5 ms·

Worth watching is the moment Shatner tries to explain his experience to Bezos, and Bezos barely listens. A portrait of two very different men. https://m.youtub

Worth watching is the moment Shatner tries to explain his experience to Bezos, and Bezos barely listens. A portrait of two very different men. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1AilPvC37c https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1AilPvC37c

OJFord 4y ago
Wow, at the beginning I was thinking 'you can't really tell if he's listening or not, looking at him through sunglasses, and to be fair I would struggle to hear/pay attention over all that in thale background' - but by the end... Yeah it's very clear where he wants to be!
vermilingua 4y ago
> You want a little of this? From the top comment: > It becomes that much worse when you remember that Shatner is a recovering alcoholic, and lost his wife to an alcohol related drowning incident. Bezos is a real piece of shit.
- ShamelessC 4y ago
  Why was this flagged? Shatner clearly refuses the champagne.
  - WesolyKubeczek 4y ago
    - marcusverus 4y ago
      It was flagged because it's hyperbolic flamebait-- a perfect example of the sort of low-effort comment that is discouraged on HN.
  - dang 4y ago
    It broke the site guidelines and therefore was correctly flagged. Whether or not HN commenters owe superbillionaires better, they definitely owe this community better if they're participating in it. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
    - ShamelessC 4y ago
      Fair enough! I'll dig through these later, although I'm guessing it is the inflammatory nature of the comment tht led others to flag it. If only people flagged this sort of thing consistently. So it goes.
dstroot 4y ago
I watched it live. It was uncomfortable and heartbreaking. William had a very profound experience and he wanted to explain it and thank Jeff. Jeff could not even focus long enough to let William get a few sentences out. Jeff’ s “team” (I think led by his significant other) was essentially throwing a frat party behind him - screaming ”whooo” and drinking/spraying champagne. It was sad.
- thanatos519 4y ago
  > It was uncomfortable and heartbreaking. Yeah. I'm squirming at the memory. Bezos says "I wanna hear this! ..." but then goes back to the party. I don't think he really wanted to hear it.
  - gojomo 4y ago
    I suspect Bezos did want to hear it, but the whole emotional-mix – dominated for Bezos by his other-associates hooting-and-hollering – limited his ability to do so in the moment. Shatner, whose career & big personality I love, is probably used to being listened to. He's later-in-life than Bezos and from a career of storytelling & emotion. In that situation, I'd have rather heard Shatner's immediate thoughts, than the generic euphoria of one more successful mission. But I still don't think Bezos wronged Shatner with his divided attention. Bezos has already had the same experience. Bezos is at a earlier stage-of-life, & comes from a career of ruthless accounting & physics efficiencies. While most space-fans would be sufficiently star-struck to give Shatner the kind of focused attention that a celebrity usually gets, Bezos's own celebrity, fame, & space-experience – not to mention his personal & professional relationships to all the others there – put him far past that. I think the analogy from NYT's David Streitfeld, that this was a "Kirk/Spock" moment, is closest to the fair truth: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/13/science/bezos-shatner-star-trek.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/13/science/bezos-shatner-sta...
- osigurdson 4y ago
  Screaming "whooo" is legitimate behaviour after doing something exhilarating/dangerous for the first time.
helsinkiandrew 4y ago
He does look a bit of a dim-witted moron, but in his defence he'd also been in space and had his own experience - he wanted to celebrate.
- sixQuarks 4y ago
  Not only that, Shatner talks so slow, I’m sure Bezos was getting impatient. I don’t like Bezos, but I gotta call it like I see it
Maursault 4y ago
That was disturbing. Though no one notices, because they are revered for what often comes easy to them, accomplished actors are by and large humble even though the opposite is often believed. Besides inconceivable amounts of money, the one common defining quality among billionaires is narcissism, shorthand for lack of empathy, self-importance, entitlement, need for constant admiration, fear of criticism, etc.
- mapremap 4y ago
  What an empathic viewpoint you have there.
jiggywiggy 4y ago
Just 2 human struggling with their place in existence. One has his identity shattered, other not trying to let it in of fear of going down the same path. Both makes sense. I'm waiting for the day the first psychedelic space flight retreat company gets off :)
swalsh 4y ago
After reading the article, and understanding what he was trying to articulate this is even more uncomfortable. Shatner was dealing with his whole worldview changing.
ramzyo 4y ago
Looks like they had a meaningful conversation about it a little later. https://youtu.be/jstD4tIuRuI https://youtu.be/jstD4tIuRuI
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
peteradio 4y ago
The only thing that sucks is that all this had to be videotaped. Has noone else been pulled in multiple directions at a party, its an uncomfortable situation kind of like having high-guy telling you all his mindblowing theories he just thought of and your like I'm not drunk yet.
- renewiltord 4y ago
  Haha, it's a funny video in exactly the way you say: it's so Seinfeld-relatable. He's trying to make sure everyone is acknowledged and there's no way to do it in that instant comfortably. The best you can do is ack each thing and then come to it when you can come to it. In the end, the Bezo didn't do that poorly.
ETH_start 4y ago
In this segment, Bezos is listening intently: https://youtu.be/OTfQVMH5SuI https://youtu.be/OTfQVMH5SuI
tjpnz 4y ago
I watched it live and remember distinctly how my mouth dropped to the floor. He was pouring his heart out to the man but you could tell that he just didn't want be there. The least he could've done is pretend to show an interest but he couldn't even do that.
belter 4y ago
Is that more cringe than this one? - https://youtu.be/nkBGe-VYT5Y?t=18 https://youtu.be/nkBGe-VYT5Y?t=18

OJFord 4y ago

Wow, at the beginning I was thinking 'you can't really tell if he's listening or not, looking at him through sunglasses, and to be fair I would struggle to hear/pay attention over all that in thale background' - but by the end... Yeah it's very clear where he wants to be!

vermilingua 4y ago

> You want a little of this? From the top comment: > It becomes that much worse when you remember that Shatner is a recovering alcoholic, and lost his wife to an alcohol related drowning incident. Bezos is a real piece of shit.

ShamelessC 4y ago
Why was this flagged? Shatner clearly refuses the champagne.
- WesolyKubeczek 4y ago
  - marcusverus 4y ago
    It was flagged because it's hyperbolic flamebait-- a perfect example of the sort of low-effort comment that is discouraged on HN.
- dang 4y ago
  It broke the site guidelines and therefore was correctly flagged. Whether or not HN commenters owe superbillionaires better, they definitely owe this community better if they're participating in it. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - ShamelessC 4y ago
    Fair enough! I'll dig through these later, although I'm guessing it is the inflammatory nature of the comment tht led others to flag it. If only people flagged this sort of thing consistently. So it goes.

dstroot 4y ago

I watched it live. It was uncomfortable and heartbreaking. William had a very profound experience and he wanted to explain it and thank Jeff. Jeff could not even focus long enough to let William get a few sentences out. Jeff’ s “team” (I think led by his significant other) was essentially throwing a frat party behind him - screaming ”whooo” and drinking/spraying champagne. It was sad.

thanatos519 4y ago
> It was uncomfortable and heartbreaking. Yeah. I'm squirming at the memory. Bezos says "I wanna hear this! ..." but then goes back to the party. I don't think he really wanted to hear it.
- gojomo 4y ago
  I suspect Bezos did want to hear it, but the whole emotional-mix – dominated for Bezos by his other-associates hooting-and-hollering – limited his ability to do so in the moment. Shatner, whose career & big personality I love, is probably used to being listened to. He's later-in-life than Bezos and from a career of storytelling & emotion. In that situation, I'd have rather heard Shatner's immediate thoughts, than the generic euphoria of one more successful mission. But I still don't think Bezos wronged Shatner with his divided attention. Bezos has already had the same experience. Bezos is at a earlier stage-of-life, & comes from a career of ruthless accounting & physics efficiencies. While most space-fans would be sufficiently star-struck to give Shatner the kind of focused attention that a celebrity usually gets, Bezos's own celebrity, fame, & space-experience – not to mention his personal & professional relationships to all the others there – put him far past that. I think the analogy from NYT's David Streitfeld, that this was a "Kirk/Spock" moment, is closest to the fair truth: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/13/science/bezos-shatner-star-trek.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/13/science/bezos-shatner-sta...
osigurdson 4y ago
Screaming "whooo" is legitimate behaviour after doing something exhilarating/dangerous for the first time.

helsinkiandrew 4y ago

He does look a bit of a dim-witted moron, but in his defence he'd also been in space and had his own experience - he wanted to celebrate.

sixQuarks 4y ago
Not only that, Shatner talks so slow, I’m sure Bezos was getting impatient. I don’t like Bezos, but I gotta call it like I see it

Maursault 4y ago

That was disturbing. Though no one notices, because they are revered for what often comes easy to them, accomplished actors are by and large humble even though the opposite is often believed. Besides inconceivable amounts of money, the one common defining quality among billionaires is narcissism, shorthand for lack of empathy, self-importance, entitlement, need for constant admiration, fear of criticism, etc.

mapremap 4y ago
What an empathic viewpoint you have there.

jiggywiggy 4y ago

Just 2 human struggling with their place in existence. One has his identity shattered, other not trying to let it in of fear of going down the same path. Both makes sense. I'm waiting for the day the first psychedelic space flight retreat company gets off :)

swalsh 4y ago

After reading the article, and understanding what he was trying to articulate this is even more uncomfortable. Shatner was dealing with his whole worldview changing.

ramzyo 4y ago

Looks like they had a meaningful conversation about it a little later. https://youtu.be/jstD4tIuRuI https://youtu.be/jstD4tIuRuI

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

peteradio 4y ago

The only thing that sucks is that all this had to be videotaped. Has noone else been pulled in multiple directions at a party, its an uncomfortable situation kind of like having high-guy telling you all his mindblowing theories he just thought of and your like I'm not drunk yet.

renewiltord 4y ago
Haha, it's a funny video in exactly the way you say: it's so Seinfeld-relatable. He's trying to make sure everyone is acknowledged and there's no way to do it in that instant comfortably. The best you can do is ack each thing and then come to it when you can come to it. In the end, the Bezo didn't do that poorly.

ETH_start 4y ago

In this segment, Bezos is listening intently: https://youtu.be/OTfQVMH5SuI https://youtu.be/OTfQVMH5SuI

tjpnz 4y ago

I watched it live and remember distinctly how my mouth dropped to the floor. He was pouring his heart out to the man but you could tell that he just didn't want be there. The least he could've done is pretend to show an interest but he couldn't even do that.

belter 4y ago

Is that more cringe than this one? - https://youtu.be/nkBGe-VYT5Y?t=18 https://youtu.be/nkBGe-VYT5Y?t=18