Hoo-boy.
All right.
So after five years and over 350 uploads,
Idea Channel is ending--
not immediately, not right now.
This isn't the last thing that you're going to see us publish.
We have six episodes left, with some weeks off here and there,
to wind things down.
We're still putting the schedule together.
It turns out that--
it actually turns out that ending a show
is kind of complicated.
But I wanted to let you know as soon as I knew,
not once everything was decided upon
and put together, which-- that could take a few weeks.
So as of right now it looks like we're
going to be uploading the final Idea Channel
episode on the week of August 28,
and our final comment response video on the week of September
4.
And that's going to be the last thing we upload, a comment
response video.
I think that makes sense.
I'm sure that you have some questions.
And I would love to answer them.
I might not have answers to all of them.
But we have a Q&A video that's coming up next week.
So please, anything you want to know about the end of the show
or otherwise, or me, just ask it on Twitter, on Facebook,
on the subreddit.
I'll put links in the doobly-doo to all of the threads
where you can ask questions.
You can also ask in the comments below.
But in the meantime, I'm going to answer
what I imagine are the most pressing questions.
And the first one being, why?
The answer is, it's complicated.
Idea Channel isn't being canceled.
That much is simple.
I decided to end the show.
And it wasn't something that I came to quickly or lightly.
I struggled with the idea of abandoning you,
abandoning our audience, who I just--
I cannot overstate how lucky we are to have found you.
For half a decade--
which is an insane thing to say out loud--
we've asked all manner of questions,
from the seemingly meaningless to the downright difficult.
And you have been here, ready to converse deeply and earnestly,
sharing your experiences and your reactions in ways that we
could only ever hope for.
So what would it mean to you all if Idea Channel as a forum
just goes away?
It's impossible to know.
It's impossible to say.
I know what it means for me--
that hearing about and being able to learn
from each one of your worldviews is something
that I've been able to do every day as my job is unbelievable.
To say that-- to say that I'm lucky is an understatement.
I also struggled with the timing of this--
like, what does it mean to be making Idea Channel now,
in this moment?
And what does it mean to stop making
Idea Channel in this moment?
I mean, we're not by any measure the only show
that's engaging with broad social issues
and an appreciation of the human experience in all
its complexity through pop culture and critical thought.
But is now really the time for there
to be one fewer of those shows, one less
place for people to hang out and have those conversations?
I worried a lot about what, if any, our responsibilities
are relative to what's happening now.
So here's where I got.
I think I realized that my responsibility
to you, and to spaces both online and offline
where we can have those conversations--
conversations about how the world works,
what it means to be a person in it,
what it means to be someone who makes things,
who is an audience member of things, having
ideas about things--
that's not tied inextricably to Idea Channel.
Idea Channel is one place, a single--
albeit rather lengthy-- moment where we figured out so much
about ourselves and the world.
I think that it's time, because of how
the world and the internet is different in this moment,
compared to when we started in 2012
and I had much more hair, to figure out
what you and I should do in the next moment.
Idea Channel isn't ending because we've
run out of things to say.
Quite the opposite, in fact.
There's a lot that I want to do and try--
to try to say and explore, and not all of it
fits into the Idea Channel mold, or alongside the Idea Channel
production schedule.
And because Idea Channel ends, that
doesn't mean that I am gone, or that you are either, hopefully.
So this brings us to what I imagine might
be the next pressing question--
what's next, after Idea Channel?
For me, Immediately following Idea Channel,
a vacation, some time off.
I'm not here to try to shuffle you over to my next big thing.
Whatever big thing comes next will probably
be clear only after developing a little bit of perspective
on the last several years of my life.
But assuming that you want to keep in touch,
there are some ways that you can do that.
You can, and should, follow me on Twitter and Instagram,
especially if you want to see pictures
of my dog and the books that I'm reading.
I'm mikerugnetta on both of those.
I also make a podcast called "Reasonably Sound."
I've been making it for a couple of years.
It's sort of like Idea Channel, but for audio and stuff.
I talk about art, social issues, popular culture,
and all of the theory and philosophy
related to those things.
But I always start with something audio-related.
Fair warning, though-- there hasn't been an update in a bit,
because, as you might imagine, things
have been a little hectic.
But there are some episodes about applause and booing,
digital assistants like Alexa and Siri,
and also swear words in the pipeline.
"Reasonably Sound" is on Twitter, Instagram, SoundCloud,
and most places that you listen to podcasts.
It's not on Spotify, because that's
complicated for some reason.
For the time being you can see me on "Crash Course World
Mythology."
And I also do have a personal YouTube account.
It's very quiet, but it's something.
And if I do end up making videos, that's
where they're going to go, since, you know,
they're not going to go here anymore.
Oh-- and we're also doing one final meet-up here
in New York at the end of August.
We don't have 100% of the details firmed up yet.
But just keep an eye on Twitter, Facebook,
the subreddit, the end of the remaining Idea Channel
episodes for details if you want to come hang out.
I will let you know all of those details at the very same moment
that I know about them.
Finally, you may be wondering, what's
going to happen to the other Idea Channel things--
the Twitter, the subreddit, the Patreon, the IRC.
So first, we're shutting down the Patreon today.
If you're a patron, you won't be charged after June.
And I also--
I just want to say, when at the end of episodes I tell you--
our patrons--
that you mean the world to us, I mean it.
You helped us pay for research materials, guest writers
and editors, locations, and gear that we would not have been
able to get without your help.
You helped us reduce the overall cost of the show
so that we had some elbow room to experiment.
So I just like, earnestly thank you.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
A thousand times, thank you.
The subreddit is not up to me, actually.
I didn't start it.
I'm not a mod.
So it's up to those of you who post there and the mods,
countclouds and deck_m_all, what happens there--
whether it gets shut down, continues on its merry way
sharing Idea Channel-like things and inspiring great
conversation, which it always has--
or hey, maybe even sharing the other stuff
that I end up working on.
Ding!
Whatever happens, I won't complain.
It's just as much your community as it is mine.
Really, it's even more your community than it is mine.
So, yeah, I trust you.
The same goes for the IRC, which--
man-- I really wish that I had spent more time there.
I never figured out how to work it into my schedule.
But every time I went and looked--
great conversation, awesome people.
Whatever happens over there, I'm sure it will be done
right by the folks who use it.
And if there is any guidance or help
that I can provide for either the subreddit or the IRC,
please do not hesitate to drop me a line.
I would love to do whatever I can.
The Idea Channel Twitter account isn't going anywhere.
I currently run it.
I will continue to run it for the foreseeable future,
even after the show is done.
The same goes for the Facebook, which will probably,
just to be perfectly honest, become rather quiet,
because-- real talk--
I would avoid Facebook entirely if I could.
But when I sign in to wish my dad a happy birthday,
I will check in.
Just keep in mind, it's maybe not the best way
to get a hold of me.
I imagine there is a lot more that you want to know about.
So please go and check out the Twitter,
the Facebook, the subreddit threads for next week's Q&A
video.
If you see a question in those places that you want answered,
please up-vote it, click the "Like" button, or whatever.
If you don't see the question that you want answered,
please ask it.
Also feel free to leave it in the comments below.
We're going to continue to discuss
how things are winding down.
So make sure to watch through the end of episodes
for updates.
There's probably going to be another short break
in our future.
And then after that, in our final three episodes,
we're going to look back on what we
tried to do with Idea Channel.
We spent a lot of time encouraging you to think,
showing you ways to approach the world and things in it.
But outside of a few comment response videos here and there,
I never really said, here's how you do it.
Here's how to think about things.
So we're not going to go quite that far,
but we thought in our final three episodes
it might be fun to discuss what exactly the Idea Channel
method is.
Each one of those episodes is also
going to have a comment response video, meaning
that our last upload ever is not going to be a scripted episode,
but your perspective on how we did.
And I can't imagine a better way to end the show.
It makes perfect sense.
OK.
All right.
There's going to be more mushy stuff on the way
where I say, over and over and over again,
how much you and Idea Channel have meant to me.
But we've still got a little bit of work to do.
So for now, I'm going to wrap this thing up.
I have to go write a few more episodes.
I hope you're going to ask me some questions
I'll see you soon--
here and hopefully elsewhere.