Five Gold Rings

"Five Gold Rings", released on December 29, 2018, is the fifth installment of the 12 Days of Hello Internet series. The series consists of twelve parts, released one day at a time from December 2018 to January 2019, that together serve as Hello Internets fifth annual Christmas special and as its 116th overall episode.
We're back. We're back. Lucky dip again. Got these cards. Look at all these. Look at this one, Gray. This one's got all these felt cute dogs on the front. These three-dimensional felt dogs. Three-dimensional Christmas cards are like... Everything now, aren't they? 3D cards are a big deal. I like the dogs. I'm always a fan of seeing lots of chompers on cards. It's just very cute. So this one came from Yusuf, Deer Gray, and Dr. Brady. Yeah, Dr. Brady. He says, hello from. Then he puts the exact GPS coordinates of where he is. And then he says, I hope that's specific enough for everyone. But of course, I'm not going to look at those coordinates. I've got no idea where he is. Do you think that coordinates are too specific in a conversation about where someone's from? I wonder if I put them into Google, whether it would land in his bedroom or something. I'm not going to find out. He says, I've been thinking about grad school. So my question to you both is, if you had to go for a PhD next year, what would you study for the next four to six years of your life? If you were going to do a PhD program. What would you like to be a doctor of, Gray? I mean, you're already a doctor, yeah. Well, I'd be doubling up. But you know, I sometimes feel a bit of an envy for people doing PhDs and things like that. Because I mix with these people a bit. I do have a part of me think, I wish I was doing a PhD and I was going to be a deep, deep expert in something. And then I think, that's going to take you a long time for not much good. And then I'm glad I'm not doing it. So I don't know what I choose. It being a question about PhDs makes it a much harder question. Obviously, I do not have a PhD. And it was a very conscious decision when I left college. Like, no, no, no, I'm not going to pursue this for the same reason. Like, I'm very glad that we live in a world where people do PhDs where they expand the boundaries of human knowledge. But I also know that I'm just constitutionally unsuited to spend that amount of time learning about one thing very deeply. I'm much more biased towards knowing less about more than more about less. And each of those things is advantageous in a different situation. But I mean, if I was picking a PhD program, I would pick none of the above. I don't think I would be able to do it. And I would have no interest in trying to study a single thing for four or six years. I feel like you do that almost like it's a deficiency in my personality. Like, I know that I couldn't possibly do this. And I still feel a little bad about that. Like, oh, I should have gotten a PhD, but I would have just totally failed out or dropped out from the program. I just never would have been able to do it. I would do something space. I haven't got the mathematics or the physics to do it. But I would love to do like a spacey thing and write some great thesis about something like to do with galaxies and, you know, astronomy and spend time at telescopes and things like that. So I do the spacey thing appeals to me. But the other thing I've been exposed to a bit lately that I could imagine getting into maybe would be like a study of something historic, like at the Royal Society, like getting all Isaac Newton's old papers and researching things about him that no one's ever known before and writing some great study of some scientist of the past, then maybe like writing a book about it or something like the idea of that is quite romantic and nice in my head. The reality of it would kill me. But like, yeah, I do like the idea of like, you know, just sitting down in a library with a big pile of old parchedments and discovering some lost secrets from history. That would be nice. The thing with a PhD is you don't necessarily know what you're looking for, right? Whereas for me, doing some of the research that I'm doing, like, I have a question in my head and I'm trying to find the answer. And I know that if I dig through enough books, I'm eventually going to find what the answer is. But that is fundamentally opposed to what the PhD would be. So you sitting down with your Isaac Newton books, it's more like you have to find something new in here that nobody has found before or find a connection across all of these things that nobody has found before. And maybe neither of those things is possible with the materials in front of you. And you just don't even know. So it's a much harder search. Yeah. Again, I give credit to everyone doing a PhD, but it's hard for me to even formulate an answer to that question because I just know I would fail. What would you like to be the world's biggest expert on? See now there, are we're getting a metric style skill like, oh, I want to be an expert on how to learn things very quickly, right? Which is like, so I'm just I'm immediately trying to gain this sister. That's like wishing for more wishes. Right. No, like I want to be an expert in stock market pricing. Right. Like this is the these are the skills I immediately go towards. Sports gambling. All right. What do you got? You want to pull a card out? Yeah, pull. Pull cards out. We've got this between recording episodes. We're opening more envelopes. So the pile of cards here that we're pulling from is growing faster than we're getting through them. Yes. Yeah. The pile is growing faster. And I also must say it is very satisfying to open all these Christmas cards. And even though we're only getting to a small fraction of them on the 12 days of Hello Internet, it's really nice to read all the things that people are saying. And and again, some of them are very sweet. And I really appreciate all the messages of how much people have enjoyed the show or what they get out of it. There was just reading a card from someone who's saying he's he will have finished his master's program by the time this episode goes out. And he's been listening listening to Hello Internet for the duration of getting his master's pro so like I'm really enjoying all of these things like congratulations to him. And it's it's a very nice experience. And we would need 120 days of Christmas to even remotely get through all of this. But I just want people to know like I'm reading a lot of them. And it's really nice. Yeah. We're sort of ones that catch our eye we're sharing and having a little chat about sort of off air as well. I do like though that as you told that lovely warm story about the person who's finishing their masters and how much you enjoyed reading it. You were gesturing with your hand towards where the card is, which is in the big red bin of cards that we're not in the running for reading yet. Can I do some more follow it though? Because Grave also got these knives that we're opening with and I'm going to give you some here's the knife. Here's me opening one with a knife. There's been a lot of this going on. A lot of card opening. That's a lot of card opening with. And then the you guys stick knives. And then you do a quick open. Let's see if this one would have made the pile. My question for you both. That's a good start. My question for you both. Oh no. But then it says favorite, favorite books. We don't like just being asked for favorites. And it says if this card doesn't arrive in time, shred it. There's a photo of Grave as a robot. Nice card. Red bin. And I already know what your favorite book is anyway. What's my favorite book? It's a foundation isn't it? Yeah, it probably is now. It used to be a book called The Moat and Gods Eye, but it's probably his foundation now. I think it's been foundation for a while. Yeah. You really like those books. I do like that series. That's one of the only book series I've read multiple times. Well, you've tricked me into it now. So you have to say a favorite book. And although I put that card in the bin, it's now getting answered. Unbelievable. What's your favorite book? You have to name a favorite book or the knife. I'm still holding in my hand. Like, you know, it gets jabbed at you. What would you say? Turned into a very threatening Christmas. I really don't have a favorite book, Brady. I really don't. Getting things done. No, no. Because boy, did that not hold up on the re-read? That's for sure. Man, was that? That was not good. So I refused to name a favorite book. I'm going to do a card. I'm going to do a card. We have another card with 3D elements on it. Penguin wearing a 3D cloth bow tie on the card itself. Okay. So this is a Christmas question that is following up on episode 82, God of Bees. Oh, you didn't need to tell that. I knew what episode 82 was before you even said the title. I know every episode titled off by heart. That was where we originally discussed what we would do in our retirements, which I imagine is where that's where all the bee stuff eventually came from. A lot of people have asked what we plan to do with that retirement. But we've clearly discussed it in episode 82, God of Bees. That's right. Was that what we talked about? Like climbing mountains? Yeah. Not in beekeeping, of course. Yes. Yeah. That's where that was. Okay. This is an extension of that conversation, where they want to know. But how does a YouTuber know when their retirement is? How do you know when it's time to retire or when your retirement comes? You don't have a built-in ending to the job like other jobs. So how do you know when it's time to retire? That is an age-old question, isn't it? How do you know when your time's up? When you're no longer relevant or you shouldn't be doing it or I don't know. Good question, huh? Eventually, you must just make a decision to stop. But would the decision to stop just would it just peter out or will you do something else? Like, I think the end for me will be when I start doing something else instead. I'll be thinking, I'm not enjoying this anymore or the viewers aren't enjoying this anymore. And things will be like declining to such an extent that something new will come along, that I like better or the people who consume it. If I'm making something consumable, like better. And that will just gradually take over. You've really rocked Brady's world with the look on his face. He's thinking about this quite deeply. I mean, this is like a common question in my household, you know, talking, planning the future and going, you know, what's your, you know, where do you want to be in 10 years? What's going to happen? You can't still be lugging your camera up hills and making videos and things like that, like yourself as you get older. But I just don't think that far ahead. So I don't know. I think something else will come along. What will be when will you upload your last video? And why will it be your last video? When will you release your last podcast? And why will that be your last podcast? Oh god. When the question has turned around, it is suddenly like, geez, you know, it's an intense question. I mean, there's an easy answer, which is the algorithm can retire you. Yes. Which is the, which is the like, oh, it doesn't make any sense to make these things anymore. Yeah, but people don't necessarily realize that or accept it. You know, people can keep going thinking my next big hit still coming, like, you know, so there is an ability to realize that has happened. Yeah. And there's also the, the thing of a few reviewers, but you still like doing it. Yes. And we are both in the very fortunate position where we have a lot of control over what it is that we do. And while I am clearly the lazier of the two of us, the amount of work that I want to do is not zero. I do want to do something. And if the videos stop at some point in the future, I think like you, it'll be because something else has taken over and that that is, is my central focus. But I have a hard time imagining I will ever have a retirement in the classical sense. And I think that's probably why like the beekeeping thing came up in that show because I can imagine the very, very straightforward path from beekeeping to selling graze honey on the open markets. And it's like, it would still be a thing. Like I couldn't just keep the bees because I like to keep bees. It's like, yes, but why bees? Now you and I can be productive together and we can do something. So you would have to be having products still. You wouldn't keep the bees just for the pleasure. You would imagine they would have to be gray honey. With the sole exception of video games in my life, I have a very hard time maintaining any kind of hobby that is just in and of itself. And it's one of the reasons why I do like video games because it's one of the very few things I can do and just be like, I'm just going to sink a bunch of hours into this and it doesn't need to be for anything and it's fine. So it can be relaxing in that way. But I know something like beekeeping, I would just immediately start turning the gears on how much honey are these highs putting out. So it wouldn't be a retirement. There's like, there's no way I wouldn't start selling grades honey with my beekeeping. So there will always be something. But I think both of us reaction this question strongly because careers and entertainment can have sudden ends. They're just unlike other careers. And I feel like people listen to the show because it's entertaining. And I'm glad that they like it. But entertainment careers rarely last 60 years. Whereas you can work at a job for 60 years and it can still be the same thing. So I'm willing to go on the record now saying that there will not be 60 years of hell out into that. Wow. Brady, I can't believe you're putting an end to the show. If this is still going in 60 years, people can call me out and play this piece of audio back to me and say, say, Brady, you were wrong about that. You did end up doing hell out into that 60 years. But what if we're living thousands of years, Brady? What if?
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