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The Future is an Empty Room

🕑 Added 2026-01-24 16:30:01 +0000 UTC

Comments

Max Goldstein

Wow, not much to add, lots to process. Well, one thing to add: you ever read "The Machine Stops"? Empty rooms and digital connectivity in 1909.

Hedgebug

This was an excellent video, but I also want to call out the companion video about male living spaces. That was a short-and-sweet essay about a concept I'd never thought about that gave me something to think about on the topic of gender, interior, design, self expression, and a stereotype I didn't know I held!

poeisokay

This hit hard. I've had agoraphobia for twenty years now. The empty room is.. a lot. I didn't realise quite how repulsive it was to other people until I watched this. I knew almost immediately that Bradbury would come up - but my brain went to Fahrenheit 451 - dude really liked his screen walls (or hated them). It's interesting, to call back to another video - where I live is a Bortle scale 3-4, so it's kind of like being in space for most of the day right now - it's only light for about eight hours at the moment. Lots to think about, thank you! :)

Aki

Here comes the content! It's a beautiful day to stay inside.

Rodrigo Deodoro

oh look, Jacob made us some content

Alexander Freeman

Well, that was perfectly timed. I'm sick and trapped in one room to avoid infecting my housemates. I get to set up stuff for my job without moving an inch. All my social events are canceled while I wait to recover, so I just play some video games, do work, and rest the best I can. Somehow it's worse than in the pandemic. Back then, we successfully made sure all of us in one house were healthy, and we were in suburbs with a low chance of bumping into anybody. Now I'm in a city and it's less safe for the public if I go outside my apartment, let alone outside my room. And all that with a poignant message about the internet and then AI and instant gratification while you're at it. A well-made video! I hope you get some good social contact for those of us who cannot right now!

Lanth

Oof. Begin the year as you mean to go on, I guess. I will say, of all the Bradbury short stories I've read, The Veldt has stuck with me over the decades the most. I never really understood what it was trying to say, but it sure said something.