WEBVTT

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Welcome to another deep dive. We are really thrilled

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to have you with us today. Absolutely. It is

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great to be here and diving into this one with

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you. Usually when you join us, we are tearing

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our way through these massive stacks of dense

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research papers. Oh, yeah. Or a thick piece of

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investigative journalism. Right. Or maybe some

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sprawling historical biography. But today, the

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material we have in front of us is, well, it's

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incredibly unusual. It really is. It is quite

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simply a single Wikipedia disambiguation page.

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Which sounds completely mundane on the surface.

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It does. We are looking at the page dedicated

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entirely to the exact two -word phrase, lights

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out. And honestly, it is a brilliant starting

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point for a discussion, primarily because it

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seems almost too simple. Yeah, we all know the

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phrase. Exactly. It is a highly colloquial, everyday

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term for bedtime. It is that institutional marker

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that the day has officially ended. But tracking

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this single phrase across the diverse entries

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on this one web page. It goes everywhere. It

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is essentially like mapping the human psyche.

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You start to see how those two simple words reveal

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our shared. primal fears of the dark, our deep

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-seated love of physical combat, and even our

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relentless modern drive for total automation.

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It really covers the whole spectrum. So the mission

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for our deep dive today is to explore how that

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innocent command a parent gives a child has fractured

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into this massive web of cultural, technological,

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and historical meanings. It is fascinating. It

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infiltrates everything from global climate activism

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and corporate downfall all the way to heavy metal

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and horror movies. OK, let's unpack this, starting

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with the incredible power of the physical switch.

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A switch is such a mundane mechanism. I mean,

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we flip them dozens of times a day without a

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single conscious thought. Clearly even look at

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them. Right. But when flipping that switch is

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done collectively or with a highly specific intention,

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the mundane action transforms into a massive.

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undeniable statement it becomes incredibly powerful

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by voluntarily choosing darkness a society can

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signal something profound without using a single

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word I was really struck by the global events

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listed on this page that weaponize that exact

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concept. For instance, on August 4, 2014, there

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was an event in the UK officially called Lights

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Out. That was a major one. The nation was asked

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to turn off their lights to commemorate the exact

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hour Great Britain entered World War I a century

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earlier. A very heavy anniversary. Extremely

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heavy. And millions of buildings went dark, leaving

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only single candles burning. It wasn't about

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the electricity grid at all. It was this deeply

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solemn visual manifestation of grief. What's

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fascinating here is how the context completely

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changes the meaning of the darkness. In the UK's

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World War I commemoration, the darkness was a

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signal of mourning. Yeah. It was a literal representation

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of a dark period descending upon the world and

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of millions of lives being extinguished. But

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then you look at the other events. Exactly. You

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look at the environmental movements on this same

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Wikipedia page and the exact same action becomes

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a symbol of fierce planetary solidarity. You

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see that pivot clearly with campaigns like Lights

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Out Hong Kong. Right. Which was organized to

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protest severe air pollution. And then there's

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the one in India. Yes. Over in India, they launched

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a massive program called 8888888 Lights Out,

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specifically to increase awareness of climate

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change. And of course, that eventually scales

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up to the globally recognized Earth Hour. Which

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millions of people participate in. I want you,

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the listener, to just imagine the visual impact

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of that for a second. Picture a sprawling, vibrant,

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neon -lit skyline like Hong Kong suddenly going

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completely dark all at once. It forces a pause.

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A huge one. In our modern, constantly illuminated

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world, a collective pause is incredibly rare.

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It takes an abstract concept like the gradual

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warming of the globe or the historical weight

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of a war from a century ago. Things that are

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hard to wrap your head around daily. Right, and

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it makes them highly visceral. You cannot ignore

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the darkness when you are suddenly enveloped

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by it. It forces you to stop whatever you are

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doing and just pay attention to the silence.

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That silence is incredibly reflective. But looking

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further down the page, there is an entirely different,

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much more aggressive side to this frame. Oh,

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absolutely. When you leave the realm of peaceful

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protests and look at the sports world, lights

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out become synonymous with knockouts and nightmares.

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The athletes who have adopted this as their nickname

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form a truly terrifying roster of physical power.

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It is a serious list. We are talking about the

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American baseball pitcher Brad Lidge, the mixed

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martial arts fighter Chris Lytle, the legendary

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boxer James Toney. And don't forget the gridiron.

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Right. And the American football player Sean

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Merriman, who was famous for delivering impossibly

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hard tackles. So explain the psychological appeal

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of that nickname to me. Why do a baseball pitcher

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and an MMA fighter both want to be known as the

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guy who turns off the lights? Because in the

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context of combat or physical competition, lights

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out means inflicting sudden involuntary unconsciousness

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on an opponent. It's brutal. It is a display

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of ultimate physical dominance. When a closer

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like Brad Lidge strikes out the final batter,

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he is ending the game. The event is over. He's

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shutting down the stadium. Exactly. When Sean

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Merriman tackles a quarterback, he is literally

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bringing the darkness. The phrase moves from

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a peaceful bedtime routine to a threat of undeniable

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overwhelming force. It is so embedded in combat

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that professional wrestling actually has a specific

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match type known as a lights out match. That

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is a great detail. It is a storyline mechanism

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where the arena lights literally go off and when

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they come back on, the match is officially unsanctioned

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by the wrestling promotion. Meaning anything

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goes. Exactly. There are no rules, no referees,

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just pure brutality. There is even a 2010 action

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fighting video game titled The Fight lights out

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that leans entirely into that sheer violence.

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If we connect this to the bigger picture, the

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duality between that violence and our next category

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is just stunning. It really is a sharp turn.

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In sports, you want to be the one bringing the

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darkness. You are the predator. Right. But in

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media and horror, the phrase represents utter

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vulnerability. It is the terrifying moment we

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lose our primary sense, our sight, and the monsters

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get to hide in the shadows. You are totally exposed.

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The phrase captures the exact moment you transition

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from predator to prey. Which perfectly suits

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suspense. The page highlights an American radio

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program from the 1930s and 1940s called Lights

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Out. Classic broadcasting. Decades before CGI

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monsters existed, they were terrifying audiences

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just by utilizing the... of the listener's imagination.

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It is so effective. Fast forward to modern times

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and you have David F. Sandberg's 2013 horror

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short film, which actually spawned the major

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2016 supernatural horror film of the same name.

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That film is a master class in exploiting that

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primal vulnerability. It is so scary. The monster

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literally only exists in the absence of light.

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If the switch is flipped on, the hallway is empty

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and you are safe. But the second the switch is

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flipped off, the silhouette is standing right

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in front of you. Which is your only weapon? The

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television tropes section of this entry proves

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how universally understood that suspense is.

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I am looking at a massive list of TV shows that

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have an episode titled Lights Out. It is a very

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popular episode title. You have the intense medical

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drama ER. The workplace comedy Brooklyn Nine

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-Nine, the musical series Glee, and even the

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classic family sitcom The Brady Bunch. Something

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for everyone. And my absolute favorite entry

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on this entire Wikipedia page, Clifford the Big

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Red Dog. A giant glowing red dog navigating a

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power outage is a fantastic visual. It really

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is. The tone varies so wildly, though. For ER,

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an episode called Lights Out implies a catastrophic

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power failure in a hospital ward, which is a

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lifer. death situation. The stakes couldn't be

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higher. But then there are entire television

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series named Lights Out. You have a gritty 2011

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American boxing drama, which ties directly back

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to our sports discussion. Right. The combat aspect.

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And on the complete opposite end of the spectrum,

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Lights Out with David Spade, an American late

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night comedy talk show. That is quite the pivot.

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For a late night show, it is just a cheeky nod

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to the time slot broadcasting after the rest

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of the world has gone to bed. The elasticity

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of the phrase is remarkable. It sets a mood instantly.

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whether that mood is horror, high -stakes medical

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drama, or late -night comedy. Here's where it

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gets really interesting, because we are pivoting

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away from human drama entirely. We're stepping

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into the cold, calculated world of technology.

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This is where the phrase takes on a very different

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feel. The research brings up a concept called

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lights -out manufacturing. It sounds like something

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out of a science fiction novel, but it is a very

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real, growing industrial methodology. It is a

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factory that operates completely without human

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intervention. Not at all. There are no workers

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on the assembly line, no managers walking the

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floor. And because there are no humans, there

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is quite literally no need for lighting. It is

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so eerie to think about. The machines simply

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build things in pitch black conditions. The transition

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of the phrase here is profound. We have weaved

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it from a human necessity, the biological need

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to go to sleep, to a marker of a chillingly robotic

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efficiency. It removes us from the equation entirely.

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In a lights -out factory, the phrase isn't about

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rest at all. It is about making human senses

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completely irrelevant. The machines don't need

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eyeballs to achieve perfection. The darkness

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is just a byproduct of their complete independence

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from us. Exactly. Our page also lists IT infrastructure,

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specifically something called lights out management

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or out of band management. A noted example is

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HP's integrated lights out technology for managing

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servers. This is a crucial concept in IT. Break

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down out -of -band management for a layperson

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because it sounds incredibly technical. Think

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of it like having a secret battery -powered backdoor

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key to a massive office building when the main

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power grid fails. Okay, I can picture that. Normally,

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you manage a server through its operating system,

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the front door. But if a server crashes or is

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turned off, the front door is locked. You're

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locked out. Out -of -band management is a dedicated

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separate channel that allows administrators to

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monitor, reboot, and control servers remotely,

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regardless of whether the machine is completely

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dead. So you can fix the system while the lights

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are out. Precisely. It is brilliant engineering.

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But technology isn't the only place where the

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phrase takes on a corporate or structural meaning.

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Looking at the literature section of our source,

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there is a 2020 book called Lights Out written

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by Thomas Gritta and Ted Mann. I am familiar

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with this one. This book chronicles the downfall

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of the legendary American conglomerate General

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Electric. The brutal irony of that title cannot

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be overstated. General Electric is a company

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founded on the legacy of Thomas Edison. It is

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a corporation famous for literally bringing light

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to the world Through the commercialization of

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the light bulb. They define the modern era. To

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have a comprehensive book detailing the massive

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structural struggles and the crumbling of that

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specific titan of industry and to title it Lights

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Out. It is a perfectly tragic narrative arc captured

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in just two words. It is the ultimate mic drop

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title for a business book. It implies the absolute

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end of an era. It really does. But GE doesn't

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have a monopoly on the title in the literary

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world. The page lists a 1945 novel by Baynard

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Kendrick, a 1958 Disney comic written by the

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legendary Carl Barks, and jumping across the

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globe, a 1990s Korean manhwa, a type of comic,

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by Lee Myung -jin. Whether you are analyzing

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the collapse of corporate America, drawing Donald

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Duck or writing postwar fiction, the phrase provides

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a recognizable atmosphere. It sets the stage

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immediately. And nowhere is that atmosphere more

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heavily utilized than in our next category. When

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you strip away the visuals entirely, the concept

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of darkness becomes an auditory experience. The

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music section on this disambiguation page is

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staggering. The volume of musicians who have

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claimed this phrase spans every imaginable genre.

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It is a very long list. I'm looking at it right

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now, and the hip hop and R &B section alone features

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a 2000 album by Lil Wayne, along with tracks

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by Estelle, Fabulous, and Mac -10. In hip -hop,

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the phrase is often utilized as a metaphor for

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shutting down the competition. Like the sports

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nicknames. Exactly. It is a lyrical knockout

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punch tying back to the sports analogies we discussed

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earlier. But then you jump over to rock, punk,

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and heavy metal, and the energy shifts completely.

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Oh, completely. You have the seminal 1977 album

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by the hard rock band UFO. You have Green Day

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using it for a B -side track. Nice deep cut there.

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There are entries for Breaking Benjamin, Royal

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Blood, the Swedish rock band Graveyard, the metal

00:12:54.529 --> 00:12:57.330
band Savatage, and the alternative noise rock

00:12:57.330 --> 00:13:00.850
pioneers Sonic Youth. It feels almost like a

00:13:00.850 --> 00:13:02.990
rite of passage for a right band to use this

00:13:02.990 --> 00:13:06.070
phrase. For a rock band, Lights Out is the ultimate

00:13:06.070 --> 00:13:09.370
moment of anticipation. Think about the feeling

00:13:09.370 --> 00:13:12.049
right before a concert begins. Oh, I know that

00:13:12.049 --> 00:13:14.450
feeling. The house lights drop, the arena goes

00:13:14.450 --> 00:13:17.470
pitch black, and there is a collective gasp.

00:13:17.679 --> 00:13:19.600
from the crowd before the first guitar chord

00:13:19.600 --> 00:13:22.360
hits. It is a rebellion against the daily grind.

00:13:22.659 --> 00:13:25.840
It is pure, visceral energy. And the pop artists

00:13:25.840 --> 00:13:28.299
get in on it, too. Rick Astley has a song called

00:13:28.299 --> 00:13:30.259
Lights Out. Never going to give that one up.

00:13:30.360 --> 00:13:32.899
Lisa Marie Presley has one. The indie pop singer

00:13:32.899 --> 00:13:35.419
Ingrid Michaelson released an entire album with

00:13:35.419 --> 00:13:38.240
the title, and the genre -blending artist Santigold

00:13:38.240 --> 00:13:40.940
has a track. It crosses every boundary. But to

00:13:40.940 --> 00:13:43.080
prove that this isn't just a modern pop culture

00:13:43.080 --> 00:13:45.360
trend, the research highlights an orchestral

00:13:45.360 --> 00:13:48.080
song cycle named Lights Out. It was composed

00:13:48.080 --> 00:13:50.759
by the classical composer Ivor Gurney, featuring

00:13:50.759 --> 00:13:53.179
words written by the poet Edward Thomas dating

00:13:53.179 --> 00:13:55.559
back to the early 20th century. So what does

00:13:55.559 --> 00:13:58.000
this all mean? That is the big question. When

00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:01.100
we synthesize this massive music section, a clear

00:14:01.100 --> 00:14:05.340
pattern emerges. Across every single genre, from

00:14:05.340 --> 00:14:07.639
Ivor Gurney's sweeping classical compositions

00:14:07.639 --> 00:14:12.259
to Lil Wayne's rap and UFO's hard rock, the concept

00:14:12.259 --> 00:14:15.659
provides a blank canvas for artists. It is incredibly

00:14:15.659 --> 00:14:18.840
adaptable. It is a musical cheat code. Depending

00:14:18.840 --> 00:14:21.320
on the tempo and the instrumentation, the phrase

00:14:21.320 --> 00:14:23.679
allows artists to explore incredibly diverse

00:14:23.679 --> 00:14:25.980
themes. It can mean anything they want it to.

00:14:26.159 --> 00:14:29.700
It can mean romantic intimacy, a rebellious shutting

00:14:29.700 --> 00:14:32.419
out of the establishment or the finality of a

00:14:32.419 --> 00:14:34.500
relationship. And just to add an interactive

00:14:34.500 --> 00:14:36.740
element to that auditory landscape, the page

00:14:36.740 --> 00:14:39.590
also mentions games. Right. We can't forget those.

00:14:39.730 --> 00:14:41.309
We talked about the fighting game earlier, but

00:14:41.309 --> 00:14:44.429
there is also a 1995 electronic puzzle game simply

00:14:44.429 --> 00:14:46.929
called Lights Out, where the goal is to turn

00:14:46.929 --> 00:14:48.929
off a grid of illuminated buttons. I remember

00:14:48.929 --> 00:14:50.649
that one. It was surprisingly difficult. And

00:14:50.649 --> 00:14:52.929
there is an atmospheric computer game named Darkfall

00:14:52.929 --> 00:14:56.309
2, Lights Out. The phrase just begs to be played

00:14:56.309 --> 00:14:59.879
with. The phrase itself is totally neutral. It

00:14:59.879 --> 00:15:03.279
is just two words. It is the human context we

00:15:03.279 --> 00:15:05.539
layer on top of it that gives it such immense,

00:15:05.860 --> 00:15:08.740
varied power. We have taken an incredible journey

00:15:08.740 --> 00:15:10.960
today just by scrolling through the different

00:15:10.960 --> 00:15:13.440
meanings assigned to a single phrase. It has

00:15:13.440 --> 00:15:15.919
been quite the ride. Think about the ground we've

00:15:15.919 --> 00:15:19.220
covered. We went from a solemn 2014 World War

00:15:19.220 --> 00:15:22.480
One tribute in the UK to a bone crushing Sean

00:15:22.480 --> 00:15:25.000
Merriman tackle on the football field. A pretty

00:15:25.000 --> 00:15:27.960
massive contrast. We traveled from chillingly

00:15:27.960 --> 00:15:31.080
efficient humanless manufacturing factories to

00:15:31.080 --> 00:15:35.100
an obscure Green Day B -side. And we bounced

00:15:35.100 --> 00:15:38.980
from a terrifying 1930s radio suspense show all

00:15:38.980 --> 00:15:41.580
the way to a David Spade late night comedy hour.

00:15:41.779 --> 00:15:44.019
It's a very long Wikipedia page. Through all.

00:15:44.139 --> 00:15:46.240
of it, Lights Out has proven to be an extraordinarily

00:15:46.240 --> 00:15:48.919
versatile piece of the English language. It serves

00:15:48.919 --> 00:15:51.019
as a brilliant reminder for you, the listener,

00:15:51.159 --> 00:15:53.700
about how highly adaptable our language actually

00:15:53.700 --> 00:15:56.120
is. It constantly evolves. We started this discussion

00:15:56.120 --> 00:15:57.720
by noting that this is just a simple everyday

00:15:57.720 --> 00:16:00.139
phrase meaning go to sleep. But look at what

00:16:00.139 --> 00:16:02.480
we as a society have done with it over the decades.

00:16:02.740 --> 00:16:05.940
We have stretched it to its limits. We have weaponized

00:16:05.940 --> 00:16:09.450
it through athletes and combat sports. We have

00:16:09.450 --> 00:16:13.049
utilized it as a powerful silent tool for climate

00:16:13.049 --> 00:16:15.950
activists. Hong Kong and India. We have capitalized

00:16:15.950 --> 00:16:18.149
on it to describe the cutting edge of the tech

00:16:18.149 --> 00:16:21.330
and manufacturing industry. And we have romanticized

00:16:21.330 --> 00:16:23.590
it through generations of musicians and poets.

00:16:23.809 --> 00:16:26.230
It makes you look at every single word you use

00:16:26.230 --> 00:16:29.049
differently. The depth hiding in plain sight

00:16:29.049 --> 00:16:32.129
in our everyday vocabulary is just astounding.

00:16:32.370 --> 00:16:34.970
This raises an important question. Something

00:16:34.970 --> 00:16:36.710
for you to think about after we wrap up here

00:16:36.710 --> 00:16:39.850
today. I am ready for it. If a common throwaway

00:16:39.850 --> 00:16:43.629
phrase like lights out can simultaneously represent

00:16:43.629 --> 00:16:47.070
our greatest, most sterile technological achievements

00:16:47.070 --> 00:16:50.049
like fully automated dark factories, while also

00:16:50.049 --> 00:16:52.629
representing our deepest, most primal human fears

00:16:52.629 --> 00:16:55.250
like the monsters hiding in horror movies. The

00:16:55.250 --> 00:16:57.990
ultimate duality. Exactly. What other everyday

00:16:57.990 --> 00:16:59.950
phrases are you using right now without even

00:16:59.950 --> 00:17:02.950
thinking that secretly contain the entire spectrum

00:17:02.950 --> 00:17:05.460
of the human experience? that is a fascinating

00:17:05.460 --> 00:17:07.940
thought to leave on thank you so much for joining

00:17:07.940 --> 00:17:10.140
us on this journey through the dark and through

00:17:10.140 --> 00:17:13.220
the dictionary we'll be back next time to unpack

00:17:13.220 --> 00:17:15.920
another stack of sources with you until then

00:17:15.920 --> 00:17:18.720
keep exploring keep questioning and maybe leave

00:17:18.720 --> 00:17:19.380
a nightlight on