WEBVTT - Elevators and the Humans who Use Them 0:00:03.840 --> 0:00:06.720 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:06.720 --> 0:00:13.440 Works dot com. Hey, you're welcome to Stuff to Blow 0:00:13.480 --> 0:00:16.440 your Mind. My name is Robert Lamb, and I'm Julie Douglas. Julie, 0:00:16.440 --> 0:00:18.880 you wrote an elevator this morning. It's true, I did. 0:00:19.720 --> 0:00:23.560 You wrote two elevators, two banks of elevators. Do explain 0:00:23.600 --> 0:00:26.280 because I only road one. Well, see, you're coming in 0:00:26.440 --> 0:00:29.720 off of Marta, and so you're coming in UM at 0:00:29.720 --> 0:00:31.680 the ground level, so you only take one bank. But 0:00:31.720 --> 0:00:33.519 if you drive into our office building, you have to 0:00:33.560 --> 0:00:37.200 take two different sets of elevators. I had twice, twice 0:00:37.240 --> 0:00:39.919 the fun twice. H See, I took an escalator up 0:00:40.320 --> 0:00:42.560 from Marta and then the elevator up in our building. 0:00:42.560 --> 0:00:45.160 I could have taken the Marta elevator, though I think 0:00:45.159 --> 0:00:48.159 it doubles as a bathroom, so I tried to avoid it. 0:00:48.320 --> 0:00:49.960 I was about to say, it's it's part of our 0:00:50.000 --> 0:00:53.440 public transportation system, right Marta, and I will confirm that 0:00:53.479 --> 0:00:56.840 it does smell like you're in the elevator banks. Now, 0:00:57.320 --> 0:00:59.920 in this episode, of course, we're going to talk about elevators, 0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:02.040 and it's not just gonna be uh, We're not just 0:01:02.080 --> 0:01:04.720 gonna focus on the mechanics and all that. Though the 0:01:04.760 --> 0:01:07.320 mechanics are pretty fascinating when you break them down. We're 0:01:07.319 --> 0:01:09.600 going to get into the psychology of the culture of 0:01:09.640 --> 0:01:12.240 the elevators of the past are possible elevators of the 0:01:12.240 --> 0:01:15.560 future a little bit. But to kick things off here, 0:01:15.840 --> 0:01:17.479 I want to ask you, and then I'm gonna ask 0:01:17.560 --> 0:01:21.560 myself the same question. Name me a fictional elevator or 0:01:21.560 --> 0:01:26.560 an elevator scene that particularly um excited you, and a 0:01:26.600 --> 0:01:31.160 real life elevator that you loved and or feared. Mm okay, 0:01:31.200 --> 0:01:35.399 all right. So I debated about this thing. Because I 0:01:35.440 --> 0:01:37.880 was thinking about this, I thought, well, I think that 0:01:38.200 --> 0:01:40.240 the one that made the most impact on me is 0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:43.840 probably the elevators from the Shining because blood gushes out 0:01:43.880 --> 0:01:46.000 of them. But you don't really spend much time in 0:01:46.040 --> 0:01:49.919 the elevators, so but it's just the idea that blood 0:01:49.920 --> 0:01:52.640 would come gushing them. And then that that thought me too. 0:01:52.920 --> 0:01:55.800 That that got me to thinking about how in a 0:01:55.920 --> 0:01:59.680 lot of UM movies, at least, elevators are are the 0:01:59.720 --> 0:02:03.160 scene for awful things happening? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, there's 0:02:03.240 --> 0:02:07.080 usually some sort of I know, heist going on or 0:02:07.160 --> 0:02:11.560 in sil lambs. Yeah yeah, there's that, Remember there's the 0:02:11.840 --> 0:02:14.440 blood dripping down from the hatch. I totally forgot about 0:02:14.480 --> 0:02:19.079 that elevator scene. But that is that is a great sequence, terrifying, awful, awful. 0:02:19.080 --> 0:02:21.320 So I started to think about how that really feeds 0:02:21.320 --> 0:02:25.280 into sometimes our phobia is about elevators, because really, mean, 0:02:25.440 --> 0:02:27.760 what is it but a little metal canister that you 0:02:27.960 --> 0:02:32.400 seal yourself into. Um, which leads to again fears because 0:02:32.400 --> 0:02:35.519 I was thinking about a building called the West and 0:02:35.600 --> 0:02:38.560 Peach Tree in Atlanta, and it's a very tall tone 0:02:38.680 --> 0:02:40.320 guess the West And this is the one that looks 0:02:40.360 --> 0:02:44.520 like a big paper towel rolly, a glass paper towel 0:02:44.600 --> 0:02:47.160 roll has a revolving restaurant at the top, the Sun 0:02:47.200 --> 0:02:52.000 Died restaurant Us Atlanteans take out of town. Guess yeah, 0:02:52.000 --> 0:02:53.920 because like we look at us, we're moving around as 0:02:53.960 --> 0:02:57.119 we eat um. But the terrifying thing is that their 0:02:57.200 --> 0:03:00.240 elevator is glass, and it's you're going up on the 0:03:00.280 --> 0:03:03.600 side and you see um. If you if you're from 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:07.000 like me who has a fear of heights, then obviously 0:03:07.080 --> 0:03:09.839 you began to see the landscape unfold in front of you, 0:03:09.960 --> 0:03:13.520 and you began to in chup more towards the door. Yea, 0:03:14.320 --> 0:03:17.720 those are some some interesting elevators for sure. Um they're 0:03:17.720 --> 0:03:21.080 the ones at the Weston. I tend to really enjoy 0:03:21.200 --> 0:03:24.320 the ride, but my wife she uh, she just kind 0:03:24.320 --> 0:03:26.200 of looks at the door and try because she and 0:03:26.520 --> 0:03:30.040 she's not crazy about the glass, I think. And also 0:03:30.080 --> 0:03:33.400 she's a little bit claustrophobic and an elevators sometimes so 0:03:33.600 --> 0:03:36.680 um so. But we'll discuss the the psychology of of 0:03:36.720 --> 0:03:39.240 elevators a little more as we continue. For my own part, 0:03:39.880 --> 0:03:43.560 the real world elevator that I often think about, I 0:03:43.600 --> 0:03:46.280 have to go back to my college days in Knoxville, Tennessee, 0:03:46.440 --> 0:03:49.960 the University of Tennessee. There is a dorm there called 0:03:50.000 --> 0:03:52.240 mel Rose Hall, and I think mel Rose Hall is 0:03:52.240 --> 0:03:54.480 still there. I don't know if it's still a dorm 0:03:54.640 --> 0:03:56.320 or if it's been incorporated into something else. But when 0:03:56.320 --> 0:03:58.440 I went there, it was it was really cool because 0:03:58.440 --> 0:04:01.600 it was the It was a door arm exclusively for 0:04:01.760 --> 0:04:07.520 international students and socially introverted people like myself who you know, 0:04:07.600 --> 0:04:12.920 upperclassmen who weren't leaving campus to find exciting apartment living, 0:04:12.960 --> 0:04:15.520 but but did a room to themselves in a dorm. 0:04:16.040 --> 0:04:18.159 When you got off the elevator banks. Did it say that? 0:04:18.560 --> 0:04:23.200 Did it say Melrose Hall for the International students essentially introverted, 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:26.040 but it was they updated it in recent years because 0:04:26.040 --> 0:04:28.719 when I went there, the beds were all really short, 0:04:28.760 --> 0:04:30.560 like left over from World War two, so I had 0:04:30.560 --> 0:04:33.080 to I had to like sleep with the mattress in 0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:35.960 early weird position because it had a footboard and I'm 0:04:36.000 --> 0:04:39.360 I'm fairly tall and uh and there was no air conditioning, 0:04:39.480 --> 0:04:41.599 so during the summer you just had to sweat it 0:04:41.600 --> 0:04:44.440 out or live exclusively at night, or go down and 0:04:44.520 --> 0:04:47.880 sleep and like the one or two refrigerator and regreated 0:04:48.240 --> 0:04:53.239 basically refrigerated um wreck rooms, and it had this ancient 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:56.040 elevator that this dorm was not that tall. I think 0:04:56.080 --> 0:05:00.240 it was three two or three floors above ground. But 0:05:00.279 --> 0:05:01.680 one of the things that made it awesome was that 0:05:01.720 --> 0:05:04.200 there were two basements. There was a basement where there 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:06.479 was just a lot of their offices and dorms. Some 0:05:06.520 --> 0:05:08.680 people actually lived in the basement, and then there was 0:05:08.720 --> 0:05:11.880 a sub basement. And to this day I wish I 0:05:11.880 --> 0:05:14.280 had found a way talk to somebody and found a 0:05:14.320 --> 0:05:16.359 way to visit the sub basement, because I love the 0:05:16.400 --> 0:05:20.320 idea the idea of of there being an extra subworld 0:05:20.360 --> 0:05:22.240 down there, and like, what does it consist of? There 0:05:22.240 --> 0:05:25.080 are no dorms down there or are there what kind 0:05:25.120 --> 0:05:28.599 of strange creatures uh lived down there in the sub 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:31.080 basement of Melrose Hall. I don't know. Uh. And it 0:05:31.160 --> 0:05:33.520 also had a little gate, the old school gate you 0:05:33.560 --> 0:05:37.560 had to pull across, and the clunky buttons that they 0:05:37.600 --> 0:05:39.679 look like they're they're part of a furnace or something. 0:05:40.279 --> 0:05:42.680 So I I loved that elevator. I have no idea 0:05:42.680 --> 0:05:44.840 if they still have it. Maybe they replaced it. Sure 0:05:44.880 --> 0:05:48.719 they upgraded it probably took out the great it was. 0:05:48.800 --> 0:05:51.000 It was indeed great. Though in the g R E 0:05:51.040 --> 0:05:54.520 A t since fictional elevators, I always come back to 0:05:54.680 --> 0:05:56.800 one of my favorite movies, John Carpenter's Big Trouble in 0:05:56.800 --> 0:06:00.640 a Little China. In this particular movie, you keep encountering 0:06:00.760 --> 0:06:04.000 elevators that only go down, and I'm all, I've always 0:06:04.000 --> 0:06:09.440 been inspired and uh and fascinated by by sub worlds 0:06:09.520 --> 0:06:13.360 and UH and underground spaces and in dis sense and 0:06:13.440 --> 0:06:16.600 so uh, these elevators that that only go down are 0:06:16.640 --> 0:06:19.200 always just really fascinating to me. UM and Big trom 0:06:19.240 --> 0:06:21.200 a little China. There's a scene where they they're taking 0:06:21.200 --> 0:06:23.279 it down, ends up, the elevator goes into water and 0:06:23.279 --> 0:06:25.200 they have to escape and swim out through this kind 0:06:25.200 --> 0:06:28.719 of watery dungeon hell environment. And then there's another elevator 0:06:28.760 --> 0:06:31.479 they take straight down, which is plush and it looks 0:06:31.520 --> 0:06:34.039 like a really fancy Chinese restaurant on the inside. And 0:06:34.080 --> 0:06:37.520 there's a wonderful scene where all the heroes are packed 0:06:37.560 --> 0:06:39.279 into this little elevator, and you have sort of a 0:06:39.279 --> 0:06:42.360 cliche elevator scene where you know, people are just standing 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:45.400 there doing nothing, kind of awkwardly. But then there there's 0:06:45.400 --> 0:06:48.320 this they're also having all this magic potion that they 0:06:48.360 --> 0:06:51.359 just consumed. It's kicking in and so they're beginning to 0:06:51.360 --> 0:06:55.080 feel kind of magical and invincible. It's it's a wonderful scene. 0:06:55.320 --> 0:06:58.720 But it you mentioned all the scenes that take place 0:06:58.760 --> 0:07:02.880 in movies involving elevators, and and when you do think 0:07:02.880 --> 0:07:06.479 about them, the elevator becomes this interesting space from just 0:07:06.560 --> 0:07:09.840 a storytelling because it is that it is a space 0:07:09.880 --> 0:07:14.720 between is a space where you can encapsulate your characters 0:07:14.760 --> 0:07:16.720 and force them to have a little small talk and 0:07:16.760 --> 0:07:20.120 maybe you know, push the plot a little a little forward. Uh. 0:07:20.160 --> 0:07:24.440 It's a great way to transition between one set and another. Uh. 0:07:24.480 --> 0:07:26.040 And then you get into all the high jinks of 0:07:26.040 --> 0:07:28.840 climbing out of elevators, climbing on top of them, becoming 0:07:28.840 --> 0:07:32.880 stuck in an elevator. Classic, um, classic way to do 0:07:32.920 --> 0:07:35.880 a very limited episode of a TV show. I wonder 0:07:35.880 --> 0:07:37.640 how And it's always like a woman giving birth and 0:07:37.680 --> 0:07:39.720 an elevator. That's a That's another big one that's always 0:07:39.760 --> 0:07:43.120 happening on TV. So it is, Yeah, I miss that one. 0:07:43.160 --> 0:07:45.880 I feel like there's a super cut online on YouTube 0:07:45.880 --> 0:07:49.600 somewhere of just scenes of women who are pregnant in elevators, 0:07:49.800 --> 0:07:54.480 So I'm not going to check that out. Um. You know, 0:07:54.520 --> 0:07:57.360 as we're discussing this, this actually reminds me of the 0:07:57.400 --> 0:07:59.800 movie Inception, which we bring up every once in a while. 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:02.760 It there is a great narrative technique now that I'm 0:08:02.760 --> 0:08:05.640 thinking about it, of his psyche being in line with 0:08:05.960 --> 0:08:10.280 an elevator. So when he plunges into his dream world 0:08:11.080 --> 0:08:15.880 Leonardo DiCaprio's character, then he descends in the elevator, particularly 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:18.960 when when he has like a very tragic memories that 0:08:18.960 --> 0:08:22.280 he's rebusiting. So yeah, I mean it turns out that 0:08:22.320 --> 0:08:25.800 the elevator is is a great metaphor for as you say, 0:08:25.800 --> 0:08:29.440 that in between spaces and life, and it's something that 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:32.240 we do take for granted, but it is so fascinating 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:35.200 to me because really you're talking about I don't know, 0:08:35.240 --> 0:08:37.880 maybe a twenty to thirty second ride on an elevator, 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:41.840 and yet it can sometimes be the most awkward ride. 0:08:42.440 --> 0:08:44.720 And it is one of these great things is it's 0:08:44.720 --> 0:08:50.360 a microcosm for really how we act in social situations. Um, 0:08:50.400 --> 0:08:52.760 there's so much going on and just that little span 0:08:52.840 --> 0:08:54.880 of time and when you really think about it, I mean, 0:08:54.880 --> 0:08:57.520 what is an elevator, But it's really a box suspended 0:08:57.520 --> 0:09:00.760 by ropes and a counterweight. And remember that, you know, 0:09:00.840 --> 0:09:02.880 for us it's not a big deal. But if you 0:09:02.920 --> 0:09:06.240 were in the early twentieth century and you are an 0:09:06.240 --> 0:09:10.960 office worker in one of the beautiful, beautiful, new sparkling skyscrapers, 0:09:11.000 --> 0:09:14.760 this would be a really weird experience for you. And 0:09:15.440 --> 0:09:18.080 you know you wouldn't you'd have to deal with getting 0:09:18.080 --> 0:09:20.679 into this this metal box that's going to go up 0:09:20.679 --> 0:09:23.680 this narrow little shaft and what that meant to you psychologically. 0:09:23.960 --> 0:09:26.240 And I wanted to point out that This is about 0:09:26.240 --> 0:09:29.160 the time, at least in the forties when skyscrapers really 0:09:29.160 --> 0:09:33.040 became prevalent. Yet you began to see musaic or music 0:09:33.400 --> 0:09:36.960 being piped into elevators because what they're trying to do 0:09:37.040 --> 0:09:40.480 there is psychologically set you up for this feeling that 0:09:40.559 --> 0:09:42.840 everything is okay, and they give you the most bland, 0:09:42.920 --> 0:09:46.760 vanilla music to pipe in. Uh So, you know, again, 0:09:46.800 --> 0:09:48.720 we take that stuff for granted, but if you are 0:09:48.800 --> 0:09:53.080 someone in that time period forties, this would be kind 0:09:53.120 --> 0:09:54.760 of a weird thing. And by the way, the music 0:09:54.800 --> 0:09:57.760 playing in the background there it was was tracked two 0:09:57.760 --> 0:10:01.240 from the nineteen seventy four music LP known to collectors 0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:05.200 as the Blue Album. So, yeah, you don't see music anymore, 0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:07.400 or at least I have an encountered music and forever 0:10:07.559 --> 0:10:10.360 on on board and l elevator. Now they try different 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:13.880 tactics to try and make you, um think about something 0:10:13.920 --> 0:10:17.599 other than the tiny suspended box and a shaft that 0:10:17.840 --> 0:10:20.440 that is your environment. Yeah. I read somewhere that the 0:10:20.520 --> 0:10:23.280 music became so associated with elevator rides that they go 0:10:23.280 --> 0:10:25.040 out rid of it because it was just reminding people 0:10:25.080 --> 0:10:27.400 that they were in an elevator. Yeah, I mean, you 0:10:27.440 --> 0:10:31.120 still see it in movies. I think people still reference 0:10:31.200 --> 0:10:33.800 that the idea that you know, it kind of drives 0:10:33.800 --> 0:10:36.160 home the awkwardness of an environment where it's like you're 0:10:36.160 --> 0:10:39.680 standing right next to a total stranger and there's funky 0:10:39.760 --> 0:10:42.800 music playing like this but not but not real funky music, 0:10:42.840 --> 0:10:46.040 but like music acts, which is kind of the uncanny 0:10:46.120 --> 0:10:49.360 valley of music. Anyway, this driving home the awkwardness and 0:10:49.440 --> 0:10:52.440 artificiality of your setting. I love that. And now I'm 0:10:52.480 --> 0:10:54.960 thinking about a robot just staring back at me, vehicing 0:10:55.280 --> 0:10:57.400 in in in the form of music, which really that 0:10:57.559 --> 0:11:01.080 is what the old music was like. Um okay, So 0:11:01.160 --> 0:11:03.480 before we go and give you guys a little bit 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:06.360 of history, um of elevators and get then go into 0:11:06.360 --> 0:11:09.640 the psychology, we did want to cover something really important, 0:11:09.679 --> 0:11:12.679 and that is the door closed button. Yes, the door 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:15.960 closed button, which I think we've all hit it at 0:11:16.040 --> 0:11:20.320 least once, probably ten twenty times in a row. You 0:11:20.360 --> 0:11:22.839 know that that feeling where you did I get when 0:11:22.880 --> 0:11:25.800 I've I've I've arrived on the train, I hurry up 0:11:25.800 --> 0:11:27.800 the escalator. I walked in through the front door of 0:11:27.800 --> 0:11:30.880 the building and then there's an elevator already arrived on 0:11:30.920 --> 0:11:32.760 the on the ground floor just waiting for me. So 0:11:32.800 --> 0:11:35.200 I get inside and I'm the first person in there. 0:11:35.520 --> 0:11:37.520 Now at this point, I want those doors to shut 0:11:37.640 --> 0:11:39.920 because if they don't, like eight people are going to 0:11:40.000 --> 0:11:42.280 show up and they're all going to like different floors, 0:11:42.280 --> 0:11:45.280 and we're on the floor. We on the tenth uh 0:11:45.320 --> 0:11:47.199 somewhere up there. Yeah, well, I don't know why I 0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:49.240 can't remember that I pushed this button. Every day I've 0:11:49.240 --> 0:11:51.920 been reminded that we were on the fifteenth floor, technically 0:11:51.920 --> 0:11:55.120 the fourteenth because you know, they skipped, because that would 0:11:55.120 --> 0:11:58.600 be unlucky. Yeah, So anyway, Um, you know, I rushed 0:11:58.600 --> 0:12:00.679 onto the elevator and I start pushing that door closed 0:12:00.720 --> 0:12:04.080 button and it seems to take forever, and I always 0:12:04.080 --> 0:12:05.520 think it's in the past. I was just thought, well, 0:12:05.520 --> 0:12:07.760 they don't. You don't want it to be a situation 0:12:07.800 --> 0:12:09.920 where you just push that button and it slams shut 0:12:10.000 --> 0:12:13.080 like a like guillotines, twin guillotines. You know, that would 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:15.560 be dangerous. You would need some sort of delay. But 0:12:15.960 --> 0:12:17.760 it never really occurred to me that the button does 0:12:17.800 --> 0:12:20.280 not work at all, or at least probably does not 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:23.400 work at all. Yeah, it probably doesn't because it turns 0:12:23.440 --> 0:12:27.440 out that buildings that were built, particularly from the nineties 0:12:27.480 --> 0:12:31.600 and onward, they are not usually keyed so that the 0:12:31.640 --> 0:12:35.200 door button works. Usually there they are just in case 0:12:35.200 --> 0:12:38.440 of an emergency. So the door closed button is really 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:41.160 only going to work if you have a key for 0:12:41.320 --> 0:12:44.400 the elevator. So I just won't want everybody to know that, 0:12:44.480 --> 0:12:47.959 because if you've ever been frustrated and said, why won't 0:12:47.960 --> 0:12:50.440 the door close? And also it felt a little bit 0:12:50.480 --> 0:12:52.400 of a fool and a jerk because you know, there 0:12:52.440 --> 0:12:54.559 was a huge amount of people that were stampeding towards 0:12:54.559 --> 0:12:57.400 you as you were pushing the door close, and it's 0:12:57.440 --> 0:13:00.280 all for not yeah, And then sometimes I mean really, 0:13:00.400 --> 0:13:02.640 but occasionally it will be someone I know out there. 0:13:02.920 --> 0:13:05.400 And also I'll go to push the door open button 0:13:06.040 --> 0:13:07.880 and it won't work or something, and then I feel 0:13:07.880 --> 0:13:09.920 like a jerk because they're thinking I was frantically pushing 0:13:09.920 --> 0:13:12.760 their clothes button to leave them on the bottom floor. 0:13:12.800 --> 0:13:14.640 And people get kind of been out of shape about 0:13:14.640 --> 0:13:18.360 their their elevator situation. Um has pointed out in some 0:13:18.400 --> 0:13:21.280 of the resources we were looking at, including the fabulous 0:13:22.040 --> 0:13:24.560 article Up and then Down the Lines of Elevators by 0:13:24.640 --> 0:13:27.120 Nick Palm, Garden a two thousand and eight New Yorker article, 0:13:27.240 --> 0:13:30.079 which is about a thousand pages long course since the 0:13:30.120 --> 0:13:32.199 New Yorker article, but it's excellent. It's like a it's 0:13:32.200 --> 0:13:35.240 like a mini novel about the history of the elevator, 0:13:35.280 --> 0:13:39.040 the culture of the elevator, and one particularly harrowing example 0:13:39.080 --> 0:13:41.520 of someone trapped in an elevator for I believe, forty 0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:44.680 one hours. Yeah, well we'll we'll mention him in a moment. 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:46.559 But it's a you're right, it's set up really great 0:13:46.600 --> 0:13:48.440 because they take this guy, Nick White, the guy that 0:13:48.520 --> 0:13:51.439 was trapped, and they use that as a reference point. Right. 0:13:51.800 --> 0:13:54.600 But one of the points that the Palm Garden keeps 0:13:54.640 --> 0:13:57.200 coming back to is that in some of the people 0:13:57.240 --> 0:13:59.960 interviews keep discussing, is that we hold elevator to this 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:02.840 different standard, uh than we do anything else. Like I 0:14:02.880 --> 0:14:04.320 take the train to work, and if I have to 0:14:04.360 --> 0:14:07.520 wait twenty minutes on a train, it's it's just kind 0:14:07.520 --> 0:14:10.679 of part of it. It's smarta so I just you know, whatever, 0:14:11.080 --> 0:14:13.000 it's just gonna be a slow ride. And then oh 0:14:13.080 --> 0:14:15.719 I'm next to somebody that's that's either a stranger or 0:14:15.800 --> 0:14:18.760 kind of awful. That's just public transportation, No big deal 0:14:19.040 --> 0:14:21.120 if there's a delay, all right, this is part of 0:14:21.120 --> 0:14:24.120 the experience on an elevator. I expect to wait no 0:14:24.200 --> 0:14:27.720 more than thirty seconds. I expect to ascend and pretty 0:14:27.840 --> 0:14:31.440 hopefully directly to my floor, which I'm told again is 0:14:31.480 --> 0:14:34.960 the fifteenth floor. And and I don't technically, Yeah, and 0:14:34.960 --> 0:14:37.040 if any of these things get messed up, I get 0:14:37.040 --> 0:14:39.680 a little bit out of shape about it. Yeah, And 0:14:39.680 --> 0:14:42.360 and that's what it's so interesting when you look at 0:14:42.720 --> 0:14:45.880 trying to actually engineer a decent set of elevators. And 0:14:45.880 --> 0:14:48.880 we'll get more into that, but let's talk about the 0:14:48.920 --> 0:14:52.000 Otis Elevator Company, because this really is the gold standard 0:14:52.040 --> 0:14:55.640 in the industry. Yeah, you've all been seeing the word 0:14:55.640 --> 0:14:58.360 Otis inside your elevators all your live and uh. And 0:14:58.360 --> 0:15:00.960 I never really thought about it beyond and just making 0:15:00.960 --> 0:15:04.840 a quick reference in my mind to old Andy Griffith's episodes, 0:15:04.880 --> 0:15:06.280 you know where you had to Ovis the Drunk, and 0:15:06.320 --> 0:15:08.120 I imagine him on an elevator. And that's kind of 0:15:08.160 --> 0:15:11.120 the end of it. But they are the elevator company 0:15:11.120 --> 0:15:15.080 in the United States and one of the major players globally. Uh. 0:15:15.160 --> 0:15:17.000 Most of their work these days isn't even in the 0:15:17.080 --> 0:15:19.400 United States. They're they're going to uh to Asia and 0:15:19.440 --> 0:15:24.000 the Middle East, and they're they're advising and installing elevator 0:15:24.040 --> 0:15:28.120 systems in these magnificent high rises that that everyone you know, 0:15:28.160 --> 0:15:30.760 freaks out about. On the internet, everyone's you know, always 0:15:30.800 --> 0:15:34.280 sharing a picture of either the newest skyscraper under under 0:15:34.280 --> 0:15:37.400 construction or the plans for this elaborate skyscraper that they're 0:15:37.400 --> 0:15:41.040 gonna build in the desert somewhere. And uh, of course, 0:15:41.080 --> 0:15:43.920 any time you're designing a building like that, anytime you're 0:15:43.960 --> 0:15:46.760 looking to create to create something like that, elevators are 0:15:46.760 --> 0:15:50.200 an essential part of it. I mean, without elevators, we 0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:53.160 would not have skyscrapers because you need a way for 0:15:54.360 --> 0:15:58.520 um able bodied people to reach any floor in pretty 0:15:58.640 --> 0:16:00.880 uh you know, pretty been a pretty a short amount 0:16:00.920 --> 0:16:04.160 of time. And then you also need um disabled individuals, 0:16:04.200 --> 0:16:07.640 individuals who are not up to multiple So just for 0:16:07.680 --> 0:16:09.520 it to make sense at all, you have to have 0:16:09.560 --> 0:16:13.680 an elevator system. And it's a particularly an interesting vision 0:16:13.920 --> 0:16:17.480 business now with the skyscrapers and the tallness of them, 0:16:17.520 --> 0:16:20.840 because you know, basic physics will tell you that if 0:16:20.880 --> 0:16:23.840 you reach beyond a thousand feet up in cabling for 0:16:23.960 --> 0:16:27.400 an elevator system, that's about the top of what you 0:16:27.440 --> 0:16:30.120 can get there, because otherwise your cables will snap. So 0:16:30.200 --> 0:16:31.800 you've got a bunch of engineers working on the spots 0:16:31.840 --> 0:16:33.800 because a lot of these buildings are much higher than that, 0:16:33.920 --> 0:16:36.560 especially if you look at something like the Burge. So 0:16:36.720 --> 0:16:41.160 there's some really good media problems to work on for 0:16:41.240 --> 0:16:45.800 engineers and mathematicians. Um. But before we start looking more 0:16:45.800 --> 0:16:49.560 at the modern systems, let's talk about Alicia Graves Otis. 0:16:49.600 --> 0:16:52.840 He founded the company Otis Elevators in eighteen fifty three 0:16:53.240 --> 0:16:55.800 when he figured out an operating system that could prevent 0:16:56.280 --> 0:16:59.640 free falls and passenger elevators, which is always nice because 0:16:59.680 --> 0:17:02.440 the bay it's the idea of an elevator is pretty ancient. 0:17:02.720 --> 0:17:06.040 The basics of hauling a box up, I mean that 0:17:06.119 --> 0:17:09.280 dates back to you know, to the ancient Greeks. Well, yeah, 0:17:09.359 --> 0:17:11.199 it read something to you about the first century BC. 0:17:11.440 --> 0:17:15.000 Romans would operate lifts using pulleys with humans, animal and 0:17:15.080 --> 0:17:19.160 water power. So yeah, it is a very simple process 0:17:19.240 --> 0:17:20.760 if you think about it. But yeah, it wasn't until 0:17:20.800 --> 0:17:23.399 we really had the safety features in mind that we 0:17:23.440 --> 0:17:28.040 could and also the the ability to build multiple skyscrapers 0:17:28.040 --> 0:17:30.119 that it really became a thing. Yeah, and then in 0:17:31.800 --> 0:17:35.520 Otis introduced the automatic elevator system, and that eliminated the 0:17:35.560 --> 0:17:38.320 need for operators. So no longer did you get into 0:17:38.960 --> 0:17:41.520 the elevator, at least in most office buildings, and was 0:17:41.560 --> 0:17:45.440 there an attendant there. Now, that did introduce an element 0:17:45.680 --> 0:17:49.600 of randomness, because before this you had someone in the 0:17:49.640 --> 0:17:52.920 elevator who knew where you were going and knew sort 0:17:52.960 --> 0:17:56.000 of the traffic patterns of people and would call that 0:17:56.080 --> 0:17:59.400 out to the operators. So it was easy to anticipate traffic. 0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:01.760 But when they moved to the automated system, it was 0:18:01.840 --> 0:18:06.439 a little bit more of of um, okay, well nobody 0:18:06.480 --> 0:18:09.680 knows really what the traffic patterns are anymore, and people 0:18:09.680 --> 0:18:11.560 had to wait a little bit more. Yeah, it was 0:18:11.600 --> 0:18:14.080 apparently in the nineties we obviously saw that shift from 0:18:14.080 --> 0:18:17.840 elevator operators to operator less elevators, which instantly makes me 0:18:17.880 --> 0:18:20.639 think of Madman. Um, yeah, I can't remember do you 0:18:20.640 --> 0:18:22.760 watch mad Man? I've caught it before, I haven't seen 0:18:22.800 --> 0:18:24.239 all the season's will they make a lot of use 0:18:24.280 --> 0:18:26.200 of the elevators because they work in a high rise, 0:18:26.240 --> 0:18:29.160 so there's a lot of room for scenes where individuals 0:18:29.240 --> 0:18:34.080 encounter each other awkwardly or well generally awkwardly in the elevator, 0:18:34.280 --> 0:18:37.200 but then also some excellent scenes. There's one in particular 0:18:37.240 --> 0:18:40.760 where Draper goes to take the elevator down and the 0:18:40.800 --> 0:18:44.200 doors open to just an empty shaft, and it has 0:18:44.240 --> 0:18:46.760 a lot to do with I mean, it's a thematically 0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:48.480 with what's going on in the show at that point. 0:18:49.080 --> 0:18:53.600 But but but it's it's a fascinating scene. And likewise, 0:18:53.800 --> 0:18:57.040 there's generally, i think, at least up until now, in 0:18:57.080 --> 0:18:59.600 the show, there's always an elevator operator. So I'm kind 0:18:59.600 --> 0:19:02.880 of looking forward to the point when the elevator operator 0:19:02.920 --> 0:19:04.600 is no longer present because I guess it's kind of 0:19:04.600 --> 0:19:07.359 an old fashioned building, uh that they're they're hanging onto 0:19:07.359 --> 0:19:10.600 that tradition, and I kind of want to see Draper's 0:19:10.600 --> 0:19:12.879 face when that goes away. That's kind of interesting to 0:19:12.920 --> 0:19:17.119 you how that the tails with the changing social ways 0:19:17.160 --> 0:19:18.760 at that time, because you can kind of think of 0:19:18.800 --> 0:19:23.480 the attendant as the chaperone, and uh, you know that's 0:19:23.480 --> 0:19:28.400 sort of because you could say, very um controlled relationship 0:19:28.640 --> 0:19:32.320 is flying away during that time, right the sixties, and 0:19:32.320 --> 0:19:35.160 people are beginning to be freer. So again, here here's 0:19:35.200 --> 0:19:38.159 the elevators, a microcosm of society in which you know, 0:19:38.240 --> 0:19:40.359 no longer as a chaperone there and anything can happen 0:19:40.359 --> 0:19:42.639 in an elevator, right, and now, as we'll discuss a 0:19:42.680 --> 0:19:45.000 little later, where in an age where we see that 0:19:45.080 --> 0:19:48.000 amount of freedom vanishing more and more in the elevator, 0:19:48.359 --> 0:19:51.600 we see technology taking over to the point to where 0:19:51.880 --> 0:19:54.199 we feel just like, where at the whim of whatever 0:19:54.640 --> 0:19:58.320 mysterious mechanical force is controlling this magic box? Yeah, and 0:19:58.359 --> 0:20:00.959 so in there you go with the door closed button, right, 0:20:01.040 --> 0:20:04.040 that's just an illusion of free will, right right. One 0:20:04.080 --> 0:20:06.080 of my favorite things that I stumbled upon when we 0:20:06.080 --> 0:20:09.919 were researching this is an old clip from a Candid 0:20:09.960 --> 0:20:13.360 Camera show. You remember that show? Yeah, This is where 0:20:13.359 --> 0:20:16.760 they would you know, kind of a forerunner of reality shows. Um, 0:20:17.000 --> 0:20:18.640 kind of like what was the show Punked? I think 0:20:18.640 --> 0:20:21.719 with the MTV things several years Yeah, yeah, where they 0:20:21.720 --> 0:20:23.400 would prank people. You know, it's just a prank show 0:20:23.440 --> 0:20:25.919 they do, and some of it bordered on what we 0:20:25.960 --> 0:20:30.760 would now call almost performance art or theater everywhere kind 0:20:30.800 --> 0:20:35.040