Fear of Cold

Jacob, I really appreciate you discussing the Snowpocalypse (as we call it locally) that hit Texas. In cosmically ironic timing, I was an executive in municipal government for over 5 years and quit the week before the freeze due to their incompetence and uncaring attitude. Mine was due to them criminally ignoring cyber security, but the same mistakes there can be applied to their approach to infrastructure and the power grid. Just one week in at my new job at a private company and they did more for us than the city ever did. They gave out cases of free water to each employee. Lets folks sleep in the offices when they lost power. Our pipes froze solid and I spent a week showering in the office gym. The cold exposed the complete lack of advanced thinking and acceptance of reality that is the unfortunate truth of local government. I came here for the video games but stay for the social commentary.

Kevin Williams

This video plus Fear of the Depths will live rent free in my mind for a long time. I already listen to Fear of the Depths at least once a month! The way that moulins are described remind me of how people feel about Niagara Falls. There's a history of people feeling hypnotized by the water and throwing themselves in.

Rei

I feel like you channeled your "inner Herzog" for this one, Jacob. Great work.

Jan

I came here to recommend the same thing! The first season of this series fits the mood and theme of this video perfectly. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Terror_(TV_series)

Jan

Absolutely splendid. I found this much more "watchable" even though the subject actually didn't match my interests so well. I think it struck a nice balance of information and poetry. I was constantly drawn in and out of fact and fantasy. I enjoyed it!

Theis Egeberg

I hope you realize that these videos where you explore the ideas of fear are, in their own way, scary stories. Frankly scarier I guess due to the ratio of 'reality' and 'story'. I am from Arizona so I've never thought about the cold much, and the stories I did hear about it (I read that Sam McGee poem in probably second grade and never once thought about it again until the ending song reignited some long silent neurons) -- well, they never stuck with me. *Now* though, now I'm afraid of the cold. Holy shit. Anyway sending this to my cousin who spent some time in the Antarctic for several years while getting his PHD in physics and who is now going into (somethingmumblesomething) combatting global warming. I'm sure he'll be delighted, motivated, and in no way resent me for sending new nightmares or fueling existing ones.

AV

I think Jacob could enjoy the game Mutazione. The artstyle is great and narrative with the interesting core mechanic could make an interesting video.

So glad my home of Maine could be such an integral part to one of your best essays yet! Fantastic timing too as tomorrow is supposed to be another near zero degree day.

What's better for you, that we watch it on Nebula or youtube? or both I guess haha

AndreGG

hi!! apologies if anyone has mentioned either of these things yet, but: a) is the font for this thumbnail/title card the same as fear of depths, and, if so, are you thinking of making a third (or fourth/more!) entry to the series? i can't quite tell if the leg of the 'R' is different between them, but my graphic designer instincts say they look like a regular and bold variant of the same typeface; and 2) have you played dread hunger? i can understand how it's not quite as relevant to this video's thesis, but i'd be interested in hearing your take on its use of cold alongside the supernatural/superhuman threat of humanoid monsters. great video as always, and thank you for making it!!

hell

I highly recommend the the TV show "The Terror" about an artic exploration crew sailing to find the northwest passage if you haven't seen it already. Brilliant work as always!!

Eyyy J

I've been working nights as a delivery driver as of late, and this video puts words to the feeling I get when the wind chill is -30F, there's too much radio noise to play music, and I'm all alone on the road, squinting through the blustery snow with only the sound of my poor car's heater contrasted with the howling of the bitterly cold wind to keep me company. This really would've put me off driving tomorrow in the anticipated snowstorm, if not for that folksy song at the end! (I'll be humming that all night) Great essay, as always!

Jack Stratton

Amazing video that chilled me. Also makes my thermostat war seem slightly more absurd compared To Build a Fire.

Amazing work. I paused it right at the beginning to read "To Build a Fire" first. Brilliant idea to use it as an opening - it sets the tone for the rest of the video beautifully.

Aaron Thomas

I watched this sitting in my car in the cold while waiting to pick my roommate up. As my fingers became just a little too stiff to accurately play my game on my phone, considering frozen corpses and the coldest temperature in the universe, I felt something indescribable.

Speep

There's a mine in northern Canada that stored all the arsenic trioxide dust created as a byproduct in the permafrost and now there's a massive remediation project trying to figure out how to store/dispose of it. I think about it whenever the topic of melting permafrost comes up

Kept thinking of the poem Darkness by Lord Byron. It was inspired by the year without summer, caused by a volcanic eruption which darkened the skies. In the poem the sun is extinguished and humanity burns the forests and their homes for every possible extra minute of life

Cochlearia

Living near Texas, the cold has become one of my new fears of the next stage of climate, and this video just hit all of them one after another. Really amazing and cannot wait to make this a video I watch again and again.

I half expected a mention of Dyatlov Pass, seeing as it may have fit the theme. Great video, your best work yet :)

Fantastic video. Living here in Massachusetts I'm reminded of the pilgrims first winter here, just looking at a map of the world they traveled south from England to Massachusetts and fully expected a mild winter but they were wrong and half of them died

Jacob looking awfully crisp in 4K.

As soon as I saw the title I got excited, Fear of Depths is one of my favorites, so to see another video discussing fears/phobias it makes me happy. Edit: Just finished the video, Yet another phenomenal video. I tend to say often that I "Love the cold" and I do, for the most part. By the time love cold drizzly days when right after its rained. However the depictions of cold in this video, and the books and movies that were referenced made me realize I like "cool" temperatures. I live in Texas, and I remember when it froze. The roads were frozen and peoples power was going out all over. Luckily we never lost power, but I just remember how hard it was to get warm. I wouldn't necessarily say I've got a "Fear of Cold", but maybe I would, were I to feel such temperatures talked about in the video.