Stephen Fry on Race, Ancestry and the Invention of Chess
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- čas přidán 17. 12. 2014
- Intended for use under the Fair Use Act - All Rights Belong to Stephen Fry and Associated Companies
From Stephens Live Performance based on his memoir - "More Fool Me" - Zábava
Stephen is an incredibly interesting human being. He is erudite, modest and has a brilliant mind. We are lucky to share the planet with him.
Oh my goodness. He keeps complimenting us. “As you may already know”(history of chess) “as I am sure you know”(Farsi). And in that incredibly well educated and modulated voice. I feel more educated and intelligent just listening to him. I’ve never seen him do stand up before, but “as I’m sure you know” he’s very good.
Bit of a late reply but your comment reminded me of a "saying" I saw recently.
Talking to a stupid person will make you feel smart.
Talking to a smart person will make you feel dumb.
Talking to a very smart person will make you feel smart.
I don't think its much of a stretch to call Stephen Fry very smart.
check out a bit of fry and laurie
Check out his 'More Fool Me' live show. Brilliant. Hilarious. Thought provoking.
@@Raycu2 fry is a good narrator with prepared stories.. when he talks about chess you can straight away know there's no depth, it is just skimmed hearsay. But he does put it together and tells a wonderful story.
@@omarkhan9695 He's certainly full of anecdotes and is a practiced speaker and presenter. He was a good (comic) actor in combination with Hugh Laurie, particularly in A Bit of Fry and Laurie and their version of Jeeves & Wooster. The only one of his novels I read was mediocre. Compared to his various peers from the 80s, however, there isn't much in the way of competition.
I feel lucky to be in concurrent lives with people like Stephen Fry.
I think this everytime i hear him open his mouth. How the hell was i this lucky? lolol
@glyn hodges It is not liberalism to dress as you wish. It is what we are supposed to be able to do in Britain. The day I find my politicians telling me how to dress is the day I take up arms to stop paying them.
@glyn hodges Actually it only becomes a crime if someone complains *and* the police follow it up.
i concur
I feel so happy crushing that loser. It's easy but it's fun.
"The humanist view of the meaning of life is different. Humanists do not see that there is any obvious purpose to the universe, but that it is a natural phenomenon with no design behind it. Meaning is not something out there, waiting to be discovered, but something we create in our own lives." Stephen Fry
Real science says nothing does nothing. Real science says if there was something there already it must fit with the evidence of what we know. We know the 1LT says there's a conservation of energy. It can change forms and neither can be created or destroyed. Creation cannot happen by natural means. The 2LT has various aspects, one being the universe is winding down, entropy. Usable energy is becoming less usable, so at one point usable energy was at its max. This all points to a supernatural creation, by a supernatural creator at a certain point in which matter, space, and time were created. When I read how it can happen otherwise, ALL the fools resort to science-fiction. Once a supernatural creation is accepted, then the next step is finding proof of what supernatural power did it.
We can't even get science without God. The laws of nature only can come from a Lawgiver, God.
Only mindless people believe Fry.
Oh my goodness...the way he connected the chess and rice grains problem to the fact that we must all have been related just blew my mind!!!! This is a story worth repeating everywhere!!!! Hats off to you Mr. Fry...no wonder you played the perfect Jeeves 😁
Humour and intelligence is such a winning combination.
And decency.
@@evapick1566
😀
You think Galileo would've been spared what he went through if humor was part of his 'repartee'
Don't forget what a loser he is too.
"The humanist view of the meaning of life is different. Humanists do not see that there is any obvious purpose to the universe, but that it is a natural phenomenon with no design behind it. Meaning is not something out there, waiting to be discovered, but something we create in our own lives." Stephen Fry
Real science says nothing does nothing. Real science says if there was something there already it must fit with the evidence of what we know. We know the 1LT says there's a conservation of energy. It can change forms and neither can be created or destroyed. Creation cannot happen by natural means. The 2LT has various aspects, one being the universe is winding down, entropy. Usable energy is becoming less usable, so at one point usable energy was at its max. This all points to a supernatural creation, by a supernatural creator at a certain point in which matter, space, and time were created. When I read how it can happen otherwise, ALL the fools resort to science-fiction. Once a supernatural creation is accepted, then the next step is finding proof of what supernatural power did it.
We can't even get science without God. The laws of nature only can come from a Lawgiver, God.
Only mindless people believe Fry.
Only Stephen Fry could say "a thirty twoth" and not sound stupid.
But it didn't get the laugh intended.
@@BKKaye No one seemed to notice. I was floored by that.
Surely the correct pronunciation would be thirty tweeth... Come come Stephen...
@@jamesluby6705 You would argue with Stephen Fry? Come, come, James!
With our grammatical overlord Hitchens eternally enhancing medical science, it's important we maintain high standards in such matters... Not angry, just disappointed...
'all cruelty comes from weakness.' -Seneca said this and it's so true. I think Stephen is spot on.
Well said and well quoted my well read friend...cheers!
@@troymadison7082 Seneca had such a knack for teaching resignation and the simple life, accepting what you got...from a private landed estate where a hundred slaves jumped to do whatever he ordered.
@will crow
would you still think so when being tortured to death?
the pacifist turns the other cheek when his kids are being slaugtered, his wife is being raped and his house burned...
its the modern over-moralisation that makes us weak, did others in the past
what happened to them? they died, empires went under and the „weak" survived
go your way loving all these oxymorons and ignore basic common sense.
women dont need to have children, we are all individuals thus all the same - join our faith, not every muslim believes in islam and so on
im just glad that we havent reached the point where there is no hope for humanity to get rid of these truly weak ideas and believes that kill us.
do you want to conquer the universe or slowly go extinct, all working for a universal income ?
@@kloschuessel773 threaten someone else with torture, you only prove the point with this conceit.
@@blackbird5634
strawman, mr methhead
7.5 mins of Stephen Fry I thought would be reasonably long considering most yt videos I watch are about 2-3. Went by in a blink of an eye and I’m sad it’s over. Stephen is always totally engaging!!
Look up the QI episodes, then.
Interestingly, the parable about the exponentially increasing grains of rice Stephen mentions is also there in Bengali Literature (major Eastern Indian language). It was written by one of our greatest writers, Sukumar Ray, in the form of a children's story called "Daaner Hisheb" (literally- the calculations/records kept of charity). An extremely miserly king is tricked into being charitable to his suffering subjects by a sage, who tells him that he should pay a paisa (1/100th of one rupee, the equivalent of a penny or a cent) on the first day, then double the amount on every succeeding day. The King assumes as a knee jerk reaction that this would only come to a meagre amount, but it ultimately ends up costing him more than he owns.
My father taught me my first arithmetics. He used to tell me the story when I was a kid to show me the magic of exponentials and geometric growth.
I’ve heard an euro-american variation of the story, but it was about a younger man conning an older billionaire by saying he’ll trade the billionaire 100k dollars a day for 30 days for 1 cent, 2 cents, 4 cents, 8 cents... until the 30 days were over. The mathematical results were similar, albeit not as astronomical as the original grains on chessboard one, which is actually exponential and will tally up to more grains than the current global agriculture can grow for millennia.
He is very well knowledged and wise. The history of chess and the Persian root for checkmate was wonderful! Awesome.
He simply ruined racism. What a wonderful man.
He's a loser.
"The humanist view of the meaning of life is different. Humanists do not see that there is any obvious purpose to the universe, but that it is a natural phenomenon with no design behind it. Meaning is not something out there, waiting to be discovered, but something we create in our own lives." Stephen Fry
Real science says nothing does nothing. Real science says if there was something there already it must fit with the evidence of what we know. We know the 1LT says there's a conservation of energy. It can change forms and neither can be created or destroyed. Creation cannot happen by natural means. The 2LT has various aspects, one being the universe is winding down, entropy. Usable energy is becoming less usable, so at one point usable energy was at its max. This all points to a supernatural creation, by a supernatural creator at a certain point in which matter, space, and time were created. When I read how it can happen otherwise, ALL the fools resort to science-fiction. Once a supernatural creation is accepted, then the next step is finding proof of what supernatural power did it.
We can't even get science without God. The laws of nature only can come from a Lawgiver, God.
Only mindless people believe Fry.
@@2fast2block where did god come from? Who or what created him? No one you will say, he's always and will always be there. If you are so happy with this simpleton explanation, then why can't you believe that the universe also may have always been there? Just changing, evolving, morphing, creating and destructing what we know as the laws of nature without the need of any divine intervention? Don't be like the child who doesn't know where Christmas gifts and babies come from and is happy with the stork and Santa stories just because their little undeveloped minds can't think of or reason otherwise. I do believe in a god that is the universe itself, that changes and mutates, that creates and destroys with no conscious of what is doing whatsoever. One who doesn't need worshipping, who doesn't care about prayers, or the sins of the world, because he doesn't even care about us, we are just a happy accident of existence, who doesn't even care about itself because he's not even living, is just a thing, is just the universe and we happen to exist in it. That's it, that's all.
@@SergioCastillo87 loser, none of what you gave got around the science I gave. All you losers can do is come up with your stu---pid question that answers nothing but it does show how you losers hate to think.
So in your way of shallow thinking, if a supernatural creator created the natural realm, then that supernatural creator who created the natural realm with its natural laws has then become also bound by those natural laws the supernatural creator created. So explain why a supernatural creator is also bound by the laws the supernatural creator created. Or, show how smart you are and just give your science for creation happening naturally and don't forget to give your science how the natural laws were created, too. If you want to act smart, it may be a good idea to actually show you are.
you know Stephen when you do this stuff, you are going to be praised for your intellect, but you also must realise that you will be criticised too, Im so glad you exist, youve bought so much humour and sensibility to all you do.
he is the cool high school teacher for grown ups.
He was a school teacher once
Stephen, please take good care of yourself and keep telling us more and more interesting things!
He's good at telling lies being the loser he is.
"The humanist view of the meaning of life is different. Humanists do not see that there is any obvious purpose to the universe, but that it is a natural phenomenon with no design behind it. Meaning is not something out there, waiting to be discovered, but something we create in our own lives." Stephen Fry
Real science says nothing does nothing. Real science says if there was something there already it must fit with the evidence of what we know. We know the 1LT says there's a conservation of energy. It can change forms and neither can be created or destroyed. Creation cannot happen by natural means. The 2LT has various aspects, one being the universe is winding down, entropy. Usable energy is becoming less usable, so at one point usable energy was at its max. This all points to a supernatural creation, by a supernatural creator at a certain point in which matter, space, and time were created. When I read how it can happen otherwise, ALL the fools resort to science-fiction. Once a supernatural creation is accepted, then the next step is finding proof of what supernatural power did it.
We can't even get science without God. The laws of nature only can come from a Lawgiver, God.
Only mindless people believe Fry.
@@2fast2block You could just say you don't like the fact he's an atheist, rather than going on an incomprehensible word salad and calling a phenomenal man a "loser".
@@TheHobbYT you can just say you're another clueless being like Fry who hates facing reality because you just showed you do.
@@2fast2block And I take it you happen to hold the key to understanding reality. Why don't you enlighten me then, and in the process let me know why it is you dislike Fry? Preferably in understandable English and with actual substance to your words.
@@TheHobbYT hey tiny brain, I gave a very small bit of science already that you keep on ignoring. Tackle and show us more how tiny your brain really is.
National treasure. He hates being called that too lol
That’s probably because national treasures end up in the Tower of London.
I don't like him
Why do you say he's a treasure?
There’s a funny Comic Relief sketch about national treasures and he appears on it as a judge for new applicants: czcams.com/video/nJYE20cO8h0/video.html
Mr. Fry is an amazing Gentelman. Love him.
I wish he were my Dad
exactly )
A brilliant actor, a fascinating interpreter of humankind and of history. His role portraying Oscar Wilde was very much as I expected: Brilliant! Watching Stephen Fry, I am curious how a discussion of any subject between he and the extraordinary Peter Ustinov - should such a conversation exist, I would pay to watch it! I am pleased these two men are part of my lifetime.
The thing I will always remember Steven Fry for is playing Belgrove in a TV adaptation (BBC. surely) of the first two Gormenghast books. I didn't think it could be done, but.....You Britishers probably know what I'm talking about while Americans are scratching their heads. The books didn't travel across the pond well. Also, by far, Christopher Lee as Flay was THE best thing he ever did. The series was an obvious labor of love.
I have read the book series, but had no idea it had an adaptation. Professor Belgrove definitely looked like Fry when I pictured him.
What a man! Love this guy with all my heart
@AMT I'm sure he's happy to have fellow losers like you.
"The humanist view of the meaning of life is different. Humanists do not see that there is any obvious purpose to the universe, but that it is a natural phenomenon with no design behind it. Meaning is not something out there, waiting to be discovered, but something we create in our own lives." Stephen Fry
Real science says nothing does nothing. Real science says if there was something there already it must fit with the evidence of what we know. We know the 1LT says there's a conservation of energy. It can change forms and neither can be created or destroyed. Creation cannot happen by natural means. The 2LT has various aspects, one being the universe is winding down, entropy. Usable energy is becoming less usable, so at one point usable energy was at its max. This all points to a supernatural creation, by a supernatural creator at a certain point in which matter, space, and time were created. When I read how it can happen otherwise, ALL the fools resort to science-fiction. Once a supernatural creation is accepted, then the next step is finding proof of what supernatural power did it.
We can't even get science without God. The laws of nature only can come from a Lawgiver, God.
Only mindless people believe Fry.
damn - the video ended. I was enjoying that. He has a knack for making me drift on a wave of piqued interest. Wonderful oratory voice and delivery.
I love him, and my god am I in need of adult conversation.
That is why American's don't understand him.
discussing ideas instead of yelling at each other. Good God man this is 2018.
Steven Colbare
fuck off
Thank you @Khasab. I guess, Stephen would like you simply for that comment. At least, I do. Fuck off, @Steven Colbare.
I’m a Christian and I enjoy listening to what Mr. Fry has to say, though I think he’s a little presumptuous, dismissive and overly simplistic in his approach to religion. He is still respectful and decent to the people he’s discussing with.
The 2018 world rice output was 480 million metric tonnes. The amount of rice required to meet the chess inventor's demands, according to Fry's story, would be 185 billion metric tonnes. Amazing, isn't it?
He should have asked for lentils.
@@zalibecquerel3463 Blue whales!
Smarties!!
😄
@@zalibecquerel3463 lentils! lentils are good....no offence rice
What a great example of why i love to listen to the amazing intelect of Stephan Fry,....what a great thinker ala Aristotle is in reality.
No, he's a complete loser.
"The humanist view of the meaning of life is different. Humanists do not see that there is any obvious purpose to the universe, but that it is a natural phenomenon with no design behind it. Meaning is not something out there, waiting to be discovered, but something we create in our own lives." Stephen Fry
Real science says nothing does nothing. Real science says if there was something there already it must fit with the evidence of what we know. We know the 1LT says there's a conservation of energy. It can change forms and neither can be created or destroyed. Creation cannot happen by natural means. The 2LT has various aspects, one being the universe is winding down, entropy. Usable energy is becoming less usable, so at one point usable energy was at its max. This all points to a supernatural creation, by a supernatural creator at a certain point in which matter, space, and time were created. When I read how it can happen otherwise, ALL the fools resort to science-fiction. Once a supernatural creation is accepted, then the next step is finding proof of what supernatural power did it.
We can't even get science without God. The laws of nature only can come from a Lawgiver, God.
Only mindless people believe Fry.
@@2fast2block Only mindless people use the supernatural as an argument. At least learn the difference between reality and fantasy before making such idiotic arguments in the future.
Tanks “A “ times 2!l am an old guy who has always Loved mathematics.It explains everything, never thought about it in this way.Cheers ,Peace to all me related family ✌️”A”
I am anxiously waiting for Holiday gifts from all my relatives!
Truly a man that is a gift of insight that knows how to play gracefully with ideas.
He has the Oxford manner 🙂
He can't think his way out of a wet paper bag.
"The humanist view of the meaning of life is different. Humanists do not see that there is any obvious purpose to the universe, but that it is a natural phenomenon with no design behind it. Meaning is not something out there, waiting to be discovered, but something we create in our own lives." Stephen Fry
Real science says nothing does nothing. Real science says if there was something there already it must fit with the evidence of what we know. We know the 1LT says there's a conservation of energy. It can change forms and neither can be created or destroyed. Creation cannot happen by natural means. The 2LT has various aspects, one being the universe is winding down, entropy. Usable energy is becoming less usable, so at one point usable energy was at its max. This all points to a supernatural creation, by a supernatural creator at a certain point in which matter, space, and time were created. When I read how it can happen otherwise, ALL the fools resort to science-fiction. Once a supernatural creation is accepted, then the next step is finding proof of what supernatural power did it.
We can't even get science without God. The laws of nature only can come from a Lawgiver, God.
Only mindless people believe Fry.
@@bluesyjazzy-ish3489 so to losers like you, the laws of nature are views. They can be or not be depending upon one's view. Too bad you can't see what a joke you are. Then.....you want nice names for your loser selves.
@@bluesyjazzy-ish3489 now here's science from a loser that somehow proved me wrong...
"whoa, whoa…who shit in ur cheerios there dingleberry??🤣 Wanna talk about it sport?"
You're such a joke.
@@bluesyjazzy-ish3489 you're NO stranger, YOU shown yourself to be a loser from the START...
"Truly a man that is a gift of insight that knows how to play gracefully with ideas."
Then you tell me the science I gave was just simply my view. YOU did that so you are NO stranger of what a loser you love to be.
Over and over again you can't prove me wrong so you are NO stranger who wrote to me...
"whoa, whoa…who shit in ur cheerios there dingleberry??🤣 Wanna talk about it sport?"
F you! You showed what a horrible person you are.
Stephen Fry.....A British National Treasure.
I would argue that Stephen Fry is a treasure of Earth. Probably one of the 10 living humans I would include on an extra-terrestrial ambassador team.
An Earth National Treasure! ;)
I love Stephen, I can listen to him forever; he should be worshipped now not after he has passed away . celebrate the man!
3:26 For anyone interested, an alternative (and possibly more accurate) translation is "the King is helpless"
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checkmate#Etymology
Can't get enough Stephen Fry
Because you refuse to think too.
"The humanist view of the meaning of life is different. Humanists do not see that there is any obvious purpose to the universe, but that it is a natural phenomenon with no design behind it. Meaning is not something out there, waiting to be discovered, but something we create in our own lives." Stephen Fry
Real science says nothing does nothing. Real science says if there was something there already it must fit with the evidence of what we know. We know the 1LT says there's a conservation of energy. It can change forms and neither can be created or destroyed. Creation cannot happen by natural means. The 2LT has various aspects, one being the universe is winding down, entropy. Usable energy is becoming less usable, so at one point usable energy was at its max. This all points to a supernatural creation, by a supernatural creator at a certain point in which matter, space, and time were created. When I read how it can happen otherwise, ALL the fools resort to science-fiction. Once a supernatural creation is accepted, then the next step is finding proof of what supernatural power did it.
We can't even get science without God. The laws of nature only can come from a Lawgiver, God.
Only mindless people believe Fry.
If I were allowed to meet anyone in history, it would be Mr. Fry.
Where can I find the full show. It's brilliant
Stephen Fry is one of those guys/gals who can hold forth for an hour and I'd be happy just to listen to whatever he had to say
Ironically I can actually name my 8 great grandparents, and my 16 great great grandparents.... but it took a fair amount of research
I can name 6 of the 8. And a few great-greats on my mom's side. My uncle has done a lot of work on their maternal grandfather's family tree.
Ironically? I think not.
This speech shows clearly that there is but one race, The Human Race.
And NASCAR
@jutubaeh what language is that?
I agree with your sentiment, but we are one species. Not one race.
@@stephanberger3476 saying one race rather that one species is just saying it in the common lsnguage.
no it doesn't. You can use his same argument for us to not care for our species more than other species. In fact the argument would be stronger since the shared ancestry with have compared to different species than different races is much larger and much less known.
We are one family! Nice video, I like Fry, he’s cool!
I could listen this everyday and not get bored.
We know that we're all related. Of course, no dispute. But we are all also more related to certain groups of people than others, which have been isolated by geography and time, sometimes many thousands of years and this gives us distinguishable tribes and races.
Attributes
Tribes, as in nations? No. Many of today's nations are not that old and the ones that are ancient are by far the most mixed.
It depends indeed on how far one wants to go back. Probability does not overcome geographical barriers on its own. There is not reason to assume south americans should have been closer related to europeans than by the people migrating there way before any english kings and no matter how many great grandpeople of them one would end up with. In the simplified version Fry presents here, it is a flawed assumption based on being bamboozeled by large numbers without understanding them.
Stephen Fry is always such a pleasure to listen to!
If you like being lied to.
"The humanist view of the meaning of life is different. Humanists do not see that there is any obvious purpose to the universe, but that it is a natural phenomenon with no design behind it. Meaning is not something out there, waiting to be discovered, but something we create in our own lives." Stephen Fry
Real science says nothing does nothing. Real science says if there was something there already it must fit with the evidence of what we know. We know the 1LT says there's a conservation of energy. It can change forms and neither can be created or destroyed. Creation cannot happen by natural means. The 2LT has various aspects, one being the universe is winding down, entropy. Usable energy is becoming less usable, so at one point usable energy was at its max. This all points to a supernatural creation, by a supernatural creator at a certain point in which matter, space, and time were created. When I read how it can happen otherwise, ALL the fools resort to science-fiction. Once a supernatural creation is accepted, then the next step is finding proof of what supernatural power did it.
We can't even get science without God. The laws of nature only can come from a Lawgiver, God.
Only mindless people believe Fry.
Does anyone have a link to the full version of this talk...? :-) pretty please :-)
I'm happy to watch him and still adore his Genius
Really? You admire perverts and petty criminals? Don't forget that they gave Jimmy Savile an honorary doctorate and a knighthood. These people 'hide in plain sight'.
Well, I'm delighted to say that once again Stephen has taught me something
Stephen Fry is so loquacious that he could make an unremarkable conversation seem like the most interesting thing possible.
My Professor of American Literature at the University of Amsterdam Harold L. Beaver had the same gift of the gab, and his unstoppable mind would literally take us on a trip through European history - I remember a particularly inspiring riff on why Tintin could be considered a literary comic strip.
@@FrankieParadiso4evah Could you briefly share with us on behalf of Professor Beaver why he riffed on Tintin being considered a literary comic strip? Just out of curiosity. :)
@@manvirsahota5310 Mind you, this was three and a half decades ago, but I recall that HB was especially impressed by the way Herge kept the storyline of The Castafiore Emerald going without anything significant happening (which reminded him of French experimental novelists such as Perec and Robbe-Grillet), Tintin's Melvillean mission to decipher the evil world around him, and the human condition of stubbornly coping with failure as symbolized by Haddock, Thomson & Thompson and Professor Calculus. But then Beaver was the type of academic who would remind a student who spilled coffee on his professorial desk that this was reminiscent of a homo-erotic scene in Moby-Dick! Here's more on Tintin's literary merits fyi: www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/books/2006/jul/16/booksforchildrenandteenagers.features
@@FrankieParadiso4evah That's brilliant, thank you.
@Gillie Monger Yes and gay still means happy, literally still means "as it's written", flirt means a sharp movement, myriad still refers to the number 10,000 and terrific means to inspire terror.
Words change as language does. Loquacious can have a negative meaning but it can also mean to be able to speak well and effectively.
So do us all a favor and stop being the Anglo-Norman meaning of "nice".
I love that outfit ❤️ and that cute little tiny bow!
I love Stephen Fry!
I love the way he constantly says “I’m sure you all know”
His Pronunciation of Word "Shah" is very accurate according to Urdu, Farsi accents
of course it's accurate, he's Stephen Fry
I love you, Stephen Fry. The world is a better place because of you. xx
Thanks to you
I just recently got into these kinds of conversations or lectures. They are the ones that get grouped together on CZcams. Steven Hawkins, the Asian guy, Carl Sagan, NDT and That Dawkins fellow. I have a highschool education only. I chose military service over higher education and am proud of my service and would never change how I did it. I am thankful that this sort of info exists. As well as the internet itself. I could never criticize anything about what Mr. Fry speaks on because, to me he makes everything he talks about interesting and significant. He's tall so he has that presence and he has a pleasant sound when he speaks. Not crazy about the English accent if I'm around it too much, but that is mainly like Adel. I idolize her music, but the minute the song is over and her mouth goes from song to speech it's like wtf?? Is she fμ©KING around or being serious? I get the whole class thing over there with the speech change and dielect or what ever with the low medium high class levels of the way you guys talk but must admit that, allthough she is an outstanding singer, you all need to do something about her speaking to the PUBLIC. I have a rare form of PTSD. Her just saying " thank you" youve been a wonderful audience==### I feel a
5:40 It is *STILL* more rice than has ever existed.
That's just on square 64 (H8). And then you have to add the rice from square 63, and then the rice from square 62, and then from square 61, etc.
I think it's more rice than grains of sand in the Sahara Desert.
its well worth learning to play chess. I have a top of the range gaming system yet the most enjoyable game for me right now that i play on it is chess.
Simply brilliant!
It's an uncomfortable topic because it undoes who we think we are at a fundamental level. It's a comforting solution to hear we aren't alone in this. Stephen Frye has a beautiful mind
30tooth, waits for chuckle, waits for it, gives up....
In Armenian we call chess շախմատ (shakhmat), I had no idea it meant "the king is dead" in Farsi.
And the Persians we're the original Aryans.
Two of my great grandparents were Will(iam) and Grace. Truth.
Is there more of this? I would like to watch the whole thing...
In Polish is szach mat which sounds exactly how Stephen pronounced death of Shah in Farsi.
What a wonderful story about the history of chess. It turned out to be a great trip down memory lane. I still have an old photo of my father with the Shah of Iran.
I used to play a lot of chess. It teaches many things. One of the things it teaches is reality. You can't pretend to have the upper hand when you clearly don't. You have to go with what the real situation is. Fry never learned that lesson and is happy to be delusional.
"The humanist view of the meaning of life is different. Humanists do not see that there is any obvious purpose to the universe, but that it is a natural phenomenon with no design behind it. Meaning is not something out there, waiting to be discovered, but something we create in our own lives." Stephen Fry
Real science says nothing does nothing. Real science says if there was something there already it must fit with the evidence of what we know. We know the 1LT says there's a conservation of energy. It can change forms and neither can be created or destroyed. Creation cannot happen by natural means. The 2LT has various aspects, one being the universe is winding down, entropy. Usable energy is becoming less usable, so at one point usable energy was at its max. This all points to a supernatural creation, by a supernatural creator at a certain point in which matter, space, and time were created. When I read how it can happen otherwise, ALL the fools resort to science-fiction. Once a supernatural creation is accepted, then the next step is finding proof of what supernatural power did it.
We can't even get science without God. The laws of nature only can come from a Lawgiver, God.
Only mindless people believe Fry.
@@2fast2block
Hmm, 🤔 it seems you are suggesting that I am a mindless person. That would only be possible if we were aggregates of mindless matter, but it is actually a contradiction in terms, since we exist as smaller, limited minds within the infinite mind of God.
As the physicist Sir James Jeans put it: the universe is beginning to look more like a great thought.
You are quite right in your assessment that the idea that the universe just popped into existence and generated natural laws through random processes and chance conjunctions of dead matter is science fiction.
I would go so far as to suggest that it is a credulous belief in magic; an unacknowledged belief system that begins with a miracle and then attempts to explain this miraculous existence through the clouded lens of its own misguided point of view.
Unfortunately, we are awash in a sea of materialism which is the water in which we are now swimming, beyond which most are either unable or unwilling to see.
Secular humanism makes man the measure of all things, and the maker of meaning in a meaningless universe. This is not only an impossible task, but a form of spiritual solipsism that is a starvation of the soul, and has resulted in the crisis of meaning in which we now find ourselves.
Secular humanism, with its belief in physical materialism, is a dead end. Check mate.
Nevertheless, I still enjoyed Fry’s observations on chess.
Great talk, thank you
Wouldn't be the man I am today without Stephen.
What a legend
No, what a loser.
"The humanist view of the meaning of life is different. Humanists do not see that there is any obvious purpose to the universe, but that it is a natural phenomenon with no design behind it. Meaning is not something out there, waiting to be discovered, but something we create in our own lives." Stephen Fry
Real science says nothing does nothing. Real science says if there was something there already it must fit with the evidence of what we know. We know the 1LT says there's a conservation of energy. It can change forms and neither can be created or destroyed. Creation cannot happen by natural means. The 2LT has various aspects, one being the universe is winding down, entropy. Usable energy is becoming less usable, so at one point usable energy was at its max. This all points to a supernatural creation, by a supernatural creator at a certain point in which matter, space, and time were created. When I read how it can happen otherwise, ALL the fools resort to science-fiction. Once a supernatural creation is accepted, then the next step is finding proof of what supernatural power did it.
We can't even get science without God. The laws of nature only can come from a Lawgiver, God.
Only mindless people believe Fry.
I c oud listen to Stephen Fry on any subject
Absolutely brilliant, should be shown in schools, viewpoints and attitudes not that common in our over hyped bullshit culture..
Wonderful man.
congratulations MILLICENT PHILIPS she s 103in South Africa....see her in Brittish 1935 video hayday
The version i heard once concerning chess origin:
Indian rulers invented it loving the game of war without any unnecessary decorum.
The theory being enough.
The rice thing is easy: just tell the guy that it's all good, but he has to stack the rice himself on the actual chess squares.
He could talk about anything and still captivate, entertain and educate an audience.
Only to his fellow losers he can.
"The humanist view of the meaning of life is different. Humanists do not see that there is any obvious purpose to the universe, but that it is a natural phenomenon with no design behind it. Meaning is not something out there, waiting to be discovered, but something we create in our own lives." Stephen Fry
Real science says nothing does nothing. Real science says if there was something there already it must fit with the evidence of what we know. We know the 1LT says there's a conservation of energy. It can change forms and neither can be created or destroyed. Creation cannot happen by natural means. The 2LT has various aspects, one being the universe is winding down, entropy. Usable energy is becoming less usable, so at one point usable energy was at its max. This all points to a supernatural creation, by a supernatural creator at a certain point in which matter, space, and time were created. When I read how it can happen otherwise, ALL the fools resort to science-fiction. Once a supernatural creation is accepted, then the next step is finding proof of what supernatural power did it.
We can't even get science without God. The laws of nature only can come from a Lawgiver, God.
Only mindless people believe Fry.
That’s amazing
So good. A lot I know but most I do not. A lovely continued education.
The earliest Indian version of chess, regrettably, may have used dice too. It was also certainly around a LONG time before the "Moghuls" (who never called themselves that anyway). No disrespect to the great Mr Fry, who's always worth listening to.
I was disappointed by this rather sloppy research by Steven Fry especially as I enjoy listening to him and admire his intellect greatly. Perhaps his knowledge of Indian history only begins with the Muslim colonisers, the Mughals. I wonder how many other fake facts he's presented over the years which I have taken as sacrosanct thus far.
daarrkmatter
Ah, yes. Jews are the only people who like to tell embellished stories.
@@suen3634 You all seem to have missed the point - this is a well known parable that was created to explain exponentiality.
It was not meant to be an accurate representation of the original creation of Chess.
@@VestigialHead I think it is similar to hindu numerals. Arabs learnt from Indians, Europeans learnt from Arabs.
The Roman count system had no zero. The Arab system does.
We're all humans! There's only one race! THE HUMAN RACE! I remember a program about DNA where 4 people were interviewed and DNA tested. An Irishman, an African man, an Asian woman and an Englishman. It was discovered that the Englishman and the African man had common ancestral DNA. The African man saw the joke and leaned to the Englishman saying "Brother".
Huemans and Captain Caaaaavemaaaan
During the last ice age, the earth was frozen almost to the equator. The only human beings that could have survived it were those who lived on or very close to the equator. It is a dreadful fact for racists to have to discover that we are all descended from those black people.
@swamidude I'm not racist but... ;p jk very good point very well made
You have common ancestral DNA with every organism on the planet.
I always thought the rice thing was from Maco Polo?
but it is true that if you do 1 x 2 x 2 x 2 and so-on by the time you hit the 20th move the numbers won't fit your calculator.
It's almost 267.5 trillion rice grains!
Brilliant observations regarding so-called "race" and community.
I would love to sit with him and talk grat man
32th? I excuse you, Mr Fry, just because you're my favorite... :D
I just watch a video of Stephen about 'what makes us human'. Oh guardian of language 😂
OMG. What a gorgeous organ!
the story about the rice on the chessboard was on the world service this afternoon, i hadn't heard that story for years then youtube plays it for me again the same day.
I've struck that sort of thing too, synchronicity or whatever you want to call it. It's kind of fascinating. Same with individual words, there have been times when I've heard a particular word for the first time, then over the course of the next few days I'll hear the same word a few more times from different sources.
@@Markus_Andrew Glad i'm not the only one, sometimes i'm thinking of something pretty random, and the next item when i turn on the radio or tv will mention the subject.
Once I saw mentions of Samuel Johnson (the dictionary compiler) in 5 different books and TV shows that were otherwise entirely unrelated to each other in subject and genre (only one was actually about history). All in the space of a little over a week.
A few days ago I saw two different parodies of the song Jolene in unrelated contexts, a song which previously I hadn't heard in about 15 years.
Life is weird like that.
He is a brilliant funny and totally relevant gentleman.
Got cut off abruptly while talking about Ice Age survivors; isn't the entire speech online?
czcams.com/video/fH6RRzHLfVI/video.html
a fine and perfectly applicable self description
.
If you want to see the math:
(Assuming 1 generation = 25 years)
30 generations ago (c. 1250AD) you had over 1 billion ancestors vs. global population of 500 million, meaning that statistically you're probably related to everyone alive back then, twice over (they appear in your family tree twice)
40 generations ago (1000AD) over 1 trillion ancestors. Related to every human alive 000s of times over
50 generations (750) over 1 quadrillion ancestors. Related to everyone millions of times.
60 generations (500) over 1 quintillion ancestors. Related to every single human alive BILLIONS of times over.
That's not accounting for geographical lock-downs, I'm pretty sure I've got to go more than 30 generations to find relations with Australian aboriginals but yes, eventually it all evens out if you go far back enough.
Too bad your conclusions are wrong and genetic distance can be measured. That is like saying if you go back far enough you are related to the chicken on your salad. Different group of people are different and everyone knows and accepts this except Whites.
But hey, if no one is different and everyone is related why make all those special "assistance" programs and then discriminate on who can use or benefit from them. Especially when it's the global minority discriminating against themselves in their own country.
hahaha no but, you *are* related to the chicken in your salad.
Also, that is just blatant racism.
@@elliotkouame3849 : Facts are racism and if you say facts I will insult you like a child
I'm glad you feel comfortable enough to speak up on the internet. Perhaps you are also comfortable enough to educate yourself on the subjects you speak on? Try it. Knowledge is power after all.
hahaha no no, your comment about white people is racist.
If anyone needs educating here, it is you. On how to communicate in English.
In actual fact the ancestors that we have (in the sense of 'got our dna from') go a long way back but aren't very numerous.
Haha, quite true! I wonder what the critical amount of having one ancestor appearing in more that one familial stream is. There must be a level beyond which problems start to manifest.
I think he's underestimating how common it was to marry 2nd cousins, and how unlikely it is you would know if you're marrying a fourth or fifth removed cousin
The most complete human being I've ever known.
Nah, just a humanist with speaking talent. See: infoproc.blogspot.com/2008/11/european-genetic-substructure.html
Quite possibly my favourite human being.
Well there is a bit of a problem with Stephen’s example of the exponential increase in our ancestors, which is that he is calculating as you go back in time, each preceding generation gave you twice as many ancestors as the succeeding generation. This is literally impossible since otherwise the number of ancestors would be tending towards infinity as you go back further in time (or if you go forward in time, it would suggest the number of descendants is halving each generation, which would mean eventually we would be down to one person and then zero, since an individual cannot procreate by themselves). The problem is, of course, that this assumes each ancestor is a distinct person, when at some points, many points in fact, we must have had ancestors that produced more than one, and in fact many more than one of our later ancestors. Stephen kind of gets at the problem when he says “unless there was incest” in his family. Of course it need not be incest. I could have had a great, great, great grandparent, for instance, that was a great, great grandparent to both my mother and father, without having married someone of a very small number of degrees of consanguinity that might therefore be considered incest. That does not mean we are not all descended from Charlemagne, but the idea that a person had more ancestors than existed in all of Europe is not a proof that we are so descended. In fact, taken further, Stephen’s “proof” would prove that we had more ancestors at a far enough distant generation than existed people on the earth at the time, which is obviously impossible. Which is not to say the general idea Stephen poses is invalid. We are indeed ignorant of our heritage and very likely all related to each other (at some possible quite distant degree of consanguinity), and therefore it is nonsensical to treat others as somehow less worthy of consideration and respect and love based on their heritage. And moreover, I hope somehow I am closely related to Stephen since he is a marvelous human being.
He obviously knows all this, his message is of unity and brotherhood. His idea can be put another way: If we were able to travel in time, the further back we go, the more likely we will meet one ancestor.
@Marcus This is an excellent point, Marcus, but I think Scandinavia is a bit unusual in that respect, and of course further afield Iceland is I think the most highly related (which is why that population is so useful for genetic studies).
In the UK for example, we have the influence of various invasions, mostly Norman, but also the odd Viking ;)
Fry screws up from the start, creation, and he's all downhill from there.
"The humanist view of the meaning of life is different. Humanists do not see that there is any obvious purpose to the universe, but that it is a natural phenomenon with no design behind it. Meaning is not something out there, waiting to be discovered, but something we create in our own lives." Stephen Fry
Real science says nothing does nothing. Real science says if there was something there already it must fit with the evidence of what we know. We know the 1LT says there's a conservation of energy. It can change forms and neither can be created or destroyed. Creation cannot happen by natural means. The 2LT has various aspects, one being the universe is winding down, entropy. Usable energy is becoming less usable, so at one point usable energy was at its max. This all points to a supernatural creation, by a supernatural creator at a certain point in which matter, space, and time were created. When I read how it can happen otherwise, ALL the fools resort to science-fiction. Once a supernatural creation is accepted, then the next step is finding proof of what supernatural power did it.
We can't even get science without God. The laws of nature only can come from a Lawgiver, God.
Only mindless people believe Fry.
@Gillie Monger somehow to loser you, that made sense in your delusional world.
You completely missed the point. He’s delineating the problem with the exponential nature of ancestry without common ancestry, which gives you completely unrealistic figures - the only way to reconcile these figures and make them more manageable is by accepting that our ever-branching trees intersect many times over. Hence, we are all statistically likely to be direct descendants of someone living as recently as in the 9th century.
I made this same case to my Harvard, West Point business lawyer uncle and it kinda freaked him out once he thought about it for a couple of minutes.
Good chat , perhaps an hour on chess ,alone , how to start ,how to win ...
I need help, please, clever internet people: I once saw a video of him talking about the same topics (exponential growth / the invention of chess / relations) but much more elaborate, e.g. him explaining the reaction of the moghuls advisors in much more detail, how they started to calculate and the inventor (described as an old man) first inviting the moghul to play and the moghul then, once he understood, that he could never fullfill the inventor's wish "reacting like any calm and civilised ruler should - he chopped of his head". Stephen also said more on the topic of us all being related. The speech was held in a kind of arena, with him walking around. It ended with "So, all I really wanted to say was - hello, brothers and sisters!". It cannot find the longer version again, but I' d really love to show to my students. Can anybody help?
"An eighth, a sixteenth, a thirty - twoth..." Never a clever word spoken lol
This is mind bending!
18,446,744,073,709,551,616 grains of rice if anyone is wondering
One of his ancestors could have been named Melchett, I suppose...
An amazing description of "chess"
Perhaps the only true International Treasure, Mr. Stephen Fry.
David Owen Cull (father), Stuart Owen Cull, Frederick Cull Jnr., Frederick Cull Snr., George Cull.
John Addison Cull No women?
You've misunderstood the concept
Makes any form of discrimination a wee bit silly then, dunnit?
No. A college that has SAT-score requirements is discriminating. And certainly, intelligence, behavior, interests, tastes, etc, are the result of biology(IE genetics). There are a million reasons to discriminate, especially against idiots.
@@RBurns80 None of those are reasons to discriminate. Unless you choose for them to be.
@@benjaminkriesfeld3578"There is nothing more painful to me at this stage in my life than to walk down the street and hear footsteps... then turn around and see somebody white and feel relieved." - Jesse Jackson
@@RBurns80 Wow! You're so dull!
@@duxnihilo and you refuse to think.... "An idea is always a generalization, and generalization is a property of thinking. To generalize means to think" - Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
The chess inventor from the story asked for over 813 trillion pounds of rice.
How you got the pounds? Did you assume what kind of rice they were talking about? All rice doesn't weigh the same..
@@plowenson its a estimate, you assume the average weight of a grain of rice which doesn't deviate that much from each other and multiply it by 2^64. It just gives you a rough understanding of how much rice he asked for
@@gregoridester9648 sure. But you know there are different types of rice? Some may be double the size.. If you know exactly what kind of rice, then sure. I'd probably weigh a hundred grains or so then go up rather than weighing one grain. Too much of an error margin. You already know the total sum.
In metric please..
@@plowenson as i said its an estimate, to show how crazy the amount of rice he wants. No ones stopping you from calculating it yourself. At the end of the day you will get what he got, which is a absurd amount of rice.
Of course I know who my 8 great grandparents were!! That’s only my grandparents parents. (Admittedly, I knew, and had relationships with all 4 of my grandparents who all told me stories about their parents etc. and, believe it or not, I actually *listened* to them!)
thank you
Best of luck to those people who will try to ignore this story to maintain their comfortable illusions about race and religion.
Yes... We are all just connecting through a thousand people since the Ice Age. Somehow a couple hundred surivived on each continent and magically found each other there, and in just a few millenia we are somehow 7 billion people.
Santa Claus is also a real character who's immortal and lives in the North Pole.
@@TristanSune you built up a straw man and then broke it down. What a waste of time.