my worst. The disturbing facts is that my grandpa at the age of fifteen got his small town in Normandie Bombed in the end of Ww2.

We're not in a pre-apocalypse. We're in a long apocalypse. Yes, the apocalypse is already here just unevenly distributed, but it's also EVERYWHERE in one way or another. This summer I was able to go out and enjoy the outdoors for a sum total of TWO WEEKS because my respiratory problems kept me from going out into the ever present smoke. The trees are sickly and I am hiding in my room surrounded by air filters because it's impossible to keep the air clean through my whole apartment it's polluted outside. My elderly friends are dying in front of my eyes because the air is choking them to death. This is just one small facet of a multi dimensional horror story that is playing out in droughts and fires and floods and storms and heat waves across the world CONSTANTLY. The apocalypse is already here but it isn't marked by a day or even a half year, just a long hellish moment that stretches indefinitely into a dying future. We can imagine different, better worlds in this moment and maybe make them happen through monumental effort, but the old world is dying one way or another and it is a grinding, suffocating death.

While maybe not the main takeaway(?) or the ones being discussed in the comments, I found the concept of "On the Beach" and peoples urge for normalcy in the face of the apocalypse so incredibly compelling that this video actually made me order the novel straight away.

Absolutely love the use of Rain World music, it’s so beautiful for the calm of an apocalypse

I'm calling it now, this will become a certified hood classic. One of my favorite videos this year, great job.

I am a Māori person and I was not expecting a shout out in a Jacob Gellar video. New Zealand mentioned!

I watched pretty much the entire video through tears. I don't have much to say but, "Thank you for helping me understand what I've been wrestling with better".

I’ve never seen anyone talk about this, it is quite a peculiar concept, it’s something that very much could happen but is completely unimaginable.

I have had several family members battle with cancer both successful and not. On the beach is a book that honestly feels like that. Everyone being told they have maybe a month maybe more but less than a year. Everyone who survived the bombs has a terminal diagnosis of incurable radioactive fallout and there is no treatment other than an act of God. It made me cry. It made me reflect. It made me admire these people for resolutely not letting the impending End change who they were as people.

Man, this was uncomfortable to watch for me. I (along with I think a lot of my generation) struggle a lot with the balance between being informed and staying sane, because my GOD there is SO much injustice in the world it feels like I'm going insane, how the hell am I supposed to do both?? I really loved your conclusion to this video, and I do genuinely believe (out of necessity if not for else) in humanity's power to change for the better. I suppose most of the time the best I can do is to simply spread love to those around me, even with the forces of oppression and apathy tearing the world apart. It's not easy, and this is going to sound corny, but I hope that with enough hearts full of love we can change the world.

I survived the Hawai'i fake missile alert of 2018. Mostly I slept through it, but in between hearing about it, and seeing the announcements on twitter that it wasn't real, I had a moment of, what will I do if these are actually my lost moments, and I just put on some clothes. Afterward, I called my mom and apologized for not calling her when I thought I my be dying.

We live in a stillborn season. And our eyes stare like those of a baby who never cried out and just watches the sterile, bright and white world of hospital walls, windows, clothes and eyes and skin.

I can't even explain how deeply this video touches me. We're dealing with so many avoidable, or at least re-workable, problems and, still, people don't get angry enough and I couldn't understand how. How could they know what I know and just carry on? So, I feel like I gained a new perspective on not only why, but how I can better approach this subject. Best video of the year for me, thank you!

I've always felt an attachment to the vocal logs of Alexandra Drennan in "The Talos Principle". The world is experiencing a viral apocalypse with no cure, and she's recording her thoughts on the nature of her work, to preserve some form of "after" for AI. Initially, it's philosophical musings on why she's doing the project and what she's thinking as the world slowly ends. Then, after people close to her begin to die, she begins to reflect on the actual shortness of time remaining. Finally, as she herself inevitably begins to die, she reflects on how she chose not to spend time with friends, family, loved ones, etc. instead of working on something that might mean nothing in the end. Ever since playing that game, I've wondered how I myself might face the pre-apocalypse. In the ensuing near decade since the game's release, the puzzles of the game have long since left my memory, but those vocal logs have lived rent-free in my mind ever since.

You make art by dissecting art. Thank you for these videos from the bottom of my heart. I got chills from this one.

caring for the world is an act of rebellion

Having watched this on both Nebula and here on KZfaq, I can say with all sincerity that this essay is what we needed

This reminds me of the Talos Principle. You don’t play through the pre-apocalypse, but you get glimpses of people’s lives during their pre-apocalypse. How they have fliers to let out pets before the disease wipes out humanity, or mentally struggle with the despair of it all. Def recommend playing it

1:08 an ORBITAL LASER???? Insane Jacob Geller reference

Jacob, now that I hear you use the Rainworld soundtrack, I think that you would have a BLAST covering the story of the world. It’s all so interesting, and generally, the story behind the game itself is so interesting. Hell, the mechanics and art is interesting.

I'm glad Jacob mentioned Sophie's video because I highly recommend giving it a watch especially after this video since I see a couple of folks here feeling hopeless and useless. I don't have comforting words but the world isn't ending; continue to live and continue to strive for the change you want to see in this world through acts big and small

This reminds me a lot of that time when Hawaii was accidentally warned of an incoming, possibly nuclear missile attack. I remember strongly, this one video of a guy who recorded his to-be last message while he headed out to play golf. When there's nowhere to run, nowhere to hide and death is on your doorstep; there's something I connect with so intimately about just.. doing what makes you happy as death comes after you. It comes after all of us, whether it's a missile attack or not, whether it's speeding or taking its time. I remember that video every time I come to question whether I'm wasting time or not. Time enjoyed is never a waste, no matter how much you have of it left.

At 10:24 the track "Pictures of the past" from the video game Rain World started to play... Very on brand with the video and made me really emotional 😢 That would be awesome if Jacob covered the sense of scale and the many emotions in this game one day 😃

A manga that I like that feels very in-line with this topic is Dead Dead Demon's Dededede Destruction by Asano Inio. It's very much about the absurdity of having to go about your daily life, pretending that everything is fine when the looming uncertainty of the future(in this case a giant alien spaceship hovering over Tokyo) hangs over everything you do, as well as how the government and corporations/businesses find ways to commercialize and exploit such a precarious situation to control and divide people. Worth a read!

I rlly need to pee rn but my cat is sleeping peacefully on my lap

As a young artist, one of the few things that gives me hope of a world with less suffering is seeing the current and next generations coming up. The ferocity I sense in my fellow creatives as we hone our crafts is unlike what I know of any generation before. Call it naivety if you want, but I hold on to hope that we can change the fuckin world, man.

I’m glad people like you exist. Lately, me and my partner have found ourselves in this rut of cycles. We were dirt poor when we moved from my hometown, hoping to find somewhere where we could start our lives properly. A year later and we find ourselves back in the same situation, somehow earning more but drowning in the increasing cost of living, working next to people we know would judge us for our struggle. Our careers are shaking while trying to stand, like those baby giraffes you see in documentaries. We are insecure, unsure of our futures and desperately searching for a purpose in it all. It’s hard not to be angry at it all. But people like you exist, searching for meaning in the struggle, sharing our successes and failures and beat downs to let other people like us know that we aren’t alone. Because we aren’t. We may need to ration our food, wonder how we’re gonna make rent once the student loans kick in, mask our frustrations to strangers. But we’re going to make it out of this bog. One way or another.

Perfect timing. Been carrying a weight lately, and your videos have an uncanny ability to clarify what I've been trying to articulate to myself. Think I gotta get nebula

"All art that I create is art about the pre- apocalypse" Holy shit.

I’m so glad to see a video essay already being made about How To Blow Up A Pipeline, its such a thrilling film, sure its probably less complex than the book, but the high-octane, tightly paced, efficiently-written thriller, akin to Neo-Westerns, and Heist movies. With a score directly homaging Sorcerer, with that same desperate frantic energy. And while it feels like such a classic thriller script, it is also extremely modern and very Gen-Z, they feel preachy perhaps but in-character, the movie doesn’t preach to you the success or virtue of doing this act, it just shows you how the characters feel and think about it, and just gives you a real well-rounded film.

As a big D&D fan, the short campaign, Calamity (Made through Critical Role), that gives a really interesting interpretation of pre-apocalypse. One of the main characters leads to the apocalypse, but they’re framed as so morally grey and excited about their scientific discovery that you can’t hate the character. She loves so much, but she made a mistake. Another main character comes from humble beginnings, riding atop this fast flying city. He realizes, as he’s dying, that his dreams won’t be understood, won’t be related to by anyone in the future. He smiles, and accepts it. His dreams won’t be understood, but he smiles because he found happiness, and helped all he could. Another is given a chance to survive, being offered to go to a completely new world and survive. He refuses, because he believes he’s nothing without those he’s grown so attached through. Another functions very similar to the photographer in Seasons. She finds purpose in the pre-apocalypse by passing knowledge. She struggles in breaking away from a society doomed to fail, but realizes that free knowledge, left undisturbed by bias or class. This group, so ingrained in their flawed society, both perpetuates and fights against the inevitable end of their society. They try to find purpose in their suffering, and realize they can’t stop it. The world goes on, but it remains a fraction of what it once was. Memories are both lost and remembered. It’s a beautiful show.

Persona 3 spoilers One of my favorite examples of the Pre-Apocalypse is in the ending section of Persona 3. Through out the course of the game, you accidentally unseal the raw concept of death, and this concept is approaching the world. Certainly causing life on it to end, you have two choices, each haunting in their own regard. One choice is that you can forget that you know the world is ending, and it plays a sequence where everyone just unknowingly goes about their lives with guaranteed death coming, the only comfort is they don't know about it. If you choose not to forget, choose to fight the concept. You play through the better part of a month where the world feels melancholy, your casts try their best to participate in normalcy that is fading fast. Even if they fight, its still all but certain they aren't going to make it.

It really is so easy to feel hopeless. We can march and protest and chain ourselves to property but in reality we have no negotiation power other than the one they choose to give to us. If we always have to rely on elected representatives who then has to play along in a rigged game in a system that is buckling under the weight of bloated bureaucracy then all we really have is a prayer. They have all the money, the property, and the private armies to protect them and it. I feel like there's a stark difference between the tones of "On the Beach" and "Umurangi Generation" with the difference in the people being represented. "On the Beach" largely features a bunch of middle-class civilians, mostly if not all white, whereas "Umurangi Generation" pretty noticeably is about the continuous displacement, exploitation, and violent subjugation of native populations and marginalized people. "On the Beach" is remorseful, almost as if they're all thinking "we did this", 'we' as in humanity as a collective, even if the characters never had a chance to stop it. In "Umurangi Generation" it's "they did this". We are not on the same team as "them". Amazing video as always.

Its hard to explain how much Umarangi generation effected me in 2020. A pandemic, massive wildfires, watching the police and national guard beat and shoot protesters in the aftermath of George Floyd, in my own country seeing statues of slavers being pulled down. That time really did feel like a culmination of something. On that final level I remember spraying "20X0: END TIMES COMING" and watching your in game friends stare at it in the midst of the protest. I thought maybe it was the end of the world, but it was just the end of the before.

i’ve heard some indigenous creatives talk about how indigenous-authored dystopian fiction often comes from a completely different lens than that written by white people, because many of the things that white people imagine as “dystopian” (lack of resources, large and empty spaces, apathetic or even malicious government) are things that indigenous communities already deal with in the modern world. the themes of constant injustice in umurangi generation really seem to exemplify that. great video

Absolutely love this, the pre - apocalypse state of the world is one we all must strive to maintain in the "pre" state

Aight no more lifetime memberships for the time being, but the Nebula annual plan is still a great value and still directly supports me! go.nebula.tv/jacob-geller

I fear you might have done this vid a bit prematurely, cause "Goodbye Volcano High" would definitely fit in here, I'd say. Worth it to check out. Played it in one sitting. Real beautiful game that will stick with me for a while. Edit: Just saw your tweet about playing it. Would love to know how you enjoyed it.

"When do we choose to escalate?" Now.

Your essays never stop to amaze me. Had goose bumps throughout the video. Great theme and source material!

These videos always make me want to write comments that rival the length of the video itself, but I'll keep it short: the conclusion struck me to my very core. As is often the case, your video will stick in my brain for years. Incredible stuff.

I have bipolar disorder type 2 with adhd so I forget things easily. My memories buries itself in my brain never to be reached again without me even realising like a person with alzheimers. And sometimes there are things I want to keep in my mind forever ,never forget like these videos but time is unforgiving as much as my ill brain ,despite the desperate wish it slips slowly from my mind like the sands that pours out between your fingers

I think what makes apocalypse stories so compelling is the notion of criticality. Pre-apocalypse stories are nearing a state of criticality. One in which all stakes are on and life as we know it is going to die. On the flip side, post-apocalypse stories both tap into our innate interest regarding what comes after and the fight to survive. I should get around to writing an essay on this…

10:20 I jolted when I heard that track! Would love to see you talk about Rain World someday. At least you seem aware of it :)

I’m so scared. I’m not an activist. I tried for a while during COVID but I was pretty useless. The only thing I’m good at is art or going to protests to be an extra body. We have enough art, we’re well past “raising awareness” protests don’t work and I can’t even donate bc I barely have enough money for myself. I want to fight so bad but I feel like whatever we do will be useless because people far more capable than me have tried for a long time and we have gotten nothing. I feel like unless we change our approach drastically we will keep getting nothing. The solutions are so easy and so clear but so out of reach and I don’t know what to do.

10:29 HAHAHAH I love the musical nod to the themes of a decaying civilization in Rainworld that parallel what you're talking about! Such a beautiful track

I am an amateur Paraguayan writer midway trough my very long first novel, a fantasy one. I'm toying with the idea of my next story which originally was going to be set in space and with great fights and empires to be overthrown and all that stuff but I realized the parts I was into the most were every time my protagonist was in Earth living a mundane but dreadful life fearing of what's beyond. I'm gonna change the setting of my story, make him a civilian stuck in Earth and deal with hopelessness trying to find meaning in a short life because that's the feeling I was truly trying to convey. Thank you to put me back on track I guess. But first I have to finish my first story.

I think there's a comfort to post apocalyptic stories. The end happened, what's next? It's like the feeling of throwing out all your dishes instead of cleaning them - a thing I'm guilty of doing. It feels easier to start anew than to fix what you already have. Maybe that's where we get fantasies of creating a new earth, when the one we have is right here, and hope is not lost, no matter how much the people at the top try and insist it is.

Really appreciate the effort that’s gone into finding new ways of saying “I think about this moment a lot”

Its hard not to be apathetic. As individuals, there is never enough we can do, and organizations often get nothing done either because of corruption or because they are limited by bigger fish. Part of me wants to get angry, to lash out, to fight back against the still preventable apocalypse. But I can't will myself to anger. I can't convince myself to get upset at something I've already accepted. I think knowing that, no matter how bad things get, I'll not be a victim can make me complacent. I'll likely be dead before climate change gets to a point of total annihilation. Of course I'd see some of its effects in my life, we all already have. But its the coming generation that might seriously have to start concidering their own mortality on a global scale and decide just what that means. It can be hard to allow yourself to be empathetic to such a large group of people. So hard to quantify the feeling of billions of voices crying out. After all, there are millions crying out today. There has been, seemingly as far back as history, a constant suffering by so many groups. In contemporary, we have people dying of hunger, worker exploitation of a global scale, injustice and bigotry treated as topics to be argued about but never resolved, and countless other sources of pain for so many people. How can any of us be truly empathetic to so many people. We could do something to ease some of this, couldn't we? Even as individuals, we could give up so many unnecessary things and directly make someone elses existence a little more bearable. But we don't, because its too inconvenient, or we're too selfish, or we care more about a few people we know personally than a hundred faces we'll never see. And should any of us be suprised by this? If we aren't willing to give up our comforts to save the world, should we give them up to save a stranger?

This struck a chord with me because I often find myself thinking about my childhood home, how I left it one day and never returned and can never return to the place that made me who I am. There is a sense of "before and after" which I feel sometimes very sharply.

Fun fact!! One of the only other characters in canon that can use zettaflare is Donald Duck in kingdom hearts 3 :DD

10:22 ears perked up immediately when you pulled from the Rain world OST for this bit. Considering the subject matter, couldn't have chosen anything better for it really.

Analogously, which the video makes all the prescient: “it’s easier to see the end of the world then the end of capitalism “ - Frederic Jameson

The aspect of apocalypse that I haven’t seen portrayed anywhere except Children of Men is that merely living through an apocalypse wouldn’t offer any moment of catharsis, clarity, finality, or relief. Not even escape from ennui or drugery of comfortable modern lives or an opportunity to start anew, the same but just with worse material conditions. Everything just sort of crumbles but life goes on.

What an incredible and hopeful and driven message, this is an incredible video and is going to be one of my favorite videos of yours yet.

the discor elysium track under talking about blowing up a pipeline is just perfect. these are all stories i loooove, thank you for making this one

I’ve been holding off on watching this because that whole idea exemplifies my feelings about being an artist right now. I do theater. I sing little songs, I act, I dance sometimes. And in a brutal industry that doesn’t pay most of the time, as things in the general planet get worse and worse, I find myself asking what the point is. Why I bother. I bother *because* everything feels fucked. Because creating art is more than just an act of joy, it’s an act of resistance. of choosing to make art even when it’s not practical. Even when another choice would give us financial stability. Even when it’s meaningless in the grand scheme of things. It mattered to me. That’s why it matters at all.

Umurangi Generation's soundtrack was actually made by a fellow KZfaqr, ThorHighHeels. His channel has a very specific sense of humor and style, but like his music, If your into it, That shit hits.

I appreciate the rainworld music very much as that game slots right into the apocalypse narrative just at the other end

when jacob publish is always a treat

You bring attention to so many cool games. I just finished Letters and loved the experience. Thanks so much.

I adore this, not just bc its a beautiful vid but bc it gives more exposure to sophie's The World Is Not Ending. Massive props

I was surprised you didn't mention Majora's Mask. Not that I've played it, but that spooky moon sure is iconic

Jacob's videos always make me feel such a wide range of emotions. It's a rollercoaster every time.

Rain World music being used to back the commentary on a game about some far observer seeing the “before” world is such a nice touch

Jacob, you provide consistent insight in way no other channel matches-these essays contain the true hallmark of real art: you can revisit them over and over and they never fail to spark fresh inspiration. You are a master of the format, and a fantastic artist. Thank you for the hard work that clearly goes into producing your essays!