In other words, we are creeped out because we can’t be certain who exactly is making them or why. We have no hard evidence that the producers of PTKH or any similar primitive videos are doing anything illegal or abusive, or that their millions of viewers are doing so for nefarious reasons. “The videos certainly sound disturbing, and it sounds as if someone had found a way to give people what they apparently want (which is even more disturbing!),” he wrote to us.
He lives in a modern house and eats modern food but continues his hobby – which is now his full-time occupation. On May 2nd, 2015, the first video was uploaded to the channel, in which a wattle and daub hut are built entirely from scratch . Within ten months, the video gained over 8.3 million views and 9,100 comments. On May 22nd, a video demonstrating how to make a celt stone axe was posted on the channel, garnering upwards of 2.4 million views and 1,800 comments in nine months . The furnace was filled with wood and lit from the top. On reaching the tuyere the fire then started burning the charcoal.
The stove was about 30 cm internal diameter but came in to about 20 cm. Three raised lumps were made on the top of the stove to hold the pot above. Note that wood can be placed over the entrance of the stove at ground level and lit in a hob firebox like configuration. The flames then get sucked down and then up into the stove.
But even if they were largely faked, the popular construction videos would still be relatively expensive to produce, even in a country like Cambodia. Our first-hand introduction to the world of primitive tech videos took place on an enormous resin plantation, about two-and-a-half hours outside Phnom Penh. Martin Johnson but want to see if from a more primitive and rustic approach, then you will syngin technology like the content put out by the Primitive Technology Youtube channel. John revealed his name by commenting on a Facebook post, complaining that there were copycat primitive builders that were copyrighting his own footage without his permission and making money from it. The reason he has so few uploads on his channel is that he is a perfectionist when it comes to the content of his videos.
Given the similarities in editing style and tone, it’s entirely possible both channels are produced by the same people. Unlike the PTKH videos, NTLV’s videos feature adult women who occasionally speak a bit in the Khmer language. While not the most instructive of cooking videos, they don’t feature the same seemingly fetishistic fixation on chewing and consumption. Despite that, NLTV’s videos perform well, with the top video on its channel having earned 18 million views.
This is an incredible achievement considering that he has under 100 uploads on his channel. These were split and lashed horizontally to the frame creating a thatched dome. The fire sticks from before had a hole carved in the base boards and had a notch carved to let the powder pour out. With a fire going in the central pit, mosquitoes are kept at bay. The central fire pit produces smoke and heat that will hopefully prevent moths laying eggs in the roof and will prevent mold from growing.
But Primitive Technology videos are all doing and no talking. There is no chirpy greeting, no acknowledgment of being observed at all. Plant’s technical skills are amazing, but perhaps even more singular, more impressive, is his monastic silence. He does an astonishing job of maintaining the illusion of an unmediated experience, in which he is altogether unaware of being observed as he goes about his work. In Plant’s world, it is possible to bring a task to completion without interruption; it is a realm without meetings, without alarms, without management. You can imagine how this might have felt, especially after the onset of the pandemic, like an escape into a different, more gratifying kind of isolation.