Computer Science and World Building in Homestuck

Рет қаралды 48,076

8 жыл бұрын

This is part one of a video analysis on the webcomic Homestuck. It attempts to lay out Homestuck's world building and frame it in the context of computer science to evaluate how those ideas influence the story.
Homestuck has a lot going on with it, and as it nears it's conclusion I think it's time to start looking at it critically and examining what it did so right as to capture peoples minds for seven entire years. Nobody else on youtube seemed to be doing that, so I'm stepping in to try it myself ;D
Never read Homestuck? You're welcome here too! This first part was written to be friendly to newcomers. It might just sell you on reading it. (The rest of this series is not recommended unless you've read however)
Hope everyone enjoys this. Feedback, likes, shares, whatever. All that jazz is very much appreciated.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Intro to the series: (0:15)
Intro to Part 1: (1:39)
Programming Section Starts: (3:38)
Polymorphism Section: (5:22)
Encapsulation Section: (7:55)
Broad Overview of Paradox Space: (10:22)
SBurb Section Starts: (18:08)
Inventory System/Data Structures: (18:57)
Crafting System: (21:18)
Entering the Game/Hyperadapdability: (23:39)
Winning the Game/Making the Frog: (26:44)
Homestuck as a Quantum Computer: (29:02)
Shitty Diagram: (31:30)
Time Loops: (32:25)
Ecosystem Interpretation: (33:54)
Order from Chaos (Conclusion of Part 1): (35:04)
Ending Wrapper (The rest is directed toward new readers mostly):(36:29)
/end TABLE OF CONTENTS
Here is a list of the definitions I make in case you forget one of them, so that you don't have to go back:
Class - A blueprint for a generic version of some object.
Method - Something an object can do, presented as a function which takes an input and spits out an output.
Property - Something an object possesses. Could be other objects. For instance a car could have a passenger.
Constructor - A special method which is called upon the creation of an object, which sets up initial conditions and properties based on an input.
Instantiation - The creating of an object from a class.
Inheritance - A class can be defined as an extension of another class, in which case it inherits all of the properties and methods of that class, in addition to whatever else is programmed.
Polymorphism - The idea of redefining already existing functionality along inheritance trees which makes certain methods context sensitive.
Transistor - The on/off switch of circuitry. Computers are made out of them.
Encapsulation - The purposeful hiding or restricting of information between objects with the intent of increasing stability of a program.
Footage taken from Homestuck itself, google image search, and 4000 hours in mspaint.
Here is where to find the comic: www.mspaintadventures.com
MrBtongue's channel: kzfaq.info/love/I3G...
Intro music is Phrenic Fever by Clark "Plazmataz" Powell, and outro music is 3 in the Morning (Pianokind) by Erik "Jit" Scheele, originally by Clark "Plazmataz" Powell.
Both songs can be found on the sixth official Homestuck album - Here's the bandcamp page:
homestuck.bandcamp.com/album/...
It's pretty good music right? I hear you kids today like Undertale. Did you know Toby Fox has done entire ALBUMS worth of music for Homestuck? It's true! You can find them by poking around the link above.
Other awesome people who make similar content:
Matthewmatosis - kzfaq.info/love/b_s...
Noah Caldwell-Gervais - kzfaq.info/love/5CY...
BestGuyEver - kzfaq.info/love/Ggy...
Digibro - / digibron. .
FACT CHECK: Some people have pointed out to me that the incipispheres are probably not the same type of processes as dream bubbles, since there isn't any physical distinction between the interior of an incipisphere and the void (ie no visible boundary to enter or leave through), which is something that dream bubbles always have. I don't think this necessarily contradicts the idea that the Horrorterrors are the ones creating these, or even that they can't still be thought of as bubbles, but in an effort to not corrupt this video with my own headcanon, I wanted to point out that the incipispheres are never explicitly shown or stated to be bubble-like in any way, and if anything are implied to be distinctly not bubble-like (I'm not sure I'd go that far either though). I've heard some pretty interesting ideas as to what they might be instead and where the distinctions might lie. Ask around, or make your own decision!

Пікірлер: 245

@firemylazer01 5 жыл бұрын

Don't forget that in Homestuck, Dirk's autoresponder literally reaches the end of pi, if he's being serious, a classic indication of existence as a simulation or program.

@johnathanegbert9277 Жыл бұрын

But pi is Infinite!

@AlphaPizzadog Жыл бұрын

@@johnathanegbert9277exactly. But a computer doesnt have infinite computational power, so if it tries to compute the entirety of pi, it has to stop somewhere.

@stagelights_ Жыл бұрын

im 90% sure Hal is just fucking with Dirk though.

@jenny_azoth Жыл бұрын

i like to think he deliberately calculated every digit of pi, did all the work, and found the last digit *just* to troll dirk by confirming how fake as shit his universe really is

@jenny_azoth Жыл бұрын

or, he's just being super literal about the abbreviation of 3.14. why not both honestly!

@lpsp442 8 жыл бұрын

There's something more brilliant about this view of the Void, I realised today while teaching a lesson. The void is all the undefined data inside the computer. It also happens to contain dream bubbles, which - move about unpredictably - can cause some things to be isolated for long periods of time yet grant others vast leeways - are formed from recollections of the dead and dreamers past In other words? They're RANDOM ACCESS MEMORIES! Cue Daft Punk. Only Hussie could make a pun this shitty this deep.

@dooplon5083 8 жыл бұрын

So what's the main session in terms memory? Is it simply the processor instead?

@TheDevNell 3 жыл бұрын

...I admire the cleverness and synergy but I really wish I had never learned this.

@FaliusAren 8 жыл бұрын

Children are not the only ones playing the game. Fedorafreak has his own session.

@VoidVee 7 жыл бұрын

But it was just him and it was void

@ryangunnison38 7 жыл бұрын

Most of the fertile sessions are a result of kids. Sessions like that are kind of a mutation or bug that acts just like a doomed timeline, barely even contributing to the alpha universe

@FaliusAren 7 жыл бұрын

Ryan Gunnison Your proof?

@aeneaswood113 4 жыл бұрын

@@VoidVee Didn't AH say who his server was in one of his tweets?

@VoidVee 4 жыл бұрын

@@aeneaswood113 if he did then i was wrong but to my knowledge it was just FF in his session

@MaraK_dialmformara 8 жыл бұрын

I agree about giving more information to get people interested. I didn't want to read Homestuck for almost a year after my sister got into it, so she started giving me "spoilers" that were so bizarre I felt I had to start reading to figure out what they meant.

@HippoCrit 8 жыл бұрын

very fuckin' impressive stuff, really looking forward to part two

@TexTalksSometimes 8 жыл бұрын

+HippoCrit Thank you! Glad you decided to watch it. Same thanks goes to everyone else who said they enjoyed it.

@einootspork 8 жыл бұрын

"Part 3 will be about troll culture, and focus heavily on the character Vriska." Hoo boy, prepare for arguments in the comments.

@jupitersgodzilla7114 7 жыл бұрын

ikr

@Luigicat11 3 ай бұрын

Guess he was too scared of 'em, since it's been 8 years (5 since the last part) and no sign of Part 3.

@SVTHORAN 8 жыл бұрын

Fucking excellent. As Homestuck closes, I believe this will truly be a defining piece of analysis and summary of everything that made it great.

@averageteaenjoyer752 4 жыл бұрын

13:55 The First Guardian is another way to travel into the Medium, as First Guardians occasionally become portals to the Green Sun.

@killedthekat2537 8 жыл бұрын

This is some truly excellent exploration of the themes of the comic. Viewing the more large-scale reality of Homestuck as elements of computer science is a really cool idea that i can't believe i haven't thought about before. It's arguable to what extent this is something Hussie did intentionally, but i love stuff that explores and expands upon Homestucks worldbuilding, and now i really have a craving for a fanfic based on these ideas. I would argue that if the Horrorterrors are already so far from our own level of abstraction that they are unknowable, then surely the "machine" the whole shebang runs on would be even more so. Another thing is that if we view Paradox Space as an ecosystem, then to what extent does evolution play a role? A lot of the eccentricities of Sburb are pretty similar to the way biological systems end up with nonintuitive designs and seemingly useless vestigial parts. Given how frequently things in Sburb seem to go off the rails, and the imperfections that seem to occur during Universe propagation, it seems likely that the Sburb from 1000 universes before the one the kids play would be almost unrecognizable.

@TexTalksSometimes 8 жыл бұрын

+IKilledTheKat That's an interesting point about evolution. I'm gunna have to think about that one. I think that my points on the horrorterrors and quantum computers can stand individually, but I can see your point there. The bottom line is that the doomed timelines/alpha timeline stuff is simply too reminiscent of quantum computers to ignore. I didn't mention it in this video, because we haven't gotten to the end of the story yet, but I think that the program's 'output' could be the answer to the Ultimate Riddle. Maybe more generally you could say that the Horrorterrors simply represent an umbrella rack that we can suspend our disbelief from. We can still _observe_ the quantum computer references, but if we start to ask _how_ the quantum computer actually does what it does, the Horrorterrors are there to tell us that we can never logically get that far. And as far as how much of this is intentional, my guess would be more than you think. It's well known that Hussie has a degree in CS, and did programming work before starting MSPA. He's had a lot of training with this kind of thinking, and whether or not all of this stuff started out intentionally, I'd be surprised if he wasn't at least acutely aware of where his inspiration comes from. There are even more references that I didn't get too, and more and more of it appears as the comic goes on. For example, the distinction between null sessions and void sessions.

@AlphaPizzadog Жыл бұрын

Fun fact: hussie has continuously joked about a session consisting of 48 squiddles. Humans have 12 zodiac symbols, and there are 12 trolls per session. Trolls have 48 zodiac symbols. ...Coincidence? You tell me.

@cheeseduderocks 8 жыл бұрын

Oh my god.... This is... Amazing. This is the best explanation of homestuck I've found so far, and yes, I did sit through the entire 30 minutes. What am I doing with my life?

@TexTalksSometimes 8 жыл бұрын

+cheeseduderocks Watching it again? :P

@cheeseduderocks 8 жыл бұрын

+Tex Talks Indeed.

@jghifiversveiws8729 5 жыл бұрын

@@cheeseduderocks That's cute.

@TheDevNell 3 жыл бұрын

5 years later I am so, so bummed the Doom/Mind quantum connections didn't get explored.

@KristoferThurston 8 жыл бұрын

Brilliant work! I'm not familiar with the series, but I soon will be.

@slapjack685 4 жыл бұрын

And How'd That Go?

@wight2211 8 жыл бұрын

You kind of blew my mind with the Tag abbreviations always being A, C, G, and T I can't believe I never realized that.

@TexTalksSometimes 8 жыл бұрын

+Opscat DUDE shhhhhh delete that last part

@sollenavion2119 8 жыл бұрын

+Tex Talks +Opscat Whoa what. hey what was it about? hint?

@TexTalksSometimes 8 жыл бұрын

It was just a spoiler. And this video is trying to be friendly to newcomers.

@sollenavion2119 8 жыл бұрын

+Tex Talks Aahh gotcha then

@MaraK_dialmformara 8 жыл бұрын

+Tex Talks was it about RNA?

@ButterWarrior101 7 жыл бұрын

Someone else: So... what's homestuck exactly? Me: Hahah Someone: ? Me: hahHAHAHAHAHAHA

@PermianExtinction 5 жыл бұрын

Thank you So Much for this ugh it scratches such an itch for me rn. Homestuck is dying to be academically analyzed in so many ways, past the well-trod character/theory/lore/plot/themes analysis. I love this video, the lens of computer programming is such a fascinating approach.

@elementallobsterx 7 ай бұрын

THIS is the lens Homestuck needed to be looked at through. As a programmer I love the parallels you drew to the cosmology in HS.

@scaahgi 6 жыл бұрын

I re-watched the video and I'm so glad somone made this. I've always thought the same as you when it comes to the world building but since I don't know that much about computer science it was always quiet frustrating for me to not be able to wrap my head around it. I watched all your videos about the comic and I really hope you'll keep on doing them!

@SD_Koy Ай бұрын

I just want to say, i appreciate you not privating thes videos. It's clear you use this channel now to host lectures, but this (and your other Homestuck content) are some of the rare analysis of the story as opposed to the fandom. I can only hear the sharpie story so many times before it's not deep lore.

@paytonholmes6019 7 жыл бұрын

I have recently realized that lord English could be considered a computer virus. I mean he does spread to other universes, and fucks them up. I also kind of feel and believe there is an undertale reference in there. I mean an analogy. Maybe, like how the players are to undertale and chara is to the horrorterrors are to homestuck and lord English? I kinda want to talk about this more so could someone plz comment back.

@toobig7399 7 жыл бұрын

Payton Holmes undertale came out way later than homosuck. In fact a lot of stuff in the undertale is a homestuck reference.

@SnowtheYeetuber 7 жыл бұрын

Wow, that was way above my head.

@doppelrutsch9540 8 жыл бұрын

I love these videos sooo much. I have only one very tangential thing to add: Programming concepts as a basis for fantastic worldbuilding have happened at least once before, in the "Wizard's Bane" series, where a sysadmin is summoned in a generic fantasy setting. He is not at all powerfull by their standards but it turns out that their magic system is a Turing complete language. What makes this character powerfull there is his knowledge of recursion and efficient programming schemes which allow him to make insanely complex spells that need very little magic (= number of operations and memory space).

@Postcinct 8 жыл бұрын

Amazing work. One of the only homestuck videos I can think of that has looked upon the work as a whole from a mechanical standpoint. Will you be touching upon ~ATH at any point? I think it's a wonderfully meta esoteric language that is thematically on point.

@TexTalksSometimes 8 жыл бұрын

+Upfade Hmm. I haven't really thought too hard about that to be honest. That's the recursive-ey virusey programming language that Karkat and Sollux use right? I'm about to reread the entire story from start to finish in preparation for the rest of the series so I'll keep an eye out for what I can observe in that department. In the meantime I'd love to hear what you have to say about it. But yeah, while this is the only part of the series which will focus on CS exclusively, I still have a lot more stuff to say. Especially with respect to the aspects. I think all of them have a CS interpretation (as well as some others)

@Postcinct 8 жыл бұрын

+Tex Talks Well I am very much looking forward to your future videos, and here's to hoping the end will give us more to talk about. *[Homestuck spoilers for new readers below]* You said yourself that a quantum computer scenario could be the source of homestuck's existence as a whole, in which self fulfilling time loops seem to be a constant. Well ~ATH's prime function is to loop in on itself until an object is terminated, at which point the code will run. This is why when snowman dies and the universe is destroyed LE comes to fruition in that instance, As the LE code was tied to the universe as an object. This leads me to believe that this language is more powerful then LE, and may just be the language this quantum computer runs on. Another thing that supports this claim is ~ATH's library of objects isn't limited to things on the user's computer. Literally anything in existence seems to be applicable, it's just our primitive computers don't have the power to do that. A quantum computer however, could. If it can die, it can be used to kickstart a process. And we know that all universes eventually die.

@TexTalksSometimes 8 жыл бұрын

+Upfade Whoa. I had never made the connection between time loops and ~ATH, that's a really good catch. I'm sold on that idea. Or at least on the idea of a similar programming language being used by the quantum computer running things. It strikes me as odd that any species would have access to the actual language writing the simulation they exist in, unless... I just had a weird thought. I think we're gunna have to wait until the story is over before we can say exactly how ~ATH factors in, but you've convinced me that it is definitely significant. Conversations like this are why I made this video in the first place :D

@Postcinct 8 жыл бұрын

+Tex Talks The parallel between the two always seemed quite apparent to me. Most probably because ~ATH is the only programming language I'm competent in writing. Even if it's a mock language with very limited compiling ability. Anyway I coudn't help but notice your video's format followed the style of Noah Gervais, and I was happy to find him as one of your inspirations in the description. Do you plan on any other projects in the future? because I love this type of insight. Obviously it's early days on the homestuck front, but just curious.

@xXErr4rXx 8 жыл бұрын

+Upfade great theory, fits the "seemingly useless but 3000 pages later it becomes central to the plot" pattern.

@VoidVee 7 жыл бұрын

I am a aspiring programmer and I thought that sburb as an rpg (sold as doubles due to how you play it) and I semi understood it. (I said I was aspiring) but this is amazing and helpful when I do

@mehwhatever9483 4 жыл бұрын

the structure of object oriented programming is also putting me in mind of the class/aspect system, the alchemy system, and the way that timelines function in homestuck. for the class/aspect system, the word "class" is used as a way of categorizing fictional characters into roles that are defined by how they interact with something, and the "aspect" is the thing they interact with. to use the video's example, assume "car" is a role. in order to fulfill the role of "car" an object has to have several defining traits, such as wheels, windows, an engine, etc. (where character classes are concerned, the traits would be more behavioral/conceptual, while for a car, the traits are physical.) once you've established the role of a "car" with a specific set of parameters, you can define different iterations of the car class by placing more specific modifiers onto it in order to specialize the object. in a sense, you could view this as what an aspect does in a character's hero title. in the case of the alchemy system, optimistic duelist outlines in his alchemy video, the way that the alchemy system works to produce items in material reality from thoughts. most of our thoughts about physical objects come in the form of iconography. the object in it's most iconic and basic form is the version that our thoughts default to, which can then become modified into different states and iterations with the addition of new information. the example he uses is an apple... if you picture an apple in your head, it will most likely be the most perfect version of an apple that you can think of. if you are then told to imagine an apple of a different color, a damaged apple, or an apple that isn't whole, such as a peeled or cut up apple, you can think it up... but those modifiers are necessary to change what you had originally pictured an apple to be like. this is the basis for the alchemy system, which can reproduce or combine items based on what the person making them thinks they should be getting, using grist as the payment... with "grist" being defined as "material used to back up an argument" which essentially puts you in the position of arguing with reality for the ability to make something that you imagined. and in a sense, object oriented programming can be seen as a way to describe how our ideas manifest, in relation to objects that don't yet exist. and in relation to timelines, homestuck has a branching timeline system in place. for every decision made by the character, the timeline theoretically splits into versions of events where they chose differently. but as with all things... homestuck has a beginning. on the first page of homestuck, we are presented with John. he becomes the most basic and iconic template for himself as a character in homestuck. we establish parameters about John, such as his interest in pranks, his love of bad movies, and his hatred of clowns and baked goods. these define John in his most basic state. once the story begins, more and more modifiers get layered onto John, causing him to become a more complicated and specific version of the character that he started as. but because of the branching timelines, different events can place different modifiers on John and turn him into slightly different versions of himself. for example, John who went through the last gate, fought his denizen too early, and died, is a different John from the John who listened to Dave and didn't do those things. of course, we don't see every single different version of John... but this is how we're taught to think of time in homestuck.

@jacobfloyd3410 3 жыл бұрын

Criminally underrated comment, I love the connections between OOP and HS

@nunutrxh 7 жыл бұрын

I think that you are honestly the best member in the Homestuck fandom. You actually see Hussie's true brilliance, rather than obsess about the stupid things, like most of the fandom (unfortunately) does. This video amazed me and every Homestuck should see it.

@metaKnightSpamer777 8 жыл бұрын

changing from punched cards to carved totems changes the presentation of the information. it goes from a more, 'binary' form of information, with, 'is a spot punched or not', to a 'linear' presentation, where different 'punched or nots' become connected in a continuous line the alchemeter can read.

@blacknwhitestripe 6 жыл бұрын

I don't think you should worry about spoilers, since if you're going into this much depth only people who've already read a fair bit of the comic would understand. Great video.

@jghifiversveiws8729 8 ай бұрын

When I first watched this video 4 or so years ago I didn't think it would stick with me as much as it has.

@crimsonthumb6122 8 жыл бұрын

This is one of my favourite videos on KZfaq. I love this deep analysis!

@BabygirlMiles 6 жыл бұрын

i watch these videos once every 6 months. this is a wonderfully made video and you really did the vastness of Homestuck justice. it's really nice to see in depth analysis, as there isn't a lot out there!

@tristanpepin4989 8 жыл бұрын

This is some high quality stuff; I am very excited for the next part! I myself am programming and am actually in my first data structures / algorithms course and am very appreciative for the DS intro Homestuck gave.

@sophiazaynor2089 5 жыл бұрын

Excellent analysis. I've read homestuck about two times and you picked up on things I didn't even understand.

@TheAyeAye12 8 жыл бұрын

Been looking for a series/critical thinking like this for Homestuck ever since I got into it, honestly. Excellent stuff.

@toads13 4 жыл бұрын

Beautifully done! Can't wait to watch the next part.

@bluebird6571 7 жыл бұрын

Wow.....just, wow. I am blown away by how in dept this actually is. I can tell you know a great deal of what you're talking about through the entire video. You my friend, have earned a new subscriber, keep it up :)

@trueDenakori 8 жыл бұрын

This video is so great. I think I'll never get tired of Homestuck theorizing.

@2buildornot2build 8 жыл бұрын

Great discussion, I really enjoyed this, looking forward to watching your other videos!

@ThatOneGuy0006 8 жыл бұрын

This just blew my mind. Now that I know all of this, it seems painfully obvious. I can't wait to see where this series goes!

@luckyc4t110 6 жыл бұрын

God damn it. I thought I was done with Homestuck hurting my head when I finished Homestuck. Guess not....

@smashbrother8696 8 жыл бұрын

This is great. I love both analytical videos and in-depth reviews, and this series seems to be both. I'm finally getting an explanation of why I love Homestuck so much, and I can't wait for part 2. Now let's hope Hussie doesn't drop the ball with the final stretch.

@pidove01 8 жыл бұрын

Wow. That was dizzying and really impressive. Nicely done!

@BelMisi3000 7 жыл бұрын

please never delete this video

@MCtinRad 8 жыл бұрын

Really impressive video man, I feel like I learned a lot. I took some basic computer programming courses, but I felt like you covered more OOP stuff in under 40 minutes than what my professor could for around 5 hours in class . Also, your connections to that and Homestuck were absolutely phenomenal and I felt like I really got it the concepts you were trying to relate to each other. Good shit.

@whimsicaldeviant7799 6 жыл бұрын

YOU READ ALL OF HOMESTUCK _3 TIMES_ BEFORE _STARTING_ THIS SERIES??? *_GODDAMN_*

@hsd6716 5 жыл бұрын

bruh i read homestuck the first time in like 2 weeks so its only like 6 weeks lmao wait shit thats a lot of time

@zerodian115 5 жыл бұрын

@@hsd6716 that's not a lot of time if you don't have a life

@MistrumFeathering 6 жыл бұрын

Loved it (how did I not find this earlier?)! Will most likely share this with others (also, I loved the 3itm Pianokind at the end, that is one of my favorite songs).

@zanzaklaus2496 8 жыл бұрын

This video is great, I'm definitely subscribing!

@josuenaimzaratecordero4533 6 жыл бұрын

9:24 "Secret LvL there" Tex, you silly guy

@Grassuke 2 жыл бұрын

This is incredible!

@riannaroberts4769 6 жыл бұрын

This is incredible, thank you

@a.b.4929 6 жыл бұрын

and about the box stuff, shouldve put the gif "PUT THE BUNNY. BACK IN. THE BOX"

@xXErr4rXx 8 жыл бұрын

the jokes are very brilliant, secret level, solaire and so many more omg

@Trunksette 8 жыл бұрын

Damn these are sooooooo good please keep making them I'm such a nerd I enjoy this so much.

@feedmewifi_477 4 жыл бұрын

amazing video. it was everything i wanted it to be

@jiffy-jef Жыл бұрын

Thanks for this video!

@mfriz5317 5 жыл бұрын

i am not only learning computer science (i study this) but am also learning about a really interesting web comic

@kathryn-rosegrant3114 7 жыл бұрын

Wow, this is a really good video. I'm just getting into computer programming, so I kinda-sorta understand what you're saying, and it's great.

@Dysteleologist 6 жыл бұрын

This is fucking _amazing_ ... I had no idea the mythology and references went this deep.

@Luexri 8 жыл бұрын

wow you made an exdllent video, you opened my mind about the the comic! i think i can use it to explain homestuck to a friend who is into computers.

@josefnovinski1605 8 ай бұрын

Very late to the party here, but at 27:58 you put question marks over Uracil, the "5th" nucleotide. What's interesting about Uracil is that it is only used in RNA(instead of Thymine). RNA is like DNA, but where DNA is the blueprint of genetic code RNA is what creates the proteins that actually do things.You could argue that U is the more active version of T, and thus Caliborn(and Lord English by association) with the uU tag is the more active version of Dirk with the TT tag.

@grimmcorvid5713 3 жыл бұрын

Honestly Honestuck is one of its kind its flawless and amazing. It can create a perfect vibe being merely a comic. Reality fucking breaks outside of it.

@TyberiusLee 8 жыл бұрын

I love this.

@Megancr1111 8 жыл бұрын

this is amazing. like, you explained it so well that even though some of this stuff is too computer sciency for me to understand right away everything was so nice and organized and i love it. thank you for making this video. SPOILERS for anyone else reading this you obviously have a good grip on the lore so i was wondering if i could ask you a few questions that i had about plot stuff? like, about how jack killing the genesis frog and the end of both of the trolls universe and the kid's universe happened, and how the alpha session still existed even though the geniuses frog was killed. also why the best character, AR (the authority regulator) was murdered

@KnufWons 7 жыл бұрын

JayJay Dough EXPLANATIONS THAT ARE SORT OF SPOILERY You have been warned. So basically, the Genesis Frog is Universe-sized. Destroying all of it takes a very long time, and reaching the point where Earth is located within the frog takes however much time since the Red Miles entered the universe to 413 years after John and the gang play SBURB. Another thing to keep in mind is that Bilious Slick contains not just all the space of the universe, but all the timelines as well. As a result, the Alpha and Beta kids (however the fuck you feel like defining those groups) are located in the same physical space, just displaced temporally (like, sideways in time, the way timelines branch from the Alpha). As a result, the Red Miles reach Earth at the same point in time no matter what, in all parallel Earths. One more thing you mention that I feel like pointing out: we never see proof that the Troll universe dies. Their session ends, but we don't even really see proof of that being destroyed by the Horrorterrors or Jack at all; that being said, access to their session is now cut off except by brute force, so it is effectively cut off from the rest of the Homestuck "memory" and any garbage collection systems that exist likely will/did take care of it. Back to the Troll Universe: no signs point to its death (except Snowman dying, I guess. So it does die), so it can happily keep reproducing sessions wherever sentient life occurs up to that point. And since Genesis Frogs contain all timelines and all space within a universe, it probably reproduced multiple other sessions during its tenure. There's a chance that the Trolls' session's frog only had one session and one offspring (as we only see one session from that universe create a new frog), but there's also a chance that communication to other successful sessions didn't occur simply because there was no reason or means of communication between the two; the only reason the kids and the trolls can communicate may well be due to Rose's generation of an external link (the FAQ) that both sessions access. (All of that last part is pure speculation; there may be numerous explanations for why they can communicate, but judging by the scale of the Homestuck multiverse we are led to believe in, communication between sessions seems largely tHE exception and not the rule)

@matthewbeale7566 6 жыл бұрын

27:59 THE CHERUBS!!!

@c3r6s9 7 жыл бұрын

fenestrated planes and characters with teleportation (e.g. green sun) abilities could go from a session to its origin planet, but the fact that i can so easily list the methods of travel you missed(?), and the fact that there's only 4 total (if I'm not missing any, myself), further illustrates your point that there are few and specific ways to get from point A to point B in homestuck

@eh-bc4dx 7 жыл бұрын

I noticed that you had question marks over the "U" in the visual while explaining the kids pesterchum handles. I'm sure you already know since your a lot smarter than me, but I think that the U's are supposed to represent the cherubs handles and RNA. I absolutely love your analogies and the ways you break things down, and I'm about to watch the other videos on your channel, so i don't know if you've acknowledged this. Just pardon me, if you have.

@7-11thuniverse 4 жыл бұрын

this is s really dumb comment on such a fascinating and interesting video but: this is my dirk headcanon voice

@ahva2280 8 жыл бұрын

Amazing

@Alice_Fumo 7 жыл бұрын

I as a person who is not a professional programmer (yet), but has spent like a decade programming, have thought of these concepts pretty similarly as to how it is presented in this video. I've spent before being introduced to homestuck a lot of thoughts on simulation of universes (especially the one we live in) (I ended up being pretty convinced that us being in 1. a multiverse 2. a simulation are not completely unlikely things and I'd like for them to be true) and felt like the universal laws of homestuck are simply brilliant. The way I've seen it was that what homestuck is, is mainly having a universe(or well omniverse or however since it contains several universes) which works by a specific set of pretty well-defined rules and their layers of abstraction (some more defined than others, like how time works in the void is obviously not a well-defined principle) - a lot of what happens is a direct result to the initial rules that were set for this omniverse. The layers of abstraction in homestuck where you kind of zoom out and always get a bigger picture are very applicable to our world aswell, on the tiniest level we have the atomic scale, then it gets molecular, then we get single-cell organisms, bacteria, more and more complex organisms etc. ha I myself am trying to code a kind of universe simulation, where I just give it a bunch of set parameters of how the different kind of entities and particles have to interact with oneanother and just want to see what ends up forming in those univserses. I expect that most will end up with pretty boring results and it'll need a lot of tinkering with the initial rules to end up with something actually interesting. (I always wanted to create worlds, that is somehow just my thing) (For example if I have a basic universe where there's two kinds of particles where the same ones attract each other and the opposites push each other away, all that'll happen is that there's two piles of partilces in the end which are both made of 100% the same stuff - BORING!) A large inspiration is of course the way our universe works and it also operates only on a rather small set of initial physical laws and rules. It is actually pretty remarkable that the rules are laid out in such a way that interesting stuff like .. computers are actually possible! Homestuck has given me a lot of input on what kinds of rules might be imposed on alternate universes and its awesome about it!

@jenny_azoth Жыл бұрын

i have a theory that the totem lathe is less a nod at computer programming than it is at calculus, which can be used to determine the volume of irregular objects (you know, like vases, or whatever the crap a Cruxite Artifact is. it's extremely useful to, say, the laser attempting to read the "code" from the artifact's morphology, which can be conceptualized as a "function" of the surface's cross section rotated around a central axis.) In short, I think the Lathe is less about programming than it is about calculus, for which Leibniz is also credited with co-creation

@jenny_azoth Жыл бұрын

you could then say that the Cruxite/Cruxtruder itself is at the "crux" of this particular dichotomy between calculus and programming

@Tasiezme 8 жыл бұрын

Holy crap, you JUST uploaded this a couple months ago?? I'm fucking thrilled, I had come to feel like Homestuck was so dead culturally so I'm sooooo glad to see someone posting so in-depth and fascinating, so willing to treat Homestuck with the narrative and literary text it really deserves. I'm pretty much about to get into making youtube videos entirely for homestuck and you had a part to play in that. Thank you so much. Also I've never been much for math/computer science/programming but I AM an avid gamer and that kind of thinking about the world has really formed my worldview so it was great to see I was fascinated and not at all stumped by your explanations about the technicalities of technology. You made it so understandable and smooth and really showcased it's links to Homestucks layout.

@TexTalksSometimes 8 жыл бұрын

+RoseofNobility Thanks! It's exciting to hear more more people starting to talk about this on youtube. Let me know when your first video is out! Mine will be... eventually...

@Tasiezme 8 жыл бұрын

+Tex Talks Gotta wonder how you're feeling about this finale, tbh. So many people seem really upset--personally, I'm pleased, but if you don't mind I was interested in your quick take?

@TexTalksSometimes 8 жыл бұрын

My feelings on the ending are all over the place, and changing by the second. I'm not even completely sure what to say about it right now. I'd be down to talk about it on skype or steam or something.

@Tasiezme 8 жыл бұрын

That sounds great actually, I have my own theories about the ending and conflicting feelings so I'd love that. I'm at work so I dont have access to either of those programs right now but if you have telegram or discord im available on there, and if not I can send u my steam account and we can talk whenever!

@rhoddity 5 жыл бұрын

That was dope. =)

@a.b.4929 6 жыл бұрын

I agree. I have a lot to say in terms of agreeing with you. I remember reading this when I was 13 and thinking woah this is like a computer program as i was starting to study python, a while after i read Godel, Escher, Bach and the parallels I made with homestuck made me really think about how it uses self reference to build a system. Self reference being what is predominately studied in GEB, honestly like im still fairly young and havent finished GEB or any major loopy work other than homestuck but id totally want to write something as paradoxically unified as HS when i grow up lmao. Anyways fuck i loved your video.

@CookieFonster 8 жыл бұрын

its not hard for me to say what i like about homestuck: (1) the humor and (2) the way all the major plot points brilliantly click together. aside from pronouncing sburb es-burb, this is a really insightful video, even though its kind of esoteric.

@TexTalksSometimes 8 жыл бұрын

How was I supposed to pronounce it? Also glad you liked it.

@MaximTheArchmage 8 жыл бұрын

+Tex Talks To my knowledge, most people pronounce it like "suburb" only slightly faster. Great video by the way! Can't wait to hear more from you.

@CookieFonster 8 жыл бұрын

Tex Talks i just say "sburb" like ss-burb, but it doesnt really matter. hussie has dodged the question of how the games name is pronounced.

@einootspork 8 жыл бұрын

+Tex Talks Yeah, Hussie has said one of the inspirations for Sburb was Spore, which should give you an idea how it's intended to be pronounced (i.e. one syllable). But there's not really any "official" word on it, so you don't technically have to change anything if you don't want.

@0whatman 8 жыл бұрын

i already like you and your channel; i also thought that homestuck was based out of computer software, never went much into the idea though, for many reasons, i'm glad you did, you did an amzing job, probably better than anything i could have done.

@0whatman 8 жыл бұрын

also i will leave a copy of something i comented on the video of act seven a wile ago, i think you might like it: "am i the only one who noted the scientific background behind the way alt calliope created the black hole? the circles that are mostly black represent quarks, and they are scalating between red green and blue (the primary colours of light, and the way quarks are clasificated), and when they are putted on a same place the colours get mixed in the way light mixes colours (red with green is yellow, blue and green is cyan, and blue and red is magenta i think is the name, and all of them is white; though this part is hard to see since the colours flash); then an explotion, just like the one that happens when a black hole is formed from a supernova; then the black hole starts to absorb things from the inside to the outside, and particles are moving so quickcly into it; and it even starts distortioning light arround it; even the way the black hole sucks the flames from the sun is accurate, with the spiral and the part that makes it seem like the flames disappears (wich is the end of the black hole, wich is the part were light is distorted in a way that images get blurred, after that is the black, light cant scape); it is so fucking accurate and amazing i love it; it is obvious hussie did his research."

@TexTalksSometimes 8 жыл бұрын

+Xero0 You're right, I did like that. I've been berating myself trying to figure out what those three orbs were supposed to representative of. I can't believe I didn't make the connection to the color force. That's totally right on. Thanks for the insight!

@0whatman 8 жыл бұрын

Tex Talks you are wellcome, and thank you for the insight too.

@0whatman 8 жыл бұрын

+Tex Talks also, i've been thinking about what effects might a cancerous genesis frog have on the universe that resides on it; the first thing that comes to mind is the unevitable death of that universe, as seen with the human's universe; but i also thought "well if that universe is supposed to be our's maybe hussie took something from real life that can theoretically variate between universes", and i though "maybe dark energy is the universe's cancer", which makes a lot of sence, it makes the universe grow indefenetly and faster every second, also the expansion will cause what many would call the death of the universe, so maybe if jack didnt kill the frog it would have died anyway, just later; i also thought that maybe a healthy universe may be a closed one since it doesnt grow indefenetly, but i'm not sure about it.

@MarkusIfquil 6 ай бұрын

dear god, how did I come across this just now

@julianbello8376 2 ай бұрын

I'll write comments as I go along. Apologies if you're tired of this video now taht it's a decade old. This is a fascinating lens to see Homestuck through. It's surprisingly adept at explaining the entierety of homestucks basic asumotions and mechanics. While I agree on a lotbI feel as jf there is something missing on this take. Homestuck is layered like abstractions but not only in a vomputational sense. It's also layered metanarritively. Homestuck is a webcomic about comics about rpgs about adventure games about ttrpgs about narrative itself about mythology. While vast swaths of Homestuck world function on videi game logic, I'd argue that's a function of what Homestuck is. The way the different layers of narrative abstractions bleed down is a central layer of ehat Homestuck is and that doesn't fit in what we have here so far. The AlphaTimeline/QComp bit was amazing thi and left me blown away. A really amazing narrative lens but one I feel is incomplete and can be subsumed by others.

@tylernelson9039 7 жыл бұрын

I know I'm pretty late and won't get an answer, and that I may have missed this somewhere, but where did you research all of this? Was a majority of the content of this video just things you already knew or ideas you already have a concept of? Are you some secret genius at a multitude of different things like analysis and research or whatever the name is for all the content you spoke of? Lol, Don't know if that makes any sense. Basically how'd you find all the things you talk about I guess? Great Video, I've thoroughly enjoyed them all and am anxiously awaiting for the next part. (If there is one).

@kitkatliz1495 4 жыл бұрын

ehehe, looking at the horrorterrors as daemons is awesome, especially since "daemon" also has an equally prevalent alternate pronunciation of "demon" :D

@felixtasman5299 3 жыл бұрын

When you called out mrbtongue I knew I had to sub

@paytonholmes6019 8 жыл бұрын

I found 22:25 pleasing to look at. Does any1 have a gif of it?

@Nimitz68503 7 жыл бұрын

Love that inclusion of Luthadel. Huge Brandon Sanderson fan.

@Simonplaysgmaes 8 жыл бұрын

I've been looking to do some in-depth analysis of homestuck now that it's had its conclusion. Maybe, if you want, we can bounce some ideas around sometime??

@TexTalksSometimes 8 жыл бұрын

+Simon Midkiff Maybe! Feel free to send me a PM. You might also consider this: academicstuck.tumblr.com/

@ButterWarrior101 7 жыл бұрын

qubits-- CUE bits? Cue ball.

@willb1200 6 жыл бұрын

you misspelled ted talk

@overgrowthj4612 8 жыл бұрын

Anyone know where that piece kf artwork at 37:36 is from?

@patuszodi7532 8 жыл бұрын

Subbed.

@chromaphasia453 7 жыл бұрын

Omg calling act 1-3 a tutorial. that's such a good explanation, it's boring but you HAVE to go through it, or else you'll be confused and lost in something that isn't that confusing if you just go through the tutorial

@peachchi3367 4 жыл бұрын

i like all of homestuck i mean the whole story.. even though i have no idea what i'm reading.. I mean the reckoning? I have no idea what i was watching

@DSHC224 8 жыл бұрын

I really adore this video. I'm definitely looking forward to more. It's fairly rare we get this kind of analysis somewhere easy to find and I've never seen Homestuck analyzed through this lens to the extent you have done so here. Edit: Was gonna send this privately but I can't seem to find a way to do so on your channel, but do you have a Skype or use any similar service? Seems you like to analyze fiction and its structures and subtexts and what have you, and I would love to chat about this kind of stuff. Sorry to be so forward and so public, I just want to reach out and can't seem to find an alternate way to do so.

@TexTalksSometimes 8 жыл бұрын

+DSHC224 You can't message me on here? That's odd. I'll have to look into that. I don't use skype very often but why don't you add me on steam: id is just 'tex' all lowercase. I have Charle's Barkley's head as my avatar. I'm online most of the time. EDIT: I think I fixed the problem. Mind sending me a private message on here just to confirm that?

@MaraK_dialmformara 8 жыл бұрын

+DSHC224 Shameless self-promotion time: if you're looking for shorter-form Homestuck analysis, do take a look at my blog. ilikehomestuckproject.tumblr.com/

@adohug5986 8 жыл бұрын

you mean Cal as the object with an arc?

@nosamstrebor5356 5 жыл бұрын

I'm going to try to take up your challenge. It's going to be convoluted and practically nothing at all, but so is home stuck.

@nosamstrebor5356 5 жыл бұрын

I mean both sketching the software and going through the story and piecing it all together.

@ukyoize 8 жыл бұрын

What do you think about inversion theory?

@TexTalksSometimes 8 жыл бұрын

I've never heard of it. I kinda stopped reading forums/fan theories/etc around act 5. I found what you're talking about though so lemme read this guy's blog and get back to you.

@spawnshell1 8 жыл бұрын

at the beginning hussie made the john hand above the name look like a plane

@TexTalksSometimes 8 жыл бұрын

When did you start reading?

@spawnshell1 8 жыл бұрын

like a month before collide happened i finished reading the day homestuck ended

@TexTalksSometimes 8 жыл бұрын

I figured as much. You should know then that the hand/plane wasn't there originally. Hussie went back edited, and reuploaded all of those pages when John stuck his hand through. That's the difference between John's powers and regular time travel. John is literally editing the story.

@voidify3 8 жыл бұрын

The omegapause makes wonderful things

@TexTalksSometimes 8 жыл бұрын

+Sophia Walsh Long UGH -_-

@voidify3 8 жыл бұрын

+Tex Talks not being sarcastic. It's a great video

@TexTalksSometimes 8 жыл бұрын

+Sophia Walsh Long No no I got that. My response was directed at the omegapause. Appreciated :)

@voidify3 8 жыл бұрын

+Tex Talks Wait a second. 28:45 "fridge brilliance" are you a member of tv tropes

@smashbrother8696 8 жыл бұрын

+Sophia Walsh Long Yes TV Tropes is great I use it all the time

@kitsunewife7800 7 жыл бұрын

I might be a little late to finding this video, but I'd love to try and make a diagram for SBURB. Just gotta find a whiteboard and some markers... Also I'm not a professional programmer yet (Going to college soon with CS as a major.) but I feel like I'm good enough at making pseudo code, abstraction, and a shit load of Boolean statements to the point where I could make something to simulate some form of SBURB if I was given enough time to make it.

@TexTalksSometimes 7 жыл бұрын

You'd be the first to actually take me up on it!

@kitsunewife7800 7 жыл бұрын

Once I get a white board things are going to happen.

@dereksavage3416 6 жыл бұрын

Finrear

@GrimgoreIronhide 2 жыл бұрын

While what you say about kids is being naïve is true I also think that the game on some level understands that most adults with their formed worldviews would simply shut down in response to all this rather than rise to engage with the Suburb Process. Children are also not as heavily invested in the world they are leaving behind, and while they have been formed by the society the live in enough to be representative of it they are still young enough to be adaptive.

@twintrickster5004 7 жыл бұрын

My computer crashed 413 times watching this!

@tidecovill6718 5 жыл бұрын

I dont think most universes explode after the game is played

@BirdWing79 8 жыл бұрын

With what you say about the Horrorterrors role in creation of Space, how do you feel about Kanaya's claim that they oppose Skaia? (Page 004945) I don't know if you are willing to factor Word of God statements into any analysis, but Andrew Hussie did once say that each Incipisphere is a bubble in the Furthest Ring, in response to a question about the definition of Incipisphere.

@TexTalksSometimes 8 жыл бұрын

I don't necessarily view what I say and what Kanaya says as contradictory. I'll probably say some more about that at some point in the future. And with respect to the second thing, is this in response to the annotation I added correcting myself?

@BirdWing79 8 жыл бұрын

+Tex Talks It was in response to the "FACT CHECK" portion of the description of the video.