shirtless guys in shorts playing with mud
July 23, 2018 9:05 AM   Subscribe

This post is really about the clones.
Survival Skills Primitive
Primitive Survival Tool
Primitive Tool
Primitive Technology Idea
Primitive Life
And it goes on... They are using digging sticks and woven baskets to make more mud huts, stone houses, swimming pools, and charcoal drinking water filters, and roman houses. All while sticking to the shirtless with shorts aesthetic. I've never been so happy with copy cats.

You know the Australian guy who became quite a sensation making things *from scratch* in the jungle. Previously Previouser Waffle and Daub Hut and Tiled Roof Hut.
posted by danjo (23 comments total) 26 users marked this as a favorite
 
dibs on these dudes for the post apocalypse

you get peter thiel and library hating guy

WHAT?
posted by Foci for Analysis at 9:16 AM on July 23, 2018 [8 favorites]


So much better than the series of folks doing this with shirts and no shorts.
posted by boilermonster at 9:24 AM on July 23, 2018 [6 favorites]


there's no narration, right? i keep trying to enable captions and yt freaks the fuck out.
posted by poffin boffin at 9:30 AM on July 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


Correct--no narration, which is absolutely the weirdest part of it for me.

I love these videos and watch them all the time, but I have so many questions for these guys. Like, why are you doing this? Are you actually filling all these pools and ponds with water that you're hand-carrying in what looks like, generously, a three-gallon pot? How do you have enough land to do this? Are you just out building on random land, and in three years the local kids are going to be all up about the witch houses out that way? Why don't you ever talk? Don't those ponds get all full up with mosquitoes? Why does anyone need this many houses?

So, so many questions.
posted by mishafletch at 9:42 AM on July 23, 2018 [4 favorites]


They don't talk because they're imitating the style of the original Australian guy who doesn't talk.
posted by dilaudid at 9:54 AM on July 23, 2018 [3 favorites]


While I appreciate their skills, I keep getting distracted by some of the more obvious "cheats" they engage in. Maine lobster does not occur in Southeast Asia waters, nor does lobster show up dead and pre-cooked. They clearly have made slaked lime and used that for some purpose, but slaked lime and sand does not make cement, nor does lime mortar look like what they end up with -- you need other ingredients and steps to make cement which they didn't take, which almost certainly means all that cement is store-bought. I won't say they're out-and-out deceiving people, its pretty obvious all is not quite as it appears. But its still fine entertainment, and who wouldn't take such shortcuts if they were available. I much prefer the Australian guy for the skills and better authenticity.
posted by Blackanvil at 10:06 AM on July 23, 2018 [6 favorites]


Holy shit, the guy with the stone swimming pool filled it bucket by bucket instead of waiting until it rained. In modern life he would be the guy trying to use a Word document like a database.
posted by AFABulous at 10:13 AM on July 23, 2018 [4 favorites]


This is time porn.
posted by condour75 at 10:26 AM on July 23, 2018


This is time porn.

Rule 34
posted by otherchaz at 12:09 PM on July 23, 2018


This guy's social media influencers are sure doing a good job.
posted by humboldt32 at 12:30 PM on July 23, 2018


The thing about the original that I don't see commented upon much is just how beautifully the Primitive Technology videos are shot, paced, and edited. There's repetition, but not enough to be boring: just enough to express that something is happening a great number of times. Videos often start with quiet shots of the materials that will be used. He occasionally just drops in a clip of something lovely he filmed when he was out in the forest. When he needs to learn a skill, you get to watch him try, fail, improve (see the sling video for a lovely example of this). The projects don't seem to be chosen to impress you with the results, so much as to demonstrate process.

I don't really get this from any of the other hanger-ons. They're superficially doing many of the same things, but I don't enjoy watching them in the same way. (If any of them are making videos as lovely and I've missed them, please let me know!)

I'm also kind of weirded out by the "survivalist" angle that some of the clones seem to be taking, which is pretty explicitly not something that the original goes for at all.
posted by phooky at 1:16 PM on July 23, 2018 [11 favorites]


I really like how in the pool ones there is just as much time devoted to the guys splashing around and having fun as there was to any other step in the construction process.
posted by poffin boffin at 1:52 PM on July 23, 2018


The rip-offs make me angry when YouTube tries to suggest them to me. They take something pure and good and sully it by explicitly attempting to copy it, apparently for monetary gain.
posted by ob1quixote at 2:10 PM on July 23, 2018 [4 favorites]


Yikes. That is not so much a swimming pool as a malaria pool.

Chlorination and filtration exist for a reason, folks.
posted by Sys Rq at 3:13 PM on July 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


rocks
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 3:34 PM on July 23, 2018


Isn't this basically the surprise-egg-unwrapping video phenomenon, except for adults?

tl;dr: opaque algorithmic monetization is destroying the internet and probably us too
posted by glonous keming at 6:20 PM on July 23, 2018 [1 favorite]


I gotta get on my high-horse a bit and rant. I'm an archaeologist that studies ancient technology, and I actually do a fair amount of experimental work. It bums me out hard that the Primitive Technology channel 1) makes it appear as though we know everything about how ancient people did stuff, which we 100% do not 2) makes it appear as though all ancient people did things in the exact same way and 3) uses the term 'primitive', which makes me wince. I know PrimTech is still a common phrase in some areas but man, 'primitive' is a pretty loaded term and it's best to avoid it at all costs in my opinion.

That being said, it's nice that people are interested in ancient technologies and are appreciating the complexities of it, so I'll hop off the ol' horse now.
posted by thebots at 10:29 PM on July 23, 2018 [6 favorites]


Making thematic video art pieces like Primitive Technology is hard; the imitators here have posted titles Build hobbit house and Build swimming pool that simply don't really gel with the intended theme. Blatant duplication without attribution disrespects the creative phenotype and intellectual property of the original artist. As glonous keming writes, these copies are not performed for the artistry, but are a form of opaque algorithmic monetization. Like kinder surprise videos, these rip-off artists are skeezy and won't be getting my views.
posted by Schadenfreude at 5:41 AM on July 24, 2018 [1 favorite]


I don’t actually think the Primitive Technology guy is interested in recreating or demonstrating the technologies of early societies. If you read his commentary quite frequently he is experimenting within the constraints of having to build everything from scratch - that’s the ‘primitive’ part. His latest video involves making cement from wood ash, and it’s clear in the video description he is working forward from a hypothesis rather than attempting to untangle a mystery about how our ancestors might have made cement. You see the same thing when he extracts tiny amounts of iron from bacterial sludge in an earlier video.
posted by um at 6:29 AM on July 24, 2018 [1 favorite]


I like watching the Australian guy. It's very relaxing, very calming. And I'm pissed off that I can't do the things he does, like look good with no shirt.
posted by james33 at 7:22 AM on July 24, 2018 [1 favorite]


All these guys seem to be working very hard, brick laying and weaving and using their backs bent and such. So I would think there would be much simpler ways to copycat a YouTube phenomenon,if that s really their objective. I appreciate all the videos,myself
posted by eustatic at 7:58 AM on July 24, 2018


3) uses the term 'primitive', which makes me wince

I was considering making a show pitch for a version 'fixed' for mefites, but I got waylaid by the prospect of all the possible joke titles. So heres' an abberviated list (because I have to get to work, and not because I ran out of steam):

* American Woodchopper
* Swiss Techbro Robinson
* Completely Starting Over
* This Really Old House
* The Next New Old Thing
* SurThrival / SurThriverman
* The 1900 B.C. House
posted by pwnguin at 8:38 AM on July 24, 2018 [2 favorites]


Funny that this isn't mentioned, but if you turn on subtitles, all of the O.G. Primitive Technology videos are brilliantly captioned.
posted by alex_skazat at 10:51 PM on July 24, 2018 [2 favorites]


« Older Fairness and Bias Reduction in Machine Learning   |   Hopeful Summer - Love Songs Edition Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments