How John and I Talk About Ideas

I hope it's clear in this video that the thing that makes our ideas good is both the energy and the constraints of this community. There has never been a better guide than the values of Nerdfighteria, and when I look at the list of things that we have made together, or helped inspire in the world, I gotta say...holy crud...wow. Very good stuff.
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[@urbfffatima]

I love John but I am so glad Hank didn't listen to John while coming up with the masterpiece that is 2D glasses.

[@amystubby]

SAME.

[@lunacouer]

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[@callmeperch]

"That's a total top ten," says John, a wrong person

[@elizabethsmith6477]

Big same. Also, fancy seeing you here 😌

[@sanicksdraven7719]

I still own and use my pair of 2D glasses!

[@fwizzybee42]

“You can’t scale a person” is soooo important in fandom spaces I’ve been in. So many things have died bc one person was keeping them a float and couldn’t do it anymore or keep up with demand.

[@xbettalove]

Internet forums in general I think fit that rule.

[@NinaDmytraczenko]

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[@sjenkinss13]

The only webtoon I like is on four month hiatus right now for this reason. While the creator has an editor and credits a few other people at the end of each installment, they can't scale a person

[@OrigamiMarie]

Wide variety of software too. A person makes a small piece of software that becomes load-bearing for half the internet, and then what happens when that person falls ill? The internet tries to fall over.

[@MaximumCareer]

Agreed! Single points of failure destroy great ideas.

[@justyourlocalrat_]

"A fairly large group of interested, passionate, supportive people with really good values." Sometimes I forget that this community literally wouldn't exist without us, but here you go reminding me. Being part of this community is one of my favorite ways of mattering, I think.

[@chashahjohnson]

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[@morgandavis9624]

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[@lewismassie]

You really should watch the video first, but on the off-chance you've come back for a recap: 0:57 A walkman - technically difficult and will be done by someone else eventually 1:32 You can't scale a person - overly reliant on a single person 2:03 'Newmans Own'-ing it - giving all the proceeds to charity 2:25 A Top 10 - Would be successful, but wouldn't really add any value to the world 2:48 'Emperor of the World'-ing it - a good idea, but not really practical, more of a fantasy

[@crimeny]

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[@livloren1077]

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[@thequirksofbeingme]

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[@Shrimp8008]

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[@MattPalka]

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[@ardrapattath]

It always blows my mind how easily humans make "secret" languages and code words and inside jokes. Reminds me that the whole point of everything is to be together and to do awesome stuff together : ) Thanks for being awesome, vlogbrothers.

[@GM-pn2bi]

Fun fact, even in places where it's violently and actively repressed, groups of deaf kids will develop sign languages, even if it's not something they've been introduced to.

[@vanessapierson4913]

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[@ruadhbran]

That's so fetch.

[@cbpd89]

You know what ruadhbraun? You keep on trying to make fetch happen. I believe in you.

[@lonestarr1490]

@@cbpd89 Isn't that overly reliant on a single person?

[@hayleyhorton5480]

A look into the brothers Green idea machine? How exciting for this Friday afternoon! I'll certainly be adopting some of this shorthand, I especially liked "Newman's Owning"!

[@shellh929]

I think I want to start Newman's Owning some things. Like not just make charitable contributions but make charitable giving the whole point. 🤔 To be fair, Paul Newman had a successful career before selling foodstuffs so maybe I'm not in the right position to be Newman's Owning it.

[@hayleyhorton5480]

@@shellh929 Little contributions add up!

[@anikaphillips1372]

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[@megsmeltzer-miller3230]

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[@Ani]

I feel like this video kinda explains the second half of "throw shit at the wall till it sticks". As Hank mentions, there's this huge community which can generate hundreds if not thousands of great ideas (or bases for ideas) year on year, but checking those ideas against these terms, figuring whether they're a top 10, whether they can be Newman's Owned... that's what defines the cream of the crop. Really interesting stuff, good video Hank! :D

[@rakshyakharel9398]

Hey! Didn't know you were a nerdfighter too! I love your lore videos!

[@againstworldsuck]

I was fully expecting Hank to announce a new business idea at the end of this lol

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

John said no, probably.

[@sexyscientist]

me too

[@Rebecca-yb7bt]

My mom would always say, "Well. If only you ruled the world." When I would come up with tangential ideas about human crises. It roughly translated to: You can't make people think the way you want them to. Even if this is a great idea, it's impossible.

[@dab88]

sometimes those great ideas can't happen because everyone doesn't think that way "right now" but it's still worth planting the seed

[@lijohnyoutube101]

I think is weird, why not say…how would that need to be implemented?

[@-Teague-]

Kinda terrible take by your mom ngl

[@AustinNebbia]

Several years ago, I was lucky enough to meet and have dinner with Tom Ruegger (the creator of Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain), who told lots of fascinating stories about working on those shows. I asked him what the best piece of advice he ever got was, and who from, and he instantly told me: “I was really down and not sure things were going to take off the way we wanted to. Steven Spielberg (!!) walked into my office and said ‘Tom, you’ve got the right crew, and you’ve got the right show.’ That’s always what it’s about. Find fun people, and make fun things with them.” Thank you both for fostering a kind community of fun people and fun things for so long.

[@morgandavis9624]

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[@conqu2]

Wild to think of all the time and energy I could have saved myself by considering the "You can't scale a person" rule early on. It's such a pithy way to express a problem that's shown up with such ubiquity in my experience.

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

That's going to be a mantra I repeat to myself.

[@Grarder]

I totally agree, I needed to hear that one. Really commenting though just to note your beautiful use of language here. :)

[@mcflyloveme]

How in heck has this channel remained so consistent? It's got a core moral foundation that hasn't changed or warped. Is there someone employed to keep you on the straight and narrow? I'm very grateful and impressed.

[@janmelantu7490]

Yes, it’s Dave Green

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

@@janmelantu7490 You can't scale a person, except for Dave Green. Dave Green is the only person who can be scaled.

[@superbubbleaquapower]

People with a solid moral foundation aren't rare. But it helps when they surround themselves will like-moraled people.

[@sara_sah-raezzat5086]

It would be interesting to hear some of your Emporer of the world ideas, maybe a top ten of them.

[@sarahkate2669]

Emperor of the world idea is such a useful, versatile term! Adding it to my vocabulary immediately

[@NinaDmytraczenko]

I have only one problem with it: I'm now picturing an emperor penguin that won't leave my head! lol

[@RealGrouchy]

I call these "Letters to the Editor" ideas, because so many letters to the editor (in a newspaper, for you kids) are along the lines of "if everybody did [obscure thing that almost nobody will do], then [social problem] would cease to exist!" And think themselves clever for having thought of it.

[@alexisc3658]

“You can’t scale a person” this absolutely describes the position im in right now. With out going too much into it, covid research is an... interesting field to be working in right now. Llots of cases + lots of motivation means that there is a lot of data out there. And for lots of reasons that have less to do with me being particularly brilliant and more to do with being in the right place, I’ve found myself managing a lot of data. Which is is cool! And great! It’s what I went to school for. But the whole framework has been built around me, meaning I know the dataset better than anyone else. It’s a very intimidating place to be in, not because I don’t have the skills but because there is no framework for me to leave and someone else to come in. And as the database gets larger and more ambitious, I’m feeling scaling problems. I didn’t have the words for this before so thank you for the videos. Anyone just reminded for all the researchers out there to thank your data scientists and coordinations haha.

[@pendlera2959]

That's a really important field, thank you for your effort. If it's any comfort, the contributions of every scientist in history have been finite, yet we have still made progress. Is there any way you could take a little time away from your day to day work and work on developing a system where others could step into your place? After all, even if you don't have plans to change jobs any time soon, you never know what's going to happen.

[@slithra227]

Have you thought of asking for an assistant, a second pair of eyes that would be able to make the system more user friendly to other people?

[@johnchessant3012]

I just googled Daniel Biss again and found out he's now the mayor of Evanston, Illinois! I gotta follow his career more closely, he's doing such noble work

[@blaxe0129]

The way that Hank adopted John's prosody when he was talking about what John says was amazing.

[@RainaRamsay]

RIGHT? Did anyone else picture John's body language while Hank said that? Like running his hand through his hair, and the little sigh beforehand?

[@signeedssleep]

As someone who is constantly coming up with ideas that get put away when I feel like I’m only halfway done with them, I’ve started to figure out that I am typically “the person who can’t be scaled,” trying to run with every project. My partner is constantly asking me whether I’ve “calculated for the generator” when I tell him my new projects- basically, it might be a great idea, but have I factored in the time and energy it’s going to cost me? It’s a good reminder for a perfectionist who over-commits that I need to consider self care a part of productivity too.

[@RainaRamsay]

Ooh, I love that! Adding "calculated for the generator" to the list!

[@themontu7066]

Having just spent 2.5 months busting my ass on an unscalable, impossible thing, I feel "you can't scale a person," in my soul. I'm going to use this during our next call when the client pushes back and says they want us to replicate the impossible thing next year. I can't. I'll break. I'm not scalable, and there are better ways to do it, if they just spend the time fixing all the problems we found in our process. Thank you, Hank. This term is very scalable. I work in global health, so please feel comfort that you're contributing to a good cause.

[@SongHarmonizer]

The emperor of the world thing reminds me of that Batman argument from a few years ago, where Hank was talking about dictators trying to brute-force change to make things better the way they thought it should be better

[@gomathyganapathy4280]

What was the batman argument?

[@MeNowDealWIthIt]

@@gomathyganapathy4280 kzbin.info/www/bejne/gnK3gZmniZlkZ5o kzbin.info/www/bejne/bYLRpGuqra1ohNU kzbin.info/www/bejne/l5m0q4eCpq50paM

[@Heeby-Jeebies]

As an "Idea Man" and wannabe business owner, I find these descriptions inordinately valuable.

[@flibbertygibbette]

Maybe you guys have done this already, and I just haven't seen it, but because I love seeing the curtain pulled back and seeing how smart/weird/successful people do things, I would love to see, like, a week in the life of Hank & John/John & Hank/vlogbrothers/whatever. What does a day look like? What does that look like in the context of a week? How many projects are you working on at once? How do you keep it all going and who's involved? And how do you measure success in your various videos and projects? I just think it'd be a service to the community in a lot of different ways. Especially those of us with too many ideas who are figuring out where to start and where to go after starting.

[@movingforwardLDTH]

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[@superbubbleaquapower]

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[@spacey-sam]

I love that you both are accountability partners for your ideas, and that you both trust each other enough to know (for the most part) that the idea shot down is probably for the best

[@nariu7times328]

This is excellent. I am honestly sick of people telling me I can do ANYTHING when there are certainly limits to my personal power and resources. At the same time, I tend to see only the barriers and not the possibilities. Maybe making my own shorthand will help. :D

[@catherinesvideos156]

As someone who has very directly benefited from one of the many ideas that came into the world from the actual Newman's Own and has loved being involved in Nerdfighteria charitable projects over the years, I so love that you recognize him in this way with your shorthand.

[@AmTrFilms]

To be a fly on the wall in these guys childhood home

[@KathyTrithardt]

It's so valuable to have someone to bounce ideas with, and predetermined reasons for why each idea is actionable or not a great plan.

[@laurak8240]

Yes, you make me think; yes, you make me laugh. But it's your focus on values that keeps me coming back. Thanks.

[@hunterwarin216]

As someone who is close to his brother, I am now convinced that this sort of springboard/shorthand thing for the steady stream of ideas we create is just something brothers will do. Thank you Hank.

[@fictionalhuman]

My favorite idea y’all have had has been to work with PiH. I love this community and the contributions we have all made together.

[@shanleee]

i like that when you couldn’t come up with an idea for a video today, you decided to make a video about ideas

[@faelanpanda9396]

Fascinating. I'd love to be in the room to hear a lot of these ideas. Your conversations must be amazing.

[@jasonschannel]

Love that you talk about this Hank. I had something similar when I worked as an ad agency creative. Much of that job has you working with the same person day in and day out (your 'creative partner') to come up with something new and craft it into being. I found that talking about our ideas -- trying to describe how some half-formed concept looks or sounds or /feels/, why something 'works' or doesn't -- almost HAD to be done with a lot of metaphor, idiom, and reference to a shared culture.

[@jasmeenmalhotra2225]

A good framework, a REALLY good framework, is basically poetry - expressing complex and detailed ideas in a compressed way. There is something so remarkably poetic about all of these terms, and they all seem so Hank and Johny.

[@manderse12]

Hank, you should be proud (but not, you know, gonzo proud) because you and John and Nerdfighteria have--among other things--inspired me and my family to pay closer attention to what our charity dollars and energy investments are. Thank you for adding so much good value to our lives. Side note: I wore my first pair of Awesome Socks the other day. It was a great day (in no small part because of the love-filled works of art on my feet).

[@emzealous]

This is so cool and I love knowing how the conversations go behind the scenes

[@annaphillips4811]

Bright lights of consiousness that make me want to be more. Thats the only way I can really describe why I watch your videos.

[@bibliophilesunite]

I didn't realize until just now how much I needed a framework for evaluating ideas and clear ways to articulate why an idea is both good but not worth moving on. This is great! Thanks, Brothers Green!!!

[@Chichi-sl2mq]

This is the earliest I've been. Thank you for the content you produce. It always puts me in a happy place.

[@sarafan3]

These terms are such an incredible helpful framework, I'm going to try these out at work for all the ideas that pop up! Thank you!

[@cptntwinkletoes]

The insight you guys have into every aspect of your lives and the impact it has on others is always impressive.

[@LittleMoths94]

This is one of the best vlogbrothers videos y’all have made in a while. It’s so Interesting, useful to me, makes me feel connected to you two and the community, and it’s entertaining. Thanks so much

[@ShakespearesLanguage]

This is maybe my favourite video in a while - what a great way of categorizing ideas!

[@tckscience414]

Your thoughtfulness never ceases to amaze. Thank you for all that you do in education here on KZbin. It is priceless.

[@lakebiscuit8653]

This is so interesting! I love hearing about the language systems people use to talk about and even decide stuff. It's an insight into the creative/organisational process.

[@ashleypanousis9626]

Thanks, Hank! An interesting dive into how you decide to make the things you do. Also just interesting to see the different shorthands people come up with for “well traveled” conversations

[@wedgatabo]

Well i just commented on another video thanking you for being awesome but also thank you both for being so inspiring! 4 minutes about how you talk about ideas made me feel excited about life.

[@delaneys-books1290]

These are literally such good ways of thinking about new ideas I feel like I need to save this video just so I can come back to it every time I am thinking about ideas

[@4mpersan]

This is really interesting - I enjoy hearing the meeting point of business, creativity, and caring for the world.

[@umatrivedi3630]

i'm never not amazed by how much you care about adding value to the world + this community,,, you guys are just such GOOD people thankyou for creating this cool space for all of us :))))

[@magickpalms4025]

thankful to have had Hank and John in my life since this channel started, makes me feel less alone in the world

[@gonengazit]

Hank, I just finished an absolutely remarkable thing a few minutes, and wow, it was fantastic! The sense of impending doom while also having the backdrop of hope was incredible, I can’t wait to read the sequel

[@untappedinkwell]

The way that Hank had to update this video yesterday because he went off and started a new thing (and re-set the counter) just makes me so happy. As does the secret language of ideas. Gosh, I also remember when we made warner chilcott into a swear word.

[@zetijeti]

At first I was like 'I've heard that before', but the explanation of your methods is really something else - it wil inform many about common problems with ideas, love it

[@elliemj21]

I don’t know how to describe why but this video made me very very happy, I just love how well you and John get on and understand each other! Agh just stop making videos that make me teary

[@tobistein6639]

Most ideas are bad ideas, but I am so grateful you guys take the time to systematically decide which ones are good and run with them.

[@whitneylevis]

I now want the two of you to write a book about ideas. This was awesome and im sharing it not just with friends and family but with work colleagues

[@james4thedoctor482]

I appreciate these insights and all that you both do!

[@cryoshakespeare4465]

That was very informative, thank you! It's fun to see how an apparent monolith of productivity is really founded on as goofy and personal a process as all of us possess the capability for. Appreciate the demystification, excellent work(:

[@angelal8829]

Very grateful for this community

[@countesspoppie]

love the meta-quality of this video; analysis of the process of analysis.

[@louisschultz5489]

Holy shit that was a good video. That kind of came out of nowhere and hit me for a six. I'm so glad to be apart of this community.

[@Conservative4]

Lets hear a whole video on all of your Emperor of the World ideas! I’m curious what the John and Hank Dynasty would be like.

[@jare___]

This made me think a lot about the ways that I operate in my own creative process- y'all always give me a lot to think about :))

[@TeaTime97]

I've just started a position as an online community management fellow and as I learn more about online community from this fairly cooperate perspective, it makes me realize just how much of my understanding of the /potential/ online communities have has been affected by growing up with nerdfighteria. Even though I haven't gone to any in person meetups, wasn't a part of INYP or the subreddit, just knowing how this community functions, what it produces- it's a very different understanding than the rest of my coworkers have. A lot more positive.

[@samholder196]

Nerdfighteria genuinely is a special place.

[@madmarbles]

I know whenever Hank Green mentions that website counting down his new projects because I get notifications about comments on my spreadsheet. Nice to know it's being used!

[@keegandp794]

Cannot express how much I love that Hank and John have verbal shorthand for niche types of conversation.

[@aeonspast]

That's a great system. I love a good behind the scenes look!

[@AdrianaElizabeth76]

You have the best ideas ever. Crash Course and VlogBrothers are the ones I have most contatc with but, you guys rock!

[@daniellej.alexander6876]

I love that you used the term "activation energy" almost as much as I love being a part of such a wonderful community

[@EmmaAus]

I think this video makes my vlogbrothers favourites list 😄 Excellent video Hank! 🌈

[@Isabelle-ud2df]

As an undergrad in the US basically every night is us sitting in the lounge talking about "ideas"... this new vernacular will definitely help us sort things through and get to bed at a reasonable hour. thanks hank!

[@LucasBenderChannel]

This was fascinating. Thank you.

[@firinne]

Love this video!!! Really deep concepts here and I love how encrypted the messages are. It's literally just like an inside joke between the two of you, like the gag where John wears different shirts between cuts haha

[@JoshuaDolman]

Watched all the way through... and then immediately rewatched just to soak it all in!

[@lilyenpointe7448]

I wish I had a better words to describe how much I love this video ❤️

[@OrigamiMarie]

I love this. I don't usually comment on these videos, but here I am, because I love this. My work experience is mostly software development, and "you can't scale a person" is super true there. Also the same thing tends to be built multiple times within one big company, no matter how hard you try to avoid it, because the thing gets built in parallel (teams A and B both say at about the same time "this should really exist here. Does it? We can't find it. Let's build it" and a year later now there are two of them and the company has to either maintain two of it or go through the trouble of merging them). And then of course there's the old joke that all systems eventually become chat systems . . .

[@laurensomething1899]

I enjoy this shorthand immensely, I’m gonna file this away for when I’m a teacher and inevitably have to talk about entrepreneurship with children

[@vicpeck6509]

One thing I absolutely love is the way siblings have a shared shorthand like this that I don’t really think only-children can understand. Like sure this also can happen in friend groups and in other spaces, but even then, there’s something about siblings. (This is based on my experience with my siblings with whom I am lucky enough to have a great relationship with, and my mom who is an only child and never quite understands)

[@sahilbagadi3987]

Your videos are amazing! They make our day. Sending you both love from India! A question to vlogbrothers : Will you ever want to make a visit to India?

[@deborahmelo7993]

Every time a have a crazy idea (and it doesn’t need to be too crazy) my husband always says: that’s totally a Hank type of idea! 💙

[@miedan21]

I got a good walkman for you Hank: A movie trailer blocker, something on my phone that blocks anything about a movie I want to see so that I can be surprised when I finally go see the movie

[@lucidmoses]

Do you have a short hand for when you make a video that is just astonishingly good and bringing up an interesting new topic. I can't say it happens often but you two seems to do it more then most.

[@Chichi-sl2mq]

Also thank you for the tips. I'm starting a club at school so it would be advantageous to have the ideas free flowing rather than form 1 source.

[@amanatee27]

"you can't scale a person" hits me as particularly insightful. i'm sure it's obvious to people in the business community, but i appreciate the personal life implications too.

[@Mortdestro]

Nerdfighteria's Resident Mathematician Daniel Biss? Now that's a name I've not heard in a long time

[@KierTheScrivener]

The fact that John's voice is so strong that you can say one sentence and I can hear it in his voice

[@urbfffatima]

I will now start calling myself a Top 10 Human. This will be the title to my memoir. I have never resonated with anything more.

[@RedwoodGeorge]

Wonderful video - it explains your creative process very well (if only everyone had a John to bounce ideas off of!) I build things, I design them, I find solutions to problems. I learned how when I was in engineering school with a lot of other people smarter than I am. We'd sit around in the evening time, drinking beer and shooting the breeze. Somebody would throw out an idea and we'd talk about it - if it was good, if it was practical, if it was novel... I often described the process as throwing an idea into the middle of the circle and everyone would take turns kicking it. If it survived, it was a good idea. But here's the secret: THERE WAS NO EGO. It doesn't matter if it was your idea, it only matters that it was a *good* idea. That discipline has served me well over a very long career. Just this past week I recommended that my company kill off a project of mine: something that I spent a lot of time on and was quite proud of. It was very useful and cut a process down from six hours to twenty minutes, but its time has passed and now it was time to retire that tool and move on. I don't feel badly about shutting things down; it makes more sense for the company to move on to other things. It's never personal; it only matters that it was a good idea.

[@MaximumCareer]

Can't scale a person! so true! This happens all the time even in boring ol jobs, much less grand world-changing ideas. Single points of failure [eventually] destroy great ideas.

[@IMakeupStuff]

My first order of Awesome Socks is set to arrive today and I am STOKED.

[@Dudeonwheels]

Every idea I've ever come up with has been a Walkman. And I'm glad I now have a word for it.

[@dougleacoppage1875]

"Really good values." This is why vlogbrothers is the only channel that I watch *always*.

[@r.m.g9135]

This is quietly and explosively genius!

[@elisa.llew-send]

Hmm… that’s an excellent way to put it. Nerdfighteria is an ecosystem, made up of all of us. You always manage to make us feel so valued, guys - thanks for that, because we really value you, too!

[@orionblue98]

I have challenged myself to watch every single video on this channel. 10 every day. Its going pretty well so far though I've only been doing it for a few days.

[@egcyxc]

I really liked this one!

[@jolabrese]

This is going in my homeschool learning list for my kids! Perfect! Thank you! Too many exclamation point?.....!

[@alia724]

This is my favourite community I’ve been a part of, of all and I don’t say this lightly at all. And it’s not even a jab to all the amazing communities I’m a part of, its just an accolade of nerdfighteria