Disconcerting Inauthenticity
David Attenborough isn't the only one being spoofed.
As I said in Stop Ingesting Crap …
STOP INGESTING CRAP! JUST STOP IT!
And I’m here to report that I need to take my own advice regarding the Peter Zeihan clones.
Attention Conservation Notice:
If you’re already too cautious and picky about sources, just slide on by this one …
Post Publication Update:
That first video? It’s a full appearance by Peter Zeihan, but that channel is also one of a dozen fakes I found between writing this and seeing it published Tuesday morning.
Peter Zeihan:
So here’s a legit video of Peter Zeihan giving a long talk about … stuff. I really like this guy, he gets agriculture and energy as a systems thinker, which I already do, but he’s on top of demographics and finance.
I know this is legit because I see Peter, talking at length, and showing graphs that match what he is saying.
And this is the maybe the dozenth video I saw with him, and it’s the one that made me decided I was going to dig into his work in depth, maybe even buying his upcoming book.
Fake Ass Bullshit:
Look at this one. I haven’t reviewed it in depth, because it’s full of meaningless animated graphics. Some portions of it may be actual clips from videos he was involved in producing, there are sometimes brief segments that show factory floors or machines in operation, but the legend free animated line charts? No, this is at best stolen voice content.
Here’s another channel riding his coattails.
I am digging for the video that set me off and I can’t find it.
There is a video that was made of audio clips from The Collapse Has Begun and other sources, without him appearing even in thumbnail form. It made sense as I watched it, but what if …
the clips are dated
the clips are out of chronological order
an entirely synthetic clip using his voice has been added
Look at the videos for those two channels. I reported them both, we’ll see if they survive.
Conclusion:
Based on my reading, spoofing stills, voice, and video are within easy reach for anyone motivated to clone someone else’s presence. The music remixes, such as Hank Williams singing Gangster’s Paradise, are something I enjoy. The David Attenborough talking about an alien world’s biology with AI generated animated scenes are also good clean fun.
But among the problematic things, the political angle bubbled to the top first, quickly followed by celebrity endorsements. I guess Zeihan is a celebrity in his field, and these fake channels do two things that he does not - the clips are shorter and they have engaging graphics. His shorts are usually close to ten minutes and are typically made while he’s hiking various locations in Colorado, or they’re in some city he’s visiting for a conference.
So … if you’re getting information from YouTube, which is something I can do while tending to technology related tasks … make sure you’re not getting any wooden nickels along the way.
Addendum:
Take a look at this channel. They were planting bullshit flower & plant videos, then swing to riding Zeihan’s coat tails. The pattern is the same across the spoofs - makes me think this isn’t monetization, it’s an influence op shaping up.