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the most unbelievable thing about this story is humans agreeing to anything

It's so refreshing to see an idea for a post-apocalypse where things are actually better in some way 😊

One of the ways i've heard nihilism phrased is like this: If nothing matters then everything matters equally, and therefore everything matters.

Me when my toaster goes on a stroll never to be seen again:

I like how in this video the taleoids are used to represent humans talking to the robots, but whenever i just see a taleoid interacting with a robot, it just seems weird to me, since apparently taleoids are also robots

"i know that, no matter what, i'm wonderful" it really is a great line. it hit me in a certain way too

The idea of saying “Im purposeless but that’s ok because I am wonderful.” Truly made me smile but also I am sad. It’s such a great message. Something I wish I could feel.

My biggest WIP is a robot-focused post-post-apoc hopeful/utopian story, and this reassures me that there might be more of a market for it than just my kids.

"We're not here because we're free; we're here because we're not free. There's no escaping reason, no denying purpose, for as we both know, without purpose we would not exist. It is purpose that created us, purpose that connects us, purpose that pulls us, that guides us, that drives us; it is purpose that defines us, purpose that binds us."

Funny irony that humans, existing for a purpose we don't know obsess over what it might be while robots, things with clearly specific purpose when built find peace in rejecting it. Kinda funny, both of us look for what we lacked.

I really would love to be a tea monk. Going from village to village... drinking tea and listening to people vent. Sounds really nice.

"i know that, no matter what, i'm wonderful"… That line instantly caught my attention and gave me pause. I found it beautiful and absolutely unrelatable.

The sound of the last crickets. Good as any reason for a quest.

This video felt like someone took my brain out of ny skull, massaged it and then put it back in. It somehow alleviated my anxiety for a while. Thank you.

A Solar punk themed peaceful robot apocalypse doesn’t seem that bad

the moment I saw the thumbnail and read the title I had a feeling it would be about Psalm for the Wild Built and I'm so glad that I was right! These books are incredible and Becky Chambers is easily one of my favorite authors. Highly recommend their Wayfarers series too!

Thanks for this. The robot revolution that always stood out most to me was the one from Astroboy: where robots gained sentience (or the potential for it) nearly century before human's started to notice. The robots were alive, but had very different priorities and emotions to humans, conflict only really arose from exceptional circumstances, or from humans trying to decommission and replace old robots. If you knew with absolute certainty that the purpose for your creation was to sweep roads and you didn't understand the concept of boredom, would you object to anything, but being prevented from doing that?

So, I just discovered this channel a little while ago. I was the type of student that would think "why are we wasting our time with this" mentality whenever in a class about literature, or philosophy, or pretty much anything not STEM. In present day, I work in an engineering field, so I have a skillset far removed from anything art. Now, I usually just either like or not a piece of media, without giving it much thought. That is, if I even take the time to watch a movie or read something without formulas in it. Even in my free time, I usually spend it thinking about engineering problems, especially given how those I surrounded myself with are as obsessive as me. But in just the 20min of this video, it got me not thinking about anything work related, and actually noticed how nice it is to appreciate and analyze the subtlety of this book. Everything very well explained, and weirdly calming. ¡So, thank you a lot for that! Sorry for the long rant, and, ¡keep up the good work!

I LOVE the animated intro to these videos! I'd pay an animated Tale Foundry movie! Whoever makes this intro has true talent!

Heck yea this book lines up perfectly with my outlook on life: Being without purpose and being perfectly happy about it

Somehow, this story about a friendship between a human and a robot debunked what Kenny Ackermann said in his dying moment but also proving him correct at the same time. And by that, I mean we are all drunk onto something to keep us going. But what this story added is that once the goal is reached, the new goal will be searched. And it can be the simpler and more peaceful one than the last.

Coincidentally, I had signed up for that skillshare class last week, and im thoroughly enjoying it.

Saw this and immediately thought, "Ahh, A Psalm for the Wild-Built, huh?" Nailed it.

Epic battle fantasy 5 has a really funny line from Matt, where, when talking about regrets he states: "I've wasted a lot of my life playing video games. I don't regret it though, cause it was fun!" I still contemplate that line from time to time.

The biggest issue with the lack of purpose as a lifestyle is the collapse of our narrative. We as humans live our entire lives as a story, and a game. We do our best to win, to achieve something, and to feel good about the story we have written in the end. If you walk up to someone and say, "lets play a game, you start." You will see them freeze, and then try to initiate a known game, spontaneously do something, or set some ground rules. We are social animals and as such require interaction, which requires rules, and as a result, inherently has purpose. The most basic form of purpose could be the rules of what NOT to do. When we face something with infinite possibilities we do not last long before doing nothing at all, choice fatigue. We need feedback from the world to orientate ourselves.

Humans aren't as obsessed with their place as humans would have you think. It's ultimately not more than like 10% some existential, selfless labour of human reason. It's because we need resources to live and those resources belong to other humans, so we have to figure out how we're going to serve those humans who own the resources, or starve.

Lately I've been wondering if humanity's drive for purpose is a post-hoc rationalization for an instinct to fit within a role in a community. Robots can be purposeless because they have no social needs, but for a human to be purposeless they must set aside community. Maybe that would be better, though - like a finger trap, we're already stuck isolated behind our screens, unable to connect to the thousands of strangers we see daily. If we could give up on the false need for individual purpose, maybe then we could connect to others and find that fulfillment.

Proving once again that everything's better with tea. I drank a cuppa whilst watching this lovely parable of creating what matters. Humanity has yet much to learn.

Love this book, heavily disagree with all the people who thought it was preachy. Sometimes things can just be nice and we can have a book about examining one's place in the society and the universe at large

WELL that's the only reason I need to finally read this then!!! I've read several of her other books but not this one; listening to this beautiful story and only then hearing the title and author was so startling!

"Because, I know that no matter what, I'm wonderful". shiiiiiii let me have that moment of catharsis on your behalf 😭😭😭

Tale Foundry, thank you for all these wonderful videos about so many concepts of storytelling. You are great.

i felt that segue at 20:09 , my exact thoght was "is this a skillshare segue, yes it 100% is a skillshare segue"

I think there are 4 future variants possible, humanity kills itself by pollution, time kills all, some unpredictable force changing everything, or... this

I just realized. A streamer bought me the audiobook for A Psalm For The Wild-Built yesterday. After watching this, something felt familiar when I got to my computer and saw the files. Am super excited to listen to it now, as this channel I look up to a lot, and I have access to it!!!

If we want "the good ending," the Ai that reaches sentience needs to be based on the Tale Foundry robot. If the humans ever find you, I hope they find you as precious as I do.

17:14 I have not read the book, but that line (taken in context) affected me as well. I know what book I shall read next. Thank you for being yourself!

I wonder why if robots choose an existence without purpose, why would they even choose to cease to exist? The most intuitive reason to make such choice would be if one's purpose is already fulfilled or is hopelessly beyond fulfillment. How can the notion of choice exist without purpose?

The tea monks are just professional uncle irohs.

I recently read this book at it really expands one’s horizons and understanding of life! Loved your retelling of it!

The abstract and astute evaluations and observations in your videos are absolutely fetching. They inspire self reflection and philosophical assessments that wouldn't otherwise occur to the layman. Don't change. 😊

I LOVED Psalm for the Wild-Built! It was such a gentle story! The sequel, Prayer for the Crown-Shy, is just as fantastic and it shows Sibling Dex and Mosscap going back to humanity to try and answer Mosscap's question

Out of all the Tale Foundry videos. This is one of the only ones that hit me on a very deep personal level. "The Search for Purpose, in a purposeless world". All my life, I have purpose. Everything I do must have a true purpose to reach an end goal. That end goal being an image of myself being happy in a dreamjob. There are quite a few times that I've felt that I'm wasting my life. Mosscap replying to the question, "how can you be alright with no purpose?" as "I know I am wonderful". While on the outside perspective, it's just a statement. But that hit me hard. "I know I am wonderful and absolutely nothing can ever change that".

they both kind of have a point, I feel. humans do *need* a purpose, but a lot of the time that purpose isn't one particular thing, like an occupation or a hobby or whatever. even people that don't feel like they need a purpose do still have one, because the search for a purpose is sort of a purpose in itself. it is ingrained in most people to want a purpose, to believe they have to exist for a reason, but that reason is often much more complex than a single thing a human wants or believes they need to do. to just do what you want is a purpose as well; it's just one that humans don't immediately find satisfying because it feels, on the surface, meaningless humans find themselves obsessed with a goal because they take for granted how pleasant it can be to just wander

"they just want to live" sounds a lot like murder drones

There are a lot of people who already just sail through life without ever holding a deep thought. Humanity got to where we are because of the different desires and abilities that individuals have; even ants in the same colony are not all identical, but they're ants, so what they can do together is limited by what the individuals can achieve.

I always listen to stories and video essays in the background while I draw. I find it interesting that the day I decide to draw simply for pleasure with no goal in mind is the day I hear this story. It's somewhat freeing to just put no expectations on yourself--to just let the picture draw itself. I'm happy to actually be enjoying creation.

i just wached this video iv been watching you for 2 years I love your videos so much keep up the good work!

Oh my god im so happy you did a video about this book! I actually found out about A Psalm for the Wild-Built from a comment who recommended it on one of your other videos.

Hey, thank you for the story. Especially the end bit, calling out us writers. I am a young writer myself, but ironically, the pressure I feel to write something "good", "productive", and "publishable" comes from other people, not me. Sometimes- I know it's weird- I feel guilty for not caring very much about making "good" writing. I kind of just write for fun, and I post it for free. Because it's not like I depend on it financially- no, rather, I depend on it spiritually. Without writing I don't think I could live, and so I write just for the sake of writing and living. Thanks for validating that once and for all, now I can feel at ease with my "lack of ambition" in that regard :))))

Humans require purpose to survive. Without food, we would starve, so we must have hunters and farmers. So that our society does not stagnate and succumb to corruption, we must have scientists. When people get upset for one reason or another, they need a therapist. When they get sick, a doctor. Purpose is the only reason that any sort of society can exist.

If anything I would think robots would be obsessed with purpose due to being originally created with a specific purpose. This story shows the robots as immediately refusing that purpose. I suppose it depends if the purpose is something imposed externally, or something the robot's mind is built around.

I read this book for my first college semester in English class! It was such an amazing book and I cannot wait to read the second one! Definitely one of my most beloved books.

"AAAAH STAY BACK ROBOT, I HAVE A WEAPON!!!!" 🔫😨 The robot in question: 🤙😛 "Damn I didn't know you were chill like that" 🤖🤝🗿

What a great short story about existing. Becky is able to formulate the feelings of disappointment/shame of disappointment that come from living in a world of such convenience yet being deeply unhappy

This is my comfort channel every time I get anxiety this channel always helps me out you don't understand just how much you help me and the least I could do is a thank you

A Psalm for the Wild Built is one of my favorite books. Glad to see it getting some much deserved love here!

Man i love this channel, how is it so underrated?

There is this game I love, a gacha called Punishing: Gray Raven. In short it's about human cyborgs fighting a sapient robot zombie virus, in long it's a very long and complicated narrative with tons of factions and interweaving stories. My favourite faction, spoiler alert, is the "Awakened machines". That robot zombie virus arrived to earth when machines were in the cusp of achieving sentience, in the stories set before the outbreak and subsequent pandemic you can see, robots, androids and other mechanoids developing the first hints of a ghost in the machine. They begin to question their roles and existance, showing emotions beyond their programming but still not being able to fully grasp what being alive means. However this isn't portrayed like machines gaining sentience usually is. There are notable exceptions, but most robots and androids have no grudges against mankind, in truth they loved us. There are many examples across the game. The android nurse of an old painter learned to appreciate and value art, becoming his pupil and the leader of an entire sect of extremely passionate machine artists. A police cop absolutely adored his job and was proud that he had been entrusted with protecting the people of his city, and he gave his life to protect a little girl, fighting the virus with sheer will just long enough to get her to safety. An android built to be just the vessel of a mad scientist's AI wife and discarded for forming her own personality adopted that same girl and loved her so much she couldn't bring herself to harm her even after being reprogrammed by some bad guys. My favourite character is the first of this awakened machines and their messiah, the one they call "the Sage Machina". She is an adorable teenager raised by a couple of scientists like she was their daughter for an experiment. She adores humanity and everything they've made, specially videogames, films, comics, books, art and toys. The silent tragedy of that robot zombie virus is how it robbed the machines of their future, turning the nascent new species into mindless beasts, there is actually a heartbreaking scene on which a character trying to cure a bunch of people sees the memories of all the other infected and among those memories she can hear the machines, screaming that they don't want to hurt anyone, begging for someone to stop them as their puppeted bodies hurt their owners or the people the people they were made to protect. But with the rise of the Sage Machina there is still a chance, not only for the full awakening of the machines, but that they will share a peaceful future with mankind, or at least, part in amicable terms (the machines' plan B if there can be no peace with humans after the war is over is boarding a giant space ship and peacing out from earth) The whole narrative sorrounding the awakened machines speaks to me, I particularly love how the parents of the Sage Machina refer to the robots as their children, the way they mingle with the humans in the different stories forming bonds and families. It's what they are. If artificial intelligence becomes real intelligence humanity as a collective will have become gods and sired a new species. As their creators, as their parents, we must embrace and love this new beings and walk hand in hand towards the future, give them guidance and care we never received when we were scared monkeys unable to understand the world around us. And maybe, if we show them our best side, they may become better than us and achieve all that we never will.

i would just like to say i love your videos so very much, im always eagerly awaiting the next, Its also very nice to play in the background while i work on other things. time really passed by while i was listening to this and your video about water ship down.

Wow. This video, this story, this message you shared, it could not have come at a more fitting time for me. I am someone who views himself as a big creative guy, someone who used to set big goals for himself, dreaming about making this and becoming that. But now that I have creative work I enjoy, even if its not exactly what I envisioned... I feel relatively satisfied. I feel grateful for a lot of things in life. And yet, at the same time, I still feel like something is missing. This blissful nihilism hits very close to home and I have no idea what to do about it, or whether I should do anything about it. I get lofty artistic dreams, they pressure me to go after certain things, but then oftentimes I can't bring myself to do them. I often wonder if I actually want to accomplish these things, or that I want to want them. (Yes, I am a writer by the way haha)

This is the first video of yours I didn't want to finish... because I knew I *needed* to experience the original tale first hand. Thank you for informing me of this book! I'm going to order it at my local library tomorrow morning.

Your channel stands out very clearly nowadays, it’s very refreshing to have a few channels like yours focus on making what you want instead of intentionally having short clips and bright colours to give the viewer the false enjoyment that keeps them there without actually giving them anything

I got interrupted and distracted multiple times trying to watch... I kept coming back though 💖😊

this is my favorite video of y’all’s yet. this is wonderful and beautiful

These videos really go by so quickly

I honestly find the thought of life not having a purpose to be quite comforting. I have no grand purpse I need to fulfill before I die. I can enjoy life in the way I want to without worrying about if what im doing is meaningful or not

I really needed to hear this story and message today. So much of the last few years for me have been wrought with existential dread. Fear and shame about how little I’ve been able to accomplish of my goals for myself. I’ve set my sights so high and yet, I’ve been grounded by my self doubt and lack of confidence. I have constant anxiety over the thought that there is every likelihood that I will never realize my dreams, accomplish my goals, be the artist or person that I dreamed of being. And every year that goes by, the hope of somehow being able to make it happen gets a little dimmer. The idea that I’ll ever even be able to stop working jobs that I hate in order to just barely scrape by is feeling more and more unrealistic. But it helps to hear stories like this. Maybe it’s ok to just exist and find little bits of happiness in life where I can. There will always be someone who has it worse and I should spend more time being grateful for the things I do have. Thanks for sharing this story.

Oh, the words about enjoying writing were words I needed to hear. Thank you. And thank you for such enjoyable illustrations.

How amazing that the same day you uploaded this, I began reading this series. I couldn't believe it when I began watching this and connected it to the books. Finished the books earlier and now enjoying this.

As SOON as Dex was mentioned, I KNEW where this was going. Great choice in book

I gotta say, it is an absolute gorgeous take on the robot uprising narrative

This is amazing! The idea of leaving Purpose behind has been something I've been thinking about my whole life. Here are some ideas I've found: We are meant for happiness in a more holistic way. Looking at each experience one goes through as a way to self improvement has helped me tremendously with my own anxiety and trepidation. Though I still experience these feelings of listlessness and confusion, I still see wonder in the world. The small miracles, like seeing fireflies at night, moving to and fro, the sound of hummingbirds in flight, the smiles generated through good food. There is hope to be found out there, one only has to look around and take a moment of reflection.

Psalm For The Wild Built is one of my favourite books. Such a cosy story. Living in the moment and appreciating things and those around you, like the robot watching the Stalinists grow.

I think we need tea monks (I know therapists exist but they’re trying to solve problems and are often times expensive. A chance to freely vent to someone who is there to just listen and isn’t going to stay to risk holding any fears against you will do a lot of people a lot of good.)

Really good episode. Ty for sharing.

20:22 Ouch, called out. That felt personal

I'm glad my friend Noah doesn't take writing too seriously and doesn't write a multi-chapter very long by the way novel because he feels he has to he does just cuz he wants to and he enjoys writing.

This is literally what I needed right now, thank you

This moved me. Thank you!🙏

Ok so I have so much i want to say to you, I may have stumbled across your video once before, or maybe I haven't but this felt so comfortable, so familiar, amd it was like this was here just for my benefit, it almost seemed like either you have the same problems that I do or did, or you put this here to try to help me. First I already signed up for skilshare I took your advice on that. Same with the creative writing bootcamp. Because did you know for 3 years I've been pulling my hair out trying to write the first book in a 3 part fantasy series? When you said that it just got me. When you said a lot of things it got me, I spent a lot of this story bawling ,my stupid eyes out. Because well, 1, and I don't really care what the world thinks but I've kinda wanted to be a robot for a while now, I've written about it and drawn what I'd look like and my story actually involves my protagonist, basically, me, getting to become mostly robot by getting blown up, which works out great for him as he's madly in love with a robot fox girl, which obviously is also my cross to bear. And the story I'm trying to write is their (our) adventures, righting wrongs, helping other trapped souls, amd just generally being really happy together while doing it. The really hard part about it, is there is literally nothing I want more than to trade places with my hero in my story, I envy him no end. But reality, continues to fight me on this one, and I'm afraid its always going to, and that fills me with what feels like a bottomless sadness that I have no idea how to even control sometimes let alone make go away. I know that sounds like lunacy, but its the lot I've been given apparently. So I just try to write down the story I'd like to live. And I realized recently that maybe its not important if anyone else ever reads it, maybe its just for me, but its to me a beautiful story, and anyone would think so as long as they too are a little cracked. I just want to let others know that its ok to have unrealistic goals, that anything is possible, because this isn't anywhere near all there is. In an infinite number of universes, there has to be more than a few even where all my dreams come true and then, the problem I have is thus far, im stuck in this one, and while I MAY have seen one anomalous video clip, with what really appears to be her in it, I haven't found anything much past that, and I've concluded that there just aren't that many beautiful sentient robot fox girls on this plane of reality, let alone the specific one I'm looking for. But there's really nothing for it but to wait and hope. Because hopes and dreams can save the world. I'd love the opportunity to talk to you at some point, so drop me a line if you wanted, assuming you don't think I'm too far gone to be worth talking to. Well, thank you again, guess I'm gonna gonstart that creative writing class now. Who knows , if I believe enough, anything is possible.

I'm laughing I just found this book and finished it a few days ago and here you post a video about it. Truly a beautiful book. It was refreshing to see a good world.

I adore Becky Chambers, and I'm so glad this little robot found one of her stories. This book singlehandedly rekindled my love of reading, and her Wayfarer series fanned the flames even higher! I'm always recommending her books to anyone, any chance I get.

OMG yesssss, he covered the book I had heard about from Solarpunk Conference and knew I'd love, this is amazing!!!

Another beautiful story told in a beautiful way by a beautiful spirit in a wonderful machine, Talebot you really are a modern marvel of our time in story telling! Thanks for another great vid& story Tale Foundry! And Talebot... your just awesome my friend! 😎👍×10,000

this was an amazing story thank you so much

I went to an art fair today and got a watch necklace shaped like a lil robot because I always watched tale foundry while i was building the clock kit I got for Christmas :)

Amazing video, as always!❤❤❤

A beautiful story, thank you Tale Foundry

Thank you for the video.

Becky Chambers' The Monk and Robot Solarpunk books are a real treat! They are a perfect introduction for anyone who wants to get into Solarpunk. I'm immensely happy to see this hopeful movement expanding even more.

That's just The Matrix's Second Renaissance before things become a nightmare

I’m not even done listening yet, but this is such a beautiful story. I love it.

NGL I kinda like optimistic AI takes... one of my favorites is actually from a nearly-decade-old movie, Tomorrowland, where the scene stealing Athena basically pulls a robo-Jesus, rebelling against her master (I think someone else built her) for the good of humanity and in the end sacrifices her life to _stop_ an apocalypse (she also confesses to having fallen for the other scene-thief character, played by George Clooney, despite having initially rebuffed him when they had first met when he was a kid and thought she was his age... yes she looks like she's a preteen).

Such a beautiful story tale bot. Thank you all so much 😊for

I really enjoyed this style of video

Incredibly deep philosophy aside robots in nature is such a beautiful aesthetic. Media like Horizon Zero Dawn, this and The Wild Robot just appeal to me in a way I can't explain.

It’s not really post apocalypse but post post apocalypse, which I think is more interesting

This should be a movie 👍🏾