{"id":258,"title":"This Video Has 75,022,677 Views","description":"Tom Scott explains the technical process behind a YouTube video whose title automatically updates to reflect its current view count. He contrasts two methods of automation: screen-scraping and using an API, favoring the latter. This leads to a broader discussion on the optimistic 'Web 2.0' era of open APIs, which allowed for creative mashups, and its subsequent 'fall' as companies restricted access due to abuse and commercialization. Standing before the White Cliffs of Dover, he uses their eventual erosion as a metaphor for the impermanence of digital creations, concluding that despite this, building things that have a positive impact is still a worthwhile endeavor.","slug":"this-video-has-75-022-677-views","creator":"TomScottGo","duration":638.525533,"tags":["Tom Scott","YouTube API","programming","Web 2.0","screen scraping","automation","tech history","internet culture","White Cliffs of Dover","entropy"],"transcription":"The title of this video won't be exactly right. It only updates every few minutes at most, and besides, YouTube doesn't update its view counts in real time anyway. So, don't bother refreshing and refreshing and refreshing. You won't actually be able to see it ticking up second by second. If it's actually 100% spot on, it's a miracle, but if it's close, then the code I've written is still working. But at some point, that code will break and the title of this video will slip more and more out of touch with reality. This is the story of how I made that changing title work, why it used to be a lot easier to make things like that work, and how all this ties in to the White Cliffs of Dover and the end of the universe. Now, I'm not going to talk about the exact details of my code here. It is not the important part because code is just incredibly dull on camera. But, big picture, if you're automating a job like that, there are two main approaches you could take. First, you could write something that pretends to be a human. Not in some Blade Runner replicant way, but you could run a system that loads up the YouTube video page, reads the number of views, and then goes to the video manager, changes the title, and hits save. That's actually not too tricky to do. Screen-scrapers have been built to do things like that for decades. And that's a fairly innocent use of a screen-scraper, but if you can write code to change a title, then you could also write code that signs up for loads of new accounts, or spams people, or sends out messages trying to steal personal information. That's why you see those I'm not a robot checkboxes. Which aren't impossible to defeat by any means, but they make screen-scraping like that much, much, much more difficult. And plus, it's an approach that'll break quickly. Every time one of the pages that's being scraped gets redesigned, you will have to rewrite your code. But for a long time, the people who build web services like YouTube have recognized that there are legitimate reasons for letting code interact with their systems, like uh pulling analytics data into a spreadsheet or uh letting captioning services add subtitles to videos quickly and automatically, or you might want to hook multiple web services together to automatically tweet when a new video goes up or ask your voice assistant to search for a playlist. That can and should all be done with code. So behind the scenes, nearly every major web service has an API, an Application Programming Interface. It's a way for bits of code to pass data and instructions back and forth between services safely, without having to deal with all the complicated visual stuff that humans need. So, when I want my code to change a video title, I don't ask it to open up a web browser. Instead, it sends a single request to YouTube. Here's the video ID, here's the stuff to change, here's my credentials to prove that I'm allowed to do that. Bundle that all up, send it over. And YouTube sends back a single answer. Hopefully, it's a response code of 200, which means okay, uh with confirmation of what the video's data has changed to. But if there's some problem with that request, it'll send back some other status number and an error message about what went wrong. Uh, I can write code to handle those errors, or for something simple like this, I can just have it fail and log it somewhere so I can deal with it later. No typing, no clicking on things, no pretending to be a human. One request out, one reply back. At least that's how it's meant to work. This idea that web services could interact with each other through code was amazing when it first became popular. It became Web 2.0, a buzzword that is now more than 15 years old. And honestly, the Web 2.0 years were some of the most optimistic times on the web. All these new startups were making sure that they could interchange data with each other. So, uh maybe in the future you could see your friend's Facebook statuses on your fridge, uh or lights could flash uh to warn you if your bus was arriving early. The web would be all about data, and we could make all sorts of things of our own to understand it and control it and shape it. It was going to be the age of mashups. Take data and do interesting things with it. I built so many things in the days of Web 2.0, so many little web toys that took data from one place and showed it in weird ways. And the most ridiculous, over-the-top tool that I loved to build with was called Yahoo Pipes. You didn't need to write any code to make a mashup with that. You could just click and drag boxes on a screen to make a flowchart, and it would all be done for you. Yahoo would run it all on their servers for free. I made a thing called Star Wars Weather. It was a really simple web page. Uh it would show you the weather forecast by comparing it to a planet from Star Wars. I had a million people visit that site in one day at its peak. Uh a few people genuinely used it to get the weather every morning. I got lovely emails from them. And and all the processing was done in the background through Yahoo Pipes. I didn't have to pay for some expensive server or pay for access to the weather data. There didn't seem to be any limit either. Yahoo just handled it because this was Web 2.0 and that was the right thing to do. And, you know, they'll they'll figure out how to make money later. Google Maps, that was free to build on, too. World-class maps just to play with. I built a terrible racing game on top of it, put it in my own site, loads of people played it. I didn't pay them a penny. None of those free services exist now. And in hindsight, it was never sustainable. See, when Twitter launched, it wasn't pitched as just an app or a website. Twitter was a platform, a messaging service. You could use their website to read and send tweets, sure, or you could write code that used the API that looked at tweets, that reacted to them, or even wrote tweets of its own. It was so quick, so open that anyone with a little coding experience could make stuff easily. Everything you could do on the Twitter website or later on the app, everything was available in the API for your code to play with. The first sign that something was wrong, for me at least, was the Red Scare bot. It appeared in August 2009 with the face of Joseph McCarthy as its avatar, and it watched the entire Twitter timeline, everything posted by everyone, because Twitter was small enough back then that you could do that. And if anyone mentioned communism or socialism, it would quote tweet them with not even really a joke, just a comment, just something that said, hey, pay attention to me. Hardly anyone followed it because, yeah, it was really annoying. Over the six years before it either broke or was shut down, that bot tweeted more than two million times. Two million utterly useless things added to Twitter's database. Two million times that someone was probably slightly confused or annoyed. Somehow, it survived even as Twitter's rules changed to explicitly ban look for a word and reply to it bots, even as countless other irritants got shut down. Search for every use of a word on Twitter and reply to it seems a lot more sinister these days in a world where social media shapes public opinion. We didn't really know what we were playing with. I built some Twitter bots myself, although they weren't quite as annoying as that. Uh my best one tweeted anytime someone edited Wikipedia from within the Houses of Parliament. Uh although I handed that uh political disaster over to someone else only a couple of days later when the press started calling because that was far too much hassle. And those were just the harmless ones. To be clear, there are still people out there making really good and interesting and fun Twitter bots. But bot has a whole new meaning now. Because it turns out you can't open up data access to just the good guys. I remember being really impressed with Facebook's API. It was brilliant. I could pull my data and all my friends' data and do weird, interesting things with it. We all know how that turned out. It's amazing in hindsight just how naively open everything was back then. APIs were meant to create this whole world of collaboration, and they did, at the cost of creating a whole lot of abuse. So, over the years, the APIs got replaced with simpler, more locked-down versions or were shut down entirely. Or in the case of Twitter, their website and app gained features like polls and group DMs, which were just never added to the API. You want to use those features? Oh, you're going to have to go to the official app or the official site because after all, if people can access the platform however they want with with code, how on earth are Twitter going to show them adverts? Nowadays, if you want to build something that connects to any major site, there will be an approval process so they can check in on what you're doing. And that connection could get shut down at any time. The Google Maps games that I made, the the Twitter toys, anything I ever built on Yahoo Pipes, they're all broken now and they can never come back. Pipes must have cost Yahoo so much money. Even if the service you're building on survives, there's still upkeep associated with making anything that connects to an API. Sooner or later, the server you're hosting your code on will fail, or there'll be a security patch that you'll have to install, or technology will move on enough that you'll need to update and rewrite the whole thing, and you'll have to ask yourself the question, is it actually worth it? Computer history museums are filled with the software and hardware that I grew up with and that I'm nostalgic for because they all ran on their own. They didn't need any ongoing support from an external company, but if what you're making relies on some other company's service, then archiving becomes very, very difficult. So for the time being, every few minutes, my code is going out to YouTube, asking how many views this video has, and then asking to update the title. Uh maybe it's still working as you watch this, but eventually, it will break. Eventually, so will YouTube. So will everything. Entropy, the steady decline into disorder that's a fundamental part of the universe. Entropy will get us all in the end. And that's why I chose to film this here. The White Cliffs of Dover are a symbol of Britain. They are this imposing barrier, but they're just chalk. Time and tide will wash them away a long time in the future. This too shall pass. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't build things anyway. Because just because something is going to break in the end, doesn't mean that it can't have an effect that lasts into the future. Joy, wonder, laughter, hope, the world can be better because of what you built in the past. And while I do think that the long-term goal of humanity should be to find a way to defeat entropy, I'm pretty sure no one knows where to start on that problem just yet. So, until then, try and make sure that the things you're working on pushes in the right direction. They don't have to be big projects, they might just have an audience of one. And even if they don't last, try to make sure that they leave something positive behind. And yes, at some point, the code that's updating the title of this video will break. Maybe I'll fix it, maybe I won't. But the code was never the important part.","timeline":[{"t":0,"speech":"","visual":{"action":"A wide shot shows a pebble beach next to the sea, with large white chalk cliffs on the left under a clear blue sky.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#E0E0E0","#5D6770","#A8B0B8","#3B444C"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"deep focus on the entire landscape","framing":"wide shot"},"mood":"serene","objects":[{"color":"white","name":"chalk cliffs","position":"left","state":"static"},{"color":"grey/brown","name":"pebble beach","position":"bottom","state":"static"}],"people":[],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"The sea stretches to the horizon on the right.","lighting":"bright, natural sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[{"content":"As with all my videos, this was recorded weeks before publication.","location":"center","style":"white text on a semi-transparent dark grey rectangle"}]}},{"t":5,"speech":"The title of this video won't be exactly right. It only updates every few minutes at most, and besides, YouTube doesn't update its view counts in real time anyway.","visual":{"action":"A man, Tom Scott, appears in the frame and begins speaking to the camera, gesturing with his right hand.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#E0E0E0","#333333","#C0C0C0","#A8B0B8"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"focused on the man","framing":"medium shot"},"mood":"informative","objects":[{"color":"white","name":"large chalk rock","position":"bottom right","state":"static"}],"people":[{"age_range":"30s-40s","clothing":{"accessories":"","bottom":"","footwear":"","top":"black hooded parka over a light grey hoodie"},"face":"speaking, neutral expression","hair":"blond, short, windswept","hands":"right hand gesturing to emphasize points","pose":"standing, facing the camera","position":"center"}],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"The white cliffs are visible on the left, with the pebble beach behind him.","lighting":"bright, direct sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[]}},{"t":15,"speech":"You won't actually be able to see it ticking up second by second. If it's actually 100% spot on, it's a miracle, but if it's close, then the code I've written is still working.","visual":{"action":"Tom Scott continues speaking, using both hands to gesture for emphasis, framing his words.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#E0E0E0","#333333","#C0C0C0","#A8B0B8"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"focused on the man","framing":"medium shot"},"mood":"explanatory","objects":[],"people":[{"age_range":"30s-40s","clothing":{"accessories":"","bottom":"","footwear":"","top":"black hooded parka over a light grey hoodie"},"face":"speaking, earnest expression","hair":"blond, short, windswept","hands":"gesturing with both hands, palms facing each other","pose":"standing, facing the camera","position":"center"}],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"The white cliffs are visible on the left, with the pebble beach behind him.","lighting":"bright, direct sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[]}},{"t":25,"speech":"But at some point, that code will break and the title of this video will slip more and more out of touch with reality.","visual":{"action":"Tom Scott gestures with his right hand to the side as he explains the inevitable failure of the code.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#E0E0E0","#333333","#C0C0C0","#A8B0B8"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"focused on the man","framing":"medium shot"},"mood":"foreboding","objects":[],"people":[{"age_range":"30s-40s","clothing":{"accessories":"","bottom":"","footwear":"","top":"black hooded parka over a light grey hoodie"},"face":"speaking, serious expression","hair":"blond, short, windswept","hands":"right hand gesturing outwards","pose":"standing, facing the camera","position":"center"}],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"The white cliffs are visible on the left, with the pebble beach behind him.","lighting":"bright, direct sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[]}},{"t":35,"speech":"and how all this ties in to the White Cliffs of Dover and the end of the universe.","visual":{"action":"The camera cuts to a wide, low-angle shot of the white cliffs, panning slowly upwards.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#D8D8D8","#9A9A9A","#6B6B6B","#404040"]},"composition":{"angle":"low-angle","focus":"deep focus on the cliffs","framing":"wide shot"},"mood":"dramatic","objects":[{"color":"white/grey","name":"chalk cliffs","position":"center","state":"static"}],"people":[],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"Clear blue sky.","lighting":"bright, natural sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[{"content":"chapter 1\nDON'T PRETEND\nTO BE HUMAN","location":"right","style":"white sans-serif text"}]}},{"t":45,"speech":"Now, I'm not going to talk about the exact details of my code here. It is not the important part because code is just incredibly dull on camera.","visual":{"action":"A large block of JavaScript code appears on the left side of the screen while Tom Scott continues to speak and gesture.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#E0E0E0","#333333","#C0C0C0","#A8B0B8"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"focused on the man","framing":"medium shot"},"mood":"self-aware","objects":[],"people":[{"age_range":"30s-40s","clothing":{"accessories":"","bottom":"","footwear":"","top":"black hooded parka over a light grey hoodie"},"face":"speaking, animated expression","hair":"blond, short, windswept","hands":"gesturing with his right hand","pose":"standing, facing the camera","position":"right"}],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"The white cliffs are visible behind him.","lighting":"bright, direct sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[{"content":"// Above this, there's like a hundred lines of\n// boilerplate provided by Google\n// their API documentation is a bit out of date\n// and I had to copy-paste from Stack Overflow\n\nfunction makeAuthorizedCall(auth) {\n  console.log('Calling videos.list...');\n  youtube.videos.list({\n    auth: auth,\n    id: 'dQw4w9WgXcQ',\n    part: 'id,snippet,statistics',\n  }, function(err, response) {\n    if (err) {\n      console.log('The API returned an error: ' + err);\n      return;\n    }\n    if (response.data.items) {\n      console.log('Found video. Updating title...');\n      updateVideo(response.data.items[0], auth);\n    } else {\n      console.log('Zero items in list');\n    }\n  });\n}","location":"left","style":"monospaced code font with syntax highlighting"}]}},{"t":53,"speech":"First, you could write something that pretends to be a human. Not in some Blade Runner replicant way, but you could run a system that loads up the YouTube video page,","visual":{"action":"Tom Scott explains the concept of screen-scraping, using hand gestures to illustrate the process.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#E0E0E0","#333333","#C0C0C0","#A8B0B8"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"focused on the man","framing":"medium shot"},"mood":"didactic","objects":[],"people":[{"age_range":"30s-40s","clothing":{"accessories":"","bottom":"","footwear":"","top":"black hooded parka over a light grey hoodie"},"face":"speaking, focused expression","hair":"blond, short, windswept","hands":"making illustrative gestures","pose":"standing, facing the camera","position":"center"}],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"The white cliffs are visible on the left.","lighting":"bright, direct sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[]}},{"t":62,"speech":"that loads up the YouTube video page, reads the number of views, and then goes to the video manager, changes the title, and hits save.","visual":{"action":"A mockup of a YouTube video page appears, with animated highlights showing how a screen-scraper would read the view count and edit the title.","colors":{"dominant":"white","palette":["#FFFFFF","#0077D0","#333333","#F0F0F0","#065FD4"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"focused on the UI mockup","framing":"full screen graphic"},"mood":"illustrative","objects":[],"people":[{"age_range":"30s-40s","clothing":{"accessories":"","bottom":"","footwear":"","top":"black hooded parka over a light grey hoodie"},"face":"speaking, visible in a smaller window within the graphic","hair":"blond, short, windswept","hands":"gesturing","pose":"standing","position":"bottom left corner of the screen"}],"setting":{"architecture":"","background":"A white background for the UI mockup.","lighting":"digital, even","location":"digital graphic"},"text_on_screen":[{"content":"This Video Has X Views","location":"top left of graphic","style":"black sans-serif text"},{"content":"Y views • 6 Apr 2020","location":"under the title","style":"grey sans-serif text"},{"content":"ANALYTICS","location":"blue button, right","style":"white sans-serif text"},{"content":"EDIT VIDEO","location":"blue button, right","style":"white sans-serif text"}]}},{"t":71,"speech":"Screen-scrapers have been built to do things like that for decades. And that's a fairly innocent use of a screen-scraper, but if you can write code to change a title,","visual":{"action":"Tom Scott continues his explanation, with the words 'screen-scrapers' appearing in large text over the video.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#E0E0E0","#333333","#C0C0C0","#A8B0B8"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"focused on the man","framing":"medium shot"},"mood":"explanatory","objects":[],"people":[{"age_range":"30s-40s","clothing":{"accessories":"","bottom":"","footwear":"","top":"black hooded parka over a light grey hoodie"},"face":"speaking","hair":"blond, short, windswept","hands":"gesturing with his right hand","pose":"standing, facing the camera","position":"center"}],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"The white cliffs are visible on the left.","lighting":"bright, direct sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[{"content":"screen-scrapers","location":"center","style":"black sans-serif text with a white outline"}]}},{"t":87,"speech":"That's why you see those I'm not a robot checkboxes. Which aren't impossible to defeat by any means, but they make screen-scraping like that much, much, much more difficult.","visual":{"action":"A reCAPTCHA 'I'm not a robot' checkbox appears and is checked, illustrating the anti-bot measure.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#E0E0E0","#333333","#FFFFFF","#4285F4"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"focused on the man and the graphic","framing":"medium shot"},"mood":"informative","objects":[],"people":[{"age_range":"30s-40s","clothing":{"accessories":"","bottom":"","footwear":"","top":"black hooded parka over a light grey hoodie"},"face":"speaking","hair":"blond, short, windswept","hands":"gesturing","pose":"standing, facing the camera","position":"center"}],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"The white cliffs are visible on the left.","lighting":"bright, direct sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[{"content":"I'm not a robot","location":"center overlay","style":"standard reCAPTCHA widget style"}]}},{"t":103,"speech":"But for a long time, the people who build web services like YouTube have recognized that there are legitimate reasons for letting code interact with their systems,","visual":{"action":"Tom Scott talks about legitimate uses for code interacting with web services, gesturing broadly.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#E0E0E0","#333333","#C0C0C0","#A8B0B8"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"focused on the man","framing":"medium shot"},"mood":"historical","objects":[],"people":[{"age_range":"30s-40s","clothing":{"accessories":"","bottom":"","footwear":"","top":"black hooded parka over a light grey hoodie"},"face":"speaking, looking earnest","hair":"blond, short, windswept","hands":"gesturing with both hands","pose":"standing, facing the camera","position":"center"}],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"The white cliffs are visible on the left.","lighting":"bright, direct sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[]}},{"t":113,"speech":"So behind the scenes, nearly every major web service has an API, an Application Programming Interface.","visual":{"action":"As Tom Scott says 'API', the text appears on screen, followed by its full name.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#E0E0E0","#333333","#FFFFFF","#A8B0B8"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"focused on the man","framing":"medium shot"},"mood":"definitional","objects":[],"people":[{"age_range":"30s-40s","clothing":{"accessories":"","bottom":"","footwear":"","top":"black hooded parka over a light grey hoodie"},"face":"speaking","hair":"blond, short, windswept","hands":"gesturing","pose":"standing, facing the camera","position":"center"}],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"The white cliffs are visible on the left.","lighting":"bright, direct sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[{"content":"API\nApplication\nProgramming\nInterface","location":"center","style":"white sans-serif text with a black outline"}]}},{"t":122,"speech":"without having to deal with all the complicated visual stuff that humans need. So, when I want my code to change a video title, I don't ask it to open up a web browser.","visual":{"action":"Tom Scott explains the function of an API, waving his hand dismissively to represent ignoring the visual interface.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#E0E0E0","#333333","#C0C0C0","#A8B0B8"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"focused on the man","framing":"medium shot"},"mood":"explanatory","objects":[],"people":[{"age_range":"30s-40s","clothing":{"accessories":"","bottom":"","footwear":"","top":"black hooded parka over a light grey hoodie"},"face":"speaking, clear and direct","hair":"blond, short, windswept","hands":"making a sweeping, dismissive gesture","pose":"standing, facing the camera","position":"center"}],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"The white cliffs are visible on the left.","lighting":"bright, direct sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[]}},{"t":131,"speech":"Instead, it sends a single request to YouTube. Here's the video ID, here's the stuff to change, here's my credentials to prove that I'm allowed to do that.","visual":{"action":"A code snippet for a YouTube API call appears on screen, with different parts highlighted as Tom mentions them.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#E0E0E0","#333333","#C0C0C0","#A8B0B8"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"focused on the man and the graphic","framing":"medium shot"},"mood":"technical","objects":[],"people":[{"age_range":"30s-40s","clothing":{"accessories":"","bottom":"","footwear":"","top":"black hooded parka over a light grey hoodie"},"face":"speaking, pointing to the graphic","hair":"blond, short, windswept","hands":"pointing at different parts of the on-screen code","pose":"standing, facing the camera","position":"center"}],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"The white cliffs are visible on the left.","lighting":"bright, direct sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[{"content":"youtube.videos.update({\n  resource: video,\n  part: 'snippet',\n  auth: auth,\n});","location":"center overlay","style":"monospaced code font on a dark background, with syntax highlighting"}]}},{"t":142,"speech":"Hopefully, it's a response code of 200, which means okay, uh with confirmation of what the video's data has changed to.","visual":{"action":"Tom Scott explains the successful API response, and the text '200 OK' appears on screen.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#E0E0E0","#333333","#C0C0C0","#A8B0B8"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"focused on the man","framing":"medium shot"},"mood":"informative","objects":[],"people":[{"age_range":"30s-40s","clothing":{"accessories":"","bottom":"","footwear":"","top":"black hooded parka over a light grey hoodie"},"face":"speaking, slight smile","hair":"blond, short, windswept","hands":"gesturing","pose":"standing, facing the camera","position":"center"}],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"The white cliffs are visible on the left.","lighting":"bright, direct sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[{"content":"200 OK","location":"center","style":"white text on a semi-transparent dark grey rectangle"}]}},{"t":152,"speech":"or uh letting captioning services add subtitles to videos quickly and automatically, or you might want to hook multiple web services together to automatically tweet when a new video goes up","visual":{"action":"Tom continues to list examples of API uses, gesturing with his hands.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#E0E0E0","#333333","#C0C0C0","#A8B0B8"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"focused on the man","framing":"medium shot"},"mood":"explanatory","objects":[],"people":[{"age_range":"30s-40s","clothing":{"accessories":"","bottom":"","footwear":"","top":"black hooded parka over a light grey hoodie"},"face":"speaking","hair":"blond, short, windswept","hands":"gesturing","pose":"standing, facing the camera","position":"center"}],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"The white cliffs are visible on the left.","lighting":"bright, direct sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[]}},{"t":165,"speech":"No typing, no clicking on things, no pretending to be a human. One request out, one reply back. At least that's how it's meant to work.","visual":{"action":"Tom summarizes the API process, making a definitive gesture with his hand.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#E0E0E0","#333333","#C0C0C0","#A8B0B8"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"focused on the man","framing":"medium shot"},"mood":"conclusive","objects":[],"people":[{"age_range":"30s-40s","clothing":{"accessories":"","bottom":"","footwear":"","top":"black hooded parka over a light grey hoodie"},"face":"speaking, determined expression","hair":"blond, short, windswept","hands":"making a chopping motion with his right hand","pose":"standing, facing the camera","position":"center"}],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"The white cliffs are visible on the left.","lighting":"bright, direct sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[]}},{"t":170,"speech":"","visual":{"action":"Camera pans up the face of the white cliffs, showing their immense scale.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#D8D8D8","#9A9A9A","#6B6B6B","#404040"]},"composition":{"angle":"low-angle","focus":"deep focus on the cliffs","framing":"wide shot"},"mood":"majestic","objects":[{"color":"white/grey","name":"chalk cliffs","position":"center","state":"static"}],"people":[],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"Clear blue sky.","lighting":"bright, natural sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[{"content":"chapter 2\nUTOPIA","location":"center","style":"white sans-serif text"}]}},{"t":178,"speech":"This idea that web services could interact with each other through code was amazing when it first became popular. It became Web 2.0,","visual":{"action":"Tom Scott speaks enthusiastically about Web 2.0, with the text 'Web 2.0' appearing on screen.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#E0E0E0","#333333","#FFFFFF","#A8B0B8"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"focused on the man","framing":"medium shot"},"mood":"nostalgic","objects":[],"people":[{"age_range":"30s-40s","clothing":{"accessories":"","bottom":"","footwear":"","top":"black hooded parka over a light grey hoodie"},"face":"speaking with excitement","hair":"blond, short, windswept","hands":"gesturing with open palms","pose":"standing, facing the camera","position":"center"}],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"The white cliffs are visible on the left.","lighting":"bright, direct sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[{"content":"Web 2.0","location":"center","style":"white sans-serif text with a black outline"}]}},{"t":190,"speech":"All these new startups were making sure that they could interchange data with each other. So, uh maybe in the future you could see your friend's Facebook statuses on your fridge,","visual":{"action":"Tom Scott describes the utopian vision of Web 2.0, with an optimistic tone and gestures.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#E0E0E0","#333333","#C0C0C0","#A8B0B8"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"focused on the man","framing":"medium shot"},"mood":"optimistic","objects":[],"people":[{"age_range":"30s-40s","clothing":{"accessories":"","bottom":"","footwear":"","top":"black hooded parka over a light grey hoodie"},"face":"speaking with a hopeful expression","hair":"blond, short, windswept","hands":"gesturing to illustrate interconnectedness","pose":"standing, facing the camera","position":"center"}],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"The white cliffs are visible on the left.","lighting":"bright, direct sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[]}},{"t":201,"speech":"I built so many things in the days of Web 2.0, so many little web toys that took data from one place and showed it in weird ways.","visual":{"action":"Tom reminisces about his own projects from the Web 2.0 era.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#E0E0E0","#333333","#C0C0C0","#A8B0B8"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"focused on the man","framing":"medium shot"},"mood":"fond","objects":[],"people":[{"age_range":"30s-40s","clothing":{"accessories":"","bottom":"","footwear":"","top":"black hooded parka over a light grey hoodie"},"face":"smiling slightly","hair":"blond, short, windswept","hands":"clasping his hands in front of him","pose":"standing, facing the camera","position":"center"}],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"The white cliffs are visible on the left.","lighting":"bright, direct sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[]}},{"t":212,"speech":"And the most ridiculous, over-the-top tool that I loved to build with was called Yahoo Pipes.","visual":{"action":"The Yahoo! and Yahoo! Pipes logos appear on screen as Tom introduces the tool.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#E0E0E0","#333333","#FFFFFF","#400191"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"focused on the man and the graphic","framing":"medium shot"},"mood":"enthusiastic","objects":[],"people":[{"age_range":"30s-40s","clothing":{"accessories":"","bottom":"","footwear":"","top":"black hooded parka over a light grey hoodie"},"face":"speaking with excitement","hair":"blond, short, windswept","hands":"gesturing","pose":"standing, facing the camera","position":"center"}],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"The white cliffs are visible on the left.","lighting":"bright, direct sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[{"content":"YAHOO! logo and Yahoo! pipes logo","location":"center overlay","style":"official brand logos on a white rectangle"}]}},{"t":225,"speech":"You could just click and drag boxes on a screen to make a flowchart, and it would all be done for you. Yahoo would run it all on their servers for free.","visual":{"action":"A screenshot of the Yahoo Pipes user interface is shown, demonstrating the drag-and-drop flowchart system for creating data mashups.","colors":{"dominant":"light grey","palette":["#EAEAEA","#D0E4F2","#70B0E0","#333333","#FFFFFF"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"focused on the UI screenshot","framing":"full screen graphic"},"mood":"illustrative","objects":[],"people":[],"setting":{"architecture":"","background":"The screenshot fills the screen.","lighting":"digital, even","location":"digital graphic"},"text_on_screen":[{"content":"Traduction automatique des flux d'information (Yahoo Pipes IV) Laurent Moccozet (2012) // Creative Commons Attribution","location":"top right of graphic","style":"black sans-serif text"}]}},{"t":233,"speech":"I made a thing called Star Wars Weather. It was a really simple web page. Uh it would show you the weather forecast by comparing it to a planet from Star Wars.","visual":{"action":"A series of screenshots from Tom's 'Star Wars Weather' website are shown, comparing real-world weather to planets like Bespin, Tatooine, and Hoth.","colors":{"dominant":"grey","palette":["#D8D8D8","#333333","#FFFFFF","#E0C8A0","#A0C0D0"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"focused on the website screenshots","framing":"full screen graphic"},"mood":"nostalgic","objects":[],"people":[{"age_range":"30s-40s","clothing":{"accessories":"","bottom":"","footwear":"","top":"black hooded parka over a light grey hoodie"},"face":"speaking, visible in a smaller window within the graphic","hair":"blond, short, windswept","hands":"gesturing","pose":"standing","position":"bottom right corner of the screen"}],"setting":{"architecture":"","background":"The screenshots fill the screen.","lighting":"digital, even","location":"digital graphic"},"text_on_screen":[{"content":"IT'S LIKE BESPIN OUT THERE.","location":"center of graphic","style":"large black sans-serif text"},{"content":"IT'S LIKE TATOOINE OUT THERE.","location":"center of graphic","style":"large black sans-serif text"},{"content":"IT'S LIKE HOTH OUT THERE.","location":"center of graphic","style":"large black sans-serif text"}]}},{"t":245,"speech":"I had a million people visit that site in one day at its peak. Uh a few people genuinely used it to get the weather every morning. I got lovely emails from them.","visual":{"action":"Tom speaks fondly of the success of his small web project, smiling as he recalls the user feedback.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#E0E0E0","#333333","#C0C0C0","#A8B0B8"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"focused on the man","framing":"medium shot"},"mood":"proud","objects":[],"people":[{"age_range":"30s-40s","clothing":{"accessories":"","bottom":"","footwear":"","top":"black hooded parka over a light grey hoodie"},"face":"smiling warmly","hair":"blond, short, windswept","hands":"gesturing","pose":"standing, facing the camera","position":"center"}],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"The white cliffs are visible on the left.","lighting":"bright, direct sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[]}},{"t":265,"speech":"Google Maps, that was free to build on, too. World-class maps just to play with. I built a terrible racing game on top of it, put it in my own site, loads of people played it.","visual":{"action":"A screenshot of another of Tom's old projects, 'Real World Racer,' a game built on the Google Maps API, is shown.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#A8D8F0","#F0E8D0","#333333","#0050A0","#FFFFFF"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"focused on the screenshot","framing":"full screen graphic"},"mood":"nostalgic","objects":[],"people":[{"age_range":"30s-40s","clothing":{"accessories":"","bottom":"","footwear":"","top":"black hooded parka over a light grey hoodie"},"face":"speaking, visible in a smaller window within the graphic","hair":"blond, short, windswept","hands":"gesturing","pose":"standing","position":"bottom right corner of the screen"}],"setting":{"architecture":"","background":"The screenshot fills the screen.","lighting":"digital, even","location":"digital graphic"},"text_on_screen":[{"content":"REAL WORLD RACER","location":"top of graphic","style":"stylized, colorful text"}]}},{"t":275,"speech":"None of those free services exist now. And in hindsight, it was never sustainable.","visual":{"action":"Tom's expression turns more somber as he explains that these free, open services no longer exist.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#E0E0E0","#333333","#C0C0C0","#A8B0B8"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"focused on the man","framing":"medium shot"},"mood":"somber","objects":[],"people":[{"age_range":"30s-40s","clothing":{"accessories":"","bottom":"","footwear":"","top":"black hooded parka over a light grey hoodie"},"face":"serious, slightly sad expression","hair":"blond, short, windswept","hands":"held down at his sides","pose":"standing, facing the camera","position":"center"}],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"The white cliffs are visible on the left.","lighting":"bright, direct sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[]}},{"t":290,"speech":"","visual":{"action":"The camera cuts to a wide shot of the beach, showing the line where the sea meets the shore and the expanse of the cliffs.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#E0E0E0","#5D6770","#A8B0B8","#3B444C"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"deep focus on the landscape","framing":"wide shot"},"mood":"pensive","objects":[],"people":[],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"The sea stretches to the horizon.","lighting":"bright, natural sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[{"content":"chapter 3\nTHE FALL","location":"top right","style":"white sans-serif text"}]}},{"t":300,"speech":"It appeared in August 2009 with the face of Joseph McCarthy as its avatar, and it watched the entire Twitter timeline, everything posted by everyone,","visual":{"action":"A screenshot of the 'RedScareBot' Twitter profile is overlaid on the left, while Tom explains its function.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#E0E0E0","#333333","#F5F8FA","#C0DEED"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"focused on the man and the graphic","framing":"medium shot"},"mood":"critical","objects":[],"people":[{"age_range":"30s-40s","clothing":{"accessories":"","bottom":"","footwear":"","top":"black hooded parka over a light grey hoodie"},"face":"speaking with a serious, critical expression","hair":"blond, short, windswept","hands":"gesturing towards the graphic","pose":"standing, facing the camera","position":"right"}],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"The white cliffs are visible behind him.","lighting":"bright, direct sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[{"content":"Robot J. McCarthy\n@RedScareBot\nJoseph McCarthy claimed there were large numbers of Communists and Soviet spies and sympathizers inside the United States federal government and elsewhere.","location":"left overlay","style":"Twitter profile screenshot"}]}},{"t":320,"speech":"Somehow, it survived even as Twitter's rules changed to explicitly ban look for a word and reply to it bots, even as countless other irritants got shut down.","visual":{"action":"Tom expresses surprise that the annoying bot was allowed to continue operating for so long.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#E0E0E0","#333333","#C0C0C0","#A8B0B8"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"focused on the man","framing":"medium shot"},"mood":"incredulous","objects":[],"people":[{"age_range":"30s-40s","clothing":{"accessories":"","bottom":"","footwear":"","top":"black hooded parka over a light grey hoodie"},"face":"speaking with a look of disbelief","hair":"blond, short, windswept","hands":"gesturing","pose":"standing, facing the camera","position":"center"}],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"The white cliffs are visible on the left.","lighting":"bright, direct sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[]}},{"t":330,"speech":"Search for every use of a word on Twitter and reply to it seems a lot more sinister these days in a world where social media shapes public opinion. We didn't really know what we were playing with.","visual":{"action":"Tom reflects on the darker implications of such bots in the modern social media landscape.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#E0E0E0","#333333","#C0C0C0","#A8B0B8"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"focused on the man","framing":"medium shot"},"mood":"reflective","objects":[],"people":[{"age_range":"30s-40s","clothing":{"accessories":"","bottom":"","footwear":"","top":"black hooded parka over a light grey hoodie"},"face":"serious and contemplative","hair":"blond, short, windswept","hands":"held loosely at his sides","pose":"standing, facing the camera","position":"center"}],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"The white cliffs are visible on the left.","lighting":"bright, direct sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[]}},{"t":340,"speech":"I built some Twitter bots myself, although they weren't quite as annoying as that. Uh my best one tweeted anytime someone edited Wikipedia from within the Houses of Parliament.","visual":{"action":"A screenshot of Tom's 'Parliament WikiEdits' Twitter bot appears, showing its purpose.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#E0E0E0","#333333","#F5F8FA","#C0DEED"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"focused on the man and the graphic","framing":"medium shot"},"mood":"reminiscent","objects":[],"people":[{"age_range":"30s-40s","clothing":{"accessories":"","bottom":"","footwear":"","top":"black hooded parka over a light grey hoodie"},"face":"speaking","hair":"blond, short, windswept","hands":"gesturing","pose":"standing, facing the camera","position":"center"}],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"The white cliffs are visible on the left.","lighting":"bright, direct sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[{"content":"Parliament WikiEdits\n@parliamentedits\nTracks Wikipedia edits made from Parliamentary IPs. Idea: @tomscott, code: @edsu, server: @marksteward.","location":"center overlay","style":"Twitter profile screenshot"}]}},{"t":358,"speech":"But bot has a whole new meaning now. Because it turns out you can't open up data access to just the good guys.","visual":{"action":"News headlines about malicious bot networks and data breaches appear on screen, illustrating the negative turn.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#E0E0E0","#333333","#FFFFFF","#000000"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"focused on the man and the graphic","framing":"medium shot"},"mood":"sobering","objects":[],"people":[{"age_range":"30s-40s","clothing":{"accessories":"","bottom":"","footwear":"","top":"black hooded parka over a light grey hoodie"},"face":"speaking with a grim expression","hair":"blond, short, windswept","hands":"clasping his hands","pose":"standing, facing the camera","position":"center"}],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"The white cliffs are visible on the left.","lighting":"bright, direct sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[{"content":"NBC NEWS: Twitter pulls down bot network that pushed pro-Saudi talking points about disappeared journalist","location":"center overlay","style":"news headline screenshot"},{"content":"WIRED: Here's How Much Bots Drive Conversation During News Events","location":"center overlay","style":"news headline screenshot"}]}},{"t":373,"speech":"We all know how that turned out. It's amazing in hindsight just how naively open everything was back then.","visual":{"action":"A news headline about the Cambridge Analytica data breach appears, reinforcing the theme of lost innocence.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#E0E0E0","#333333","#FFFFFF","#005689"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"focused on the man and the graphic","framing":"medium shot"},"mood":"cynical","objects":[],"people":[{"age_range":"30s-40s","clothing":{"accessories":"","bottom":"","footwear":"","top":"black hooded parka over a light grey hoodie"},"face":"speaking with a rueful expression","hair":"blond, short, windswept","hands":"gesturing","pose":"standing, facing the camera","position":"center"}],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"The white cliffs are visible on the left.","lighting":"bright, direct sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[{"content":"The Guardian: Revealed: 50 million Facebook profiles harvested for Cambridge Analytica in major data breach","location":"center overlay","style":"news headline screenshot"}]}},{"t":385,"speech":"So, over the years, the APIs got replaced with simpler, more locked-down versions or were shut down entirely.","visual":{"action":"Tom explains the consequences of the abuse of open APIs, using his hands to show a closing or restricting motion.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#E0E0E0","#333333","#C0C0C0","#A8B0B8"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"focused on the man","framing":"medium shot"},"mood":"disappointed","objects":[],"people":[{"age_range":"30s-40s","clothing":{"accessories":"","bottom":"","footwear":"","top":"black hooded parka over a light grey hoodie"},"face":"serious and explanatory","hair":"blond, short, windswept","hands":"making a closing gesture","pose":"standing, facing the camera","position":"center"}],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"The white cliffs are visible on the left.","lighting":"bright, direct sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[]}},{"t":405,"speech":"Nowadays, if you want to build something that connects to any major site, there will be an approval process so they can check in on what you're doing.","visual":{"action":"Tom describes the current, more restrictive environment for developers working with APIs.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#E0E0E0","#333333","#C0C0C0","#A8B0B8"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"focused on the man","framing":"medium shot"},"mood":"pragmatic","objects":[],"people":[{"age_range":"30s-40s","clothing":{"accessories":"","bottom":"","footwear":"","top":"black hooded parka over a light grey hoodie"},"face":"speaking directly to camera","hair":"blond, short, windswept","hands":"gesturing","pose":"standing, facing the camera","position":"center"}],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"The white cliffs are visible on the left.","lighting":"bright, direct sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[]}},{"t":418,"speech":"Pipes must have cost Yahoo so much money. Even if the service you're building on survives, there's still upkeep associated with making anything that connects to an API.","visual":{"action":"Tom reflects on the financial unsustainability of the old free services and the ongoing maintenance required for API-dependent projects.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#E0E0E0","#333333","#C0C0C0","#A8B0B8"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"focused on the man","framing":"medium shot"},"mood":"reflective","objects":[],"people":[{"age_range":"30s-40s","clothing":{"accessories":"","bottom":"","footwear":"","top":"black hooded parka over a light grey hoodie"},"face":"contemplative expression","hair":"blond, short, windswept","hands":"held loosely","pose":"standing, facing the camera","position":"center"}],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"The white cliffs are visible on the left.","lighting":"bright, direct sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[]}},{"t":435,"speech":"","visual":{"action":"The camera pans up the white cliffs again, transitioning to the next chapter.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#D8D8D8","#9A9A9A","#6B6B6B","#404040"]},"composition":{"angle":"low-angle","focus":"deep focus on the cliffs","framing":"wide shot"},"mood":"transitional","objects":[{"color":"white/grey","name":"chalk cliffs","position":"center","state":"static"}],"people":[],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"Clear blue sky.","lighting":"bright, natural sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[{"content":"chapter 4\nHOPE","location":"center","style":"white sans-serif text"}]}},{"t":440,"speech":"Computer history museums are filled with the software and hardware that I grew up with and that I'm nostalgic for because they all ran on their own.","visual":{"action":"The video cuts to footage from inside The Centre for Computing History in Cambridge, UK. The camera pans across a display of vintage computers and monitors.","colors":{"dominant":"beige","palette":["#D8D8D8","#333333","#00A0D0","#FFFFFF","#808080"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"panning across the exhibit","framing":"medium shot"},"mood":"nostalgic","objects":[{"color":"beige","name":"vintage computer monitors","position":"on a table","state":"on display"},{"color":"grey","name":"vintage keyboards","position":"on a table","state":"on display"}],"people":[],"setting":{"architecture":"modern exhibit hall","background":"Display stands with text and graphics.","lighting":"indoor, fluorescent","location":"The Centre for Computing History, Cambridge, UK"},"text_on_screen":[{"content":"The Centre for Computing History\nCambridge, UK","location":"top right","style":"white sans-serif text"}]}},{"t":450,"speech":"They didn't need any ongoing support from an external company, but if what you're making relies on some other company's service, then archiving becomes very, very difficult.","visual":{"action":"The shot cuts back to Tom Scott on the beach, who contrasts old standalone software with modern service-dependent applications.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#E0E0E0","#333333","#C0C0C0","#A8B0B8"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"focused on the man","framing":"medium shot"},"mood":"thoughtful","objects":[],"people":[{"age_range":"30s-40s","clothing":{"accessories":"","bottom":"","footwear":"","top":"black hooded parka over a light grey hoodie"},"face":"serious, explanatory tone","hair":"blond, short, windswept","hands":"gesturing to make a point","pose":"standing, facing the camera","position":"center"}],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"The white cliffs are visible on the left.","lighting":"bright, direct sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[]}},{"t":465,"speech":"Eventually, so will YouTube. So will everything. Entropy, the steady decline into disorder that's a fundamental part of the universe. Entropy will get us all in the end.","visual":{"action":"Tom Scott makes a grand, philosophical point about the impermanence of all things, including YouTube and the universe itself, due to entropy.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#E0E0E0","#333333","#C0C0C0","#A8B0B8"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"focused on the man","framing":"medium shot"},"mood":"philosophical","objects":[],"people":[{"age_range":"30s-40s","clothing":{"accessories":"","bottom":"","footwear":"","top":"black hooded parka over a light grey hoodie"},"face":"serious, profound expression","hair":"blond, short, windswept","hands":"gesturing broadly","pose":"standing, facing the camera","position":"center"}],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"The white cliffs are visible on the left.","lighting":"bright, direct sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[]}},{"t":479,"speech":"And that's why I chose to film this here. The White Cliffs of Dover are a symbol of Britain. They are this imposing barrier, but they're just chalk.","visual":{"action":"Tom gestures towards the white cliffs behind him, explaining their symbolic relevance to his point about impermanence.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#E0E0E0","#333333","#C0C0C0","#A8B0B8"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"focused on the man","framing":"medium shot"},"mood":"metaphorical","objects":[],"people":[{"age_range":"30s-40s","clothing":{"accessories":"","bottom":"","footwear":"","top":"black hooded parka over a light grey hoodie"},"face":"speaking, looking towards the cliffs then back to the camera","hair":"blond, short, windswept","hands":"gesturing with his right hand towards the cliffs","pose":"standing, facing the camera","position":"center"}],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"The white cliffs are visible on the left.","lighting":"bright, direct sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[]}},{"t":488,"speech":"Time and tide will wash them away a long time in the future. This too shall pass. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't build things anyway.","visual":{"action":"Tom delivers a hopeful message, arguing for the value of creation despite its temporary nature.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#E0E0E0","#333333","#C0C0C0","#A8B0B8"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"focused on the man","framing":"medium shot"},"mood":"hopeful","objects":[],"people":[{"age_range":"30s-40s","clothing":{"accessories":"","bottom":"","footwear":"","top":"black hooded parka over a light grey hoodie"},"face":"earnest and encouraging expression","hair":"blond, short, windswept","hands":"gesturing","pose":"standing, facing the camera","position":"center"}],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"The white cliffs are visible on the left.","lighting":"bright, direct sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[]}},{"t":500,"speech":"Joy, wonder, laughter, hope, the world can be better because of what you built in the past. And while I do think that the long-term goal of humanity should be to find a way to defeat entropy,","visual":{"action":"Tom passionately lists the positive impacts of creation, his expression becoming more animated.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#E0E0E0","#333333","#C0C0C0","#A8B0B8"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"focused on the man","framing":"medium shot"},"mood":"inspirational","objects":[],"people":[{"age_range":"30s-40s","clothing":{"accessories":"","bottom":"","footwear":"","top":"black hooded parka over a light grey hoodie"},"face":"passionate and animated","hair":"blond, short, windswept","hands":"gesturing emphatically","pose":"standing, facing the camera","position":"center"}],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"The white cliffs are visible on the left.","lighting":"bright, direct sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[]}},{"t":515,"speech":"try and make sure that the things you're working on pushes in the right direction. They don't have to be big projects, they might just have an audience of one.","visual":{"action":"Tom offers advice to the viewer, encouraging small, positive acts of creation.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#E0E0E0","#333333","#C0C0C0","#A8B0B8"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"focused on the man","framing":"medium shot"},"mood":"encouraging","objects":[],"people":[{"age_range":"30s-40s","clothing":{"accessories":"","bottom":"","footwear":"","top":"black hooded parka over a light grey hoodie"},"face":"sincere and encouraging","hair":"blond, short, windswept","hands":"gesturing gently","pose":"standing, facing the camera","position":"center"}],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"The white cliffs are visible on the left.","lighting":"bright, direct sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[]}},{"t":525,"speech":"And yes, at some point, the code that's updating the title of this video will break. Maybe I'll fix it, maybe I won't. But the code was never the important part.","visual":{"action":"Tom brings the topic back to his initial premise, concluding that the act of creation was more important than the code itself.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#E0E0E0","#333333","#C0C0C0","#A8B0B8"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"focused on the man","framing":"medium shot"},"mood":"conclusive","objects":[],"people":[{"age_range":"30s-40s","clothing":{"accessories":"","bottom":"","footwear":"","top":"black hooded parka over a light grey hoodie"},"face":"smiling slightly, conclusive expression","hair":"blond, short, windswept","hands":"held loosely","pose":"standing, facing the camera","position":"center"}],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"The white cliffs are visible on the left.","lighting":"bright, direct sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[]}},{"t":535,"speech":"","visual":{"action":"The video ends on a wide shot of the beach and cliffs, with social media handles appearing at the bottom of the screen.","colors":{"dominant":"blue","palette":["#0077D0","#E0E0E0","#5D6770","#A8B0B8","#3B444C"]},"composition":{"angle":"eye-level","focus":"deep focus on the landscape","framing":"wide shot"},"mood":"serene","objects":[],"people":[],"setting":{"architecture":"natural","background":"The sea stretches to the horizon.","lighting":"bright, natural sunlight","location":"Beach at the base of the White Cliffs of Dover"},"text_on_screen":[{"content":"tomscott.com @tomscott /tomscott tomscottgo","location":"bottom center","style":"white text with social media icons"}]}}],"created_at":"2026-04-11 17:54:37","processed_at":"2026-04-11 18:04:34","view_count":1,"thumbnail":"/data/videos/54d632b9-ed15-4c5a-ae85-48dc4eb55147/thumbnail.jpg","video":"/data/videos/54d632b9-ed15-4c5a-ae85-48dc4eb55147/web.mp4","urls":{"page":"/v/this-video-has-75-022-677-views","api":"/api/v1/videos/this-video-has-75-022-677-views","timeline_file":"/data/videos/54d632b9-ed15-4c5a-ae85-48dc4eb55147/timeline.json"}}