Forget playing Minecraft. John Plant, the creator and star of Primitive Technology, is living it.
Yes, it turns out that creating that stone axe is a little more difficult than simply punching a couple trees and mining a few stones, but Plant makes it nonetheless. The Australian YouTuber has made a whole lot more, too: clay pots, a water filter, a hut, a brick kiln, even an iron smelter. And he does it all in silence, letting only the sounds of nature and of his crafting filter into your living room.
The only rule in everything Plant does? He’s only allowed to work with what he’s made before. No saws, no hammers—nothing unless he can find it in nature and craft it into something useful.
Plant works hard to build the projects in his videos. He doesn’t cut corners, and he shows how, with enough time and effort, massive projects can be completed with very little. Additionally, Plant provides captions that explain each step of his process, and his video descriptions tell viewers about everything he did from start to finish. And while YouTube features plenty of creators copying Plant’s channel (right down to the silent, shirtless building style), our research suggests most are only faking it: Plant’s creations are (according to our research) absolutely genuine.
Because Plant doesn’t say anything in his videos, viewers won’t need to worry about any crude language.
The only potential thing to note is that Plant always works shirtless.
Primitive Technology feels like taking a step back in time. The channel walks its viewers through every part of a project’s process, and viewers can see exactly how some ancient creations may have originally been made. Parents shouldn’t need to worry about letting their children watch—unless they’re afraid that Plant might accidentally encourage the kid to start his or her own iron smelter in the backyard.
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
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