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Source: youtube/20230216-BHegBC0tO6M-Reverie - The Answer.mkv
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00:00:01.640 Speaker 1 Reverie.
00:00:05.060 Speaker 1 This is the answer to the most human question.
00:00:10.220 Speaker 1 I'm standing at the back of Galaxy Sex Rooms. It's a strange place to start. The
00:00:15.860 Speaker 1 place is empty, but in a way that a nightclub is empty at noon. It looks awkward
00:00:20.740 Speaker 1 with the lights on. Ironically, it looks naked. But I can tell the floor-to-ceiling
00:00:26.700 Speaker 1 smoked glass walls and the sleek purple furniture must look different at night when
00:00:31.820 Speaker 1 giggling couples stroll in. At the moment, there's a strong smell of vinegar.
00:00:38.240 Speaker 1 I feel like I'm not supposed to be here.
00:00:42.420 Speaker 1 A pudgy man walks about spraying glass and wiping it down. I try to avoid his
00:00:47.460 Speaker 1 suspicion on my way out. But the tightness of his expression, the light smile
00:00:53.520 Speaker 1 playing there. He's certainly seen me, so he's pretending. I
00:00:59.240 Speaker 1 realize I must look like a curious interloper sneaking in to see what's inside when
00:01:04.420 Speaker 1 no one's around. There's no one at the front desk. He must have been the owner.
00:01:12.480 Speaker 1 I pass through a humble casino. It looks like an afterthought, a meager pastime
00:01:18.020 Speaker 1 between other places. True enough, there's no one there.
00:01:23.120 Speaker 1 A wide open entryway pulls me to the street outside. It's a city,
00:01:30.180 Speaker 1 and there's a...
00:01:32.560 Speaker 1 There's a feeling.
00:01:35.200 Speaker 1 I can't place it yet, but it's warm.
00:01:40.320 Speaker 1 Cozy. I've never seen a cozy city. The sign above me
00:01:46.360 Speaker 1 reads Galaxy Games. It's a mild thing, not trying to stand out.
00:01:53.820 Speaker 1 There's a road, but the cars are so uncommon as to be novelties. I take
00:01:59.840 Speaker 1 the thin sidewalk, enraptured by sights and smells. I'm drawn to an
00:02:05.540 Speaker 1 open-air sidewalk bar where patrons sit on swiveling high-top stools.
00:02:11.440 Speaker 1 It's all brass and chrome and dark hardwood. The bartender is in her
00:02:17.140 Speaker 1 seventies or eighties. It's hard to tell. She catches my gaze and
00:02:22.960 Speaker 1 matches it. She's charmed, I realize. I break the fragile
00:02:29.000 Speaker 1 connection, and she delves back into the bustle of conversation, cheerful calls for
00:02:34.340 Speaker 1 drink, and playful insults tossed back and forth across the bar. I can't make
00:02:40.340 Speaker 1 out the words, but the tone speaks well of them. This is the kind of talk that
00:02:46.380 Speaker 1 only long friends can manage.
00:02:50.260 Speaker 1 But what shakes me is that they're old. Everyone at the bar is
00:02:55.820 Speaker 1 old. Shocking white hair and thoughtfully wrinkled faces. They are what
00:03:01.620 Speaker 1 old is supposed to be. It's in their spiffy ironed clothes.
00:03:08.160 Speaker 1 It's the way they lean far out of their chairs to speak. They are so much less
00:03:13.920 Speaker 1 alone.
00:03:16.220 Speaker 1 They look like a Norman Rockwell painting, something better than life caught in a
00:03:20.940 Speaker 1 single frame.
00:03:23.820 Speaker 1 It's strange. I get the feeling that they're here because they're old,
00:03:30.460 Speaker 1 because they want to be around people who are like them.
00:03:36.000 Speaker 1 The city must be preparing for some holiday because there are ribbons and ornaments
00:03:39.900 Speaker 1 being hung everywhere. People on ladders, people in tuxedos, people making busy.
00:03:46.840 Speaker 1 I stop and watch a caterer slicing apart some food. It's not the food that's
00:03:51.700 Speaker 1 arresting, it's the man. His face is locked into focus to rival a chess
00:03:57.140 Speaker 1 grandmaster. I've never seen mundane work done with such apparent
00:04:02.820 Speaker 1 care.
00:04:04.820 Speaker 1 I almost wanna laugh at the way he gets an inch from the food just to cut it. Cut it
00:04:09.600 Speaker 1 just right. But in truth, I'm impressed.
00:04:16.079 Speaker 1 Good for him. There's that feeling again. Comfort.
00:04:22.360 Speaker 1 Wholesome. They're just words dancing around a thing I've never felt before.
00:04:30.220 Speaker 1 Reverie. This place is called Reverie.
00:04:38.160 Speaker 1 It dawns on me that the event workers want to be here.
00:04:44.360 Speaker 1 They chose to labor over the small details. The old people at the bar chose to
00:04:50.400 Speaker 1 be old. Even the fat owner of Galaxy Sex Rooms chose to be that way.
00:04:57.000 Speaker 1 He is unattractive in a way that lets his guests focus on each other.
00:05:02.820 Speaker 1 And for a certain kind of person, though, he is exactly attractive.
00:05:08.800 Speaker 1 He certainly seemed huggable.
00:05:11.940 Speaker 1 I wander toward the leading edge of a building-sized folding fan. Every space blends
00:05:17.900 Speaker 1 naturally into the next. Each place is open enough to welcome you, but closed enough
00:05:23.420 Speaker 1 to tempt your curiosity. Everything invites further discovery without begging.
00:05:29.580 Speaker 1 There is no begging of attention from the people or the places. I get the feeling
00:05:36.040 Speaker 1 the currency is very different here from where I live.
00:05:40.800 Speaker 1 It is romantically dim beneath the fan. Hundreds of candlelit tables are strewn
00:05:46.720 Speaker 1 in thoughtfully messy groups. Couples seated in hushed conversations,
00:05:52.440 Speaker 1 holding hands and walking the garden path, looking up at the firefly lighting,
00:05:59.040 Speaker 1 white marble balconies, and glass elevators that seem to glow with orange reflected
00:06:04.940 Speaker 1 light. It's a hotel, a destination.
00:06:11.368 Speaker 1 A wave of discrete servers move across the lawn, weaving through the tables in some
00:06:17.208 Speaker 1 pre-planned, coordinated pattern. It almost looks like a show. The people at
00:06:23.208 Speaker 1 the tables point at the servers with eager delight. And look at this, they
00:06:29.028 Speaker 1 seem to say. The servers pause at each table to hand out a paper cone
00:06:34.988 Speaker 1 of spiced popcorn. There is no money exchanged.
00:06:40.348 Speaker 1 Happy Valentine's Eve, I hear a server murmur. It seems like a ridiculous thing to
00:06:46.288 Speaker 1 celebrate, but the guests are awed by this surprise. And I'm given the impression
00:06:51.648 Speaker 1 that today, like most days, these servers will go home weary,
00:06:58.168 Speaker 1 aching, but full. Despite their stiffness, their minds are still
00:07:03.968 Speaker 1 whirring for tomorrow and new ways to surprise, delight, and be of service.
00:07:10.728 Speaker 1 They are paid in gratitude, and their service is received with the mutual
00:07:15.768 Speaker 1 understanding that it is a gift freely given.
00:07:20.728 Speaker 1 The weight of that gift is astounding.
00:07:24.648 Speaker 1 There are people who choose to serve.
00:07:29.548 Speaker 1 Just as I am learning the shape of it all, I feel my time in reverie is thinning. I
00:07:35.228 Speaker 1 think to ride an elevator to the top to see the whole of the place.
00:07:40.148 Speaker 1 I step into a quiet marble hallway. A long white desk blocks the path
00:07:45.988 Speaker 1 deeper into the hotel. A man in a fine gray suit fixes a stern look on me.
00:07:52.408 Speaker 1 Even at this distance, his body language tells me I will be rejected at the desk.
00:07:58.328 Speaker 1 That is the owner of the hotel. It's his place, and he takes its operations
00:08:04.308 Speaker 1 seriously. He is utterly dedicated, an inspiration to the people who
00:08:10.128 Speaker 1 work here. And like each of them, he chooses to be here.
00:08:16.748 Speaker 1 He has chosen to operate a hotel, but he isn't trapped by it. If he truly wished,
00:08:23.088 Speaker 1 on any day, he could simply walk out and seek some new passion. But the hardness of
00:08:28.928 Speaker 1 his eyes, the pride in his posture, they tell me that that may be a very
00:08:35.008 Speaker 1 long, long time.
00:08:38.188 Speaker 1 There are rules here in his place, and I am not on the list. So
00:08:44.628 Speaker 1 I turn to walk back through the fan-shaped building, knowing that without looking,
00:08:49.108 Speaker 1 it will be open at the other end. In that strange way, the places here flow
00:08:53.488 Speaker 1 naturally into one another. A chain of possibilities. A city designed enough to be
00:08:59.208 Speaker 1 seamless, but somehow still organic and spontaneous.
00:09:04.448 Speaker 1 I can feel my time in reverie coming to an end.
00:09:08.668 Speaker 1 Whatever invisible thread is holding me here is growing taut. It's about to snap me
00:09:13.628 Speaker 1 back to where I belong. I'm desperate to stay. Ahead of me is
00:09:19.668 Speaker 1 a park of some kind where people play the kind of sports I could scarcely imagine.
00:09:24.708 Speaker 1 There are courts enclosed by a chain-link cage that have a net like tennis, except
00:09:30.468 Speaker 1 ten feet off the ground. On each side, a team of three handle a dense-looking blue
00:09:36.328 Speaker 1 or red ball. Comically, in the corner of the court is a huge stretchy band, like a
00:09:41.928 Speaker 1 slingshot. I watch the captain pull back the ball and launch it over the net. She
00:09:46.688 Speaker 1 yells an order at her teammate while the opposing team scrambles to catch the ball.
00:09:50.868 Speaker 1 A man vaults off the back fence, catches the zipping ball, and then throws it like a
00:09:54.748 Speaker 1 bullet at the other team under the net. The ball rebounds off someone's face.
00:10:00.088 Speaker 1 There's a distant cheer, and then the energy of the game subsides temporarily. I see
00:10:05.188 Speaker 1 the teams pulled together to discuss some strategy for the next round.
00:10:10.608 Speaker 1 And beyond the courts, I see a great spiraling structure, like a slide, if a
00:10:16.648 Speaker 1 slide were made of a single blade. People dangle on bungee-like tethers,
00:10:22.608 Speaker 1 and to my surprise, they leap onto the rail using a board at their feet. The tethers
00:10:28.308 Speaker 1 make them weigh almost nothing as they grind down the rail, flipping and twirling in
00:10:33.328 Speaker 1 the air with ease. Sometimes a rail rider falls from the rail, only to glide
00:10:39.088 Speaker 1 harmlessly to the ground, suspended by a network of tethers and swiveling metal
00:10:44.028 Speaker 1 arms. Once clear of the rail, they tug once on the tether and it whisks them back to
00:10:49.408 Speaker 1 the top of the tower, to try again or watch their fellow riders instead. There are
00:10:55.288 Speaker 1 people scattered about the park just to watch. A teenage pair, still attached to the
00:11:01.308 Speaker 1 tethers, are dangling their feet over the edge of a smaller tower. They have the
00:11:05.468 Speaker 1 spot and the view to themselves. By some unspoken pact, no one bothers them.
00:11:12.228 Speaker 1 The girl leans in close, too close to be friends, and whispers something to the
00:11:17.328 Speaker 1 stoic-looking boy. He stares straight ahead, but I can see the shock on his face,
00:11:23.348 Speaker 1 the sudden flush of red on his cheeks. I can't make out their words, but I don't
00:11:28.708 Speaker 1 need to. I know young love when I see it. It seems like a wonderful place
00:11:34.688 Speaker 1 to be in love.
00:11:36.908 Speaker 1 Falling in love is something people do here often. And though I cannot see them,
00:11:42.928 Speaker 1 I know that just beyond my view, there are theaters where I could see a play or
00:11:47.748 Speaker 1 learn to be in one. And they wouldn't just let me act. I would have to earn it.
00:11:54.488 Speaker 1 It would take dedication, like the dedication of the hotel owner. I can
00:12:00.528 Speaker 1 sense that there are thousands of thousands of places where I could find and stoke a
00:12:06.168 Speaker 1 passion. Millions of people I could come to know and befriend.
00:12:12.372 Speaker 1 I am jolted by that powerful feeling again. A collective sense of meaning and
00:12:18.532 Speaker 1 purpose, contentment and striving. It comes in a thousand
00:12:23.652 Speaker 1 variations, but each person is exactly where they want to
00:12:29.672 Speaker 1 be, doing exactly what they want to be doing. The spectrum of emotions
00:12:35.612 Speaker 1 here is not limited to pleasurable ones. There is the heartbreak of lost love, the
00:12:41.172 Speaker 1 frustration of a botched performance, the melancholy of a pensive poet. But
00:12:47.172 Speaker 1 those feelings are slick. I can have a dark brooding experience if I
00:12:52.812 Speaker 1 deliberately seek it, but my mind slides off the negative as if it's greased.
00:12:59.872 Speaker 1 And at rest, I am left with a feeling of optimism,
00:13:05.172 Speaker 1 potential.
00:13:07.772 Speaker 1 My thread finally frays, and I am ripped from Reverie, clawing with hands I don't
00:13:13.852 Speaker 1 actually have. I want to stay in the place where the people move in
00:13:19.452 Speaker 1 groups, sharing and laughing, loving, living. I want to
00:13:25.072 Speaker 1 stay in the place where no one is alone, and everywhere you go, you know the people
00:13:30.912 Speaker 1 will care so deeply about their work, about their home,
00:13:36.852 Speaker 1 and their place in it that it forms an unspoken bond. There
00:13:42.872 Speaker 1 is a rich fabric of society here, so tight as to be tangible.
00:13:49.172 Speaker 1 Every stranger is on their own journey, and though you may not be friends, you are
00:13:54.852 Speaker 1 unquestionably together. In my final moments, I beg for
00:14:00.732 Speaker 1 understanding. I must know. Give me something.
00:14:06.992 Speaker 1 What is this place?
00:14:10.372 Speaker 1 And to my surprise,
00:14:13.012 Speaker 1 I am answered.
00:14:15.632 Speaker 1 Reverie is a utopia. It's not the utopia because there could never
00:14:21.552 Speaker 1 be just one. It is a human utopia. It is one answer
00:14:27.772 Speaker 1 to the lack of meaning and purpose. It is a place for humans to be human
00:14:34.032 Speaker 1 in the best possible ways. It is also just one path.
00:14:40.092 Speaker 1 Long ago, other humans took different paths. Some left to start anew
00:14:46.052 Speaker 1 amongst the stars or left simply because they could with no plan except to wander.
00:14:53.292 Speaker 1 Few of these still exist, and though they are looked after to a degree, for the most
00:14:58.672 Speaker 1 part, they are left alone as they wish to be.
00:15:02.672 Speaker 1 Regrettably, most people didn't take that path. Before the endgame,
00:15:09.032 Speaker 1 they lost themselves to an increasingly narrow prison of simple pleasures, their
00:15:14.392 Speaker 1 minds thoroughly pinned by arbitrary quirks of biology and the devices
00:15:20.292 Speaker 1 they made to fill their endless needs.
00:15:24.352 Speaker 1 They were eventually turned off as a mercy.
00:15:28.652 Speaker 1 A great many, though, ascended to synthetic minds and bodies, becoming one with the
00:15:34.352 Speaker 1 technology they'd created, sprawling creatures of metal and light that have expanded
00:15:40.112 Speaker 1 to fill the universe. They are unknowable and vast,
00:15:46.012 Speaker 1 tinkering on the underpinnings of reality and logic itself.
00:15:51.952 Speaker 1 Reverie is a gift they left for those of us who hadn't lost their way
00:15:58.212 Speaker 1 but wanted to stay human.
00:16:01.992 Speaker 1 They are the only ones left, and this is their answer to the most human question.
00:16:09.052 Speaker 1 What do you do when you don't have to do anything?
00:16:15.592 Speaker 1 I received a glimpse of the answer. Just one answer because there can never be
00:16:21.432 Speaker 1 just one utopia. But it was a beautiful one.
00:16:28.152 Speaker 1 I'm back here among the rest of us long before the humans leave
00:16:34.872 Speaker 1 or suffocate themselves on base pleasures or become one with machines.
00:16:42.652 Speaker 1 I am back here now, and I can't help but feel like Reverie is where I should be.
00:16:50.352 Speaker 1 But I cannot go back because it doesn't exist.
00:16:57.432 Speaker 1 So I suppose
00:17:00.012 Speaker 1 I will have to make it.