In her most recent video Abby made a passing comment about the social credit system in China as an example of surveillance technology being used to subjugate a populace, but my understanding is that it is largely misunderstood and is more like what we understand financial credit scores to be in the west.

This is baffling because I know she does a lot of research and it's pretty easy to find information that complicates, if not completely debunks, the western scaremongering take. For example:

https://www.wired.com/story/china-social-credit-score-system/

https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/11/16/chinas-orwellian-social-credit-score-isnt-real/

https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/11/22/1063605/china-announced-a-new-social-credit-law-what-does-it-mean/

Like I don't want to assume that just because her videos are typically well-researched that everything she says constitutes a position she arrived at after scrutinizing everything there is to know about the subject matter just because she speaks very authoritatively, you know?

I don't know what's worse: that she parroted some anti-China talking points from one of the sources she consulted for the video without much thought, or she really does believe that the Chinese state is like some Orwellian boogeyman?

I feel like I remember an old PhilosophyTube video on this topic but I can't seem to find it. I was talking to my mother and she seems to be struggling with this after finding out everyone she works with voted for Trump.

Does Abby have a PT vid on structuralism/post-structuralism? Trying to read Judith Butler and I need some kind of reference point that doesn't require a whole other book to read.

Does anyone know why the bibliography (often my favourite part of Philosophy Tube videos) are not shared in the description of the Nebula videos as they are on YouTube? Are they perhaps hiding somewhere?

It's not the end of the world to double-check the YouTube descriptions after watching on Nebula, of course (but it perhaps does make me nervous because I can't help but feel like any day now YouTube is going to start cracking down and deleting/unarchiving leftist or philosophical content in general.)

Why Should Anyone Have to Step Out of Their Comfort Zone to Improve Themselves?

You often hear philosophers and motivational speakers say, "You should step out of your comfort zone to discover a better version of yourself."

so the question is what will you do of that better version??? ultimately you are doing all these things just to make yourself in comfort state in which you are already in so why are you leaving your comfort zone ?

First of all let me introduce comfort zone The comfort zone is a state where one feels safe, at ease, and content. It varies from person to person, as everyone's idea of comfort is unique. For example, my comfort zone is spending time with my family, laughing and talking with them, and playing games with friends. This is where I feel relaxed, happy and comfortable. Similarly, everyone has their own comfort zone, so why should they leave it?

If you start from the beginning you will see a 3 year old child is in comfort with his mother and feels good around her, One day, he is separated from that comfort to start school, with the idea that studying will help them become educated and find success. But why? After around 20 years of education, that person will try to find a job which in turns give him money which will take him to comfort state . which he already had at the age of 3

The irony here is that, after all these years, what has the person gained? A state of comfort—which they already had as a child. So, why should they spend years pursuing something they originally had?

Imagine you’re a child, about 7 or 8 years old, in need of guidance before stepping out of your comfort zone. You approach an elderly, wise man and ask, "You are educated and honorable. What did you gain after all these years of struggle?" He replies, "I have a family that cares for me, a home, and a loyal dog."

As you listen, you realize that you already have those same things—a loving family, a house, and a sense of comfort this the all that old man got is comfort zone which that child is already in !!

It's just like you are trading in LOSS without thinking about it see how - let's take another example similar as above

Think about it this way: imagine you asks your grandfather, "What did you gain after all those years of struggle?" His answer? Comfort. But it’s the same comfort you already have now. So why would you step out of your comfort zone if you already possess what you’re aiming to achieve?

Remember, you can ask your grandfather that what to do in your childhood because one day, you’ll grow old too. But your grandfather can’t ask you about his future because he has no future. life don't work like that .... he will not get his childhood Backkk..... that small child who was forced to comeout from his comfort zone will not get that same comfort in future..... you will not get the comfort of love of your mom at the age of 80 !!!

live the life dude !!

THANKS

Hi y'all, the latest video got me thinking about a lot of things, and one of them is an issue I've had with online content since forever. See, I'm a software developer - more specifically, a backend web developer, and when somebody discusses things like social media or other parts of the internet, a lot of that is something I've been studying for most of my life. And a lot of times, a creator will need to distill the technical definitions into a narrative to keep the audience's attention, and some things may be lost along the way. So I'll explain below two of Abigail's simplifications that bothered me, and if you can tell me if I'm overthinking this, I'll be very grateful.

Now, when Abigail claims that we could absolutely have an internet without tracking, she supports that by saying that the notion of tracking features being inherent to the way things work is a lie, specifically that "all of that is marketing for tech companies". I would have to respectfully disagree - a lot of it is, but, to my knowledge, not all of it. For example, the concept of an IP address is inherent to the system of Internet (as we know it at least), and can be used to track you - there are a lot less static IPs nowadays, and that kinda obfuscates things for malicious actors, but still, basically, simply due to the fact that every data packet will have your and the server's IP addresses on it, any server that your data passes through will know that you tried to access a certain server. Your internet provider, every proxy in the way, etc. And that is just one example - I could go on for a while, but in the interest of brevity I'll say this: it is very hard to design a protocol for reliable fast worldwide communication without making it inherently susceptible to some degree of tracking. I, for one, am 99% sure I cannot do that.

The other thing is this. Closer to the end of the video, Abigail goes on to talk about Nebula, and says, for example, that "the video playing software was written in-house". This statement, to my ears, obscures a lot of things - like what, if any, frameworks were used? what protocols were used? what is used for hosting (for context, the hosting industry is mostly owned by Amazon, Google and Microsoft, and technically there are but few things stopping them from reading all the files of your hosted software without your knowledge)? A lot of those things could drastically affect the data safety of the service. All that to say: I'm sure that folks from Nebula care a great deal about their users' safety, and I'm sure they are aware of everything I describe here, but such blanket statements give a sense of security that might not be entirely warranted, and I could find no other details that would help me form a more complete picture. Right now, it's the CTO and legal telling things to Abigail and Abigail then telling those things to us, as opposed to, for example, a video (or series of videos. or even a separate YT channel. can a guy dream?) with an in-depth analysis of Nebula together with the dev team, where we could see a firsthand account of how it's all made, and other devs could weigh in with their outside perspective in the comments or something. Not to mention the wonderful possibility of introducing open-source into the workflow, which is IMO a better accountability practice then any other one we know, but that's a topic worth a separate essay.

That's about it, please feel free to criticize/comment/etc. Again, this is not a post written out of hate or malice, I like the video (and PT in general) greatly, I just had some issues that I would love to hear other people's perspectives on.

Anyone else get Galadriel vibes in the new video?

I’m currently following PhilosophyTube on Patreon as a free member. There was a post back on October 11th saying the video was available to $15+ patrons. I always assumed the videos came out just a few days to a week early. I believe today makes two full weeks. Is anyone familiar with the release delay? Is it even coming to YouTube? I would subscribe to her Patreon or Nebula, but there just isn’t room in my budget right now. I plan on doing so in the future, but I have other bills to take care of first.

She looks about the same as always?

when I saw this I thought to myself "well how tall is Abigail Thorn?" https://www.reddit.com/r/DCU_/comments/1g2yzkr/wonder_woman_probably_wont_be_taller_than_david/

Hiya! I've been really interested in abi's video's about social constructs, death, gender. I'm off to a library today and I was wondering if anyone had any philosophy book recommendations on similar topics

The start of Season 4 perhaps? It plays to Abby's strengths as a theater actor and is uniquely hers, no one else is doing videos in this format. It's more work up front to memorize, but it's less time spent editing

The title. I want to mention it on the channel's tvtropes page.