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[Awaclus]

I'm pretty sure Elon Musk should be in there, and arguably Kim Jong Un should be #1 by far, unless you think his ego is all performative and hence doesn't count.

[silverspawn]

As someone who Does Not Watch The News™, I haven't seen enough clips from Kim Jong Un to include him. Agreed on Elon, just didn't think about him.

Noteable that both of these are actually in ultra high prestige positions. One of the remarkable things about ego is that this is very much not required; people can just keep comparing themselves in favorable ways to others in their particular narrow domain.

[faust]

Did no German public figures make your list because you don't care about them or because you want to keep it internationally accessible?

Within Germany, Sahra Wagenknecht easily tops the list.

[Awaclus]

As someone who Does Not Watch The News™, I haven't seen enough clips from Kim Jong Un to include him.

As far as I know, the official story goes that he is literally a divine being.

[silverspawn]

Because I don't care about them/follow even less German news than news in general.

But I'm intrigued about a woman making the list, so now I'm sufficiently curious that I will watch some interviews

I know that she basically took all the bad ideas of the left party and went to found an alternative party based on them. And the fact that it's named after her is definitely a good sign (in terms of making the list). It takes some... uh well, something to name a party after a single person.

[silverspawn]

I know that she basically took all the bad ideas of the left party and went to found an alternative party based on them.

(this was my impression as a low-information voter anyway)

[silverspawn]

(And when I say 'bad ideas of the left party' I meant it as in, ideas for which there's support among voters who might have previously voted left, not that they originated within the party)

[faust]

I know that she basically took all the bad ideas of the left party and went to found an alternative party based on them.

(this was my impression as a low-information voter anyway)

As a member of the left party, I mostly agree.

[silverspawn]

Within Germany, Sahra Wagenknecht easily tops the list.

But I'm intrigued about a woman making the list, so now I'm sufficiently curious that I will watch some interviews

I don't see it. To me she comes across as a talking point machine. Like, whenever she's asked something, she downloads the most relevant talking point from her hard drive and recites it, never conceding any ground or questioning the validity of her position (or the other person's position, if it's a debate). I guess she's pretty good at it in that it sounds like she's answering the question. But I'm not sensing extreme arrogance.

[silverspawn]

Relatedly, I just happened to cite something from Stephen Grossberg, and man you can't make this shit up, he doesn't even make it one sentence into the abstract(!) of his book without praising himself

The book is the culmination of 50 years of intensive research by the author, who is broadly acknowledged to be the most important pioneer and current research leader who models how brains give rise to minds [...]

[silverspawn]

Evolution of my thoughts on the sequence:



... except that the galaxy meme implies that I've now figured things out, which is a very dubious claim. All I'm confident in is that all the previous stages weren't working; it's entirely possible that the current stage is still not working.

[silverspawn]

Which is to say, my current plan is actually to go all-in on just the 'no one can explain why we see' point because it's not an angle anyone is familiar with and everyone's thinking on this is so ridiculously basic that it's easy to at least say new things, and also there's actually a ton of evidence here

[silverspawn]

Rating all YouTube videos that were the most watched video at any point in time, in chronological order because I thought that was an interesting idea

(I'm relying on GPT for this list so who knows if it's accurate, but I'm too lazy to verfiy.)

Me at the zoo (first video ever uploaded to the platform)

It's almost literally nothing. Where does that put it on this list? I think some of these will be very obnoxious, so nothing could be about average. 4/10.

Evolution of Dance

It's a video about a comedian doing various dance routines that I think imitate (parody?) dance styles from various points in time. Difficult audience here since I have zero clue about any dance style at any point in time. Also I guess it's funny because he's not dressed to dance. Well this wasn't worth 6 minutes exactly, but I've seen worse. 5/10.

Avril Lavigne - Girlfriend (Official Video)

Yeah, so, I couldn't possibly hate this any more than I do. Everything about this, idea, presentation, lyrics, song structure, lyrics, is maximally off-putting to me. 0/10.

I guess the interesting question you could ask here is, are videos that become massive internet hits designed, or do they get there accidentally? Whenever there is a new internet meme that clearly just happened, I always wonder, why doesn't anyone engineer these? Attention is a currency; having a viral meme has to be worth a fortune. Gonna ask GPT about this. But this is the video that feels most like it was trying to be a hit. It feels so soulless and calculated. Reminds me of GGPoker.

Also I think this wouldn't fly nowadays. Maybe the woke movement was worth it after all.

Charlie bit my finger! ORIGINAL (but I think this might be a reupload maybe?)

Yeah, idgi. I think this baby magic thing just doesn't work one. But even insofar as it does, I feel like I've felt more cutness from other videos before. This just feels like nothing to me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 3/10

Evolution of Dance

It reclaimed the spot so it's on the list again. But I cheated by not watching it a second time.

Bad Romance

I think this is the same video Awaclus linked a few pages back when we talked about the music effect thing from LemonUniverse?

Anyway, this seems like a genuinely good song? I mean. I don't know anything about song writing or production. But this has a lot of points where I'm like, that's neat, and that's a new clever way to mix different ideas together, and also it's all just so damn catchy! And while I can't watch into Lady Gaga's head (or whoever produced this), I don't think her motivation while creating this was 'let's maximize for views to the exclusion of everything else'.

There's also this weird thing in here, both in the song and the video, where some parts in isolution look/sound weirdly sincere? Like it wouldn't be out of place in a different much more serious context, but here it's surrounded by all the silliness.

(Also also I think this is trying to comment on commercialization of sex in some way? Gonna ask GPT about what the video means after this.) Anyway, I genuinely like it, so 8/10.

... alright, and we're here. Le sigh.

Justin Bieber - Baby ft. Ludacris

I think I actually never saw the original before. go figure!

So it'll be no surprise that I don't love this song, but I actually don't hate it anywhere near as much as Girlfriend. Probably because it's a male perspective from a male and hence doesn't feel anywhere near as pathetic.

Also, this is a good example of a meme that obviously wasn't designed purposefully; I mean, this is only popular because it's so easy to riff on it. And his face is just so punchable, too.

Also what's with the rap here? The rhyming is so basic, it's got to be bad on purpose, right? That was legitimately funny. I kinda wanna read interviews with the rapper now.

A very warm 3/10 for "Baby". I don't feel a deep compassion for the time slices of my EM field that are trapped in the block universe watching the video. I think they're doing okay.

PSY - GANGNAM STYLE(강남스타일) M/V

Hell yeah. Not only is this the catchiest thing I've ever heard, it's also by far the funniest video in the list. But also, it's also just so damn weird. If I'm gonna watch one of the most succesful viral memes humanity has ever produced, I want to create a sequence of WTF moments, not just live off of a single idea. This is what a viral video should be like. Easy 10/10.

Wiz Khalifa - See You Again ft. Charlie Puth [Official Video] Furious 7 Soundtrack

Oh god. This was made for me to hate it. This super emotional male singing style is so viscerally off-putting to me. When I say I don't like clean male vocals I think a more precise description is, I dislike them to the extent that they sound similar to this. I was hoping for the rap section to keep going on so I didn't have to listen to the clean singing, ughhh.

But also, why is this on this list? This just seems like your run of the mill cheesy romantic ballad. Where's the meme magic? On the "super meme by accident" vs. "super meme on purpose" spectrum, this seems off to the side somewhere. I guess people just like it completely unironically for the intended emotions? I guess?

I would much rather rewatch Baby than this. In terms of my personal viewing experience this is the worst on the list, but in concept I don't hate it as much, so I'll give it a generous 1/10.

Luis Fonsi - Despacito ft. Daddy Yankee

Yeah, okay. So I don't speak Spanish, but I assume this is a love song, and the video is quite explicitly sexual at many points, so maybe it skirts the line. But this makes a lot more sense to me as something that would be ultra popular. Some very catchy bits here, several different musical arrangements, some neat rhythmical ideas, actually just a reasonable number of different ideas in this song, and all of them work. And some extraordinarily beautiful women and I guess men in the video. So like, yeah at least this feels like someone put a lot of effort into it. Could be more on the trying to create a meme side, but fine, at least it's done well. I genuinely kinda liked this a little more than it annoyed me, so 6/10.

Baby Shark Dance | #babyshark Most Viewed Video | Animal Songs | PINKFONG Songs for Children

Okay, so it's a super simplistic catchy song for young kids. Why not. I'm just impressed that something with a 10 second intro fluff managed to top the list honestly. But who am I to judge the art of optimizing engagement with an audience of 5 years olds. 15 billion views on this thing anyway, that's sure something. Idk what to do with it though, I guess 4/10 because I only slightly disliked it.

[silverspawn]

GPT on the meaning of Bad Romance

[silverspawn]

Oh so "see you again" isn't a romance thing about loss, and it's about a real person? Okay. I guess that helps explain the popularity. I'm sorry, I was too busy hating the singing style to pay attention.

[Awaclus]

Also I think this wouldn't fly nowadays. Maybe the woke movement was worth it after all.

Why would it not?

[silverspawn]

ALRIGHT MY GIRL KAMALA WON THE DEBATE!!!! WOO!!!

[silverspawn]

Also I think this wouldn't fly nowadays. Maybe the woke movement was worth it after all.

Why would it not?

I think it'd be less viral since it's not progressive™. Not saying you couldn't make the video, I just wouldn't expect it to reach #1 on youtube.

[silverspawn]

rewatching the debate, I'm already hating her first answer alas, completely dodging the question I need to hear Trump speak now to gain motivation back to like Kamala

[silverspawn]

So here's the thing. I'm only at the start of the debate, but man, Trump is funny. Like genuinely funny. I think Sam Harris is right that this counts for a lot. I'm assuming the debate keeps going worse for Trump as it goes on because so far I feel like he's winning

[silverspawn]

The whole thing is just so stupid because no one will keep track of the points on the issues mentioned, so the structure rewards changing topics to get random sound bites in. This is such a random back and forth. The debate is like my brain, bouncing around from topic to topic without any red line.

[Awaclus]

Also I think this wouldn't fly nowadays. Maybe the woke movement was worth it after all.

Why would it not?

I think it'd be less viral since it's not progressive™. Not saying you couldn't make the video, I just wouldn't expect it to reach #1 on youtube.

Avril Lavigne's entire thing at the time was that she, while being a young female pop star, writes her own music (at least partially) and plays an instrument. That would probably still count as progressive™ today.

[silverspawn]

yeah, I mean, I think the main thing in this debate is that Kamala carefully prepared talking points she can go through whenever a question is vaguely related to them, and the talking points are pretty good, and she's pretty good at delivering them. Meanwhile Trump is just saying whatever comes to his mind. I guess that's enough to win, and no one cares about people not answering questions

[silverspawn]

Avril Lavigne's entire thing at the time was that she, while being a young female pop star, writes her own music (at least partially) and plays an instrument. That would probably still count as progressive™ today.

The content isn't though. I mean I could be wrong, but I don't think this hits the zeitgeist enough to go viral in 2024

[silverspawn]

Alright so Nate Silver's comments seem mostly on point and he knows more than I do anyway https://www.natesilver.net/p/kamala-harris-got-the-debate-she

The one thing that bothers me except the not answering questions thing is not going harder on Trump nuking the border bill. I think I'd have made this my biggest talking point.