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Primitive Technology: Iron Bacteria Cement [video]
- LeifCarrotson 4y agoNot sure why this is here - I enjoy primitive tech's videos (often imitated, never duplicated - too many imitation channels have poorly-covered excavator tracks and chainsaw chips when the work crew and camera crew come in between cuts). But before watching, be sure to enable subtitles for a description of what he's doing!
- isbjorn16 4y agoor, conversely, turn them off before it starts and try to figure out what he's doing and why. then when it's done, turn the captions on and watch it again! our living room turns into bedlam when we do this. everyone shouting what is about to happen or why it's happening and we're almost always wrong. it's great!
- SV_BubbleTime 4y agoSo... Maybe in the way back of my brain I knew there were subtitles, but there is a good chance I'm just now learning about this. I think I've been watching these randomly since the beginning just trying to figure out what he's doing. I thought that was the game here!
- ArcticCelt 4y agoSo many people learn that there is subtitles through the comments section after many years of watching all his videos, probably because the videos are so enjoyable even without the explanations.
- skeaker 4y agoIt's been a long time since I've seen anything from his channel, but I recall that he would put out blog posts explaining the processes shown in the videos too.
- tomashubelbauer 4y agoI think the blog is dead: https://primitivetechnology.wordpress.com https://primitivetechnology.wordpress.com The video descriptions and the pinned comment are also really information dense though. And John Plant, the guy running Primitive Technology, has published a book, which I've not read but could be of interest to people who like this kind of content and would like more of it in the text form.
- mlambie 4y agoMy 10yr old son enjoys the book a lot!
- kbenson 4y agoNot entirely sure why you appear to be shadowbanned (nothing looked egregious in a quick scan of past comments), so I vouched for this comment so it shows for people that don't have showdead on. Maybe it's that most your comments are very short and single sentences and it's triggering some automated system looking spam as a false positive? Maybe it's worth being slightly more verbose in replies for a while, in case that's it. I assume if you get enough people vouching for comments the ban reverses itself, but I don't really know. You could also email hn and ask why.
- pangolinja 4y agoI like going into t mobile stores and changing the loud TV channels to primitive technology. it's beautiful to see the whole place calm down.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- tomcam 4y agoI wish I had as much energy as you
- pangolinja 4y agoI like going into t mobile stores and changing the loud TV channels to primitive technology. it's beautiful to see the whole place calm the fuck down.
- tomrod 4y agoThis one was cool. Could you also extract iron from the bacteria? EDIT: be sure to watch with the captions on, as the videographer explains what he is doing.
- rjbwork 4y agoYou can. He has some other videos where he actually does extract the iron and ~~makes a knife out of it.~~ makes a forgeable chunk. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZGAYzItazw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZGAYzItazw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPIUMpiV0IY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPIUMpiV0IY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOj4L9yp7Mc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOj4L9yp7Mc
- lapama 4y agoIn the first link, I understood better many things about human history... Still the guy does not sweat in front of a furnace. Obviously irrelevant, but strange!
- sn0wf1re 4y agoAs someone who has fought wildfire before, I personally found that sweat does not accumulate in front of a source of heat. You start to feel damp or wet after you walk away from the heat. Perhaps it is the same with a hot furnace.
- slackdog 4y agoI think he's probably sweating, but the sweat evaporates faster than it can bead up. Or maybe he's dehydrated.. I have wondered what the "behind the scenes" of his videos looks like; when he goes out into the woods does he bring modern water bottles and pack a lunch?
- pcthrowaway 4y agoHe does have a video about using "cane" to make a water filter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nG-rNHgFxhs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nG-rNHgFxhs
- neom 4y agoTotally unrelated to this video, just related to the subject matter on YouTube. Interesting how some of these style videos are totally bs. https://youtu.be/Hvk63LADbFc https://youtu.be/Hvk63LADbFc https://youtu.be/_0-uLF9PtNo https://youtu.be/_0-uLF9PtNo Again just to be clear, I believe this channel is legit. Just the genre on YouTube has some disingenuous stuff.
- pawelduda 4y agoPrimitive Technology is the first channel of this kind. These bullshit channels are just leeching off its success.
- rjbwork 4y agoYep. He's the OG. I started watching him in something like 2016 or so.
- MrFoof 4y agoFor a while he didn’t produce videos because he was contracted for some television shows in Australia due to his meteoric rise in popularity, but he thankfully was able to return to YouTube last year. I assume his contractual obligations had been met and no longer was bound by any exclusivity terms with the broadcast network anymore. His book is extremely detailed and pragmatic as well.
- masklinn 4y agoApparently the TV deal fell through: https://www.reddit.com/r/PrimitiveTechnology/comments/lfsq04/a_new_update_on_primitive_technology_and_johns/ https://www.reddit.com/r/PrimitiveTechnology/comments/lfsq04... > Another post on February 8, 2021, explained that Plant shot a pilot episode for the project but the network wanted to change the format, and that Plant could not share any more information. The /r/primitivetechnology mod had previously reached out to Plant after worry related to the hiatus: https://www.reddit.com/r/PrimitiveTechnology/comments/gscvv8/an_update_on_primitive_technology_and_johns/ https://www.reddit.com/r/PrimitiveTechnology/comments/gscvv8...
- martythemaniak 4y agoI present to you the best Hacker News comment I've ever read (it was in response to another Primitive Technology video): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32697419 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32697419
- nielsbot 4y agoIf I get stranded in ancient times, I hope to God kragen is there with me.
- kragen 4y agofrom most people's point of view, this will have been ancient times right here they will marvel at how stupid we've been and what obvious opportunities we've been wasting my efforts at improving the situation: http://canonical.org/~kragen/dercuano http://canonical.org/~kragen/dercuano http://canonical.org/~kragen/derctuo http://canonical.org/~kragen/derctuo http://canonical.org/~kragen/dernocua http://canonical.org/~kragen/dernocua
- thunderbong 4y agoMan, that entire comment thread is like mind blowing! So many things were possible but didn't happen. Made me wonder about the number of things that are possible now but isn't!
- SturgeonsLaw 4y agoNo doubt there are many things we could do today, with available materials, but we just don't know how to do it yet. There might be a catalyst that can efficiently combine CO2 with H2O to rip carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and create fuel. There might be a combination of materials and processes that we already know about which would enable grid scale nuclear fusion. There might be a way to use existing materials to create ultrafast photonic circuits. So many technologies are actually pretty simple when you look at their components - a lot of genetic engineering is "just" plastic, metal, and heated water baths.
- deleted 4y ago
- ramboldio 4y agocould this be used for 3D-printing?
- jaquer_1 4y ago[dead]
- iammjm 4y agoI very much appreciate this dude. The amount of time and energy he puts into making these is amazing.
- calibas 4y agoI believe this is Leptothrix bacteria, it creates an iridescent sheen on top of stagnant water, often mistaken for oil. It's quite common once you know what you're looking for.
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 4y agoThere were videos circulating from Ohio of people disturbing water and then seeing this iridescent sheen appear alongside conspiracy bs. Fascinating!
- antibasilisk 4y agoi've always found iron bacteria fascinating, is it possible to cultivate and farm it?
- jjk166 4y agoIt is, but the bacteria live off iron already in the water, increasing the amount of bacteria won't extract more iron. More generally though, there is an entire field of bioleaching[0] which does use bacteria to either mine material or more often recover extra minerals from mine waste products. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioleaching https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioleaching
- mike_hearn 4y agoIf you're new to Primitive Technology then it's worth starting from the oldest videos and working forward. These aren't just random tasks he sets himself. He starts by going into the Australian jungle with absolutely nothing except cargo shorts (not even shoes) and then proceeds to build himself a series of shacks and houses, starting with nothing more than a sharp stone and various plants. Then he starts building kilns and firing clay he digs out of the river bank (with a stick) making pots, bricks and roof tiles. Then he starts making charcoal and building a forge, so he can turn the iron bacteria in the creek into actual forged iron objects. He's been at it for years initially as a hobby and now he earns enough to make it his "job". He doesn't attempt to recreate the paths taken by ancient people - he's willing to use modern scientific knowledge - but he does appear to live by his rule of not taking anything with him and just using only the natural resources around him.
- jiggawatts 4y agoHis videos are also blessedly free of unnecessary music and shouted all-caps voice overs like many similar productions, whether on TV or YouTube. They’re very relaxing to watch after a long frustrating day at work.
- albatrosstrophy 4y agoWell these days they call it ASMR. But you're right he's one of the first to strip away all unnecessary sounds. Makes for a very therapeutic video.
- golemiprague 4y ago[dead]
- Quequau 4y agoFor those who are hearing, there are subtitles that you should turn on.
- jalk 4y agoLearned a new fact and word today: iron bacteria have cementitious properties
- YeGoblynQueenne 4y agoThat's interesting, but would those pots be as sturdy as fired clay pots? If you drop them, will the break more, or less easily, I mean, than fired clay pots? I'm asking because they look a little too loose to me, and btw, the material seems less easy to mold than clay. In any case this is a very interesting piece of information from a scientific point of view, but for practical reasons I think fired clay is much more practical (because much faster to make stuff with).