This whole idea of millennials being this
or that or the other I find it ludicrous to be critical because you’re talking about the
generation that was the tipping point of why the Supreme Court past the marriage for gays.
They’re the tipping – they’re the ones going are you kidding me? They’re the gender fluid
group. I mean I don’t get that at all. I mean it was hard enough for me just to be a guy,
let alone I’m going to figure that I’m fluid about this. I don’t get it but it doesn’t
disturb me. A lot of my generation, I might as well of been born on a different planet
than some of these pricks. I feel like they’re dinosaurs. Really, you’re going to carry this
stuff from the ’50s on with you? Really? You’re going to stand there in Congress? That I find
more enraging. My real anger is is that they scream about these kids and the way in which
they operate and interact and socialize and the way that they are, and yet this is the
generation that had the phones dropped on them and the computer dropped on them and
things changed. And so you’ve got a whole generation that is living in a different world
than we are. And they live on screens. Their whole life is on a screen for most of them.
When I was a kid I did LSD. And they said you can’t really do a lot of LSD. So they
made it illegal and then they took it away kind of. You couldn’t get really good LSD
after a while. But it was like you can’t do that. That generation turns around and drops
on these kids something that was just as potent as LSD. That phone and the amount of apps
and the amount of crap and the computer, it’s the extension of the human nervous system.
It’s a drug and it’s not treated that way. And then they go boy, I can’t believe they’re
doing that. Well schmuck it’s because you didn’t. Because you didn’t do it. And that’s
it. And I think that’s, going back to politics, that’s part of the reason we live like we
live now. That’s part of the reason things are the way they are. We are in the midst
of a total sea change. We have gone from one age to another. We have not entered the new
age and we haven’t left the old age, but boy it’s happening and it scares the shit out
of a lot of people.
Generation Y is the one the probably appreciates technology the most as we grew up during it's explosion. I can remember getting my first nintendo, my first computer, the internet, the mobile phone, the smart phone. We got to see the evolution of the whole thing. As a tech geek, that is something for me to be proud of. Also, we are poised to start taking control of the world as dinosaurs die off and gen Xer's continue to age. Gen X did a lot towards social progression, and gen Y is even more progressive. I really hope things get better as society is more tolerant to each other and more important problems can be focused on than gay marriage (which was never a problem to most of us under 35)
Was hoping this was gonna be a bit more critical of the hypocrisy that Baby Boomers place on millennials with work ethic.
But it still rings true. Cell Phones are a helluva drug.
I liked this video. There are way too many people that complain about the emergence of advanced consumer technology. I think people are just afraid of change. They think that all change is bad, but the internet is the largest change of all time, and it is arguable the best change of all time. We can now communicate instantly with anyone, which adds personality to the population statistics on the other side of the planet. It's much harder to drop a bomb on someone if you know how similar you are to them. The internet was invented to help with war, yet it could become the largest creator of peace.
Maybe someday I'll get a chance to try some LSD.
Least violent most egalitarian and secular generation perhaps in history, thank you very much.
I so much hate the phrase "sea change".
He'll be here all week, folks! Don't forget to tip your waitress!
They can call our generation whatever they want. But they always ignore the fact they help raise this generation.
The Scribbler received a device to decrypt the superman past away
"Don't raise your kids the same way you were raised. They were born in a different time."
Keep it up old man, you aren't that far off anyway 😀
Greetings Lewis Black, fellow UNC Tar Heel!
Every new generation has the prior generation thinking that they are doing things the wrong way. Always been that way.
"Way da' go San Francisco, you've ruined pizza!"
And then there are people like me – I'm tail end of the Baby Boom – but around screens since I was a young teenager. And now with over 20 years of experience in the Information Technology and Information Security business you cannot pry the screen away from me. However I know when to put it down.
Except these Millennials are the lowest in voter turn out
So I don't buy the claim that they are the ones getting the laws turned around for gays. Not if they are not voting they can't get the credit
Great insights, big fan.
This is an interesting video, it makes me think. But I'm indifferent to opinions, I take it into consideration, but I don't necessarily act on it. I just see it that it maybe someone else's opinion could change the way I do (or see) something in the future.
Also where does it touch on the "anger" thing?
You never hear about Gen X. It's like there wasn't a generation in between Boomers and Millenials at all.
People have been making the same arguments against the newer generations for longer than anyone wants to admit. Read Farenheit 451, he's complaining about how people are sucked in to magazines and short articles, that people would rather talk about the magazines than their own lives, that people would rather read in silence than speak to strangers in public. That book came out in 1966 and the conversation hasn't changed a bit since then, only instead of newspapers and magazines it's a phone or computer.
It scares me, and I'm a millennial.
The biggest problem is that we wait. Each generation sits back as the other makes their own decisions of the future for them. My generation needs to think critically and then go out there and vote. Vote in local elections, vote on state election, vote for the president. We need to make the decisions for ourselves. Older generations and Younger generations have a distance, but the older generations are always the ones who decides who gets to run our counties, states, and country. It's time we change that.
So rambly… take a few minutes to collect your thoughts before you start recording.
Back at it again with the (somewhat) incoherent delivery. Maybe it's the LSD. jk
Technology existed WAY before even the Baby Boomer generation…basically, it's the use of knowledge to simplify the way we do every day things. I think what Lewis is talking about is computer technology, which is now largely the product of Millennial innovations, not Baby Boomers' – no one really uses a phone to dial in circles and have long conversations, for the purposes of entertainment, anymore. The relative newness of computer technology and the rapid rate of its growth are what's scary, but to Baby Boomers, not to Millennials. Computer Technology isn't really a drug in the way that LSD is because computers lend themselves more to productivity than they do to social recreation. The irony is that computers are so good that we currently have the scientific capacity to create the best LSD, ever, and we would rather access Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Games (etc) on our newest electronic device. Computers are quickly making drugs obsolete. Computers are not a coping mechanism (like LSD and other drugs), they're the way forward.
The internet is going to be the new platform for almost anything we do in our daily lives and its going to stay that way for a very long time.
MY NIGGA BLACK
The problem is that millenials were mot taught how to disconnect or do without. This hyperconnectivity is almost an addiction. Dont believe me? See how people react when they dont have their cell or the battery dies.
Lewis black is totally right. The criticism that millennials get is 90 percent bullshit and the rest of it is over exaggerated to make millennials look like a stupid and entitled generation when the facts point to the exact opposite being true.
Lewis black is totally right. The criticism that millennials get is 90 percent bullshit and the rest of it is over exaggerated to make millennials look like a stupid and entitled generation when the facts point to the exact opposite being true.
Let them live and stay on screens. I love the fact that they're nothing more than walking pieces of furniture on public transport that doesn't talk…wonderful.
ABBMD: all baby boomers must die
You know what scares me? A 19 trillion dollar debt and a 450 billion dollar deficit stacking on it.
Parents:Talk to your children about why Socialism doesn't work in a society that hasn't solved resource scarcity today. While you're at it, remind them that usury is indentured servitude by proxy, and with this debt, what gets foreclosed isn't a house, it's the currency they'd like to use to buy a house someday
Preach, Brother Black!
Fact of the matter is that millenials are an unprecedented group in human history. The people before really don't have the perspective to judge in any way, shape, and form. History will have to be the judge of millenials.
Using the internet is like taking LSD??? What on earth is this guy talking about?
You talk about the generation that have been brainwash by oligarchy thinking that U.S. is a democracy country and keep saying computer is a drug( This is not China ) and no computer is more like the new paper that not a propaganda( if people do a lot of research ) and the oligarchy scare of it and try to say bad stuff about Millennials… yea good luck with that
He is making a big error here by acting like this is just a case of an older generation being out of touch with the new generation. He said so himself, we are moving into a new age, the information age, and it is a really big deal. It will change humanity more profoundly than any age before it.
The problem comes from the fact that no one knew how to raise children in this new age. That is why you are seeing a generation who is connecting online, and in fighting for their share of attention, they are all taking on a victim mentality. That is why so many of them are striving to be a part of some oppressed group, that is where all of the gender fluidity he mentions comes in. Every generation strives to be different, it's just that most rebel against the establishment. This generation is looking towards the establishment to shelter and protect them from anyone who has differing opinions.
The Gen Xers had nothing to fight for, and that is where the slacker mentality came from. This generation is manufacturing things to fight for, and the bullshit being spouted by SJW's and feminazis and regressives is making its way into the mainstream narrative. And that is frightening.They are over stimulated and under experienced. They believe that because the fight for rights for women, minorities and gays was waged and all but won, that they must now fight for every little niche group to have their day in the sun.
But as they call others privileged, they completely ignore other cultures where those aforementioned battles for women and gays have not yet been won, where people from those group literally live in fear for their lives. And in so doing, in their multiculturalism and "Islamophobia" slander, they run the risk of dooming our world to fall under the grasp of very real intolerance. Drop them off in Saudi Arabia and let them fight oppression there, and then see how their opinions change.
It baffles me how a generation given access to all information can still manage to remain sheltered from the realities of the world, as they stay roped off in their VIP areas of "victimhood".
I'm so happy this topic was discussed. Nonetheless by Lewis Black. I'm glad BigThink let Lewis be himself.
don't forget the internet dropped on em too
he said '(some of) deez pricks' xD
Outstanding!
Please, what are the names of the old age, and the new one to come?
i keep getting surprise bout the way some people who are chosen to be one of the smartest people in the world still doesn't understand how evolution works…. "F" man where is this dude from?
gotta love lewis black
I can't wait to get old and cynical!
I'm 28 years old this world is crazy lsd is illegal and TV & video games are a drug I mean we're coming out with virtual reality to put you in a different world right in your own home that is no different than taking 100 micrograms this world needs to figure itself out because if not we're all done
Technology is not a "drug" it's a natural part on the evolution of advanced species, you don't see aliens like in the movie avatar travelling through space, for that those would need to advance technologically, the only problem here with phones is that it's still on early stages where any fool gets to do a ton of stupid things with it for companies to get money so they would be able to invest on better technology, see, without the trillions of hours per city spent in facebook that company wouldn't have grown as big enough to buy skype, oculus rift and a bunch other technologies which would have them take many more years to become a thing, take VR as an example, if facebook hadn't bought oculus this VR boom wouldn't have taken place as early as 2016, no PSVR, no HTC VIBE, nor any other lower budget VR
what you are seeing here, sir, is the (slow but steady) reborn of our civilization as a type 1 civilization, and you are dislinking it because of the sacrifices it takes to achieve it
in my case if I didn't have internet at home as a kid I wouldn't be able to write this without a ton of grammar errors since I learned only the basics at school and all the rest playing online videogames which in my country weren't common at all back in 2002 but I wanted to try new technologies mixed with my early-age-given love for the videogames which I accquired playing when I was a bit over 2 years old
Kill all humans – bender
he's right though. social media can be scary. just the death threats alone explain this. people need to get offline for a while and get out of the house a few times a week. i turn off my phone sometimes because if i don't i know I'm gonna fuck with it.
I believe, that generation gap grew not because of all the technological or societal changes, we've had in XX century. It grew due to people living longer. Centenarians never saw their great-grandparents and only knew their grandparents in very early childhood. Thus they mostly learned "the way" from parents. Making the gap mostly happen between children and parents, directly connected generations. However, XX century allowed people to live twice as long. Thus those in their 60-70s knew grandparents through significant share of their life and now have grandkids and great-grandkids. The generation gap of today is 3 generations wide: from grandparents of the elders to kids of their kids.
I know every generation thinks the ones before and after them are the worst, but I think Generation Y might just be the best of the living generations. We possess the old-world sensibilities of the last generations Boomer and X, while possessing the forward-thinking and adaptability of the Millennials.
Think about it – I deal with people of all ages all day, every day, and have for 17 years. Baby Boomers and many Gen Xers are old-school, they refuse to adapt and learn, moan about new things and change, and hate things they don't understand.
Millennials easily jump to new things and adapt, but I've met so many who can't think critically, who take things personally, who can't think for themselves.
But many Gen Y people seem to possess the best parts of both ends, without the downsides. Anecdotal anomalies notwithstanding.
And this isn't just a 'my generation is better than your generation' kind of thing, before any boomers (though, let's face it, how many boomers would be here?) or Millennials get butthurt over it. I'm seeing this completely critically.
These were some great points.
I'm super interested to see how this (my) generation turns out. A lot of cross generation criticism is certainly cyclical but, as Lewis Black points out, this generation has the largest technological gap between the previous ones.
I wonder if there will be a fundamental shift as the older generation dies off and the current generation takes over, or if we age into conservatism just like ever generation before.
Juvenoia by Vsauce fits well with this video.
What is this stupidity your spewing? How is using the Internet like using LSD? I think you need some neuroscience education.
I like many of the points Lewis brings up. I'm at the age that straddles the two worlds; I grew up with limited technology but I now work primarily with technology. I used to be a high school teacher and I would always hear other teachers bashing this generation about their technology and how they communicate now. My response was always "what do you think you would have done if you had the same tech at 14?" Of course they use it, we all would if it was around. The quicker more educators embrace it and use it, the better many students will be.
Anyone else remember when "Big think" made you …. think? :/
awesome video
Millennials rule! Thank you Mr. Black, those are my sentiments and then some.
When you meet an alien, the first thing you're going to do is criticize how uncivilized they are.
Yes, I hate millennials and those who say nothing is new about them, did you know for the first time ever older music is outselling new music? It's cuz millennials suck more than any generation in modern history and I'd bet ancient history too.
SCOTUS didn't pass any law to allow homosexuals to marry. They decided existing law could not exclude them. Big difference.
These days, it's like Gen-X doesn't even exist, and never did.
If Boomers or anyone else has an issue with Millennials – they need look no further than themselves.
Awards for participating instead of reserving the trophy for winners, time outs instead of a slap on the butt, and paying too much attention to being PC and attempting to be aware of every possible butthurt. What a load of crap.
The child rearing methods of the 1930s created the 'greatest generation', who at 17 and 18 years old won a world war. They were responsible adults, did what they had to and didn't whine about it.
In trying to make a 'better life' for their kids (what we now call the boomers), they actually made successive generations weaker and more dependent. The boomers continued with that method and were even more lax in their parenting – and now here we are.
So – you reap what you sow. And – no – a smartphone might be like crack – but it isn't like LSD.
Baby boomer politics ruined the country
When we first brought these miracles of communication to the public, I began every class talking about how revolutions in communications invariably lead to revolutions of society.
Writing, the printing press, the telegraph, radio and television, and now what will be the next wave. We have, in essence, eliminated the barriers between individuals, and eventually that's going to be amazing.
However, until we get there, it is going to be really messy.
What the F is this guy talking about? Computer, phone are to us just the same as field and tractor are to farmer. This is the only working space where we can exist because my CV is not good enough for these babyboomers.
And the headphones and the .mp3 … Please give the Nobel prize for peace to these inventors, they saved us from constant nagging.
The two previous generations lived on screens as well. Television screens. Yes, they were just as bad about it, and still are. And before that it was radio and comic books. If you go back far enough you'll find some paleolithic douchebag complaining about how much time the new generation spends drawing on walls and whittling toys.
Millennials are full-on 19th century. They're all against free speech, education and due process and in favor of lynching, sexism and racism.
Something is different with this kids… I don't like change.
Lewis Black just ain't what he used to be.
Millennials will be the generation that creates strong AI and ushers in the singularity.
it's kind of outstanding how fast the global consciousness can change when given the appropriate tools!
this talk needs to bee seen by everyone in congress
millennials and baby boomers are both equally awful. one generation fast tracked the downfall of US by promoting war and fiscal irresponsibility while the other are a bunch of effeminate post-modern nihilistic cucks and losers
We are all waiting for boomers to die.
But thanks for your opinion, pops. You're edgy.
amazing understanding
Millenials are the product of being parented by the previous generation.
Baby Boomers will leave a much worse America than the parents of Baby Boomers left that parasitic generation.
Technology is a drug. Wow. Especially for kids.
I love being GenX. The Boomers and millennials are always at each other's throats and we rarely feature on the radar. We get to just sit back and enjoy the drama throwing the odd log on the fire to keep things spicy. :o)
Baby boomers didn't give anything. Their parents gave it all. They took most of it.
Lewis Black believes something analytic philosophers call the "Extended Mind" exists ontologically.
Can't wait for the massive medicare cuts coming in 2019. Trump wants more tax cuts for large corporations in the next budget and have to pay for it with cuts to medicare and social security. MAGA boomers!
what a pile of rubbish. Boomers sat on their fat assess, and still do, since they were born. Ever heard of the TV Lewis? All those advertisements that lead to a failed economy much on consumerism. Had a silver spoon sitting in their porky mouths and didn't give a shit about the rest of society. Don't get me started on Vietnam. What a national embarrassment. Typical boomers cheating the system and do it on almost every level they can get away with. So what was so great about the boomer generation? I'll tell you fantastic accomplishments they gave society: AIDS epidemic, divorces and self-therapy. Millennials had to speed up technology just to advance from the previous generation's lack thereof (in my opinion, and it's a pretty obvious one). Be fucking happy you have an advanced phone to call your mother on — who's of course shipped in an old folk centre.
Lewis Black for president.
Born in 91 and literally could listen to this mensch preach all day.
Not even sure he's a boomer, since boomer is basically a synonym for narcissist
GenX laughing at both of you.
Love you Lewis Black
Millennials we're handed everything from the fucking boomers!
From the Satan boomers to the millineals
I like how the fucking boomers take credit for the knowledge of the generation In Between those shitbags need to be the founders of everything I say fuck them they are the same assclowns saying ideas were bad and the. Stating how they allowed them millennials babyboomer 2.0 to flourish may God burn both of those generations
Then how come baby boomers cant even use any tecnology?
I guess he's sorta right
Ugh. Can we stop blaming phones and video games for social problems FOR ONE FUCKIN SECOND?! PLEASE?
The internet was created by the silent generation, yet again more baby-boomer bullshit!
I don't get why the older generation is upset with millennials and their technology they are the ones who give it to us so they don't have to do their job and fucking parent
Old twisted fart
It's actually the pot sir.
For the record, the 1950s had good aspects as did any decade or era. I would like to see the return of civil defense courses in public schools including proper gun handling, the basics of firefighting, first aid application, and (in terms of modernization) kickboxing and grappling.
I would also like to bring back aspects of the past such as being able to bring a butter knife to school without getting expelled or suspended as well as being able to play pretend war without getting child services sent in.
The new drug addiction is the cell-phones that they must carry all the time to see yourselves with… the "me" generation?!
"Oh! Look at me & what many stupid shit(things)I can do!" even as you cross traffic streets, while still looking no where else, but down at your life-saving phones as you get hit [ran-over] usually by a "hit-and-run"guy, as you are trying to cross (the street like the chicken did);
So why did the guy and the chicken cross the street?
Don't even think he knew why, because he just kept looking down fixated on that(his) screen…while "getting(themselves) smashed" on down to the ground?! 😜 Hee hee hee!
Ok boomer