Broadly in Favor of Humans

[@rosianna]

No wonder I'm so tired today, a lot has been going on (the industrial revolution, flying to the moon, etc etc)

[@jonathangibson3609]

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[@moncielvariable]

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[@cel2460]

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[@spideycraft7007]

ROSIANNA🙌🫶💓!!!

[@BlueManIan]

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[@caitlincurtis7844]

We’re here because

[@marafortune3713]

we're here because

[@wormoffthestring]

we're here because

[@joshwilson314]

We're here because

[@kelleylebahn3066]

We're here because

[@Storfod]

We’re here because

[@juliegolick]

I'm a medieval historian by training, and whenever anyone asks me when and where in history I'd like to live, my answer is always, "Right now! Here in Canada or another industrialized country!" Yes, there's income inequality and climate change and increasing hateful rhetoric throughout the world. But the chances that I'm gonna die in childbirth are almost nil, as opposed to it being a leading cause of maternal death through much of human history. We treat the death of children as a tragedy as opposed to a commonplace event. I can get fresh fruit and vegetables literally any time of the year that I want. I can have light at nighttime. I can get hot water by turning a tap. I can instantly speak to someone on the other side of the world in real time. I can learn nearly anything, constrained only by my own interest and time, not by a lack of teachers or information. I can travel from one side of Canada to the other in less than a day. All of these are wonders that even kings and emperors could only have dreamed of a mere few hundred years ago. Truly, I love living in the future, and I will never tire of saying it.

[@level10peon]

Yep, while I sympathize with being upset about the problems of the present day, the present day really is great compared to all that came before. Heck, even compared to 50 years ago, well within living memory, lifespans have increased while global poverty, air and water pollution, and deaths in war have decreased.

[@mouseluva]

If I survived my first month in history without dying of a horrible disease or antidepressant withdrawal complications, I would almost certainly die either in childbirth or of the social/economic consequences of trying to make it as a single woman! Best case scenario I could join a nunnery maybe?? We've never had it so good.

[@bemusedbandersnatch2069]

Lol, I'm just happy to have running water. It's not a brand-new technology, but the mass implementation of it is. I cannot imagine the wheelbarrows of crap in the streets and in the rivers that used to exist back in the day. Porta-potties are gross enough.

[@firelunamoon]

Yay for antibiotics! Seriously, when I tell people this is the best time in human history to be alive, I'm often met with skepticism because we've become so used to thinking that everything is awful, wholly awful and nothing but awful, all the time. Also I misread "I can get hot water by turning a tap" in your comment as "I can get holy water by turning a tap" and was like, are you the pope?! lol

[@GarnetReign]

+ I just wish it were like this for all humans on the planet today. We still have work to do.

[@Andi-gq4yo]

the phrase "faster than horse travel" is delightful to me. ah yes, FTH travel

[@Idefilms]

+++ your abbreviation of it really makes it for me

[@danriddick914]

I regularly drive 60 FTH on my way to work

[@banditrests]

This feels like the speed definition they would have used in firefly or something instead of of FTL

[@arlyssstewart3040]

​@@danriddick914 I found this amusing, so i did som math about it. low end speed of horse and buggy is about 8 km/h (or 5 mph). So you, going 60 times faster, are going 480 km/h (300mph) or faster on your way to work every day

[@sebastianoleary2743]

We have broken the horse barrier

[@Gunboatsallday]

I read this as Broadly in Favor of Hummus and was confused for the frist 30 seconds

[@MinurielLai]

xD Although tbf I personally am broadly in favour of hummus /lh

[@NinaDmytraczenko]

Both are true! Hummus is amazing

[@mostlyvoid.partiallystars]

I am narrowly in favor of both hummus and humans lol

[@jeff8383]

No humans No hummus

[@LifeOfInsamity]

hummus

[@Idefilms]

Good morning Hank, it's Thursday. I present to you: The Anthropocene Reviewed.

[@francois-mariefilsgeorges6943]

Like the whole thing, the entire 300,000 years scaled down to 365 days. The only thing missing is a rating out of 5 stars

[@Quartzite]

​@@francois-mariefilsgeorges69435/5. Fabulous

[@michaelmicek]

☆☆☆½: I liked it, but it's not for everyone.

[@leilaofpaper]

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[@cbpd89]

It still melts my brain that it took less than 70 years to go from the first sustained heavier than air flight to humans walking on the moon. It's no wonder everyone though we'd have flying cars and living on Mars by the start of the 21st century.

[@armerls]

I live in Asheville, NC and am having (as you might imagine) a very tough week. I needed a dose of vlogbrothers hopecore. Thank you, John

[@untappedinkwell]

Sending best wishes to you and yours. Thanks for being here with us. I hope next week is a little better.

[@giha.3347]

wishing you well, and hoping the best for you

[@rohmahassan3014]

Hoping this moment will pass for you as smoothly as possible, in spite of the hardships. DFTBA ❤️‍🩹

[@Elizabeth-tq7qw]

Wishing much better times to come for you.

[@armerls]

Thanks for the well wishes y’all! Love our community. DFTBA.

[@vladpetric7493]

Moral panicking, by taking advantage of the "past was better" bias, is one of the most reliable forms of propaganda. Thank you for debunking this.

[@cftug]

"We've been in a polycrisis for the entire industrial age." This has always been my main takeaway from Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire." Sure, everything's on fire, but like... everything's been on fire since forever, and it doesn't seem to be slowing us down. We'll work things out, and survive to see what catches fire next.

[@shawnbottom4769]

Absolute certainty that's how things will always play out qualifies as hubris.

[@Syrkyth]

One nitpick - ice storehouses were a thing 300(+++!) years ago. Sure, not ice on demand via mechanical refrigeration but it *was* harvested during the winter and stored underground in insulated storage or some societies harnessed the sub-zero temperatures of the desert to produce ice while others cut blocks from glaciers like they were quarrying stone and ferried them intact to sweltering consumers. Some of these practices stretch as far back in time as ancient Sumer. People have always loved their ice cold bevvies on hot summer days!

[@kaypgirl]

Went looking for this! Hank recently-ish made a Scishow video that featured the ancient desert ice house. John hasn't been watching his Scishow.

[@tealkerberus748]

I came here to see if anyone else had commented on this. Humans have always loved ice in hot weather, and we've always made an effort to have it available!

[@macncheesetv9816]

4:30 I’ve never heard the term “Polycrisis” before and it’s immediately joining my vernacular. That is exactly how this year has felt

[@JTH-xl1kd]

Definitely up there with Omnishambles and clusterf...

[@kyleeshields6812]

Musterfluck

[@MooseGoose626]

Wait. 2:52 has me thinking for the first time that the reason we work in different “fields” must come from the agricultural field. The two terms have to be linked. Like at one point I wonder if a medieval peasant talked to another and was like oh what field are you in. Oh me? I’m in the wheat field what about you?

[@RachelAnn]

🤯🤯🤯

[@GlennHtx]

I'm reminded of a CGP Grey video from several years ago about animal (specifically horse) domestication: "It's remarkable to think that from thousands BC until the telegraph, a dude on a horse was the best internet available."

[@KayleeDavisBlueBox]

as great sir Pratchett put it, “It may help to understand human affairs to be clear that most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused, not by people being fundamentally good or fundamentally bad, but by people being fundamentally people.” i envy you your optimism, and yet... i cannot entirely let go of it myself. in an uncaring universe, there are people who care about so many things, it feels like the caring will never run out. love to the point of creation.

[@emilytopham5069]

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[@octopiinthesky44]

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[@EcceJack]

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[@jonathangibson3609]

+ GNU Terry Pratchett

[@emmaw52]

Ahh, Good Omens ❤

[@HeavyMetalMouse]

On the one hand, history shows that humanity reliably figures out how to make it through our own crises. On the other hand, that's one hell of a survivorship bias. At the end of the day, humanity will succeed right up until the point it doesn't.

[@chronovii2428]

John, I TODAY visited your alma mater, Kenyon college, and I fell in love. What a place. They brought you up on the tour maybe three or four times-including how upperclassmen screw with freshmen by telling them you’re somewhere on campus. Here’s hoping I get in.

[@3countylaugh]

Good Luck!

[@wendydavidson1589]

I have on my wall the poster with your quote "the world may be broken, but hope is not crazy." This has been my north star throughout much of my life. Sometimes, I believe the first half much more than the second. But in those times, I remember that I used to believe in the second half, and that I will again. And that, until I do, there are so many people in this community who can believe on my behalf that "hope is not crazy," as we work together to bring about the kind of change that inspires continued hope. Thanks, John, for stubborn hope. Thanks, nerdfighteria, for practicing that with me.

[@totalweirdo8538]

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[@kashiichan]

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[@nessidoe8080]

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[@etsmikep]

I was just thinking as you were talking about how bad we are at this, staying within the time frame presented, we've only been doing it for a few hours. It takes practice to get good at things: Most people are bad at stuff when they start out. We will get better.

[@Nokus416]

"What a terrible world, what a beautiful world" -Colin Meloy, The Decemberists

[@Dudeonwheels]

I'm exhausted. These last few hours have been INSANE.

[@amykathleen2]

Nothing has ever given me such a visceral gratitude for the modern era as a recent experience of sitting by the bed of a child who isn’t mine, hand sewing the hem of a customer’s pants, while using a rechargeable LED nightlight to barely see. Yeah I’ve got problems, but I also have a sewing machine and bright indoor lighting that doesn’t catch anything on fire and (at least for now) the option to continue to not have my own children - all things that actual millennia of women before me did not have. I think now is a pretty okay time, probably.

[@MinurielLai]

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[@MysticalRefpanel]

thanks for typing this and im glad for getting to hear your thoughts myself :D cheers from Algeria!

[@tealkerberus748]

Sitting by my own child's bedside when she was two and in hospital with a drip in her arm because of a gastro bug was one of those experiences. She couldn't keep so much as a sip of water in her stomach, it all came straight back up. Small children can dehydrate and die very quickly from bugs that barely give an adult a tummyache .. but not when we have modern medicine to support them through it. She's a healthy teenager now, but that experience still feels like yesterday.

[@amykathleen2]

@@tealkerberus748 I’m glad your kiddo was and is okay! For a variety of reasons it’s easy for me to forget the benefits of modern medicine, so thank you for the reminder of an additional thing we should all be grateful for.

[@nanszoo3092]

@@tealkerberus748 came here to comment WOW on the original comment, but now sitting quietly contemplating the life of my daughter who is almost 40, has given me two grandchildren, and would not have survived childhood in an earlier time or without access to an ER when I could not get her fever down multiple times when she was in her tweens. Come to think of it, I would not have survived my childhood asthma or the chronic bronchitis I experienced in my 20s without the care and medicine I received... I've always been aware that living as a financially insecure, undereducated, single mother in the USA during the '80s and '90s was still a really great position to be in considering the other times and places I could have been born into. Perspective and hot running water are two things that have kept me sane through it all. Living in a time and place that allowed access to medical care (sometimes) and education (eventually) has been a blessing I am very much aware that not all people have or have had in the past. There is more we can do collectively to help our fellow humans. The question is - do we progress in the near future or regress first?

[@mng312]

4:49 “here i am. here you are.” we are here

[@veronicamcghie5238]

Because we're here because we're here?

[@lesliemartin1520]

I'm from the upstate of South Carolina and witnessing how my community has rallied together to deal with the effects of Hurricane Helene has been very uplifting. We really are capable of good things. They have been spontaneously happening all around me this week.

[@MinurielLai]

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[@kyleeshields6812]

Spontaneous solidarity 🫶🏻

[@rachrenz]

I appreciate the unintended pun: Most of us don't work in agriculture, we work in "fields" that didn't exist 300 years ago 😅

[@kashiichan]

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[@theyearofkaren]

John's hair: Don't ever change. It makes me feel close, like you are my beloved son sharing his troubles at work, the antics of my grandchildren, his hopes to purchase a house, and what are we going to do about the world?

[@jewishjedi]

A video talking framed around a year coming out on Rosh Hashanah feels very appropriate. Shana Tova!

[@buildingthemagic]

0:28 - Not to be the “well, actually” guy, but… I also know you love learning weird stuff, so… humans have been harvesting and storing ice for millennia. Commercial ice operations are relatively new, as is *production* of ice by humans, but using ice (to store and consume foods) has happened since at least 1700 BCE.

[@cdub42]

In the summer, in warm areas?

[@CODENAMEDERPY]

@@cdub42probably happened somewhere. Dig a hole. Make sure sun doesn’t hit it. Pack all sides with straw. Fill it with ice. Come summer there might still be some left. I’ve seen natural snow in natural holes on 80+F days.

[@coconuthalf]

​@@cdub42Ancient Persians found a way to store ice in the desert in the summer. It blew my mind when I learned that, definitely worth looking up!

[@ElijahCem]

​@@cdub42 In 400 BCE in the Persian desert nonetheless. Humans are so weird

[@EbyKat]

Might I suggest to you the show Um, Actually on DropoutTV 💕

[@Missyshenanigan88]

Whenever you or Hank talk about how amazing humans and the human experience is, I cry. Because I forget. Thank you for the reminder.

[@Langeheinicke]

John driving home the message that this joint situation we find ourselves in is inadequately described by simplistic world models, and instead complexity is demanded, has led to great and needed revisions to my approaches towards making sense of life.

[@TorkildKahrs]

My mantra these days: don’t fight the battle alone

[@meggrow]

Not too long ago I heard someone say, “To hope is to refuse to accept the world as it is.” Some guy named John Green said it…kind of puts the trajectory of human existence into context.

[@emilytopham5069]

Exactly the kind of gentle persistence I need as I nurse myself through Covid. Thanks for this video today, John. We're here because we're here

[@Nandarelle]

It is one thing to be broadly in favor of humans, and another to be broadly in favor of humans (or anything) while filming a video at 6 am. So hats of to you.

[@AdamYJ]

Thank you, John, for reminding us that nothing is simple. I find humanity seeks simplicity. The irony being that we also further complicate everything we touch:

[@zmanzono]

It's important to note that 'this' is worth it, but like any other hard work that is worth it, it's okay to take a break once in a while, to complain that it's hard, and to fail. As long as we keep trying to do the necessary and important work, those moments of grace that we give ourselves are worth it as well, because they are what allows us to continue the work that is worth it.

[@MinurielLai]

++*

[@dragonflies6793]

[@kashiichan]

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[@veronica..12321]

My therapist and I had a conversation this week about this same thing. It's something I'm reallt wrestling with lately, so thank you for the reminder.

[@Homer-OJ-Simpson]

0:54 love this part it puts human era into great perspective…EXCEPT THE MONGOLS. Where do they fall on the calendar?

[@tangent7078]

Something that has helped me get through it all these days is imagining humans throughout our history, and how each of them probably looked at their own current catastrophes and had the same thought. "We've got a lot of work to do"

[@JerusalemStrayCat]

Catching up on KZbin subscriptions after Rosh Hashanah. This is exactly yht kind of sebtiment I would like to hold going into the new year, so thanks

[@lenausesyoutube]

I had a tough coversation about the climate and humanity and the future and hope just yesterday evening. This video was so needed. Thank you!

[@IntegralGuide]

John, hearing you say the word “poly-crisis” was astonishing, in a good way, because now I know you know.

[@chelle6]

The best of us is why we are worth it, our mediocre loved ones are why we are worth it, the worst of us changing and becoming better is why we are worth it. The worst of us making the rest of us strive for better is why it's all worth it ❤

[@charlieistryinghisbest]

We should strive to be better to the animals and the environment too! Go vegan! :)

[@chelle6]

@@charlieistryinghisbest agree I am

[@robertsteffler5155]

Something that has helped me quite a lot with engaging with optimism in a world that is presently quite... uncanny, shall we say, is to treat humanity and my relationship with it like we might a sports team. Sometimes, sports teams are hard to root for. Maybe you hear that one of your favorite players has an abusive relationship at home, or your team loses the critical game. Sports teams don't win all the time, they don't always have good years, and yeah, maybe if they do terribly enough, there won't be a team come next year, or the year after. But we don't root for sports teams because we want them to win all the time, we root for them because we believe that they *can* win. And that's sort of how I see humanity. We're bullish, hormone-driven, aggressive monkeys who run around aimlessly for a while. But we also have a tremendous capacity for cooperation, and for teamwork. I don't know if I could say that I'm confident in humanity, but I believe in humanity. Not because we'll succeed, but because I want us to. Because I know it's possible. And so I root for our team, the one we're all on. Even when we've been having a pretty rough string of losses.

[@3countylaugh]

Go team human!

[@th4tw3irdg1rl]

As someone who in the last decade of coming to age and slowly turning 30, I've grown more and more cynical of human society and humanity in general. It's good to remember that some of that cynicism is perhaps overblown and misplaced. Thanks for the video, John.

[@nottelling7438]

Always choosing cynicism is no more sophisticated a response than always choosing trust or hope.

[@cameronschyuder9034]

@@nottelling7438 yes. both are coping mechanisms for an unpredictable world that inspires both types of feelings of hope and hopelessness

[@SymonSays]

Don't worry about the hard times that are possibly ahead. You can't do anything to start or stop them, and humanity has lived through hard times before. One day you will die and be forgotten, and that is true if times are hard or times are easy.

[@General12th]

If we work together, we can make hard times less hard.

[@HarshitWise]

3:31 So John, when is "Broadly in Favor of Humanity" is available for pre-order?

[@Madhatter1781]

"Hard-headed optimist" is my new favorite phrase to start describing myself as. 😂

[@SigFigNewton]

Hope is immensely pragmatic

[@ardapelle]

Thank you brother(s). I shall go on

[@JohnLewis-old]

John, you continue to be a shining example of humans. Thanks for thinking so deeply that you need to share you thoughts. I, like many, appreciate you.

[@nicholaskeenan898]

Thank you needed that was on the brink of giving up 😢

[@firelunamoon]

Saving this video under "Reasons to Live" ❤

[@3countylaugh]

I hope that list fills to over flowing for you. (I have one similar, but it's reasons to hope.) Good lists.

[@JonahNelson7]

The obvious answer is to somehow take the best parts of the past (intense communal connection, shared rituals, working physically for food etc.) and of the present (physical health) and do both

[@palomatorres6080]

you are the person who made me change my mind on this, see how people affect people?

[@allegauri]

me when I have to invent the cotton gin at 5pm and work in data science at 10 😔

[@3countylaugh]

Whew I thought my work schedule was rough😂

[@dragonflies6793]

Really needed to hear this right now. We've (my system) been dealing with a lot of suicidality over the past week, and hearing you talk about being broadly in favor of humans and humanity being worth it even amidst all the struggle, that helps.

[@kashiichan]

I hope things improve soon. 🖤

[@AUnicorn666]

Love y’all’s name

[@adriannaconnor6471]

Always remember, that even though your depression may tell you that everybody hates you and you're just a burden, your depression is lying. You are loved and you do bring joy to other people. You are important to someone.

[@tealkerberus748]

Sending hugs - which you can save for some other time if you're not in the mood for them now. You are valid and your life and your life experience is precious. The way I see it, since everything in the Universe is part of the Universe, humans are part of the Universe, and what each of us experiences, the Universe experiences. However many sentient life forms there are in the Universe, we are collectively the sentience of the Universe, and when you look at a kitten or a rose or the night sky and experience wonder, the Universe is experiencing wonder at its own beauty. Whatever other emotions each of us experiences - fear, joy, grief, rage, love, hope - that is part of the Universe's experience of those emotions. It is the ultimate System. You are part of that, and it wouldn't be as rich without you.

[@joegermany471]

Former President John F. Kennedy used this type of "time capsule" in one of my favorite speeches of his, "We choose to go to the moon" at Rice University. It's an eye opening depiction of human progress! I love it!

[@DutchPatterson]

I think Kennedy's argument for going to the Moon is a bit iffy, though. As Randall Munroe pointed out, it works just as well for eating a bag of pinecones.

[@AdaSoto]

Today i had four hours of surgery to fix a tiny break in my wrist. Five years ago the software to look at the high definition x-ray wouldn't have existed and i would have ended up with advanced arthritis in six months. We move so fast it's glorious and terrifying.

[@3countylaugh]

Fast healing wishes to you.

[@Theoucafe1]

This might sound like, really weird but I watch this channel when I have like unbearable anxiety. Last year I was doing my alevels and I started watching your videos when my anxiety got so bad and I nearly gave up but I somehow got through it and I think your videos played a part in that. Im back cause my anxiety is back again now that im in uni (also on a different account cause I changed my email last year). Like, my anxiety doesnt go away but it seriously helps so thanks.

[@OsofoGriot]

Another wonderful slice of vlogbrothers gold, thanks John. I’d like to offer a small correction though on pre-industrial FTH* information transfer speeds 0:48 - African civilisations have been communicating complex messages between villages & cities using talking drums centuries pre-industrialisation, as early as the 7th/8th Century Ghana Empire. I’m sure many other indigenous cultures have similar examples too, which is an incredible technological innovation - matching polytonal drum hits to spoken language and sending information at the speed of *sound*?? pretty cool imho *faster-than-horse of course DFTBA

[@jobriq5]

Humanity created pizza-and as a result- Pizzamas

[@SigFigNewton]

So far as we know, every single time in the entire history of the unknowably immense universe, when pizza has been developed, it has led to the development of Pizzamas.

[@rolan638]

I've always believed humans are good at their core, it's just that we sometimes fail to maintain perspective, and that's a fault that's corrected most efficiently through kindness and understanding, not violent reeducation. You can hold people accountable while simultaneously understanding that their faults are more often than not a result of their unavoidable circumstances, and keeping that in mind when you interact with them will always lead to better results.

[@caseyleichter2309]

I do need to hear this over and over again, because *gestures despairingly at the world*... I just need to. Thanks!

[@sergiovenizelos-fadul5694]

We will emerge out of this perhaps just not in our lifetime

[@stephaniehight2771]

I hope we can emerge out of this in the lifetime of the youngest NerdFighters, at least. If we don't accomplish that, it may be too late.

[@onefingersalute]

I half expected him to end with "I give humans 4 stars"

[@SerenityForschen]

I was driving home from work years ago and I though that the symmetry of roads and gardening and buildings and the routine of work was driving most of us to some level of insanity. With the industrial revolution we surrounded ourselves with aligned, structured, processes and lots of similar objects and patterns that may calm our old fear factory brain where change could mean death but then slowly break our human need conflict. Which in a world of abundance means rich and powerful people start wars and poor people terrorize their neighbors. Anyway that was the day I started chaos gardening where nothing is perfectly aligned and when I see a cool plant I buy it without knowing where it will go, I lay pathes to nowhere and go with the flow. It's a haven from structure.

[@T1J]

humans seem to be the most generous and cooperative in life or death situations - instances where survival is the only priority. So I suspect the only time we'll ever truly be at peace, ironically, is in the final days of our species. when the shit has really hit the fan, whatever the cause may be, and we no longer have the luxury of being petty, selfish or greedy.

[@Emiliafs]

I really appreciate having access to a piece of your mind!Thanks, John!

[@kirstenroos6781]

Everything is weird and I want to cry. Thank you for this. It helps

[@TJtheBee]

Boy oh boy, it's always great to start my day with my misanthrope mindset challenged!

[@vanessapierson4913]

i have been talking about ALLLLLLLL of this recently with friends and it’s allllllllllll alllllllllllll alllllllllllll of it has happened today. like, driving a car is WILDLY new

[@PrincessNymphia]

Your shirts go well together! The clouds surrounding the wolf and the foliage remind me of a moonlight forest at night.

[@AndyB-yv3zg]

This was nice to hear. Thank you for putting this up. Let's survive our moment.

[@ashinwill]

"We have to allow for complexity in the human story. That we have been both good at understanding and solving our shared challenges and not nearly good enough at understanding and solving them." That got me right where I live, John. ❤

[@CJ_McK]

For better or for worse... my first instinct when seeing the title: Not yet... but the story isn't over...

[@kaylafinch4206]

Thank you, I needed this today. Been feeling very cynical and anxious about our future lately. This perspective is helpful 🫶🏼💙

[@artempleman]

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD morning, John. Here's to making the world better today. 😍

[@szeth14]

What's keeping the stars apart? Dark Energy! (Which I largely still don't comprehend, but LOVED learning about on the podcast)

[@DrHammerr]

Misread the title as "Brody in Favor of Humans" and thought "Oh, that's nice, I always wondered what Adrian Brody's general views on humanity were".

[@Julia-zg5tm]

Thank you. I needed that today.

[@Billionth_Kevin]

That rapid fired list of great and terrible things we accomplished really took me for an emotional rollercoaster

[@meridawatson]

"We are both and not either or" so trueee

[@linknlogs2273]

"Any simple narrative is always going to be untrue" The wisest words to live by. It is so disappointing that the attention consuming machine also has the side effect of shortening narratives.

[@Robin_Goodfellow]

Recognizing that someone can be both wonderfully good and terribly evil at the same time is one of the most difficult things to understand about our world, I think.

[@MrsClintA]

Thank you, John...for the reminder of how new we really are.

[@griffin.__.]

I needed this today

[@InvasionAnimation]

Humans are cool. That is why we shouldn't automate every dang thing. Assist not replace.

[@MonicaRMartino]

xactly the kind of gentle persistence I need as I nurse myself through Covid. Thanks for this video today, John. We're here because we're here face-red-heart-shape

[@ExistentialistBread]

Sending you well wishes!

[@emilymartin5418]

bad bot

[@ordinator.]

Thank you, John, for that hardheaded optimism.

[@sydneygorelick7484]

"And yet, here I am. Here you are." It really just all focuses down to that, doesn't it? Thank you for the beautiful thought

[@patchvonbraun]

I just discovered this channel a couple of hours ago. I've been a fan of SciShow for a while, so I've "met" both Hank and John before. But this channel shows the dynamic between two brothers. Two obviously very-bright, dynamic, and caring brothers. It fills me with a certain, I have to admit, envy. My brother and I are also bright people. We're twins. But my brother has been mentally ill for decades -- schizophrenia manifests a little more-often, I'm told, between twins, than between other siblings. Keep on being awesome....

[@alexboi9454]

4:22 that's an interesting way to describe anxiety... lmao

[@jbarrett1612]

Hey Vlogbros you mean a lot to me

[@warrenj3204]

I'm glad you're thinking about this, John. Too few of us are. And I'm glad you're more-or-less optimistic. I've been thinking about this stuff quite a lot lately. I'm not as optimistic as you are.

[@racecarrik]

We're hummus because

[@andybaldman]

There’s something happening on this planet that is more than humanity. We are just a stepping stone to the next thing.

[@elliottmcollins]

Before we decide whether humanity is worth it, we have to decide for ourselves what "it" is and what "worth" is. I'm going with "Yes, definitely", but I get why you might go back and forth in it.

[@saltiestsiren]

"Is humanity worth saving? Everything that comes along with us, the package deal? Is it worth the effort and failure and suffering and mistakes?" Yes, definitely.

[@charlieistryinghisbest]

@@saltiestsiren I wonder what our farm animals would respond to that question?

[@Dark_shadow4056]

@@charlieistryinghisbest either humanity survives or i'm taking them with us

[@hastyscorpion]

To me this question makes no sense. To ask that question you are making a morality based argument. Is this thing better than this other thing. Morality is a fundamentally human based concept. In order for humanity not to be worth it, you are doing away with the very criteria used to ask the question.

[@hastyscorpion]

@@charlieistryinghisbestfarm animals are not capable of answering that question

[@TheApricotJewelryCompany]

I appreciate John posting this at the perfect time (let’s get past this panic attack!!)

[@noviatoria2436]

Humanity doesn't suck, the system we currently live in which is engineered to benefit billionaires at the expense of all other humans and living things sucks. Fortunately it is a human system so humans can change it to something better.

[@AndrewRKenny]

Clever framing of time with the "human calendar" analogue. Very relatable sentiments, loved this one.