All Episodes 2012 - 2017

Unlisted video found only with the direct link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1AeKCPjjAM

Mike Responds to Michael from VSauce's philosophical question: Are the bacteria and skin cells that live on your body "You"? Check out VSauce's original question in "A Real No-Brainer" here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3teflb1QNN4&t=6m16s A couple folks have correctly pointed out I flubbed the names of the philosophical schools of thought. Which I did. That. Time to reread Russell's History of Western Philosophy! And speaking of books: this is an *extreme* distillation of some really complex and interesting stuff. If you're interested in doing more reading, a bunch of very smart people have tackled this topic. Just a couple of my favorites are: - Immanuel Kant, The Critique of Pure Reason - Martin Heidegger, Being and Time - Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness - Ludwig Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (less "self" and more "existence")

We made it through Hurricane Sandy but Mike is trapped in Brooklyn since mass transit is down and the mayor is asking people not to drive! This means we wont be able to upload a new Idea Channel episode tomorrow - but hopefully we'll be able to upload it soon. So here's a small Idea about the "news" to ponder until we get everything up and running again.

We're all taking a break for Turkey and Naps, but while Mike was home he started thinking about ... well ... home. Maybe some of what a couple philosophers - Jean Baudrillard and Ludwig Wittgenstein - wrote about could explain that weirdness. Or maybe not? Mike also responds to a video Destin from Smarter Every Day (http://www.youtube.com/smartereveryday) posted. Cats and banjos are involved so ...GOOD FUN FOR EVERYONE. HAPPY THANKSGIVEY!

Here's an idea: Vine is the future of Cinema Happy April Fools! With ever-shortening attention spans and changing economic structures in the industry, Vine has appeared at a critical time in filmmaking. These 6-second GIFs with sound have opened an entire new form for creators, and could be the future of movies!!

Hey guys! We're traveling this week, so there won't be a full episode, but we've got a few smaller videos that we'll be sharing! In this video you'll see a promo that was on broadcast TV, airing on PBS a month or so ago.

Hey guys! We're traveling this week, so there won't be a full episode, but we've got a few smaller videos that we'll be sharing! In this video you'll see a promo that was on broadcast TV, airing on PBS a month or so ago. Enjoy!

We'll be back next week with a regular episode, but until then, here's the second broadcast promo that aired on PBS. Check it out and let us know what you think!

Every week, Mr. Monfre's class in Milwaukee, Wisconsin watches Idea Channel, has a great discussion and posts an awesome comment. We were lucky enough to surprise them with a visit to their classroom!!! So come watch as Mike meets the illustrious Mr. Monfre and hangs out with his amazing students.

Ask and you shall receive... ANSWERS!!! We've compiled your submitted Qs, and responded to as many as we could. How did Idea Channel get started? How is the show made? What ideas are in the pipeline? All these questions and MORE are in this week's video!! (So many in fact that they overflowed into a second video...)

If you've ever built something from IKEA, you know the experience can be considered a metaphor for life itself. The struggles and confusion, the moments of epiphany when things seemingly come together, and then the intense periods of trial when you realize you assembled it backwards. Can we look at IKEA as a company with philosophical motivations, helping its customers come to better self-awareness? Titta på avsnittet och ta reda på! April Fools!

CAPS LOCK POETRY WE FINALLY RELEASED IT! ENJOY THEIR BEAUTY

Regardless of Sam Pepper's apparent intention that his recent prank videos act as a "social experiment", I and many other people found them to be upsetting and damaging to the YouTube Community. Lacking appropriate context and explanation establishing them as commentary or criticism, these videos (and others, for that matter) come across as either documentation of a heinous act perpetrated by Sam himself or implicit reinforcement of the idea that the activity shown in the videos is normal, funny or forgivable. It is none of those things. In portraying heinous acts as normal, funny, or forgivable, a media creator diminishes the experience of people who have personally dealt with those heinous acts. In portraying heinous acts as normal, funny, or forgivable, a media creator implies that if members of their audience were to engage in these heinous acts, they would be normal, funny, or forgivable. Furthermore, it is suggested that one could become successful by creating media which portrays heinous acts. This is what I mean when I say these videos show a fundamental disrespect to audience and to people. I'd like to say more on the subject, especially on the subject of appropriately using media to shed light on important social issues, but I want to do it carefully, and calmly, and with nuance and I don't feel capable of those things while we're still in the midst of this. If, for whatever reason, you'd like to talk to me on twitter or via email or the subreddit or wherever about any of this–please do. I'm more than happy to.

It's that time of year again, when we eat Turkey and answer your crazy, fun questions about Idea Channel and Mike's favorite things. What music does he like? What books does he hate? And most importantly, Mike reveals his secret super power.

Happy Holidays from your friends at Idea Channel!!! The yule log is a fascinating tradition, isn’t it? 3+ hours of footage of a burning log, a holiday symbol of home and family, first broadcast in the 1960s for those poor city folk without fireplaces of their own. This simple, beautiful, long-from programming is a holiday miracle!! Enjoy this short episode, and we’ll see you in the new year!

Idea Channel is about to have its first sponsor. This video is about what that means.

April Fool's Day joke

Idea Channel is going to experiment in the next few weeks with separate comment response videos. We hope it will be a great way for you to continue having awesome discussions with each other! Let us know what you think about all this in the comments!

This week Mike Rugnetta discusses the progression of the snow globe from meticulously crafted art piece to tacky trinket, and reveals this year's Idea Channel Snow Globe!

Last month we asked you to write a short story in the comments including all 6 topics from the story dice found in the Snowglobe video. Three winners were chosen to receive an awesome Idea Channel butterfly t-shirt, and as promised, Mike will now perform each story in a dramatic fashion. Thanks for playing!

We all know who the Mario Brothers are but have you ever stepped back and tried looking at those games from a fresh perspective? Like you've never seen or heard of them before? They're bananas! There are armored turtles who stand on their hind legs and steal princesses! There are bullets with FACES! We make a case for Mario's inclusion into a canon of art wider than "Video Game": we think Mario is a piece of surrealist artwork.

Lana Del Rey might be The Girl Who Launched a Thousand Blog Posts but we think there might be something else really interesting here. How is it that she, a REAL PERSON, pales in Pop Star Comparison to a computer program? With the rise of Miku Hatsune, a computer generated pop star from Japan, and the recent kerfuffle surrounding Lana Del Rey's album release, we take a look at what it means to be authentic in today's music world. Is Miku Hatsune, a piece of software, more authentic than human being Lana Del Rey?

We've all seen and shared a few LOLCats and Internet Memes in our time, but is it possible that these images and videos are actually a new form of art? It may seem strange, but Rage Guys, Advice Dogs, Trollfaces, and Philosoraptors are ways for people around the globe to express their thoughts, feelings, and emotions with others; the core principle of art. And we think some of history's greatest philosophers and artists might be inclined to agree!

With its ability to make boring cellphone photos look "vintage" and "artsy", Instagram has exploded worldwide. Derided by its detractors as a tool for making bad photos worse, we take an alternate view and argue that Instagram is the greatest thing to ever happen to photography. Its simple filters and social networking features are training cellphone photographers everywhere to think creatively about their photos. Plus, the app is turning its worldwide user base into an army of photojournalists capturing striking images of the people and events around them. As the old photography adage goes, "The best camera is the one you have with you."

With her cute pink bow and huge noggin, Hello Kitty is one of the most recognizable characters in the world. She sells billions of dollars worth of merchandise, but what is it about this simple cartoon cat that makes her such a beloved piece of pop culture? Ahead of her time when first created in 1974, we think that Hello Kitty used minimalism's bag of tricks to become the world's best salesgirl.

Everyone has already heard about the Tupac Hologram that played at Coachella earlier this year. But with Queen's recent announcement of a Hologram Freddie Mercury and TLC's plans for a Hologram Lisa Left Eye Lopes, it looks Hologram pop stars are here to stay. At first glance it might seem like this is just more of the same old nostalgia, but we think these Holo-Popstars represent something much bigger and entirely new. They are the heralds of New Aesthetic, a hotly debated new art movement dedicated to the blending of art and technology.

You might assume that the animated TV series "My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic" is for little girls, but Bronies would beg to differ. Bronies are adult men who sincerely LOVE the show, and aren't afraid to admit it. Many people are baffled, even angered, by Brony culture. With their unabashed appreciation for "My Little Pony", Bronies are challenging our perception of gender roles, which may be more fluid than previously thought!

Everyone is familiar with Twitter, the uber-popular micro-blogging site, which limits the user to 140 characters. The tweet is perfect for sharing your favorite links and updating the world about your life, but it might also be the newest literary form! While many think that art requires unbridled freedom, constraints often inspire the greatest creativity. And this massively constrained communication, which has remarkable similarities to the Haiku, has inspired creativity worthy of the name "literature."

For the past 200 years, the gallery has been the home of new and cutting-edge art, a place where the art community can come together and share new ideas. But in this episode, we ask: is the web browser replacing the gallery as the best place to view amazing, cutting-edge art?!? In the era of the internet, you can view remarkable art from the comfort of your laptop. Accessible to virtually everyone, web art does away with the physical limitations of the gallery and makes impossibly cool art a part of our daily lives!

Some of the best things to be found on the internet are music mashups! It's a strangely pleasing experience to listen to totally unrelated artists commingling on the same music track. Mashups are awesome because they break genre expectations, which makes us think: why have genres at all? Nowadays there's so much cross-pollination in music and art, creating more and more sub-genres, that the larger genre categories are becoming a useless relic.

Nail Art is all over the internetz, and suddenly it is a THING. The crazier the nail art, the more we marvel at the technique and time that went into it. But is there an artistic message behind these little cuticle canvases? Nail Art may seem superficial and trivial, but its fleeting nature allows it to be a purely free expression, and it's pretty to boot. Nail art makes us wonder if anything, given enough creativity, can be a canvas for artistic expression.

If you haven't had a chance to play with Microsoft's Kinect, you're missing out on some great video games and some amazing art! The Kinect is a crazy awesome piece of XBox 360 hardware that maps your physical movements onto any screen. Artists of all stripes have embraced the Kinect - using the gesture recognition technology to create some pretty amazing interactive artworks and insanely impressive visuals. These works wouldn't have existed without this amazing piece of technology, making the corporate giant Microsoft the 21st century's incarnation of Lorzeno de Medici.

You've probably heard of the risque novel "50 Shades of Grey" since it's now the best selling paperback of all time. But you may not know that it's Twilight fan fiction! It seems shocking that a fan fiction novel has become so popular, but 50 Shades isn't the first book to break through the fan community boundaries into mainstream culture. Over 100 years ago, Sherlock Holmes' popularity created a profusion of well received fan fiction. It allowed authors from amateur to professional to explore the world originally created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and pave the way for other future fan fiction canons, including Star Wars, Harry Potter, and yes, 50 Shades of Grey.

From the Jetsons to Cory Doctorow, science fiction writers of all stripes have imagined a world where any object could be instantly created. Modern economics on the other hand, is built on the principle of competition for scarce resources. And while it may not seem like a video game and printer could alter this economic reality, we beg to differ. Minecraft's creative mode is the perfect vehicle for understanding a Post-Scarcity world; a place where resources are permanently available and constantly regenerated. It shows that with unlimited resources, people end up creating amazing digital structures! Of course, a world of infinitely available resources seems pretty fantastical until you consider the Makerbot and the future of 3D printing. The Makerbot is an at home device that allow you to print real three dimensional objects, meaning a Minecraftian future where you can print anything you want at anytime might not be that far away.

Dubstep. Is. Awesome. While some people may hear noise, we hear amazing musical genius. The aural creativity of Dubstep, and its embrace of inharmonic sounds, makes it the most recent member of the long-established Avant Garde community. There is a long history of avant garde musicians and thinkers promoting the concept of noise and non-instrumental sounds as MUSIC, much to the horror of their audience. But over the past century, changes in technology and music genres have primed listeners, allowing mainstream audiences to enjoy the beautiful noise of Skrillex, Bassnectar & the whole Dubstep movement.

Everyone is obsessed with the Olympics right now, watching these geniuses push the boundaries of their field. Wait, did we say GENIUSES? Yes! We normally associate the word "genius" with intellectual accomplishments, but athletes are geniuses at pushing their bodies to new heights, making the impossibly difficult seem easy and effortless. While it might not seem like it, genius of any kind requires financial and cultural support. In a world where athletes are developed and celebrated, more so than scientists or artists, it makes sense that we turn to the Olympics as a model for fostering genius.

No one would argue that Nicolas Cage is one of the greatest actors of his generation, and simultaneously a very bizarre human being. It's not just his acting ability that makes us love him, it's his total willingness to dive head first into ANY role, with no regard for the quality of the script. He seems to have mastered the trendy YOLO philosophy before it was cool. Even deeper than YOLO, he might more of a Taoist, finding harmony with the now, foregoing calculated planning and strategy. Either way, Nic Cage's wacky life choices feel sincere, attracting a massive amount of fans, some of whom even saw The Wicker Man.

Here on the internet, we love us some memes. But where do they come from? Yes we know, they are user generated. But to an internet layman, they seem to just appear, in HUGE quantities, ready for cultural consumption. Are they a sign of a "cultural singularity"? Memes follow rules and code, are varied, self-referential, and seem to multiply at an ever increasing rate. It may seem like science fiction, but we're close to a world where culture automatically and magically creates infinitely more culture.

The science fiction writer William Gibson has not only written some fantastic scifi novels, but in the process predicted the internet, Miku Hatsune, reality TV, and a crazy amount of other technological and societal developments that have come into being. His impressive rate of accuracy seems almost mystical. Sure, he's essentially just an entertainer, but he's got a better batting average than Nostradamus, who was actually TRYING to predict the future. We may not need oracles as much as we did in the past (what with science and all), but a look into the future can be exciting and an awesome preparation for what's to come.

If you're unfamiliar, Homestuck is a webcomic created Andrew Hussie that is over 5000 PAGES so far! And it's still not complete!! It has a strong cult following, even though it presents incredible challenges to its readers; including a giant cast of characters, huge walls of text, and animated flash games that you must beat in order to continue. In in its own weird way, Homestuck is a lot like James Joyce's Ulysses, where only the strongest, most dedicated readers make it through to the end. Most people don't expect such expansive and daunting works to find a home on the internet, but Homestuck has done it, illustrating that its followers' time and effort may actually enhance rather than lessen their devotion.

Good old Facebook. With 955,000,000 worldwide users, it seems like just about everyone makes use of the social media giant to connect with friends, share photos, and update everyone they've ever met since grade school about their dinner plans. But what you may not realize is that Facebook's new timeline layout is enhancing the ability to construct our self identity by super-charging our memory. Philosophers have been arguing about the link between identity and memory since John Locke first proposed the idea in the 17th Century, but human memory has always been deeply flawed and limited. Now with Facebook's incredibly easy interface and ability to remember anything and everyone we want, people have a whole new way to understand their past and thus understand themselves!

The U.S. economy may be in the dumps, but you can find solace in the fact that your Second Life avatar is living the life of the 1%. But what if the virtual economies of video games could be transferred to the real world? We're actually already seeing this in Diablo 3, where axes, swords, and other awesome gear have taken on real world value at the Diablo 3 Auction House. People are buying and selling them with real US dollar bills!!!!!! The idea that a collection of pixels can be sold for actual money might be confusing to some, as they are neither true "objects" you can hold nor "ideas" that can be considered intellectual property. But despite the lack of tangibility, real world economies have formed around these games and real world profits are being made.

Ah, the MP3, everyone's favorite friendly musical file format. But there's something you might not know about the Mp3 - it has a lot in common with the magical spell!!!! Both spells and music were born from a freely available folk culture, but are now sold as commercial goods. There are thousands of artists and witches trying to figure out how to make a living in an age where their products can be infinitely copied. And with commercialization, the morality and legality of sharing these once open cultural products has become quite complicated. How should we, as responsible consumers, handle this new digital age? Watch the episode and find out!

Dr. Who is one of the longest running TV shows on the BBC, and it's got a huge fandom surrounding it, called Whovians. And while it might not seem like, Whovianism, might just be RELIGION!!!!! Whovians, like other passionate fan cultures, create art & fan fiction and engage in a strong remix and cosplay culture. But it's more than that. Dr. Who provides a philosophy; a way of understanding the universe. Fans embrace this in ways that are similar to most world religions: a positive influence that changes their approach to daily life. Also, the Tardis makes a pretty great shrine!

There are some deeply ingrained stereotypes about Dungeons & Dragons, and those stereotypes usually begin and end with people shouting "NERD!!!" But the reality of the D&D universe is a whole lot more complex. Rather than being an escape from reality, D&D is actually a way to enhance some important real life skillz! It's a chance to learn problem solving, visualization, interaction, organization, people management... the list could go on and on. Plus, there are some very famous non-nerds who have declared an affinity for D&D, so best stop criticizing and join in if you want to be a successful at the game of life.

At first glance, Pop Wunderkind Justin Bieber aka "The Biebs" and revolutionary 19th Century pianist and composer Franz Liszt don't seem to have anything in common. And while they might not have any musical or biographical similarities, they both have had a powerful psychological effect on their fans. Fits of hysteria, screaming, and fainting are all common traits of "Bieber Fever" & "Lisztomania." But why? What is it that will cause a person to be so tremendously moved by a performer, a piece of art, a cityscape or even, heck, light refracting off of bits of water in the sky? Watch the episode and find out!!!

If you've never seen a website, you are a liar! (You're on one right now.) Consciously or not, the first thing you notice when you visit a website is how the site LOOKS, which is controlled by the CSS Stylesheet. CSS is the fashion of the web- it makes sites pretty (or very very ugly). And as our lives migrate more and more onto the world wide web, our presence online becomes a central way to define and express ourselves. So before you lay out your outfit for tomorrow, take a look at your website and make sure you match!

The animated GIF has had a long and fascinating history, but the GIF took a giant leap forward this year when it became part of the 2012 Presidential Election!!! This election season, GIFs of Obama, Romney, Biden and Ryan, populated not only Tumblr and Buzzfeed, but also media heavyweights like The Atlantic, Forbes, and The Wall Street Journal. It became the perfect vehicle to capture a reaction, a gaffe or hilarious election moment and stream it ad infinitum. Will the Graphics Interchange Format swing the election for Obama or Romney? Probably not, but it's a pretty bold step for our pal the GIF!!!

Did you know there's a place where you can learn just about anything you'd like? It's true! It's called YOU TUBE!!! Sure, YouTube has hundreds of thousands of hours of deliciously time-wasting content, but it's a whole lot more than just a black hole of pet videos and FAIL clips. If you know where to go, YouTube has some of the best educational content on the planet! And although watching Kahn Academy all day might be a bit dry, the creativity of YouTube creators has allowed "education" to be transformed in variety of amazing and engaging ways. YouTube probably won't replace schools anytime soon, but it's a pretty rad alternative. So time to stop watching cat videos and get your learn on!

Adventure Time is an animated kids show on the Cartoon Network that is super popular, not just with the kids, but with full grown adults too! Why would a bunch of serious adults, including Mike's Mom, watch Adventure Time??? We think its because the show taps into our memories of childhood with nostalgia. But this isn't the "I Love the 90's" kind of nostalgia that we normally talk about! We're talking about Romantic Nostalgia which is a confusing emotion, mixing happy and sad, creating a powerful mix that really hits you right in your gut. It adds a ton of emotional depth to an already great kids show, which you should all really watch, because it is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!

You know how chain restaurants always sing some weird unknown birthday tune, instead of the actual Happy Birthday song we know and love? It's because "Happy Birthday To You" is protected by COPYRIGHT!!!! They are legally not allowed to sing it in public, and neither are you. Copyright was originally created for two reasons: to protect the original creators so they could benefit from their work AND have creative works enter the Public Domain. Unfortunately, the whole system has gotten out of whack with copyright extensions that extend far beyond the life of the creator. The current holder of the Happy Birthday copyright is the Warner Music Group and the original creators of the song stopped having birthdays a long time ago because they're dead. It makes you wonder if copyright law hasn't deviated a bit from it's original intentions. Or maybe you just shouldn't celebrate your birthday in a Red Lobster.

Can you live without your phone? We've all become pretty attached to our cellular devices: it's a GPS, a camera, a game console, a social media portal... and half a million other things, all in our pocket! From concerts to meals to our pets, we process and experience the world through our phone. But as we see in so many mobile phone ads, the representations of these moments (whether its instagrams, foursquare check ins or Facebook shares) seem to be taking over and replacing the experience itself. In this brave new world is the mobile phone a tool, or a filter through which we experience a new reality?

Does Santa Have more in Common with Hulk Hogan than St. Nick? People love Santa. Christmas is the largest holiday in western culture, and Santa Claus is the centerpiece of that holiday (sorry baby Jesus). But even though our understanding of Santa changes as we mature, we still maintain and cultivate our culture's love of him. And to understand why this is, we had to ask: Is our relationship with Santa similar to wrestling? Though (SPOILER) wrestling is more entertainment than sport, we still enjoy watching it. So it begs the question are Santa, Hulk Hogan and the Rock more similar than different??!?? Watch the episode and find out!

The 2012 Mayan Apocalypse is only a few days away . . . and there are a lot of people wondering if it's going to happen. Sorry to burst your bubble, but (Spoiler Alert) nothing's going to change.The so-called Mayan long count calendar predication of the apocalypse is based a fundamental MISUNDERSTANDING of Mayan calendars and society. It's so far off base that scientific and anthropological experts can dismiss it with laugh. Yet, if it's so fundamentally wrong, why do we keep hearing about it? Why are there movies and news casts and websites dedicated to this non-event? Watch the episode and find out!!!!

New Year's Resolutions are incredibly hard to keep. Watch this special episode to find out why!

Will Space travel change our perspective on the human condition? Space, also known as The Final Frontier, has been in our collective dreams and fantasies for decades. Who WOULDN'T want to blast into space, experience zero gravity, or walk on the moon?! But with limited funding to NASA, the day that had been promised to us for years (in addition to flying cars and hover boards), seems no closer now than it did 30 years ago. BUT WAIT! Could private research and funding be the future of galactic exploration? And maybe once we are all able to see the earth from a distance, we'll all gain some much needed perspective. So keep on truckin' Elon Musk, for humanity's sake.

You're probably a hipster. We all hate hipsters, right? They seem so smug and arrogant, with their ray bans and scarves and ironic t-shirts. Even those who CLEARLY ARE hipsters still recoil at the label. Embracing irony over earnestness, the key to hipsters is not just what they enjoy, but how they enjoy it. Borrowing from other subcultures, (see: Handlebar mustaches and flannel shirts), hipsters reappropriate these fashion elements as their own. But don't we all do that? Our own fashion came from SOMEWHERE, and certainly has been refined. Do we all have a little bit of hipster blood in us?

Video Games have finally made it to the Museum of Modern Art, so we thought we'd celebrate and put together a list of our top 5 most artful video games!! Not our favorites, mind you. These are the ones that are are packed with significance and emotional weight. How does your own list compare with these 5?

Vinyl vs MP3 vs Live If you've ever talked to a vinyl purist (or are one yourself) you know that people can be pretty passionate about what format is king when it comes to music. And based on how much people like to brag about what band they saw live and how many times, we clearly value the authenticity of the live performance above all else. But when we see a performer live, we're judging them based on what we know from the mp3 or record that we've already listened to 1000 times. . . because what is a song SUPPOSED to sound like anyway? As music has evolved from solely performance into "media", the issue of what the most authentic even IS has become increasingly complicated. So which is the most authentic?!!?!? Watch the episode to find out!!!!!!!!!!

Transhumanism is a scientific philosophy that says technology will solve all our human biological constraints and that immortality is right around the corner (well not RIGHT around the corner, but WAYYY closer). They envision a world of endlessly euphoric robo-humans that represent the next step in evolution. And while this sounds super awesome, we had to ask, will this really make us happy?! If you watch Futurama, than you know that the answer is probably NO. While not an exact illustration of transhumanism, Futurama does show a future of vast technological ability, where today's everyday problems are rendered moot, and yet the characters on the show still seem to find themselves in some very non-euphoric emotional states. Does this disprove what transhumanists expect for our future?

If you've ever played Team Fortress 2, you know how valuable hats are. To those who haven't: yes, HATS! If a community agrees on the value of something, then that thing can become a currency, to exchange for other goods. Just like american dollar bills (or euros, yen, or any other currency), or... bitcoins. Bitcoins are an online currency worth over $200,000,000, and though they are just 1s and 0s, some think that this is the future of money. On the other hand... mo bitcoins mo problems.

Are You Online? What an outdated question this has become! Of course you're online, unless you're an off-the-grid survivalist or a remote tribesmen!! From Facebook to bank accounts, you always have some sort of online presence, whether you're actively engaging in front of a screen or not. Yet this is still a word we use to describe our engagement with the Internet. So we have to ask, is this online/offline distinction even worth making? Because we may need to re-evaluate the very word "ONLINE"...

A meteorite crashed into earth!!!! This wasn't the first time and it won't be the last, but it is the first time such an event was captured by SO MANY CAMERAS! The incredible number of views and angles filmed was made possible by Russia's bizarre driving culture and the MILLIONS of car dash cams installed all over the country. But besides providing the world with some hilarious, frightening, and amazing footage, the dash cams also make us think about surveillance, and what role it will play in the future.

If you've watched past episodes of Idea Channel, you know we're huge fans of Minecraft. This totally amazing video game allows you to build your own world from scratch, what's not to like?!?! But it may be good for more than just fun and games. Some experts have brought Minecraft into the classroom, allowing teachers to customize lessons and students to engage with concepts in new ways. And while educational games aren't new, Minecraft has some unique advantages that could usher in a new direction in education. In the future, students across the world may spend their class time punching trees.

Living in the consumer culture that we do, we've learned that specific brands can carry very different meanings and values. We're willing to pay hundreds or thousands more for a specific brand name item, but sometimes it can be tempting to go the way of the knock-off for a fraction of the price. The counterfeit industry is huge and isn't going anywhere, and companies spend huge amounts to dissuade people from buying "fakes". But are knock-offs REALLY a negative for the brand?

Here's an idea: Game Of Thrones owes its success to piracy. If you're like us, you LOVE Game of Thrones. But if you're also like us, you may not, technically, have... cable. So how are we seeing this amazing show on HBO, which is stuck behind a pay wall? A huge amount of viewers (not us of course, no no no) are downloading the show illegally. But despite being the most pirated show of 2012, the Game of Thrones DVDs are top sellers, breaking HBO's own sales records!! Could it be that piracy is actually HELPING the show?!

You may have heard about the recent overwhelming success of the Veronica Mars movie Kickstarter, or you might be a "Marshmallow" yourself and have contributed. This is a big moment for fan communities, with Kickstarter giving them the opportunity to challenge the closed gates of the Hollywood system. Although it's funding is nowhere NEAR the amount Hollywood invests in moviemaking each year, crowdfunding is a way better indicator of what the audience wants to see, the one area Hollywood has failed in time and time again.

Here's an idea: Community is a postmodern masterpiece. Though the TV show Community has never achieved huge ratings, it has a passionate cult following, including us here at Idea Channel. The show plays with genre and narrative in such a creative way that it brings to mind the cultural and artistic theory of Postmodernism. Previous TV series have been self-referential and culturally reflective, but none so successfully as Community. The show flips traditional expectations so consistently that it questions their importance in the first place. And it has brought the word "meta" into the cultural vernacular, to boot.

If you play video games, you've shot a gun. And those guns are REALISTIC. So real that many are actually LICENSED by IRL arms dealers. Which means that when you buy a video game, you're also putting money in the pockets of those gun manufacturers. That's fine and dandy if you're a fan of guns, but if you are someone who considers themselves anti-gun, this creates quite the moral quandary.

Here's an idea: a tagged Instagram is more than just a photo. Sure, Instagram is pretty awesome, but it's even more #INTERESTING than you think! The hashtag, so simple and ubiquitous, raises the image from mere photo to a new complex entity. An extension of the social media aspect of the Instagram app, the hashtag enhances searchability and allows connection to a variety of communities. Some tags can definitely be redundant or even useless, but the right ones can add context, greater meaning to the picture, and chronicle our changing relationship to Photography!!!

Here's an idea: a DOS attack is a weapon. Denial of Service (DOS) or Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attacks take down servers by distracting them with meaningless traffic until basically they can't take it any more. Scientology, Westboro Baptist Church, and others like them have been hit, and if you look at the coverage of these events, the descriptive words "attacks," "violent," and "weapons" are telling. The way we talk about the result of a software program reflects the way we view "online", and the value we place on its content, be it the FBI homepage or cat videos on YouTube. But what does it do to our comprehension when we lump violent acts online with real life physical violence? Watch the episode to find out!!!

Be it Elliott Smith or Queen, classical or dub step, there's usually a clear understanding that some songs are sad, and some songs are happy. But what is it about the music that makes us feel these feelings we're feeling? You might think it has something to do with the notes or how our brain's natural response to these sounds, but you're wrong. Or at the very least incomplete in your thinking. We've just been culturally trained to respond to music in certain ways because if you ignore the lyrics, music itself doesn't actually contain any emotion at all. Watch the episode to find out more!

If you're even the slightest bit familiar with pop culture from the past 50 years, you know that we've been anxiously awaiting robots to become a part of our daily lives. From R2-D2 to the Jetsons, our future robot companions promise to be helpful and handy! But many people have their concerns: will the development of artificial intelligence end up REPLACING humans in the work force, pushing already high unemployment through the roof?!?! These new laborers will likely do not just undesirable jobs (janitorial, coal mining, etc), but also the high paying premium jobs, like surgeons and lawyers. But can, or SHOULD, we stop progress? Watch the episode and tell us what you think!

Math is invisible. Unlike physics, chemistry, and biology we can't see it, smell it, or even directly observe it in the universe. And so that has made a lot of really smart people ask, does it actually even EXIST?!?! Similar to the tree falling in the forest, there are people who believe that if no person existed to count, math wouldn't be around . .at ALL!!!! But is this true? Do we live in a mathless universe? Or if math is a real entity that exists, are there formulas and mathematical concepts out there in the universe that are undiscovered? Or is it all fiction? Whew!! So many questions, so many theories... watch the episode and let us know what you think!

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is about everything. Life, the Universe, everything. If you've read these amazing books, you know the answer is 42, but what's the question? To find out what the question was, they built a giant computer we call Earth. And though it seems silly, perhaps Douglas Adams was correct, and that not just earth, but the WHOLE UNIVERSE is an incredibility complex computational system, processing the answer to some unknown question. The universe IS made up of information, similar to a computer, and physics (you know, the basis of the universe) certainly is based on computational principles. But is it running some grand program? Will the answer be 42? Make sure you have your towel, and watch the episode!

Zombies are EVERYWHERE!! Wait, don't panic- we mean in pop culture, not outside your window. But why is that? Bad guys and monsters seem to go through phases: one decade there's a dozen movies about aliens, ten years later it's vampires. And right now, it's zombies. And monsters don't pop up for no reason at all. There must be something that makes us fixate on one antagonist trope; some qualities they hold that echo a deeper cultural fear... So what are we afraid of now? It might just be technology. Watch the episode and find out!

As our South Korean friends can confirm, video games can most definitely be a spectator sport. But will they ever catch on in a huge way in the good ol' U.S. of A? Well, pro leagues already exist, but to know if they'll ever reach the levels of March Madness and Superbowl Sunday, we need to take a closer look at traditional sports spectatorship to figure out the REAL reason we watch. It's more than just winning and losing: there are characters, rivalries, histories, and a host of other background information that coalesce into an AMAZING story, and we're dying to know the ending. Could eSports ever achieve this level of storytelling? Watch the episode to find out!

Global warming exists! But how do we know that? It may seem like a simple process of just looking at the temperature from year to year, but it is SO MUCH MORE than that! Our understanding of the global climate comes from a compendium of data including measured and tracked temperature, humidity, wind speed, and barometric pressure, spanning over 100 years of observation!! To study this massive amount of information and be able to surmise that the increasingly extreme and bizarre weather patterns are a result of human influence... it's truly an incredible accomplishment. So everyone who says during a blizzard "so much for global warming"... shut up. You're wrong.

Like us, you may not have initially realized the significance of Animal Crossing. Sure it's a simple game for kids, with cute animals and bright colors. But could it be true that it inspires otaku citizenship?! Otaku, if you don't know, means obsessive interest and collection, usually associated with Japanese culture, but it can apply to ANYTHING. In Animal Crossing, as mayor of your town, success is defined by maintaining friendships with your townspeople and collecting natural resources to cultivate the perfect town. Is this promoting otaku? Watch the episode and find out!

Yes he's a video game system, but she is so much more than that!! BMO from the fantastic show Adventure Time identifies as both male and female, and because of that expresses the ideals of Third Wave Feminism!! Third Wave Feminism questions if gender is actually binary, tied to our biological sex. Is our understanding of masculinity and femininity fair, or even ACCURATE? Of course, BMO has no biological gender, so there's no cultural expectations that anchors her (him?) down. But it all seems a non-issue in the Adventure Time world. What do you think, is BMO male or female? Or does it even matter? Watch the episode to find out!

We all love broken things. WAIT WHAT?! Yes, you read that correctly. You may have noticed this thing called "glitch", where people purposely push machines to malfunction, creating fascinating "mistakes". But instead of being frustrated and disdainful of these errors (like we usually do when our technology fails mid-workflow, grrr) we find them to be bizarrely beautiful! Why are we so interested in these images, music, or objects that are structurally or formally broken? Watch the episode and find out!

They spared no expense!! It doesn't matter if it was intended or not, the film Jurassic Park (and book it's based on) accurately illustrate investment and risk, money as motivation, negligent management of capital, and profit as the ultimate end goal. But can anything in our culture avoid this metaphor of capitalism? By stepping back and looking at all media in our culture, we can see echoes of the capitalism theme everywhere. Money (seemingly) makes the world go 'round!! Watch the episode and find out more!

Hideaki Anno says Neon Genesis Evangelion is meaningless. For #GeekWeek we ask if we should listen to him. Neon Genesis Evangelion may be the MOST ultimate work of anime ever! More than just Mecha, NGE is dark and emotional, taking on serious topics such as depression, free will and a host of other intense stuff. But the creator, Hideaki Anno, says that we're all reading way too much into it. Are his words the final say on this piece of media? OR are the author's ideas of his own work EQUAL TO the interpretations of anyone else?!

We can all agree that the Internet has an intense, borderline obsessive, appreciation for cats. With felines as its spirit animal, the internet can even seem cat-like in personality. Where does all this kitteh love come from? Humans made the internet, and humans have had an affinity for cats for centuries. But can we make the jump from "the internet loves cats" to "the internet IS cats"?

"Google it" seems to be the quick and easy answer for every question we could possibly ask, but is finding facts the same thing as KNOWING? Having billions of facts at the tips of your typing fingertips may not necessarily be making us any smarter. Some people even think it's making us more stupid and lazy. Whatever way we process the vast sea of data available, the question remains: is the act of googling the same as knowledge?

Unless you're new to the internet, you probably know that Tesla was an incredibly popular scientist and inventor who was WAY ahead of his time. But was he really the valiant underdog against the Goliath of Edison that we've come to know and understand? Despite what you may think, there are actually TWO Teslas - the meat and bones Tesla, who was born in 1856 and died in 1943, and then there's the culturally created Tesla. Neither is wrong, but all this starts making us question: what even IS "history"?

The titans, from the anime series Attack on Titan, are most definitely the bad guys. But can we call them EVIL? If you're unfamiliar, the titans are huge beings that devour humans, but their motivation is a little unclear. Is it just hunger? Do they hate humans? Are they just dumb? And with all this doubt, what's the use in the label of EVIL anyway? Nietzsche, Kant, and Jung all weigh in.

Night Vale's masterful balance of mystery, humor, and horror has made it the #1 podcast in America. Night Vale employs the techniques of H.P. Lovecraft, specifically his masterful manipulation of THE UNKNOWN, but the medium chosen makes it literally impossible to visually depict its universe. And it is questionable, in our hyper visual culture, whether we are truly able to cope with the mysteries of Night Vale. And not just the mysteries of the plot (like why we're forbidden from entering the Dog Park), but the impossibility of knowing what this fascinating world even LOOKS like!! Are we ok with that?

Introverts are super popular right now, celebrated to the point of meme-level. Stereotypically quiet, smart, and reserved, they are often conflated with nerds (who are also currently deemed awesome according to pop culture). But why do we suddenly want to self-identify as nerds and introverts? Is this popularity connected to technology?

We love Breaking Bad. So so much. But do we ENJOY it? The show undoubtedly satisfies, and over the past 6 years, the show has been a roller coaster of feelings: frustration, respect, horror, amazement, and more. But it may be similar to roller coasters in another way, like with horror flicks and haunted houses, where the enjoyment actually comes in the relief that comes afterward. Is this what's going on with Breaking Bad? Watch the episode and find out! And also... SPOILERS. SO MANY SPOILERS.

Horse_ebooks was a twitter spambot par excellence. It was algorithmic assembled poetry. It was the soul in the machine. But we recently learned that for the past few years horse_ebooks was in fact human authored, by a Buzzfeed writer, no less! And that made us angry. Why? Because when it was computer created, horse_ebooks was, as strange as this sounds, nearly perfect SPAM. It was SPAM that grabbed our attention, that gave us the joy of meaningful nonsense and, most importantly, we chose to participate in its ridiculousness. And that was its art. Horse_eBooks had perfected the art of SPAM!!!

Do you control or *are* you your video game avatar? Avatars have increased in complexity over the years, from paddles and Pacman to highly rendered and human-like beings and first-person floating cameras. Whatever your avatar is, it is consistently a TOOL, a way for you to engage with the videogame world. But are you merely controlling it or ARE YOU your avatar? This is an important question because if a player truly feels that their avatar embodies them, we might have to think differently about what our moral and ethical obligations as videogames present us with a plenty of uncomfortable and moral choices. So are you really controlling your avatar?

Slender Man very well may have been "invented" by the internet, but he's been a part of our subconscious forever! Like cultures across the globe, the internet has developed its own stories and characters. Generated by the collective web, Slender Man is our nightmares manifested in digital form. Why do we create these scary tales, indulging in worlds are beyond reality? What is the role of this folklore, and is Slender Man a part of it?

The science fiction novel "Ender's Game" has been a part of the sci-fi canon for the past 30+ years and with it's huge new blockbuster movie release, it's bigger than ever. But its author, Orson Scott Card, has inspired more debate than the novel itself. Card has been labeled homophobic, racist, and a handful of other distasteful things, and the opinions held by Card have created a TON of anger and opposition. But now that "Ender's Game" has been made into a movie, this leads to a big question: should you see it? Does buying a ticket to a film equal an endorsement of the creator's ideas? OR should you join the bandwagon of boycotts against the film? Should you avoid it based on your moral beliefs?

Love or hate pop music, it's pretty hard to escape. From Katy Perry to Lady Gaga, pop songs are recorded, packaged, and sold down a well worn pipeline, designed to make you, the listener, LOVE THIS SONG! But do you really? Does the song have real meaning, or is it just that they play it over and over and over and over again until it wears you down, until you can nothing but... sing along. So is pop music holding you hostage?

It's the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who!!! Whovians everywhere are excited to see what the newest Doctor will bring to the character, and that got us thinking: what makes the Doctor, THE Doctor? 11 different doctors have played the role over the past 50 years, and each was unique, with different personalities and characteristics. But besides the physical symbols surrounding him - the Tardis, the sonic screwdriver- are there larger cues that indicate the man is in fact THE DOCTOR?

In honor of Thanksgiving, we present two ideas to discuss with your loved ones around the dinner table. First up: sandwiches. They are the perfect food for today's fast-paced lifestyle. But was it the creation of this versatile food that ushered in the period of classical modernity? Next up: music lyrics websites. We all love singing the wrong lyrics and then looking look up the actual lyrics on rap genius. But are these sites stealing from the recording industry by profiting off of artist's lyrics?

Is there such a thing as a "DIGITAL NATIVE"? Some experts have suggested a clear divide between "digital native" (the Millennial tech experts) and "digital immigrant" (older generations introduced to technology later in life). The young NATIVES have had technology change the way they think and the way their brain works, while older folk are stuck playing catch-up. But is that fair? Can someone innately understand technology? Is it even a good idea to define people as natives vs immigrants?

Bullet Hell games are crazy. Their onslaught of lasers, bullets, aka DAKKA, seems overwhelming or even IMPOSSIBLE to the uninitiated. Is playing these games an elaborate and stressful mastery of patterns and strategy? Or could it instead be a form of meditation? Maybe the way to find your way through the dakka is to fall into a mental autopilot in the face of complexity, finding harmony within the haze. Is this wild overstimulation a form of modern meditation?

Ah the glorious down time of the holidays. The perfect opportunity for binge watching! Why do we binge watch, and what media do you like binging on?

If you've ever used Google, Netflix, Facebook, or Amazon (and we're guessing that you have), then you've come into contact with algorithms. In fact, it's guaranteed that your life has been impacted by algorithms, even in ways you're unaware of (assuming you INTERNET... which, again, we're guessing that you have...) The point is, the importance of algorithms in today's world cannot be overstated, and their role has been the focus of much discussion- how they're shaping our lives, for better or for worse. But, how far does the algorithmic rabbit hole go, could their influence even have spiritual correlations?!

What have you been watching lately? There's a good chance (whether you admit to it or not) that you've been watching some reality TV. The "Reality TV" genre is mega popular, a massive cultural force, even though it's not really "reality". Contrived situations and manipulated scenarios make these shows entertainment rather than documentation, but they still feature real people who are willing to have their lives recorded. As a culture, we've become accustomed to watching people, but how does that affect our ideas about BEING WATCHED, especially given the recent NSA controversies?

In a very special episode this week, Mike rethinks his approach to the episode. Most of you have heard the phrase "Don't Feed the Trolls", but do trolls actually serve a purpose? Found everywhere people converse online, their combative rhetoric can be annoying, even harmful. Can a valid argument be made for the value of trolls? Watch Red Shirt Mike vs Blue Shirt Mike deliberate!

What IS Anime? After binge watching the american produced Avatar: The Last Airbender & Avatar: Legend of Korra, the question seems more complicated. The general consensus in the west is that anime is a product of Japanese culture, and TRUE anime can only come from Japan. But would it blow your mind that in Japan, ANYTHING animated is anime (including Family Guy)?! So what defines anime - visual and tonal style? Geographic borders? Is there a reason to keep the definition of anime limited?

Are we really about to defend SELFIES?! Yup. Despite being possibly the world's most annoying habit, selfies are undeniably a major part of modern visual language. They may be the lowest common denominator of the art of photography, but they are also a legit form of communication ("a picture is worth a thousand words" comes to mind). But maybe all the hate comes from a confusion about what selfies actually are! Is it possible they're not actually "photographs" but a totally different form of communication? Could they even be important and meaningful?!?!

With every new product release comes a glorious wealth of new Unboxing videos. For the uninitiated, unboxing videos are exactly what they sound like. A person gets a new thing, and film themselves removing it from the packaging. But why do people film these videos, and why do others WATCH these videos? Well for one thing, these videos show what the products ARE, without the annoying filter of marketing. Maybe unboxing videos glorify the act of acquiring and owning? Is there a sensual element to these videos?

What IS fiction? That's the question that popped into our minds when thinking about Orson Welles' radio War of the Worlds performance, which set off a public panic of listeners who thought NJ was truly being attacked by aliens. Now those aliens didn't really exist, since it was all pretend. But on the other hand, they did (and do) KIND OF exist. They can be described, referenced, and can have as much veracity to people as physical objects. And the worlds created in fiction can contain REAL things - cars, people, New Jersey. Can something both exist and not exist? Whoa.

We all know who Harry Potter is, and can conjure an image of him in our minds. There are specific properties that make a Harry THE Harry (glasses, scar, wand, etc), so it's safe to say that we're all sharing a consistent idea. But do these physical properties mean that Harry Potter EXISTS? Harry Potter doesn't have a physical referent, but the fact that we collectively KNOW Harry Potter (or Hermoine, Ron, or even Batman for that matter), doesn't that mean there's SOME SORT of existence?

You asked, and we delivered: a Pokemon episode!!! Specifically Twitch Plays Pokemon, which it turns out is a metaphor for ... well, lots of stuff. Twitch Plays Pokemon is a version of Pokemon Red controlled via chat on the video streaming site Twitch. And TENS OF THOUSANDS of people are playing this one game simultaneously! How can a group steer the direction of a game? And what can this tell us about anarchy vs democracy? (Maybe that the US government is a bit more like Pokemon than we realized.)

Old meme is old. But why is this such a bad thing? Once the height of internetiness, the sight of a LOLCat now is unforgivable. Memes become passé crazy fast: after just months or even WEEKS of a new meme, we tire of the once hugely popular. Why does this happen, and happen so QUICKLY? Is it a reflection of the sheer volume of visual information we absorb from the internet? Or does it say something about this specific visual culture?

The internet is an archive, but it may not be all that great at it. Sure, it saves any media we can imagine (text, photographs, films, etc). But what about that stuff FROM the network? Status updates, tweets, image macros... they seem to disappear into the ether. Are they not worth as much to us as physical objects? We archive things so we can remember them, so is this network ephemera not worth remembering?

Watching our favorite TV shows is one of the most fundamental ways we entertain ourselves. And for most of TV history, these stories were simple and episodic: you could watch one episode when it aired, and it was a self-contained story. But now that we have the ability to find the whole back- catalogue of a show online, is it changing the way TV show are CREATED? Not only can people catch up without waiting for a DVD release, but entire seasons are released and consumed in a single weekend (thanks Netflix!) How might that be changing the types of stories we're being told?

Popular media generally has a problem with representation. Fictional worlds are often designed by and for straight white males, and this can subtly affect how audiences view the real world. Comics are no exception, portraying muscular white males, or exaggerated expressions of the female form. But those traditions are being broken. One of the most exciting new characters breaking this mold is the new Ms. Marvel: Kamala Khan. Kamala is a teenage Pakistani-American muslim girl, a far cry from the comic pantheon of Captain Americas and Supermans. So is Kamala a step in the right direction for media representation?

ou may have heard of the Jawbone, Fitbit, Nike Fuelband or one of the myriad of other wearable self-tracking gadgets. Heck, you might even be wearing one right now! These gadgets help track everything from hours slept, calories consumed, to number of steps taken in a given day. But can they actually make you healthy??? Sure they provide us with tons of data about our bodies, but what do we DO with all that information?! Is it just about the knowing? Or does this actually motivate us to change and enhance our behavior? And if it does, can that be a bad thing?

First of all, spoilers. MASSIVE SPOILERS! How I Met Your Mother is a popular sitcom that has been running 9 years, teasing its audience the whole long way with the riddle of the identity of THE MOTHER. But with its recent finale and the mystery resolved, the reaction was mixed. Did Ted end up with who he was meant to all along? Or did the creators pull a fast one, and produce an ending that was unearned? With TV audiences notoriously fickle, TV producers must consider a responsibility to the fans, and balance that with making the show they want. So was the ending of HIMYM a success or failure?

It's easy to make a bad movie. Budget, talent, time, know-how... there are so many factors that can potentially sink a film. But every once in a while, a movie is so terrible, such an utter failure, that it earns the designation "SO BAD IT'S GOOD". These bizarre entities touch upon our schadenfreude, and allow us to share and celebrate these monstrosities of filmmaking. Troll 2, The Room, and Plan 9 From Outerspace are both horrific and weirdly enjoyable, even becoming cults classics. But can these So-Bad-It's-Good films be created ON PURPOSE?

CHANGE YO PASSWORDS! The recent Heartbleed bug was, for many, just another reminder that our information will never be secure on the internet. We feel vulnerable and hopeless in the face of a long string of privacy concerns, and many argue that this is an inevitable result of technology. But since our culture has wholly jumped on the digital bandwagon, do we as individuals truly CHOOSE to sacrifice our privacy? Or maybe the better question is, how much do we even choose to use technology?

What is THE FUTURE of Fandoms? Excited, interested, and devoted to a piece of the world, fandoms have an ever growing presence and power in our culture. But how will that power morph in the coming decades? Will fans be able to control the media they celebrate? Will fan-created works and the argument of Fair Use alter copyright law? Will fandoms find a place in politics and government?