***And another addition: Wow. Thousands of angry and offensive comments. So: Comments relating to this video, relevant ideas, and constructive conversations will remain un-moderated. But, because there is no reasonable, intelligent person who would concern him/herself with wasting time to make an anonymous analysis of a person like me, if you do make a comment about me, here is what you can expect: #1 Your initial (useless) comment. #2 My reply. Matched to suit, insults and all. #3 Your angry and even less relevant reply. #4 I get the last word. All further replies are removed. If you make a statement relating to my person, you are clearly demonstrating to me that you are neither reasonable nor intelligent; thus, you will become like a piece of meat to me, and I will use your pointless points for my own amusement and for the amusements of others. Seriously, think about this: We don't know each other. How is it fair for you to make judgments about me, when you know so little? Don't be that guy. Do you think I'm smug, arrogant, narcissistic, or pretentious? Well, unless you have a few videos with a million plus views, keep it to yourself. You would not believe the offensive drivel that leaks out of this place. ***The following was later added: Secret spoiler comments are now removed, and there is now a keyword filter. The comment that makes me laugh is the "did anyone else notice..." type. Yes, everyone else noticed. In fact, the filter catches around 30 of these comments a day, and then there is the other 5 or 10 per day that I have to remove manually because so many commenters can't spell. It is a bit sad that un-moderated comments get so bad. One of the most surprising things about it is how many of you talk without listening; it is not uncommon to see ten of the same comment in a row (because nobody reads what others say), nor is it unusual for me to read dozens of comments about a topic that is answered in the first line of the description. Sorry if it seems as though I am chastising you, because your having taken the time to read this is evidence that none of this actually applies to you. ***Original description: Because of the cruel irony that is the way that youtube views are distributed, this video will likely go largely ignored, but the idea was this: remember that surprisingly popular pinball in a cube video? I figured that I should try to repeat some of its success by reproducing the formula a little bit (including, but not limited to, use of the word "impossible" in the title for views). I think, but I can't be sure, that this puzzle/trick is better by all measures than the pinball one. I'm not really sure, because I was never really fooled by this puzzle, because I designed it. I'm not trying to sound like I'm so clever, it's just that I don't really know how long this puzzle would have stumped me, because I've never been faced with solving this particular problem. Pay attention to the moment that you knew, for certain, how the trick worked. Often we just give up and wait for the solution to be presented to us, but it sure is satisfying when you work it out for yourself. For exactly that reason, I wanted the video to progress in such a way that it reveals itself ever so slowly (for those who don't spoil it by skipping to the end), which forces the viewer's brain to work at least a little towards figuring it out for themselves. Maybe I'm thinking too much into this, but maybe not. I mean, if a stadium full of people are going to watch this, I have at least some small responsibility to those people, in the sense that they should be engaged or be improved in some way after being distracted from their lives by watching it. Maybe if some of them learn the general idea of what an algorithm is, they didn't waste their time. Whatever. Maybe I'm not that good at it, but I just try to make videos in a way that would interest me if I were the one watching. Well, I'm sending this video public right now, and I am very curious to find out how well received this puzzle will be. Thanks for listening. Music: Dhaka by Kevin MacLeod: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?collection=017

• published: 03 Feb 2014
• views: 4862861