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I think I speak for most when I say that my reaction to this news is "expected disappointment". I never truly believed it was real, but I wanted to. Dearly.

I think I speak for most when I say that my reaction to this news is "expected disappointment". I never truly believed it was real, but I wanted to. Dearly. I very much wanted to believe that some Dutch guy had realized the dreams of Icarus. I wanted to believe that it was possible that I, too, could soar through the clouds with nothing but my own body and some nylon keeping me aloft. Regardless, let us not deride the filmaker, nor undeservedly dismiss his goals. He wanted to make us dream, and in that he succeeded. Let us take from this a renewed sense of the possible; let us allow our doubts to float away and think once more as children. Let us see in this a promise, perhaps not of human-powered flight, but of the power of human imagination. Let us realize that the reaction to this video reflects a deeper yearning, and let us strive to fill that hole. We will likely never achieve the dream of unassisted flight, but we may yet achieve other dreams as seemingly hopeless. Let us not allow ourselves to be too greatly constrained by what is, that we miss what might be.

Produce 15y ago
>could soar through the clouds with nothing but my own body and some nylon keeping me aloft. For crying out loud, just go skydiving already.
- redthrowaway 15y ago
  Done it; loved everything before the chute opened. Everything after was a boring interlude that threatened my ability to have children. Also, holy fuck my ears.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
peter_l_downs 15y ago
> I never truly believed it was real, but I wanted to. This is what sells any great hoax. I also think it's interesting that the ability to get people to believe in and desire something is exactly what a great entrepreneur/CEO/salesman (see: Steve Jobs) must do to make their product a success.
ericb 15y ago
I think that wing design might work well within a massive air-filled structure on the moon.
andrewfelix 15y ago
>He wanted to make us dream, and in that he succeeded. I think all he succeeded in doing was increasing peoples cynicism. Next time you see an amazing video, your doubt will be that little bit more compounded thanks to 'Human Birdwings'
- brk 15y ago
  Next time you see an amazing video, your doubt will be that little bit more compounded thanks to 'Human Birdwings' Honestly, I'm not sure this is a Bad Thing. Too many people seem prone to believe things that are presented to them in the media. A little more critical thinking/critical analysis skills in the general population wouldn't be the worst thing...
  - deleted 15y ago
    [deleted]
knowtheory 15y ago
Why not deride the film maker? The problem i have with him is the same problem that i have with all liars. Namely, that the world is such an interesting and fascinating place, that wasting time on hoaxes and stupid "ha ha! i tricked you!" sorts of media is largely pointless. This dude can claim that his effort was really an "experiment" about online media and how to tell a story, but frankly, I think that's bullshit. This guy isn't doing research about what it takes a viral video to study viral videos so that society might better understand how it is that information is passed between members of a network (and there are folks who study this sort of thing). This dude is just trying to make a project of his go viral. I really see very little distinction between this project and any other sort of fame-whoring, save for the amount of effort put in. So, please tell me if you can, why this hoax is an improvement, or even a useful fiction in the face of real science/engineering awesomeness like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0E77j1imdhQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0E77j1imdhQ
- bitwize 15y ago
  High art = trolling. This has been true at least since Derrida, possibly since Marcel Duchamp's statement that an artist is legitimate only in how much he challenged accepted notions of art.
  - knowtheory 15y ago
    I don't have a problem with artists needling society (and you're absolutely right, there are a lot of amazing artists who have been epic trolls). I have a problem with artists needling society solely because they can. As a work of inspiration/aspiration, human bird wings is rather underwhelming.
    - kill_all_humans 15y ago
      I don't have a problem with people posting their opinions, but your comment offends me and I found it underwhelming. Not because of what you said, but your intentional attitude. So I'm going to complain about it, because saying "I'm offended" is my admission that I can't control my emotions, so the rest of the world should do it for me.
roc 15y ago
> "He wanted to make us dream" Last I checked the dream of personal human flight is well-entrenched. There's no shortage of interest in jetpacks, personal helicopter backpacks and even that water-powered 'jetpack' thing; to say nothing of the legit powered-glider sorts of projects. I'm pretty sure no-one needed this hoax to 'dream'. Trying to drape a hoax in a desire to 'inspire' rings hollow to me. It sounds like more shameless self-promotion from someone who set out to get nothing but attention.

Produce 15y ago

>could soar through the clouds with nothing but my own body and some nylon keeping me aloft. For crying out loud, just go skydiving already.

redthrowaway 15y ago
Done it; loved everything before the chute opened. Everything after was a boring interlude that threatened my ability to have children. Also, holy fuck my ears.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

peter_l_downs 15y ago

> I never truly believed it was real, but I wanted to. This is what sells any great hoax. I also think it's interesting that the ability to get people to believe in and desire something is exactly what a great entrepreneur/CEO/salesman (see: Steve Jobs) must do to make their product a success.

ericb 15y ago

I think that wing design might work well within a massive air-filled structure on the moon.

andrewfelix 15y ago

>He wanted to make us dream, and in that he succeeded. I think all he succeeded in doing was increasing peoples cynicism. Next time you see an amazing video, your doubt will be that little bit more compounded thanks to 'Human Birdwings'

brk 15y ago
Next time you see an amazing video, your doubt will be that little bit more compounded thanks to 'Human Birdwings' Honestly, I'm not sure this is a Bad Thing. Too many people seem prone to believe things that are presented to them in the media. A little more critical thinking/critical analysis skills in the general population wouldn't be the worst thing...
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]

knowtheory 15y ago

Why not deride the film maker? The problem i have with him is the same problem that i have with all liars. Namely, that the world is such an interesting and fascinating place, that wasting time on hoaxes and stupid "ha ha! i tricked you!" sorts of media is largely pointless. This dude can claim that his effort was really an "experiment" about online media and how to tell a story, but frankly, I think that's bullshit. This guy isn't doing research about what it takes a viral video to study viral videos so that society might better understand how it is that information is passed between members of a network (and there are folks who study this sort of thing). This dude is just trying to make a project of his go viral. I really see very little distinction between this project and any other sort of fame-whoring, save for the amount of effort put in. So, please tell me if you can, why this hoax is an improvement, or even a useful fiction in the face of real science/engineering awesomeness like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0E77j1imdhQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0E77j1imdhQ

bitwize 15y ago
High art = trolling. This has been true at least since Derrida, possibly since Marcel Duchamp's statement that an artist is legitimate only in how much he challenged accepted notions of art.
- knowtheory 15y ago
  I don't have a problem with artists needling society (and you're absolutely right, there are a lot of amazing artists who have been epic trolls). I have a problem with artists needling society solely because they can. As a work of inspiration/aspiration, human bird wings is rather underwhelming.
  - kill_all_humans 15y ago
    I don't have a problem with people posting their opinions, but your comment offends me and I found it underwhelming. Not because of what you said, but your intentional attitude. So I'm going to complain about it, because saying "I'm offended" is my admission that I can't control my emotions, so the rest of the world should do it for me.

roc 15y ago

> "He wanted to make us dream" Last I checked the dream of personal human flight is well-entrenched. There's no shortage of interest in jetpacks, personal helicopter backpacks and even that water-powered 'jetpack' thing; to say nothing of the legit powered-glider sorts of projects. I'm pretty sure no-one needed this hoax to 'dream'. Trying to drape a hoax in a desire to 'inspire' rings hollow to me. It sounds like more shameless self-promotion from someone who set out to get nothing but attention.