Halloween Special: H. P. Lovecraft

Hey gang! Can't help but notice the comment section is a little bit on fire. That's all good with me, but one recurring complaint I've noticed has started to get under my skin - namely that my explanation of non-euclidean geometry was insufficient, or even - dare I say - inaccurate. Now this is a fair complaint, because after a lifetime of experience finding that people's eyes glaze over when I talk math at them, I concluded that interrupting a half-hour horror video with a long-winded explanation of a mathematical concept wouldn't go over too well. I put it in layman's terms and used a simple example to illustrate the point. However, since some of the more mathematically-inclined of you took offense, I now present in full a short (but comprehensive) explanation of what exactly non-euclidean geometry is. First, we axiomatically establish euclidean geometry. Euclidean geometry has five axioms: 1. We can draw a straight line between any two points. 2. We can infinitely extend a finite straight line. 3. We can draw a circle with any center and radius. 4. All right angles are equal to one another. 5. If two lines intersect with a third line, and the sum of the inner angles of those intersections is less than 180º, then those two lines must intersect if extended far enough. Axiom #5 is known as the PARALLEL POSTULATE. It has many equivalent statements, including the Triangle Postulate ("the sum of the angles in every triangle is 180º") and Playfair's Axiom ("given a line and a point not on that line, there exists ONE line parallel to the given line that intersects the given point"). Euclidean geometry is, broadly, how geometry works on a flat plane. However, there are geometries where the parallel postulate DOES NOT hold. These geometries are called "non-euclidean geometries". There are, in fact, an infinite number of these geometries, and because the only defining characteristic is "the parallel postulate does not hold", they can be all kinds of crazy shapes. (As you can see, my explanation of "this is just how geometry works on a curved surface" is quite reductive, but at the same time serves to get the general impression across without going into too much detail.) An example of a non-euclidean geometry is "Elliptic geometry", geometry on n-dimensional ellipses, which includes "Spherical geometry" as a subset. Spherical geometry is, predictably enough, how geometry works on the two-dimensional surface of a three-dimensional sphere. In spherical geometry, "points" are defined the same as in euclidean geometry, but "line" is redefined to be "the shortest distance between two points over the surface of the sphere", since there is no such thing as a "straight line" on a curved surface. All "lines" in spherical geometry are segments of "great circles" (which is defined as the set of points that exist at the intersection between the sphere and a plane passing through the center of that sphere). The axiom that separates spherical geometry from euclidean geometry and replaces the parallel postulate is "5. There are NO parallel lines". In spherical geometry, every line is a segment of a great circle, and any two great circles intersect at exactly two points. If two lines intersect when extended, they cannot be parallel, and thus there are no parallel lines in spherical geometry. Since the Parallel Postulate is equivalent to Playfair's Axiom, the fact that no parallel lines exist in spherical geometry negates Playfair's Axiom, which thus negates the Parallel Postulate and defines spherical geometry as a non-euclidean geometry. Also, since the Triangle Postulate is another equivalent property to the Parallel Postulate, it is thus negated in spherical geometry. Hence, my use in-video of an example of a triangle drawn on the surface of a sphere whose inner angles sum greater than 180º. Hope that cleared things up (and helped explain why I didn't want to say "see, non-euclidean geometry is just a geometry where Euclid's Parallel Postulate doesn't hold - hold on, let me get the chalkboard to explain what THAT is-" in the video) Peace! -R ✌️

"Colors that man can't comprehend and are dangerous to and warp the biology of flora and fauna" is actually a reasonable description of gamma radiation, and radioactive meteorites are real so Color Out Of Space is technically the most scientifically realistic Lovecraft story

I just realized the color he's describing is just magenta

can we just appreciate the name 'lovecraft'? imagine if his last name had been johnson. 'Johnsonian' just dosnt sound as mythical as 'Lovecraftian'.

When an archeologist says something was for “ritual purposes,” they mean “we have no idea what this thing is.” When they say something was for “fertility ritual purposes,” they mean “using the term ‘ancient dildo’ in academic papers is heavily frowned upon.”

Tbh, although this was very unintentional, The Color Out of Space always read like radiation poisoning.

"He lacked the constitution for math" So an English major?

I love how the mug on the AC obsessed doctors desk says the “worlds alivest doctor”

Despite Lovecraft's many, many, many flaws as a person, he did at least give us a story where a generational death curse turns out to be both a hoax and entirely true in the most hilariously petty way ever: In "The Alchemist", the immortal who "cursed" the family to have all their descendants die at the age of 32 is literally doing all the leg-work himself and just straight-up murdering them whenever the one of them hits the right age. No magic is involved in their deaths aside from their murderer's immortality, he's just THAT stubborn.

i remember reading Colour Out Of Space when i was twelve or so, and my immediate reaction being "Ah, beige."

Because I’m mixed-race myself, I like referring to myself as a Lovecraftian horror.

Interviewer: “So, Mr Lovecraft, everyone’s dying to know. How do you write such effective horror stories?” HP: “Well, what can I say? I just wrote based on what scared me.” Interviewer: “Ah, I see, so you wrote based on yours fears of existentialism and cosmic nightmares?” HP: “Yes, among other things…” sips tea while glaring at an AC vent

Entire city: brings relics and literal spells to counter the horror Morgan: “If it eats another shed, we’ll pump it with lead. If it even breathes, we’ll shatter it’s knees”

It’s weird, H.P. Lovecraft feels like a fictional character from Edgar Allen poe

I assume someone's mentioned this joke: "Lovecraft was afraid of his shadow because it was black."

I think a cool twist ending to "Cool Air" could be that the doctor's dying note reveals that the narrator died from his heart attack, but has been kept alive thanks to the air conditioner. However, because there wasn't enough power for two people, the doctor decided to allow himself to finally die so that the narrator can keep on living.

The Call of Cthulhu: the journal of a man reading the journal of a man listening to the story of a man who had weird nightmare

One of my friends explained Lovecraft to me as: “Earthbound but if it was made by an LSD abuser who went scuba diving one day”

“Half-Human, Half-Octopus, Half-Dragon.” “This is what happens when you lack the constitution for math.”

I’m indigenous and I had no idea I was so villainous! I guess it’s time to enter my villain era.