Trailer: The Spirited Man Long-Form Episode 1
Published April 16, 2026 · 1:50 · 8,687 views
About This Video
Van Neistat's one-minute, fifty-second trailer for Long-Form Episode 1 sets the whole experiment in motion: use AI to live more analog, and stop blaming computers for what Apple did.
The premise is one he sat on for four years. Twenty short videos, clipped out of one long one, built to test a single idea: can he use AI to live more analog. Along the way he settles an old grudge. He used to think he hated computers. He doesn't. He hates Apple, a company that makes ever more complicated software demanding ever more complicated hardware that self-destructs in an unreasonably short time. He calls the stuff weapons. He just wants to work, not play with it.
The line that travels is the closer. AI is not the future. It is the final end of the past, the moment the past comes for us, and we will have to escape from it. He has already used AI to set up the process, and the process is now more analog. That is the thesis the whole analog-living run is built to prove.
Related: the full Long-Form Episode 1, Held Hostage By Apple For 26 Years, and Long-Form Episode 2.
FAQ
What is The Spirited Man Long-Form series?
Van Neistat's monthly long-form format: one roughly half-hour episode that he also clips into about twenty short videos. Episode 1 tests whether he can use AI to live more analog.
Does Van Neistat hate computers?
He says no. He used to think he did, but concluded he hates Apple specifically, for software and hardware he sees as needlessly complex and short-lived.
What does "AI is the final end of the past" mean?
Van's framing that AI is not a future to chase but the moment the past catches up with us, something to escape from by using it to live more analog.
Transcript
Long Form episode 1. In this episode, I pull the trigger on an idea I've been afraid of for 4 years and in doing so question whether or not I actually do
hate computers. 20 short videos. I'm going to clip them. you. About going to see if I can't use AI to live more analog.
I am being held hostage by Apple Inc. What I've learned that Apple is, what they do is [music] they're a company
that makes ever more complicated software that requires ever more complicated hardware that self-destructs
in an unreasonably short duration of time. I used to think I hated computers.
I don't think I hate computers. I hate Apple. You see, this is what I'm trying to get away from, Kevin. I'm trying to get away from all of this hokey
that these tech made that they thought would be so cute and these are weapons, man.
I just want to work. [music] I don't want to play with you.
And there you have it. I've used AI to set up this process and now it's more analog.
AI is not the future. It's the final end of the past. It's the It's the moment at which the past came for us. We will have to escape from it.
Products & Tools Mentioned
- Apple mentions — Van declares being held hostage by Apple; hates Apple's planned obsolescence
People Referenced
Kevin