And AI-Induced Nervous Breakdowns

About This Video

Van Neistat states the thesis, use AI to live more analog, then shows the bill coming due. Three months in, he is on the computer more, not less, and chaining himself to AI link by link.

The clip opens on the dream: make more stuff with his hands, less time on screens. Then the reversal, flat and certain. For the past three months the opposite is happening. More time on AI, more time on computers, less time analog.

In the middle sits a small, satisfying fix. Van's macro rig shakes whenever the saw runs, so he builds a little mount that isolates the close-up camera from the worktable. Now he can shake the table as much as he wants and the shot barely moves. Reinforced thick rubber bands hold it steady. It is the exact thing the channel is about, a hands-on fix, wedged inside an episode about losing his hands to the machine.

The closer is the diagnosis. He feels himself chaining himself to AI link by link, and it is making him crazy for the dirt bikes. The nervous breakdown in the title is half a joke and not. The fight over analog living is the whole point of the flagship this is cut from.

What Van Uses: a DIY macro camera rig, reinforced thick rubber bands to steady it, and a small isolation mount he builds on the spot.

Related: the full Long-Form Episode 2, Long-Form Episode 1.

FAQ

What does "use AI to live more analog" mean?
Van's idea is to hand the machine his digital chores so he can spend more time building with his hands. This clip is the honest counterweight: for three months it backfired and put him on the computer more.

What is the macro rig Van builds?
A small mount that decouples his close-up camera from the worktable, held steady with reinforced thick rubber bands, so saw vibration shakes the table without shaking the shot.

What episode is this clip from?
Long-Form Episode 2, "The machine dream was never real."

Transcript

[music] >> Use AI to live more analog. >> [music] >> That's what I want to do with AI. So I can make more stuff like this.

>> [snorts] >> Please don't break the light. Please don't break the light.

And All right, still works. Less time on computers, more time on this stuff. On stuff [music] like this. >> [music]

[music] >> But for the past 3 months, >> [music] >> the opposite is happening. More time on AI, >> [music] >> on computers, less time on

analog. >> [music] >> Without reinforced rubber band, it doesn't work. But these big thick

rubber bands hold it nice and steady. Okay, so I don't know if this is obvious, but the idea with this one is that I can do a bunch of work on this table and do macro super close-up. But, the problem

with this one is the macro is pretty good. I'm just using this now, so I'm like playing with it and it's fun. The problem is when I saw when I saw this thing this kind of saw see how it shakes the camera? Shakes the camera. So, what I did was I

built this little guy. Okay? I built this and it goes on here like this. And then I can isolate the macro rig from the work table.

It just occurred to me that the wide shot probably doesn't even show this. And so, I can shake the table as much as I want and it's just going to shake a little bit on camera. It's not the whole camera shaking. And I feel like I'm [music] chaining myself to AI

link by link. >> [music] >> And I think it's making me crazy for the >> [screaming] >> dirt bikes. >> [music] >> See how this video fits into the full episode here. The Patreon is how you get

in touch with me and contains the alternate universe to this channel. >> Mhm.

Products & Tools Mentioned

• Macro camera rig uses — the close-up rig he is "playing with" and refining
• Reinforced thick rubber bands uses — what holds the rig steady
• Dirt bikes mentions — the analog life the screen time is keeping him from