3blue1brown
patreon
No Patron charge for July
🕑 Added 2024-07-27 08:31:40 +0000 UTCHey folks,
July was a busy month for me, but unfortunately not in a way that translates very directly to new 3blue1brown content. Since progress was also a big slow in June, I’m pausing the subscriptions on the page such that Patrons won’t be charged for July. I want supporters here to feel confident their funds go toward new lessons on the channel, and the most honest reflection of the last two months is that they included about one month's worth of productive channel efforts.
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What have I been up to? Earlier in the month I was in Munich to give a talk at a tech conference, and a bit later I was at the International Math Olympiad in Bath, also to give a pair of lectures. This was incredibly fun. I’d never been to an IMO before, and I’ll almost certainly get some fun new content out of what I learned there, and puzzles exchanged with other attendees. I’ll try to get a recording of the talks there to share with you here.
While in the UK, I also did a brief bit of filming with Matt Parker and Steve Mould related to Pi day 2025, attempting to compute pi with block collisions in real life. I won't tell you exactly how it went, but let's just say there's certainly room to do better, so if sometime in the next 8 months any of you have an appetite to try out the physical experiment for yourself, please do feel free to reach out!
Mixed in with those trips were a few other more personal ones, including a couple weddings, and a trip I'm currently on with my wife in San Sebastián.
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On deck for the 3b1b queue, I'll get out the final version of the next transformer videos (whose draft I shared in the previous post) once I return from Europe. I've also been working on one about holograms with a friend who previously worked at the exploratorium, which I'm particularly excited about. After the IMO I've got several puzzle-style videos in mind which should be fun and relatively quick to make. Mixed in with that, the Escher piece I teased earlier this year has been sitting on a shelf, so at some point I'll need to dust it off and get it produced.
Best,
Grant
Comments
Holger Flier
Grant, you are a gift to humanity. Everything you create helps remove hurdles for people without access to great schools and inspires other creators to do the same. In the long run, that’s an incredible impact on the world! Please take as many breaks as you need, as long as you don’t lose interest in your passion. I’m more than happy to fund you continuously.
Edith Dubiner
done, and made it annually :-D
jpchen
I was watching Grant's podcast interview on [Dwarkesh's podcast](https://youtu.be/GnMPfCFp6TA?si=t1qZ8MPRswM6VfBJ&t=164) and listened to him verbatim outline the exact research agenda used by Deepmind to reach [silver medal at the IMO](https://deepmind.google/discover/blog/ai-solves-imo-problems-at-silver-medal-level/). Drop your other research ideas plz :D. https://deepmind.google/discover/blog/ai-solves-imo-problems-at-silver-medal-level/
JAMES STEIN
I agree with many others. In many creative endeavors, there are times when visible progress is scant or nil, but this can occur for very many different reasons. A patron supports the artist during productive periods and unproductive periods. The latter are often necessary for the former. Patronage is never quid pro quo.
Antonio Leding
I am in agreement with others who have said they are willing to continue supporting during periods such as this. With that in mind, please feel free to process my July donation. All the best...
koen smidt
I'd be happy to continue the support during such a busy period, as others have also said. I'd like to support you and your work, in a wider sense than only the videos.
Edith Dubiner
+1 to the comments above. I will probably switch to a higher tier once possible, just to make sure my support is not reduced :-)
Zachariah Rosenberg
Echoing everyone's sentiment here: I'm here to support you, not just the work. Appreciate your thoughtfulness and consideration - I'd be happy to continue with the payment.
Danny Tobin
Yep, also happy to pay subscription during creative breaks, outreach, and other activities. Maybe make an option for Patron to reduce at times like these for those who only want to support videos (or have it be opt-in to consistent support)? Seems like the majority of the comment section are happy to see you taking a break and excited about the pipeline, Grant!
Dan Kinch
This is so kind and thoughtful, thank you! I know it probably isn’t easy to voluntarily give up a month’s worth of income, and it says a lot about your character that you felt this conviction. And, that being said, i’ll echo what a lot of the other folks on this thread have said. “Getting my money’s worth” as a patron of yours doesn’t mean receiving a certain amount of content each month; it literally just means getting to support you and express my appreciation for the work you do. I think the life you’re leading is an excellent one, and the whole point of my patronage is to help enable it. So if your conscience is feeling guilty for not meeting a particular standard of productivity, and pausing subscriptions helps assuage that, then you’re of course welcome to do so. But in my view, you don’t need to do so out of obligation to us. 🙂
Fuat Baran
Happy to sponsor your tech conference and other activities, not just videos.
flekkie
(this might be a repost) but I agree with what a lot of my fellow patreons have been writing. I support you as a creator in your creative process, and that is not tied to productivity quota. Taking breaks is an important part of a creative process, and you deserve breaks and paid ones please ☺️. Here to support you throughout the entire process, conventionally productive or otherwise! So please don't pause subscriptions anymore for this reason 😇 lots of love and enjoy your summer break! San Sebastian is amazing!
flekkie
I subscribe to this logic too. Taking breaks is part of a creative process, and we are here during all parts of the process, conventionally productive or not.
Javier Olazaran
Thanks for the update. Me personally I support the creator and don't really expect any amount of productivity. Best wishes
Richard Hackathorn
Thank you for treating us as colleagues 😊 and for being transparent. This is so refreshing in today's world. BTW the transformer tutorials are awesome! ...not only for their information content, but for the feeling behind the massive thrashing of data that steers the information flow. This is not your grandma's dot product. 😯 It forces you to think about attention-based computation in a much greater context.
kikones34
Thanks a lot for the transparency! I believe honest creators like you deserve paid vacations too. I do not regret subscribing for a full year upfront :)
Mrutyunjaya Panda
Thank you for the sincere note. I feel I speak for many when I say that we subscribed to support the creator rather than purchase a creation. All the best.
Anjan Chaudhuri
Thank you for the transparency. I'd have happily paid for the subscription as I don't expect continuous output from the creators. I look forward to watching what's in the pipeline whenever they are out. Have a good time.
Rick Rubenstein
I never expect any particular level of productivity from creators I support, though I suppose some Patrons might feel otherwise. In any event, I’m incredibly excited for what’s in the pipeline. Steve, Matt, and Maurits (aka Escher) are three of my favorite people! 😁
Andrei Raducea-Marin
tbh wouldn't have minded continuing to pay the subscription. Your videos are a treat even when they take a bit longer to come out. Enjoy your summer, my man!
Lech Mankiewicz
All the best to all significant and insignificant changes in your private and professional life! :)
Bartosz Błaszkiewicz
Do you take comissions? I really long for a video about pseudoinversion as a continuation of your linear algebra series. Do you feel up to the task? Do you understand pseudoinversion yourself? What it would take to enable you to dedicate your time to this task? (Do you want to?) I know I repeat myself, but I'm not sure any of my messages even got to you.
