WEBVTT 00:00:00.440 --> 00:00:03.120 Did this video destroy the world? 00:00:03.121 --> 00:00:06.060 That might sound crazy, but I have a theory here. 00:00:06.120 --> 00:00:08.560 Of course, that video is Star Wars kid. 00:00:08.561 --> 00:00:09.760 If you don't recognize it, 00:00:09.761 --> 00:00:14.060 you are either very young or you just got an internet connection today. 00:00:14.360 --> 00:00:20.500 It was simply the first truly viral internet video in history. 00:00:20.600 --> 00:00:25.060 Also, I believe it was one of the most pivotal moments in our culture. 00:00:25.280 --> 00:00:27.600 See, this video went viral in 2003. 00:00:27.601 --> 00:00:30.960 That is before YouTube. That is before smartphones and in fact 00:00:30.961 --> 00:00:33.740 That's before phones could play video at all. 00:00:33.760 --> 00:00:36.240 And it was long before social media. 00:00:36.241 --> 00:00:39.880 It predates “Charlie Bit my finger” or the Numa Numa dance. 00:00:39.881 --> 00:00:44.020 And yet it would be viewed nearly a billion times. 00:00:44.120 --> 00:00:46.480 So here's what happened: Back in 2002, 00:00:46.481 --> 00:00:49.540 a student in Quebec named Ghyslain Raza 00:00:49.880 --> 00:00:53.360 was filming a Star Wars parody at his high school. 00:00:53.361 --> 00:00:55.280 He was 14 years old at the time. 00:00:55.281 --> 00:00:56.440 Near the end of filming, 00:00:56.441 --> 00:01:00.720 he picked up a pole they were using to simulate Darth Maul's lightsaber, 00:01:00.721 --> 00:01:02.960 and he just started screwing around. 00:01:02.961 --> 00:01:07.320 Now, what must be remembered is that he was doing this with a VCR. 00:01:07.321 --> 00:01:09.300 A physical video cassette 00:01:09.440 --> 00:01:12.760 The practice of filming yourself and uploading it to the internet 00:01:12.761 --> 00:01:16.060 was all but unheard of in 2002. 00:01:16.080 --> 00:01:18.160 This is a very important point: 00:01:18.161 --> 00:01:21.620 He did not put this out there himself. 00:01:21.720 --> 00:01:25.740 He made the mistake of leaving the tape behind. 00:01:25.920 --> 00:01:29.160 Some bullies at his school found the tape 00:01:29.161 --> 00:01:32.760 and then went through the laborious process of Digitizing the footage, 00:01:32.761 --> 00:01:34.240 it would get uploaded to the internet 00:01:34.241 --> 00:01:37.400 In 2003, six months after he filmed it, 00:01:37.401 --> 00:01:40.900 it started to go viral on primitive file sharing sites 00:01:41.080 --> 00:01:45.240 and then got picked up by a popular blog called waxy.org. 00:01:45.241 --> 00:01:49.100 That was the first time somebody referred to him as “Star Wars Kid.” 00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:53.380 Every content aggregation site in the world picked this thing up. 00:01:53.400 --> 00:01:56.060 Endless remixes flooded the internet. 00:01:56.120 --> 00:01:58.520 People added music and special effects. 00:01:58.521 --> 00:02:00.460 Then it made its way to TV. 00:02:00.600 --> 00:02:04.100 By that next month, they were reporting on it in the New York Times. 00:02:04.240 --> 00:02:07.320 And again, I cannot emphasize enough that at this time, 00:02:07.321 --> 00:02:10.440 there was no playbook for how to deal with something like this. 00:02:10.441 --> 00:02:14.800 The concept of a person going viral in a video against their will 00:02:14.801 --> 00:02:17.140 was brand new to the earth. 00:02:17.600 --> 00:02:19.800 And for this 15 year old kid, 00:02:19.801 --> 00:02:23.660 it was very clear that the world was not laughing with him. 00:02:23.760 --> 00:02:27.880 That first blogger that shared the video had to quickly shut down the comments 00:02:27.881 --> 00:02:30.020 because they became so vicious. 00:02:30.200 --> 00:02:32.240 Ghyslain had to drop out of school. 00:02:32.241 --> 00:02:33.320 He lost his friends. 00:02:33.321 --> 00:02:37.040 He was getting inundated with people telling him to off himself. 00:02:37.041 --> 00:02:39.520 His parents had to move out of their house. 00:02:39.521 --> 00:02:41.120 They would later file a lawsuit 00:02:41.121 --> 00:02:43.800 against some of the families of the kids who shared the video. 00:02:43.801 --> 00:02:47.220 They would wind up settling out of court for some undisclosed amount. 00:02:47.320 --> 00:02:52.300 But even he could not have known that this was the dawn of a New era 00:02:52.440 --> 00:02:56.520 in which people would use this technology to seek out others 00:02:56.521 --> 00:03:00.640 and then use them as a receptacle for their own insecurities. 00:03:00.641 --> 00:03:06.120 After all, a lot of the bullying that was aimed at this kid was from other nerds. 00:03:06.121 --> 00:03:10.180 This first spread among Star Wars fans and among tech blogs. 00:03:10.320 --> 00:03:12.400 And even now, some of you're watching this and saying, 00:03:12.401 --> 00:03:14.820 “it's just a harmless little bit of fun.” 00:03:15.000 --> 00:03:15.960 But I am telling you, 00:03:15.961 --> 00:03:20.520 an entire generation of children observed what happened here. 00:03:20.521 --> 00:03:23.380 Even if they themselves laughed at the clip, 00:03:23.480 --> 00:03:26.060 they Learned a very valuable lesson, 00:03:26.160 --> 00:03:26.560 which is 00:03:26.561 --> 00:03:30.580 that the kind of thing that teenagers had been doing for all of human history, 00:03:30.720 --> 00:03:31.480 the cringe 00:03:31.481 --> 00:03:35.760 and silly and awkward things they do while developing their personalities, 00:03:35.761 --> 00:03:40.840 that they were now in a world where it was no longer safe to do those things. 00:03:40.841 --> 00:03:43.400 in the past, if you were awkward at a party, 00:03:43.401 --> 00:03:45.740 or if you danced weird at a dance, 00:03:45.800 --> 00:03:48.280 you might get made fun of by your classmates. 00:03:48.281 --> 00:03:50.540 You may get a demeaning nickname. 00:03:50.800 --> 00:03:56.400 But this made it clear that one cringey misstep could destroy your life, 00:03:56.401 --> 00:03:58.540 could destroy the lives of your family. 00:03:58.840 --> 00:04:00.280 You wouldn't have 10 bullies, 00:04:00.281 --> 00:04:04.080 or 20 or 30. You would have 100 million of them. 00:04:04.081 --> 00:04:06.640 And it would follow you forever. 00:04:06.641 --> 00:04:08.600 So you fast forward a couple of decades, 00:04:08.601 --> 00:04:10.780 and experts are in a panic. 00:04:10.920 --> 00:04:13.880 Birth rates have fallen through the floor worldwide. 00:04:13.881 --> 00:04:15.800 Wherever smartphones arrive, 00:04:15.801 --> 00:04:20.120 people stop having kids, not Because the phones are causing infertility, 00:04:20.121 --> 00:04:23.880 but because the phones are stopping people from dating at all. 00:04:23.881 --> 00:04:26.880 And the reason they're not dating is because they are not socializing. 00:04:26.881 --> 00:04:28.860 They are not going to parties. 00:04:29.000 --> 00:04:31.960 And in fact, they don't put themselves out there in any capacity. 00:04:31.961 --> 00:04:34.280 They don't dance, they don't ask each other out. 00:04:34.281 --> 00:04:38.440 They don't gather and drink and do the stuff the kids have been doing forever. 00:04:38.441 --> 00:04:42.760 But of course they don't. They have accurately judged the danger. 00:04:42.761 --> 00:04:46.000 Because keep in mind, the danger is not just that you will be caught on Camera 00:04:46.001 --> 00:04:47.000 being cringe. 00:04:47.001 --> 00:04:51.140 There may not be a camera nearby when you approach someone and ask them out, 00:04:51.320 --> 00:04:54.040 but if they walk away and turn on Instagram 00:04:54.041 --> 00:04:56.800 and look into their own camera and mock you for it, 00:04:56.801 --> 00:04:59.660 then that's it, you're just as screwed. 00:04:59.680 --> 00:05:02.360 Unless you were born socially perfect, 00:05:02.361 --> 00:05:05.800 it's just not worth it. Because the best case scenario 00:05:05.801 --> 00:05:09.300 is that you will only get mocked by your peers and classmates. 00:05:09.320 --> 00:05:11.840 The worst case is that it breaks containment. 00:05:11.841 --> 00:05:13.520 And now your entire life 00:05:13.521 --> 00:05:17.620 and your entire being is reduced down to this one moment. 00:05:17.760 --> 00:05:18.320 So, yeah, 00:05:18.321 --> 00:05:22.300 the only safe place is to be alone in your room. 00:05:22.440 --> 00:05:26.020 It has made everyone afraid of each other. 00:05:26.040 --> 00:05:29.700 And changed the trajectory of history as a result.