I lost my dad to cancer earlier this year and this has got me all up in tears again. I never really watched much of his content, but the potato war thing was pretty funny and it sucks that he ended up going.
Wow this was really special. Thanks for sharing. I didn't know Technoblade, but I feel like this is such a cool way to honour a mostly digital figure for so many folks.
Recent wars didn't exactly help with funding health sciences. Seems to be a few questions around our specie's priorities as of late. Still fighting over dirt and who has the highest or fancier sandcastle.
It's a pity we can't compete on cures created or something more useful like, I don't know, carbon removed from atmosphere. There's an interesting competition worth winning.
It's what I keep thinking about whenever I watch the tv show For All Mankind. It would be so much better if we competed on things that are actually important.
Nah, everybody’s at the mall scratching his ass, picking his nose, taking out his credit card out of a fanny pack and buying a pair of sneakers with lights in them
A year ago, my 9 year old daughter begged me to watch a video from her favorite YouTuber. It was the Great Potato War. We watched all three parts and I became an instant Techno fan. It also led to me playing Hypixel with her for many many hours.
"In his message, Techno, who reveals his name is actually Alex, talks about how the money from merch and other “sell-out” pushes over the last year is being used to send his siblings to college, if they want to go, along with thanking his viewers for giving him such happy moments—all while a slideshow of images showing him throughout various points of his treatment are shown on screen."
My teenage daughter made an irregular visit to my study about an hour ago to let me know of this news. I let her know that I didn't know this Technoblade, but this news seemed to hit my usually tough exterior daughter pretty hard, so he had some type of positive impact to my family. It is a touching tribute video they released.
It's hitting me harder than I'd have expected, I think it's partly due to how much fun his videos always are and how positive he always seems to be. Even going back and rewatching his earlier videos of his cancer updates, he still has me laughing (and now, crying too) at his self-directed morbid jokes. The Great Potato War is on my top ten of all time (if not top five) youtube videos list: he's hilarious, the optimization is insane, it's such a trivial thing it seems it could only be done for the love of the game, and it also reminds me of what it's like when I'm optimizing a piece of code. Just hunting for the smallest advantage in the most obscure places. It's just sad to see someone who's brought so much joy to so many people go through that.
Usual caveat that I don't know him as a person, only what he shows through his videos, but even the fact that he worked to keep his identity unknown draws me in more: he wasn't in it for the money or fame, he was just a guy who loved the game and loved sharing it with others.
My teenage daughter came to me with tears in her eyes earlier today and asked me to watch a video. I watched with her and my heart sank. We shed a tear together for them. She had just made a ceramic pig mask at school a month ago, and regularly wears his merch. I'm glad he has been able to touch so many lives positively.
> My teenage daughter made an irregular visit to my study about an hour ago to let me know of this news.
She probably needed a hug?
(I'm opening my mouth on something that's not my business, cause I've often missed such cues in the past - you can always make up for one you missed, but it's better if you catch it in time. Again, pardon the interjection.)
Everyone needs a hug at times; and we're extremely privileged that many of us aren't really exposed to death or loss until much, much later in life than we used to.
I've never been that deep in to gaming videos, and I didn't know who Technoblade was before this news broke, but watching the video broke through me as well. I'm nearly 40, and I don't know how someone half my age was so able to handle dealing with his own mortality in the face of cancer, still altruistically raise money for his siblings and family, and go out with grace. I also empathize with his father, and can't imagine the deep pain of losing a child. I hope his family and fans find comfort quickly, and his memory always be a blessing.
This is speculation but his symptoms and age appear consistent with metastatic osteosarcoma (bone cancer that has spread, typically to the lungs). Osteosarcoma treatment has not had a breakthrough in decades, so it's a very bad cancer to get. Surgical techniques have gotten more effective at preserving limb function, and there are more tools to ameliorate symptoms from aggressive chemotherapy, but the fundamentals haven't changed since the late 1970s. It's also very sad because this often chemoresistant cancer primarily affects adolescents in their growth spurt years around age 15.
I hope that a more effective treatment can be found soon for this cancer too. It's upsetting that so much progress has been made on so many varieties of cancer, but there are still some varieties that are a big question mark.
You don’t need to share your theories on someone’s death to the world. It’s not your place and serves no purpose.
When I had a friend that was well-known in the tech world pass, all sorts of people came out with conspiracy theories on what his “real” cause of death was. To the bereaved, coming across random theories just hurts. Outside of that, opining without any medical expertise or insights on how he died serves no one but your own ego
The comment is 90% just talking about that type of cancer, irrespective of whether Technoblade had it. It's a bit extreme to try and stifle discussion just because we don't know with complete certainty that it's what he had.
You probably shouldn't do it in an obituary or something but this is just a HN thread.
And not only that, it was really informative. I never had heard of this kind of cancer, and the description was short and extremely on-point. Now I know it is a thing, that it has (possibly) not seen enough attention, and that it is hard (and in many cases impossible) to heal.
It's literally the kind of comment I want to see here.
Read past the first line. My kneejerk reaction was that it was terrible to speculate the type of cancer. But the rest of the comment makes it clear that he was not guessing to sound smart, he was doing it to inform and start a discussion on that type of cancer.
Well given that there are fundraisers in his name for sarcoma research, and the symptoms and treatment he discussed in his videos are typical for osteosarcoma, I thought it would help to post a comment about the current state of osteosarcoma treatment.
A friend of mine died of that when they were 17. It was strange as she was feeling a bit down and went to a doctor and had a diagnoses and was dead about a month later. Was just out of nowhere and so fast.
The shear odds of this occurring to a popular YouTuber are pretty stunning. Only about 1000 people get osteosarcoma every year in the US, and (best as I could find) around that many YouTube channels have over 10 million subscribers. Such a terrible confluence of extreme rarities.
He popped into my mind at random last night, and I remember thinking "It's been so long since he uploaded anything" and being hit by a little bit of dread. My friends going back as far as high school and I are extremely saddened by the news. We had so many great hours watching his content together - it was always a big event. We've split all across the globe, but we'd get together online and watch his latest uploaded together whenever something came out.
Much like when TotalBiscuit passed away when I was young (he seemed so old then, and now I'm almost his age!), I'm suddenly struck by thoughts about how I'm spending my time, and how none of us are guaranteed a long time here on earth. So many of us spend so much time planning for the future, slogging through work to buy that house, etc., and it's good to remember - though I dearly wish the reminders didn't have to come in such a shocking fashion - that you should enjoy some of the time you have now, just in case you don't get more later.
Maybe a little bit corny... but he's earned one more for the road - Technoblade never dies!
> So many of us spend so much time planning for the future, slogging through work to buy that house, etc.
I have a lot of mixed emotions and thoughts about this sentence. In the end I'll just agree that "slogging" is often too high a price for whatever you're slogging for, but it's really sad that a basic human need like having a place to live is something we have to slog for.
Man, totalbiscuit actually hit me back then. I loved his reviews and he was a great guy. I really miss his yearly award videos whenever its christmas and other creators upload theirs
22 is far too young. I've been watching his videos since 2017- the picture in today's video of him in a hospital bed with his 10 million subscriber play button absolutely destroyed me. He used to joke all the time about hitting 10 million subscribers as if it could never happen, and the fact that it did is a monument to all the time and effort he put in- should've lived to 100 million. A reminder to us all- life is precious, live it to the fullest while you still can.
I found my son floating in the pool at a beach rental house when he was 3 (the pool door was broken). I managed to revive him with CPR and he's totally fine now. Years later, I still feel trauma from it. I often think about what my life would be like if I had found him a minute later. I feel deeply for your neighbor.
I am a father myself. You need to weigh between letting your children learn things by doing and forbidding. Usually, when I see something I deem dangerous, I tell my children to be careful then carefully watch them. If I feel they don't take it seriously, I try to create a controlled dangerous situation.
One of my sons is autistic and when he was small it was very difficult to tell him to be careful of the stove. One day I made the stove not really hot to seriously burn the hands but only very slightly. After I put my own hand on the stove, I let my son touch the stove and said, Hot, hot hot! And it was successful. He didn't burn his hand but it hurt somewhat.
Another example: he doesn't swim but pushed his brother into the water at the pool. I then pushed him myself then jumped in the water to save him and told him, be careful, you can't swim.
The idea: see what is dangerous then decide: can your children play by themselves, do they need watching or do you need to forbid it? Before forbidding something please try to give the children time and watch them. If they learn a dangerous thing you will save time later because your children have already learned.
It makes you wonder how parents coped before the advent of modern medicine. Infant mortality was so very high - many of them wouldn't even get marked graves. This is also why the median age of death in the middle ages was so low.
That's my son's age, and he was into minecraft in a big way a few years ago. Not sure if he knows of this news yet since he's at work, but I might mention it to him tonight.
This is the second person in the streaming or eSports community I've read that's both very young and died of cancer recently. I'm kinda terrified now. Especially because I've been treating my health with a very "fix it later" attitude.
Taking your health seriously is good, but your chance of getting cancer at a young age is small and fairly unrelated to any measures you might take to protect yourself.
RIP legend! Got to know of Techno from my autistic son whose only outlet at that time was minecraft(wait he was battling axels even today). But what a young age to pass and what a legacy he leaves behind. Thats the power of the internet. RIP! Respects.
Thank you HN, I did not understand why this was such a big deal to my son and seeing this go straight to the front page of HN has helped me understand why he cried over an online "entity".
Good luck to all the parents, children and anyone else affected by his death out there. Rest in peace Technoblade.
Yeah same for me. My daughter send me a message this morning about it and I responded a bit like a jerk on the message and my youngest send me a message that she was crying about it. Watching this also made me tear up... will amend this with my daughter
RIP mate. Far too good of a soul to be gone so young.
Didn't get much news between his last surgery and now, which at the time was pretty upbeat having removed the tumour from his arm. Guessing it didn't stick and it metastasised beyond the original tumour. :(
Watching a father deliver a sons last words to the world is heartbreaking, doubly so for someone that brought so many so much joy.
My thirteen year old watches a lot of techno blade videos. I was struck watching this that TB's dad is only a few years older than I am. Very sobering.
My daughter has been crying her eye out ever since she got the news. We have had some talks about the uncertainties of life, OK to feel about others that are somehow part of your life, especially in the digital world of today.
Very touching and sad video. I never saw his channel but when totalbiscuit died I cried also. To the parents empathizing with children, they are sad because they like the videos and believe this creator exists in the world. Then when they die it's like a friend they spend time with dying. For some people it can literally change their worldview.
My teenage son knocked on our bedroom door last night after we'd all gone to bed. He was crying and told us his cousin had just texted him the news, and then he watched the video. We watched it again together. I cried and hugged him and we talked about it a little bit.
My kids were so isolated during covid lockdown, we were getting really worried for their mental state. They weren't seeing other kids their age, they felt like they had no friends, and there was one point when it seemed like they even stopped missing other people altogether.
But my son, especially, was deep into Minecraft Youtube at the time, and I could tell that this cast of creators was really important to him. It often felt like he was on a call with his fun and hilarious buddies, just on mute.
I think Technoblade, and other creators like him, helped get my son through the past couple years. I'm so grateful to him for that.
Parasocial relationships can have an extremely strong effect on people. My son was similarly effected by the suicide of a youtuber a few years ago. My son was 18 at the time, just out of HS and struggling. This person is someone he had followed for years and was public about his struggles and was doing better, then this happened.
The unintended side effects of the world we have built are many, and some are impacting our children in ways we couldn't have forseen.
I had regularly listened to a podcast for years when the host (Ryan Davis of Giant Bomb) tragically passed suddenly. It was bizarre, like I had lost a friend I had never met.
I'm 42 and there are more than a few people in the Guitar Hero community for whom I would be extremely sad to learn of their passing, including several of the more prominent creators and community pillars.
Slightly off-topic question out of curiosity and without malice - is it normal for teenagers to talk to their parents about emotional issues and cry in front of them? It's been suggested to me this is a typical thing and it sounds great, but I never did this after getting to middle school age.
Grief. Does that to you. There is a sense of loss and grief in the OP’s teenage son and hence he cried. Sounds pretty human and normal no matter the age.
I think the other comment made good points about grief being a powerful feeling that may overcome norms. From my personal experience, it also depends on the relationship between the parents and the kids. I'm much closer to my kids emotionally than my parents were with me and my kids tell me things I never would have told my parents. I think I turned out ok, but I hope they turn out even better having an adult mind to help guide them through their emotions, challenges, mistakes, victories, etc.
Yeah, I did it a handful of times through high school when I was having trouble working things out. Not since then, though I'm sure the time will come again, at least once before I (they) die.
I think it's abnormal and the kids are likely underdeveloped due to lock down isolation. Waking your parents up crying when you're a teenager because a youtuber died? Get that kid on a sports team, fast.
I'm not sure if there is an undertone of a joke here. It doesn't seem that way to me, but if that is the case then that in my head would be the most forgiving scenario. Even then your comment feels accusatory, judgemental, and the sort of thing a bully might say.
Please try and realize that people are different. Not conforming to the "ideal" construct of a child in western society might not be the worst thing. Diversity in thought and opinion does not _only_ come from race and gender, it also comes from nurturing thoughts and perspectives in our own kids that might not align with the norms. This doesn't mean saying everything is great, but being an adult, and discussing various facets with them rather than shut things off.
It's not "underdeveloped" to have emotions, or to be sad when someone you relate to dies. I used to think it was dumb that people cried when John Lennon Died; then when Elliott Smith died I "got it."
I think it's healthy for your empathy circle to extend beyond your immediate family.
If someone is experiencing strong emotions over something, catharsis can be very positive. In a caring parent-child relationship, the venting can be therapeutic, and the parent's response may model ways to get past life's nasty surprises.
WP on 'Cartharsis: "In psychology, the term is associated with Freudian psychoanalysis and specifically relates to the expression of buried trauma, bringing it into consciousness and thereby releasing it permanently."
> is it normal for teenagers to talk to their parents about emotional issues and cry in front of them?
it's hard to come to terms with death, especially when you are in that vulnerable time of your life. Maybe it's not a trivial 'emotional issue' (not sure if there are any trivial emotional issues...)
JFC. that was heartbreaking. I have never heard of Technoblade but he seemed well loved. The video was a dad who lost a son. Something no one should have to experience.
This is unbelievably sad news. During the pandemic, when my mental health wasn't doing so great, I fell into the Youtube minecraft rabbit hole and Technoblade was one of my favorites. My condolences for his friends and family, I'm glad he was surrounded by loved ones to the end.
I know I am much older than his average viewer. But that just doesn't matter. His wit, humor and delivery were everything I needed in my darkest moments over the last couple years. My mental health would be far worse if it wasn't for Technoblade's content making me laugh when nothing else would.
Cancer research funding is laughably low. These deaths not necessary. They are a choice that we make as a country.
NIH spends $6 billion on cancer research every year. Google alone spends $31 billion on research activities every year.
A single company literally spends 5 times more money doing research on how to serve ads better, than we spend as a nation on curing cancer. Truly pathetic.
Cancer kills 1 in 4 people or so. We haven't increased funding for cancer research in 20 years. Direct costs of cancer care are over $200 billion per year in the US alone.
If you compare cancer to the moon landing. The moon landing cost about $500 billion inflation corrected. It will take 100 years before we invest that much money in cancer research at the current rate. We're talking about hundreds of millions of people dead for no reason.
Once people begin to think of these deaths as a choice we make to needlessly let people die, we'll finally be able to invest the resources necessary to stop cancer.
That $6 billion presumes that the all cancer research is being funded by NIH grants, though. I imagine there is plenty of research being done in major pharmaceutical labs like Pfizer, J&J, Merck, etc.
Humans, except for very cream of the crop (and that too in limited time window), is not rational species. The chimp genes still dominates our majority of the short and long term actions.
Unfortunately everything causes cancer, every biochemical mechanism can be related to cancer somehow. As a researcher in life science or chemistry or whatever you "package" whatever you were doing anyway to meet grant terms.
This means that (after the politics are done) increased cancer funding ends up being an increase in "general" science funding.
What's also needed is much better targeting of the money already spent.
I used to watch Technoblade all the time. His humor was really great and he seemed to have all sorts of funny ideas. He was sort of a legend amongst my friend group. I was really shocked to see that he died, it seemed that he had his tumor removed but it didn't help. Rest in peace, Technoblade never dies.
Having a kid approaching his teens on the internet demands a check up from time to time. Finding him giggling and laughing to Technoblade's content, I knew he was in the best hands the internet could conjure up. We're going to watch the Great Potato War together the coming Sunday. Thanks Alex for being such a great role model to my son, and making him laugh so heartily. RIP
Amazing shift in new generation is that they are completely oblivious to movie and TV stars. Their world revolves all around set of YouTubers. Many of these YouTubers are exclusively just streaming their game plays. This is literally the most important entertainment medium for the new generation, and as usual, the old generation just doesn’t understand this transition.
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