Primitive Technology

Last updated

Primitive Technology
Primitive Technology logo.png
Personal information
NationalityAustralian
Website primitivetechnology.wordpress.com
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2015–2020, 2022–present
Subscribers10.8 million [1]
Total views1.12 billion [1]
YouTube Silver Play Button 2.svg100,000 subscribers2015
YouTube Gold Play Button 2.svg1,000,000 subscribers2016
YouTube Diamond Play Button.svg10,000,000 subscribers2020
Last updated: 3 February 2024

Primitive Technology is a YouTube channel run by John Plant. Based in Far North Queensland, Australia, the series demonstrates the process of making tools and buildings using only materials found in the wild. Created in May 2015, the channel has gained over 10.8 million subscribers and over 1.12 billion views as of December 2023.

Contents

Background

Plant describes his subject as a hobby, [2] and he "lives in a modern house and eats modern food". [3] [4] He stated in a comment on a January 2018 video that he owns the land on which he films the videos. [5] He states on his website that he has no Aboriginal ancestry and has not received military training. [2]

In a correspondence with Michelle Castillo of CNBC in 2018, Plant stated that he was in his mid 30s. He also said he went to university and received a Bachelor of Science degree but "didn't do anything with it", [6] and instead mowed lawns for a living while going out into the bush in his spare time to practice his hobby. [4] He stated his affinity for subsisting off of nature began at a young age: at 11, he would make huts by a creek behind his house using only natural materials. [6] [7] [8]

Description

Each video guides viewers through the progress of one or more projects demonstrating the techniques and methods he uses to create tools or buildings. [9] As he explains on his blog, he builds "completely from scratch using no modern tools or materials", only using what he can source from his natural environment, such as plant materials, clay, soil, and stones. [3] [10] Episodes of the series contain no speaking, and only minimal ambient sound. Text descriptions of actions on-screen appear in the closed-caption feature. [9] [11] During the videos he does not wear any clothing except cargo shorts.[ citation needed ]

History

Blog

In June 2015, Plant created the Primitive Technology blog on WordPress. That blog was a primary source of his videos through November 2018 when he posted the "Iron Prills" video, [12] whereupon Plant moved exclusively to YouTube.[ citation needed ]

YouTube channel

Plant created the Primitive Technology channel in May 2015. The first video was uploaded on 1 May 2015. Since that time, each of his videos has garnered millions of views. The channel amassed 5.4 million subscribers and 350 million views by September 2017, [6] increasing to 8.7 million subscribers and 615 million views by September 2018. [13] As of December 2021, the channel has over 10.3 million subscribers and over 994 million views.

For the first two years of the channel's existence, the man in the videos remained anonymous. In June 2017, he identified himself as John Plant when he complained to Facebook that his videos were being stolen as a result of people reposting them on the website, and that the practice had cost him thousands of Australian dollars. [14]

Book

Plant has authored the 192 page, illustrated, hardcover book Primitive Technology: A survivalist's guide to building tools, shelters, and more in the wild ( ISBN   9781984823670), published by Clarkson Potter on 29 October 2019. The book is "a practical guide to building huts and tools using only natural materials from the wild" containing "50 projects with step-by-step instructions on how to make tools, weapons, shelters, pottery, clothing, and more". [15] [16]

Hiatus and return to YouTube

After a video on 13 December 2019, no new videos were uploaded to Primitive Technology in the usual timeframe. On 28 May 2020, a post explaining the hiatus was posted to a Reddit community maintained by fans of the Primitive Technology channel. The post stated that Plant was taking a break from YouTube because he was working on a project for a cable network. [17] Another post on 8 February 2021, explained that Plant shot a pilot episode for the project but the network wanted to change the format, and that Plant could not share any more information. In his free time, Plant was still recording new material, but he did not want to post it if he deemed it of not high enough quality. [18] On 2 March 2022, Plant posted his first video in over two years, titled Primitive Technology: Thatched Workshop. [19] He continues to upload videos monthly.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">YouTube</span> Video-sharing platform owned by Google

YouTube is an American online video sharing and social media platform owned by Google. Accessible worldwide, it was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. Headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States, it is the second most visited website in the world, after Google Search. YouTube has more than 2.5 billion monthly users, who collectively watch more than one billion hours of videos every day. As of May 2019, videos were being uploaded to the platform at a rate of more than 500 hours of content per minute, and as of 2023, there were approximately 14 billion videos in total.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smosh</span> American YouTube comedy channel

Smosh is an American YouTube sketch comedy-improv collective, independent production company, and former social networking site founded by Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox. In 2002, Padilla created a website named "smosh.com" for making Flash animations, and he was later joined by Hecox. They began to post videos on Smosh's YouTube channel in the fall of 2005 and quickly became one of the most popular channels on the site. The Smosh channel has over 10 billion views and over 25 million subscribers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of YouTube</span>

YouTube is an American online video-sharing platform headquartered in San Bruno, California, founded by three former PayPal employees—Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim– in February 2005. Google bought the site in November 2006 for US$1.65 billion, since which it operates as one of Google's subsidiaries.

jacksfilms American YouTuber (born 1988)

John Patrick Douglass, better known as jacksfilms, is an American YouTuber, videographer, and sketch comedian, best known for his series' Yesterday I Asked You and Your Grammar Sucks, in which he commentates on content sent by fans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SourceFed</span> Former YouTube channel and news website

SourceFed was a YouTube channel and news website created by Philip DeFranco in January 2012 as part of YouTube's original channel initiative, and was originally produced by James Haffner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PewDiePie</span> Swedish YouTuber (born 1989)

Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, better known as PewDiePie, is a Swedish YouTuber known for his comedic videos. Kjellberg's popularity on YouTube and extensive media coverage has made him one of the most noted online personalities and content creators. He has been portrayed in the media as a figurehead for YouTube, especially in the genre of gaming.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CaptainSparklez</span> American YouTuber (born 1992)

Jordan Maron, known online as CaptainSparklez, is an American YouTuber and Twitch streamer mainly known for his Minecraft videos. As of January 2024, his main YouTube channel has over 11.4 million subscribers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marques Brownlee</span> American tech YouTuber (born 1993)

Marques Keith Brownlee, also known professionally as MKBHD, is an American YouTuber and professional ultimate frisbee player, best known for his technology-focused videos as well as his podcast Waveform. As of December 2023, he has more than 20 million subscribers across all channels and 3.93 billion total video views. Vic Gundotra, a former senior vice president of Google, called Brownlee "the best technology reviewer on the planet right now". At the 10th Shorty Awards in 2019, he was named "Creator of the Decade" The former name of his YouTube channel is a concatenation of MKB and HD. With New York PoNY, he is the 2022 WFDF World Champion in the Open Category for ultimate Frisbee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alfie Deyes</span> English vlogger and businessman (born 1993)

Alfred Sidney Deyes is an English YouTuber, vlogger and businessman. On 4 September 2014, he released his first book, The Pointless Book. Since 2014, he has released three books in the Pointless Book series and one autobiography.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Atwood</span> American YouTube personality

Roman Bernard Atwood is an American YouTube personality and prankster. He is best known for his vlogs, where he posts updates about his life. His vlogging channel, "RomanAtwoodVlogs", has a total of 5 billion views and 15 million subscribers. He also has another YouTube channel called "RomanAtwood", where he used to post prank videos. The channel has been inactive since 2016. His pranks have gained over 1.4 billion views and 10.4 million subscribers. He became the second YouTuber after Germán Garmendia to receive two Diamond Play Buttons for his first two channels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">YouTube (YouTube channel)</span> Official channel of YouTube

YouTube is the official YouTube channel for the American video-sharing platform YouTube, spotlighting videos and events on the platform. Events shown on the channel include YouTube Comedy Week and the YouTube Music Awards. Additionally, the channel uploaded annual installments of YouTube Rewind between 2010 and 2019. For a brief period in late 2013, the channel was ranked as the most-subscribed on the platform. As of November 2023, the channel has earned 39 million subscribers and 3.2 billion video views.

Matthew "Mat" Taylor, better known by his YouTube handle Techmoan, is a British YouTuber and blogger, specializing in consumer tech reviews and retrotech documentaries about technology of historical interest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacksepticeye</span> Irish YouTuber (born 1990)

Seán William McLoughlin, better known online as jacksepticeye, is an Irish YouTuber. Much of McLoughlin's YouTube content centres around gaming and vlogs. As of February 2024, his YouTube channel has accumulated 16.6 billion views and 30.6 million subscribers, making it the 2nd most-subscribed Irish channel on YouTube.

YouTube copyright issues relate to how the Google-owned site implements its protection methods. The systems are designed to protect the exclusivity of a given creator and owner and the rights to reproduce their work. YouTube uses automated measures such as copyright strikes, Content ID and Copyright Verification Program. These methods have been criticized for favoring corporations and their use of copyright claims to limit usage of uploaded content.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MatPat</span> American former YouTuber (born 1986)

Matthew Robert Patrick, better known as MatPat, is an American YouTuber and internet personality. He is the creator and former host of the YouTube series Game Theory, and its spin-off series Film Theory, Food Theory, and Style Theory, each analyzing various video games, films alongside TV series and web series, food, and fashion respectively. Each of the different series are posted on individual channels, each named after the respective series. In addition to the creation of his channels, Patrick narrates the majority of the videos that are presented on his channels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hydraulic Press Channel</span> YouTube channel by Finnish workshop owner Lauri Vuohensilta

The Hydraulic Press Channel (HPC) is a YouTube channel operated by Finnish workshop owner Lauri Vuohensilta. Launched in October 2015, the channel publishes videos of various objects being crushed in a 140-ton hydraulic press. On 31 October 2015, the channel published a video of Vuohensilta unsuccessfully attempting to fold a piece of paper more than seven times with the hydraulic press. The video was subsequently posted to the social news website Reddit in March 2016, causing it to receive more than two million views within a day.

Content ID is a digital fingerprinting system developed by Google which is used to easily identify and manage copyrighted content on YouTube. Videos uploaded to YouTube are compared against audio and video files registered with Content ID by content owners, looking for any matches. Content owners have the choice to have matching content blocked or to monetize it. The system began to be implemented around 2007. By 2016, it had cost $60 million to develop and led to around $2 billion in payments to copyright holders. By 2018, Google had invested at least $100 million into the system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">5-Minute Crafts</span> YouTube channel

5-Minute Crafts is a do it yourself (DIY)-style YouTube channel owned by TheSoul Publishing. As of October 2023, it is the 14th most-subscribed channel on the platform. The channel is also the 5th most-followed Facebook pages. It is based in Limassol, Cyprus.

Arun Rupesh Maini, better known as Mrwhosetheboss, is a British YouTuber who is best known for his technology-related content. His two YouTube channels have collectively earned over 24.05 million subscribers and 4.69 billion views.

References

  1. 1 2 "About Primitive Technology". YouTube.
  2. 1 2 Mooney, Paula (21 February 2016). "Primitive Technology' YouTube Guy Gets 1 view: What's The Name Of Shirtless, Silent Australian Man In The Videos?". Inquisitr. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
  3. 1 2 "Primitive Technology Wordpress blog 'About' page". Primitive Technology website. 7 July 2015. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
  4. 1 2 Pierpoint, George (27 August 2018). "What is 'primitive technology' and why do we love it?". BBC News.
  5. ↑ "Primitive Technology's highlighted reply". YouTube . Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  6. 1 2 3 Castillo, Michelle (15 September 2017). "How a YouTube star gained 5.4 million followers by mimicking the Stone Age". CNBC. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  7. ↑ Staff writer(s) (2 October 2017). "Primitive Technology auf YouTube: Technik-Tipps aus der Vorzeit". Der Spiegel.
  8. ↑ Staff writer(s) (28 September 2017). "Nackter Oberkörper und zwei geschickte Hände: Steinzeit-Handwerker wird zum Youtube-Star". Aargauer Zeitung. Archived from the original on 9 February 2019. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
  9. 1 2 Kahn, Jennifer (1 December 2016). "Letter of Recommendation: 'Primitive Technology'". The New York Times.
  10. ↑ "'Youtuber' primitivo: Internet se rinde al canal de este 'McGyver' prehistórico". El Mundo. 4 August 2017.
  11. ↑ De Brito, Sam (8 July 2015). "Who is that mysterious bushman?". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
  12. ↑ "Primitive Technology: Iron prills". YouTube .
  13. ↑ Bridge, Mark (1 September 2018). "Stone Age skills are YouTube smash hit". The Times.
  14. ↑ Michael, Peter (3 June 2017). "Caveman YouTube neolithic skills sensation accuses Facebook of theft". The Sunday Mail. Retrieved 23 September 2017.(subscription required)
  15. ↑ "Primitive Technology by John Plant". www.penguinrandomhouse.com. Penguin Random House . Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  16. ↑ Booktopia - Primitive Technology . Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  17. ↑ "An update on Primitive Technology" . Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  18. ↑ "A new update on Primitive Technology and John's well-being" . Retrieved 30 August 2021.
  19. ↑ "Primitive Technology: Thatched Workshop". YouTube .
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.