Fine, I'll Talk About the Drones...

[@JadeyesAK]

Thumbnail titled "Please Don't Get Mad" had me prepared for a confession video where Hank admits they're his drones.

[@Thefrogbread]

😭

[@SECONDQUEST]

If we take the 4th letter of every 20th word it reveals his hidden message "the drones are looking for my butt"

[@williamedstrom5681]

Hank Green charged with organized sock crimes after using drone swarm to find more awesome socks

[@iloveumorethananything]

that would be awesome

[@zanderzephyrlistens]

In all frankness, this needs to happen. Let's start the groupchat and crowd source some drone hoaxing. I'm tired. Let's teach the world a lesson about social contagion. Hank, John.. I'll see you in the groupchat.

[@deathsyth8888]

Hank is just three drones in a human Hank costume.

[@Bacopa68]

His cancer diagnosis and treatment were a cover for technical upgrades.

[@Xassels]

Being able to split into three would explain how he does SO. MUCH. STUFF.

[@TheGreat_Kramer1]

Hank suit.

[@kerrder1]

You win

[@unknown5150variable]

​@@TheGreat_Kramer1LOL, one of the best and most underrated comments (and line of dialogue in cinema) Here, I do believe this belongs to you 🏆

[@lauren8135]

“Reports that Iran has a mothership off New Jersey” “Reports” is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence.

[@Legless_Amphibian]

Yeah lol, like just ignoring a lot of iran's millitary influence has been decimated as of late i really dont think theyd be doing this silly ass prank on new jersey

[@oldmech619]

And why would Iran operate drones at night with their navigation lights and white strobes from mother ships. Our government at its best. It is just commercial planes.

[@28th_St_Air]

Isn’t it insane that the politician even said it at all? It’s incredibly irresponsible to just make up stuff like that and “report” it as if it’s real..

[@kateapple1]

So then why did the US close off over 60! Airspace’s… did you see the map today? If it’s nothing then why are they rerouting all the planes?

[@yommish]

@@kateapple1because once people start freaking out they start to see more “drones” and it snowballs into hysteria. Everyone has a camera in their pocket. Drones aren’t that fast. I haven’t seen anything interesting besides a weird picture of a confirmed airplane. But yeah holy shit, an airport in New Windsor, NY had to close for AN HOUR today because of a reported drone sighting. Luckily, “there were no impacts to flight operations” during their hour long break while an FBI agent looked around. People who think there’s big, 2 ton, Iranian/Martian drones flying around are the ones who go out and look for them and call things in.

[@bairnonessie]

I like how people think the 'enemy' would be considerate enough to put safety lights on their reconnaissance vehicles...

[@petekooshian5595]

That's the part I don't understand. The most compelling (although still theoretical) video I've seen implies that they could be a specific model of military drone based both on the lights and part of the body that is visible in the dim light but who knows

[@jonathanfernandes3626]

Works for the cuckoo

[@VLuava5v5]

I also think they are confusing us by having those there, before it was animal that was hovering around and then it become drones... The sounds on the sky sounded like the movie nope thing but more powerful and small amount of those voices, very low. It become a horn sound now and no matter how much i try to search for the sound i heard, i only hear sounds of horns. I don't think it was a ufo and what not but i know it was like a advance huge spacecraft or machine they created( No thunder sounds like that and the consistency for 3 to 4 hour is weird). It really annoying because we all already believe the government that it all fake, just hard to believe when someone been kxlled so many time because they told the truth. It almost like they trying to train the government.

[@highertruths5417]

@@petekooshian5595 seen a video yesterday talking about they may be using lights to make them appear to be like normal licensed drones… like they’re trying to blend in. Totally theoretical but would make sense

[@petekooshian5595]

@@highertruths5417 I could see that for sure

[@JessrassicSnark]

"the primordial urge to be concerned about things in the sky" - what a great phrase.

[@AJarOfYams]

And very true

[@natatattful]

Not really, anyone just minimizing this hasn't done any research. You tell me what those pilots saw over Oregon at the beginning of December, audio on KZbin.

[@JaniceinOR]

@@natatattful I did not hear Hank minimizing it. I heard him pointing out that we do not yet know whether it is all really normal stuff. Just because no one yet has come forward with an explanation that you have found, that does not mean it is anything to worry about.

[@AJarOfYams]

@@natatattful I, for one, sometimes look up at the sky instinctively on the look-out for predator birds that may or may not be there

[@ahellahulabaloo5500]

​@@AJarOfYams there is actually evidence that one of our earliest predators were large eagles...so the instinct to look up is likely still with us. Like how some people are scared of snakes or spiders...it's an response to danger. Look up taung child skull if you're interested.

[@BeeCeeJay]

We need to relearn how to accept "I don't know" as an OK thing to be able to say out loud again.

[@iamjustkiwi]

Seriously. So many things would be fixed if they would just say that instead of insisting on making up a speculative answer with confidence.

[@desert_holly]

Absofreakinglutely 🎯

[@hermessantos1601]

Absolutely! Sometimes I think it's funny how people react when I say I don't know something they asked me about, but it's actually concerning how that seems unusual to them.

[@StarseedChris]

Exactly what this KZbinr should've done instead of making this misinformed video. He just claims it's all fake instead of admitting the truth which is that he doesn't know. Isn't it funny how that works?

[@zeronfkvb]

​@@StarseedChris He's just being skeptical, which is always the healthiest thing to do if you don't want to embaraas yourself.

[@killgazmotron]

Once a person who has a drone sees people freaking out over drones, guess what they are going to do? fly their drone at night while giggling.

[@marjieestivill]

Love this true awareness

[@RDaneelOlivaw2]

Drone owner here. I concur, fun to see people freak out over your mini drone. Aliens!

[@dimitrikemitsky]

This is exactly what I have seen myself. I went out looming for the drones, because it's something I know a lot about. Saw exactly one "big drone" in the sky, it was an agricultural drone, flying the border of a farmer's field, which is a very normal drone task (checking fencing, gates, etc). Other than that nothing. But at the park by my own home, saw kids putting a bunch of extra LEDs on balsa sticks so their small drones looked massive, and flying them over the river. I wonder how many of the drone sightings were kids and teenagers in the time honored tradition of "scaring the olds."

[@emileecleall115]

Yeah if your evil is guess dorks

[@killgazmotron]

@@emileecleall115 so like everyone ever when no one is looking.

[@ConnorFranta]

fantastic analysis as always, hank. grateful you're able to keep a portion of the populous calm and (ironically here) grounded. 💙

[@HabaneroChi]

Hi Connor I have a signed book by you. Hope all is well

[@thejuanderful]

When LA had the big earthquake back in the 80s the power went out for 3 days. Because of the lack of light pollution people started seeing the milky way in the sky for the first time and called emergency services by the thousand to report the "strange lights in the sky". I wish we cared more about light pollution.

[@arche2460]

Light pollution is so underrated as a concern. I go off about it every chance I get and I'm not even really informed on the subject (I really should though... maybe Hank could do a video about it lmao). Some of the solutions would be so easy to implement..

[@scotthullinger4684]

Oh my GOD - Seriously, people who have NEVER actually seen stars in the night sky. ?? And they were surprised to see those strange lights in the sky? Talk about being clueless and narrow mined. But after all ... this SURELY comes with the territory in California. I lived there for 18 years, which trust me, was ENOUGH years. For once in your life ... get MILES and MILES away from any city, then look up at the night sky to see more starts than you could hope to count in one entire lifetime - Figure out where Jupiter is, and go grab a sizeable telescope, and at least examine the more largest moons orbiting Jupiter. Then look at the rings of Saturn. You won't see much unless your telescope is HUGE, but Saturn might possibly look a bit like it has Micky Mouse ears with a smallish telescope.

[@Kayne1b]

I guess it's weirdly reassuring that at least this isn't a new level of stupidity.

[@Cogfather]

The real drones are the American people, instantly creating a panic over some unexpected lights.

[@MatthijsvanDuin]

@@scotthullinger4684 I've seen stars, but I've never seen the Milky Way (as a "hazy band of white light" across the sky)

[@jgranahan]

The point about the virtue of “I don’t know”, or “I don’t know yet”, is the single most sane thing I have heard in the last 25 years. Well done, again, as usual, sir.

[@tim_peaky]

Indeed that’s a problem these days… people always think to have enough knowledge to make a judgement. Even contradicting scientists 😅

[@user-si3gu8pm6j]

...Ya ne znayu...

[@blurtling]

​@@user-si3gu8pm6jя не знаю

[@rhael42]

@@tim_peaky these days? it's always been a problem, all the way back to the very first time humanity conceptualized for itself a god. It likely will remain a problem for as long as humans are around.

[@cyndimanuel5473]

@@jgranahan Agreed!!

[@gravelrhoads]

Squirrel Sized Nuts is now the name of my punk rock band. Thank you!

[@deedsterdoo1603]

I'm showing my age, but in the early 90's there was a band named Squirrel Nut Zippers. I'm sure if they are still active, but I'm all for the name of your new band.

[@DJoeLawless]

@@deedsterdoo1603 They're still around!

[@Ant-gu6vz]

Don't be ashamed, I'm glad you've made it this far :)

[@ryanweible9090]

you will be in court with MULTIPLE ska bands :D

[@bryandraughn9830]

"Bucket of monkeys" comes to mind.

[@isaacteal]

"Nut sized squirrels are a lot less likely than squirrel sized nuts" Thank you. That was the exact sentence I needed to kick my day off right this morning lmao

[@blueguy2128]

That's what I was thinking 😂 got a good laugh with that one

[@samanthaturner9259]

Hank has the kind of media scepticism and literacy that I wish a lot more of us had. And I include myself in this.

[@iraniansuperhacker4382]

hes also flat out wrong. multiple us military bases have confirmed sightings of unknown objects. unknown = weird

[@Jeseabell]

​@@iraniansuperhacker4382 doesn't mean aliens

[@Damnitjim7]

Amen, but I also don't freak out everytime the media says something I don't understand or that sounds weird. 🤣🤣🤣 unlike the idiot above me🤣🤣🤣

[@amor2874]

@@iraniansuperhacker4382 your comment is just plain irony

[@iraniansuperhacker4382]

@@amor2874 why? we have official FAA recordings of pilots saying they are seeing weird orbs in the sky they cant identify and moving in anomalous ways. We have multiple military bases saying they are also seeing unknown objects in sensitive airspace over military bases. Where is the ironic part? There are also reports of similar things happening in China and Russia.

[@EziekKiel]

I swear to God, if we find out these drones are just a few dudes in a garage trolling the entire state of New Jersey people are going to lose their minds🤣

[@monotheistic]

They won't believe it, even with proof anyway 😂

[@vlogbrothers]

I mean, that seems like the most likely outcome. People getting christmas presents early and trying them out without knowing the local rules.

[@writershard5065]

Nah, they'll just be like "No that's the Iranian deep state brainwashing them to lie to us. We don't fall for their lies!" or whatever other kind of bs that can be come up with. People who can't admit fault will double down no matter how much of a clown it turns them into. And like... I'd LOVE for them to be alien UFOs, but there's a million things they are more likely to be before that.

[@magikarp653]

@@vlogbrothers WHERE IS CONNECTIONS?

[@spark_matter]

I can't say I'm not slightly entertained by that possibility

[@plungy]

“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown” ― H.P. Lovecraft

[@unlurkingsentinel6872]

For better or worse, Lovecraft had a lot of experience with being reactionary.

[@Grysham]

"And that's why I hate them foreigners, creepy fishmen the lot of em'" - Also Lovecraft

[@danieldanton1129]

I don't sense any fear in 99% of people posting... It's mostly amazement and awe

[@azadice3534]

Lol,,, I think we all know what lovecrafts greatest fear.... Jews

[@ReznaQay]

i thought it was a fear of heights, its built into every baby

[@EileenMeehan-q4g]

I had a lesson in my own perception years ago when I moved to Grand Forks, ND as a graduate student. I got there early to orient myself and kept seeing men with pitch pipes in their back pockets. Wow, I thought, so many music majors on campus early. They were Skoll cans!!!! I had never experienced chew or dipping. Lesson learned: my brain will convert what I see into what I know.

[@nisbahmumtaz909]

*Skoal

[@a8s5wef6]

My 22 year old neighbor was freaking out about a "rainbow orb" I go outside, it was SIRIUS.

[@noatrope]

how sirius?

[@1224chrisng]

very sirius!

[@Blashswanski]

... and don't call me Shirley.

[@MattH-wg7ou]

Sirius is one of my favorite stars 😊. Yes I have a list of favorite stars, sue me.

[@test74088]

That was one of my first thoughts when he said the time of year and hours these sightings tend to happen. In late December Sirius rises around 8PM and being near the horizon for a few hours after that can twinkle and blink colors in an unexpected way.

[@inkswamp]

People being uncomfortable with "I don't know" is such a perfect insight. Surreal artist René Magritte called this "fear of the void." I'm not sure why people are so bothered by a mystery they can't explain but it definitely puts a person's commitment to rationality to test.

[@SugarandSarcasm]

Kind of how science started I would think

[@Jake-xe1wu]

And people wonder why you could get court martialed for talking about ufos in the airforce for decades. They couldn't allow it to become common knowledge they didn't know what they were. To all folks in ufo communities saying humanity could handle it if true I think this is a great example of why that stuff was so hush hush for so very long.

[@Roach_Dogg_JR]

@@SugarandSarcasmabsolutely. I personally much prefer a world where people come up with crazy theories, as opposed to just accepting their ignorance. That’s the only way great leaps in understanding have ever been made. A million monkeys typing at typewriters, until one discovers that the earth orbits the sun, and not the other way around.

[@incription]

also known as curiosity, and the reason we are still a (non extinct) species

[@Bozzigmupp]

It is because of its implications. The 3/4 possibilities of these sightings are all disturbing.

[@mothkisser3005]

the movement of UFO from 'i dont know' to 'aliens' has always bothered me so deeply and understanding why that happened makes me feel so much better!! thank u for helping and putting it so beautifully

[@iwillworkharder]

I went to the UFO museum in Roswell a few years ago, and one of the most interesting things there were the articles about the first sighting that kicked off the 1950s UFO craze. It was a pilot in a private aircraft, who saw a strange vessel on a flight and reported it. He didn't claim it was aliens, he just reported to authorities, "I saw a craft I didn't recognize, and it didn't respond to radio communication." There was also an interview with him about ten years later where he said, "I wish I had never said anything."

[@aceman0000099]

Without him, we'd never have had so many great sci fi stories!

[@termitreter6545]

Thats the common way to spot unserious "alien enthusiasts". They cant explain something, so its gotta be aliens. Reminds me of the "intelligent design" stuff from a decade or two ago, where they tried to argue not being able to explain a thing is the proof of god.

[@ouishi9447]

I dont agree with jumping from UFO to aliens, but i think it’s fair for some people to jump from UFO to something intelligent and non-human made (mabye that’s what some people mean when they say they don’t like the jump from UFO to alien?) because we do have more knowlege on this phenomona than what people conventionally like to admit. There have been experts compiling and comparing cases for decades, real researchers, so to claim none of us know anything, and they could just as easily be weather phenomenon or human built drones is also unfair, as that just ignores and undermines their work. If we take the countless UFO eyewitness testimonies from history seriously, as well at the more recent ones, like the ones from David Fravor, it starts to look very unlikely this is tech human, and also looks intelligent as it can mirror and respond to human movements. We can’t prove anthing yet, but if we believe people descriptions of them, i think it’s fair to assume they’re more likley non-human than human. This might still be a bit controversial though as UFO researchers work aren’t really common knowledge, but we have some info about it, we have seen a collection of different shapes, we have some common attributes we see in alot of them, they are seem interested in atomic/neuclear stuff, etc. so this is a field we have some knowledge and i think people need to be more open to listen to the experts in the field, or educate themselves, cause we do know more than the mainstream media lets on sometimes.

[@Jacob99.]

🚨 Brief summary of a UAP/ Alien encounter if anyone’s interested: The Ariel School UFO incident occurred in 1994 in Zimbabwe when over 60 schoolchildren reported seeing a UFO land and small humanoid beings with large black eyes emerge. The beings allegedly communicated telepathic messages about environmental concerns. Years later, as adults, many of the witnesses were interviewed again and maintained the same detailed recollections, making it one of the most compelling UFO cases.

[@SorceressEmmaly]

The absolutely huge amount of effort that you have to put into your videos so someone doesn't come back with some gotcha or "you're telling me I'm dumb" or "but, but, but"... I appreciate that you're able to do this. You're an excellent communicator, and I appreciate you. Thanks for existing, Mr. Green.

[@DeanCalhoun]

The three most important words for science are “I don’t know”. Thank you Hank

[@ForestCinema]

When I was 10 years old, my father taught me how all this works in the most elegant way possible. We were driving home late at night, and he pointed out an airplane. He then proceeded to talk me into the belief that it was NOT an airplane, and that the blinking lights meant that the lights were spinning in and out of view. Surely, we were witnessing a flying saucer, look at how it is hovering! Then, he burst the bubble. “Don’t believe everything you see. You have to use rational thought also.”

[@askani21]

That is excellent

[@intellectually_lazy]

what a jack@ss!

[@mischiefofrats]

​@@intellectually_lazy More of a good teaching moment imo

[@jackieblue6116]

Did your father work for the CIA? 😂

[@intellectually_lazy]

@@mischiefofrats i get that, but it just sounds like a smug, gaslighting way to make the point

[@soul-candy-music]

The first "vlogbrothers" video that I think is genuinely helpful for my parents. Thank you.

[@asteranderson3115]

Hey Hank, I just want to say I have OCD and because of that and the culture of the internet it can cause me debilitating paranoia and anxiety with how most people talk about things. I've been going through a particularly tough time which has ramped up my sensitivity to this and watching videos of you explaining things that seem scary in a reassuring way has been helping me work towards processing things that might make me scared in a way that's more rational. Genuinely thankyou.

[@asteranderson3115]

@@paulwal222 😭😭😭😭

[@MattH-wg7ou]

You'll be aaight! 🙂

[@vanished9835]

Oh hey, I also have OCD and have been dealing with this exact problem this year. The disinformation machine is in full overdrive and it's becoming really hard to avoid things online that will cause my OCD to go into a doom spiral. Resources that can logically just lay out the actual facts (also really hard to find these days) is the only thing that helps. So I entirely agree, I'm really grateful for people who can provide this for us.

[@asteranderson3115]

@@vanished9835 It's really validating hearing that someone is going through the same, thankyou for they reply c:

[@logand488]

ocd sucks, i’m honestly so happy for u after reading this comment :)

[@dawnkeyy]

I absolutely admire your ability to be and sound genuinely empathetic and nonjudgemental to people while in no uncertain terms explaining why are almost certainly wrong. Godspeed, Hank, we don't deserve you, but we need you.

[@repker]

It's crazy right. I was so impressed by the balance of all those things for the entire video.

[@ChaviChoffChop]

I'm also impressed. Wouldn't be able to not humiliate those degenerates 😅 Hank is a role model ♥️🤗

[@Tim3.14]

Seriously. Every time UFO's are in the news, I struggle to communicate something like "Look, I don't know exactly what that is, but there have been so many cases where something in the sky that looked like the wildest sci-fi stuff turned out to have a mundane explanation, so this is _probably_ just another example of that." I know Hank does this professionally, but still, I'm impressed.

[@StarseedChris]

So you agree with him that people don't know what's going on. But then you also agree with him that HE knows what's going on and it's nothing? And you trust that completely because you can't process information at all for yourself? Go watch somemore videos on the topic. Holy shit you people are fucking clowns.

[@JenTalks247]

yeahhh it’s sooo hard to have empathy and not judge people who are “almost certainly “ wrong.

[@Catokawaii]

Hank continues to be the best social commentary channel. He tells you to not be afraid yet be curious. To not be swept away in the frenzy and be critical.

[@amelialonelyfart8848]

Also isn't condescending to others. It's so easy to go "look at these MORONS who are worried". Internet culture is so obsessed with 'dunking' on others that it's exhausting.

[@tradutorajuliana]

That's how politicians should be, smart, assertive, science based

[@Taima]

aka what should be common sense

[@davediesel90]

​@@Taimais it horrendous that it's come to this, that people have to be told this

[@Taima]

@@davediesel90so it goes

[@lofi1833]

Thanks!

[@randalalansmith9883]

Xmas Eve is historically a peak UFO flap, because grown-ass adults can't stop watching the skies for Santa.

[@Damnitjim7]

🤣🤣🤣 I know, like aliens who can go anywhere in the known universe would come to new jersey🤣🤣🤣

[@whatabouttheearth]

It's probably because what's called "Exodus" in the US military (or at least Army calls it that) Read the article from 'The War Zone' titled: "Newly Released FAA Documents Give Unprecedented Look Into Colorado Drone Swarm Mystery" Actually read the documents. This was not a joke. 30ish small drones swarming as a single unit from a larger "mothership" drone. Packs of 15, six foot wide drones in grid formations. And it began with 6' wide drones flying in storms in 25mph winds up to peoples windows until they got attention and people called police, they wanted attention. And all this ended with them doing these antics around ICBMs at Francis E Warren.

[@whatabouttheearth]

It's probably because what's called "Exodus" in the US military (or at least Army calls it that) Read the article from 'The War Zone' titled: "Newly Released FAA Documents Give Unprecedented Look Into Colorado Drone Swarm Mystery" Actually read the documents. This was not a joke. 30ish small drones swarming as a single unit from a larger "mothership" drone. Packs of 15, six foot wide drones in grid formations. And it began with 6' wide drones flying in storms in 25mph winds up to peoples windows until they got attention and people called police, they wanted attention. And all this ended with them doing these antics around ICBMs at Francis E Warren.

[@Anomaly_Files18]

⁠​⁠​⁠@@Damnitjim7 If New Jersey has Nuclear sites then yes they would go there. Since it’s known that UAPs have often turned off our nukes. It these sightings are drones but there have been some UFOs in the mix of all of this and these drones could be looking for these UAPs.

[@sarachiichan]

Last year in June my bf and I stayed in Capitan, NM. Super small town. We saw weird “stars” moving in the sky like how water bugs move in water. Idk about the drones but aliens/UFO’s are definitely out there after I saw that lol. We also saw a bright light flash in the sky and then immediately disappear, among other experiences the week we were there.

[@djones02]

This instantly reminded me of when we I was a kid in grade 4 and we heard there might be a tornado and we should be watching for funnel clouds. Suddenly every cloud looked like a funnel to our tiny brains. Nobody had ever seen a tornado or a funnel cloud or what they should look like.

[@joshuapurdy7065]

Best example of confirmation bias, stuff like this has to be said more

[@Jacob99.]

Interesting point, but it’s worth noting that a member of the CIA testified before Congress admitting we have dozens of intelligent alien life in its possession, both dead and as alive. It’s very clear we are not alone

[@chevronagon9912]

Over the summer we had the Northern Lights pretty far south in the UK. I am so glad everyone's reaction was just "oh! The Northern Lights, neat!"

[@somethingwitty4891]

You must not know many conspiracy theorist then because my mom was convinced that they were a product of some nefarious govt agency.🙄

[@catzkeet4860]

Not EVERYone I'm afraid

[@Member00101]

How do we know its the northern lights and not aliens using their death ray on the earth?

[@itskdog]

Apart from that one person who thought they saw the northern lights bit it was actually tomatoes.

[@Thefrogbread]

@@itskdoghow?

[@hankfowler8194]

A good grounding video. But there are real unidentified objects in the sky. Without doubt. Thank you for slowing down the sky is falling narrative.

[@Cynyr]

I would like to point out that sunset in new jersey this time of year is 4:30ish. So even just adults that normally flew drones after work, are now having to fly them in the dark. To maintain FAA compliance and to simply see them, they put lights on them. It's entirely likely that there isn't even a real increase in the number of drones, just that attaching lights to them makes them easier to see.

[@scout8145]

Perhaps this is why the 2019-2020 Colorado drone sightings were also around Christmas. These are the shortest days of the year (in our hemisphere).

[@NickyNuance]

Except when you consider that the number of reports, available to the public, weren’t even a fraction of where it is today from 2016-2022 the entire time commercial drones have been around. Secondly, as someone who owns a production company, a licensed drone operator and owns a squad of large drones for large productions. Even our drones aren’t launched at night because of how little you can see through them in less than ideal lighting conditions. 100% of commercial drones with cameras don’t have sensors larger than an inch. Which is tiny. In other words, their sensors are so poor in low light that it would be idiotic to put a hobby drone up in the sky if you are trying to see anything. Hobbyists almost exclusively use their drones for their camera capabilities. If the sun set at 4.30pm it would make those launching them, sillier than the ones supposedly misidentifying them. Let’s not mention the fact that hobbyist drones max out at roughly 400ft altitude.

[@StarFox_SNES]

Maybe in a situation like we are experiencing right now, perhaps flying your own personal drone at night isn't a good idea.

[@thewinterizzy]

I’m only about halfway through rn but what I so far gather is that this is a weird combination of “I just learned a new word and now I notice it being used everywhere” + “is the dress blue/black or white/gold.” 🛸

[@conlon4332]

What I don't understand is how nobody else sees the dress as blue and gold.

[@thingonathinginathing]

"It doesn't take a PhD to figure this stuff out, yet PhDs can't handle it." -Dr. Kevin Knuth on the Physics of UAР, at Stanford University: Link: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fp28qJ6qhM9qa6M

[@BrightsunSingh]

​@@conlon4332its white and gold, and I know why people see the same dress differently but there's still a part of my mind that just goes "what if everyone that calls it blue and black are lying?)

[@Jake-xe1wu]

​@@thingonathinginathing sure...but these reports aren't describing anything acting peculiar. I've seen something operate in a way contrary to what physics teaches is possible. That would be a big deal of they're seeing that everywhere but that's not what we're seeing here. Probably some getting lost in the noise though and some could argue that is on purpose but by and large this isn't anything spectacular.

[@thingonathinginathing]

@Jake-xe1wu Yes they are. Lot's of reports of craft/lights/orbs displaying the "5 Observables" of UAP. I've even witnessed one last Wednesday night lol

[@OraxGaming-i4i]

the idea that an elected official said that iran had a mothership of the coast and has not had to step down is shameful

[@thomasfoley9564]

The level of irresponsibly is shocking

[@xbabu142x]

Add on to that a elected official allegedly at the meeting where the US Navy informed them that they had destroyed the Iranian naval forces, during their last engagement. Unless he means alien Iranians from Alpha Centauri, he should literally be aware they cannot do that, as a result of the US forces winning last time. Either way mandatory drug tests for congress.

[@Veheloth]

Well, hes pr9bably spealing from experience and not current fact. Ive lived on the nc coast since 85 and dumb idiots dont realize how many russian ships sit off our coast at aby given time... .. Have a russian sub surfave while youre surfing and get back to me.

[@userbunny]

I mean there are drones in germany from russia. They def. Do stuff.​@GeorgeMirra

[@andybrice2711]

I wouldn't mind betting that people in the military did tell him that, in order to drum up support for war with Iran.

[@bridgetcooney5085]

Living with "I don't know" is sone of the best advice I can think of. Being comfortable with "I don't know" had brought me a lot of peace since I realized I was atheist. Unfortunately "I don't know, and I'm ok with that" doesn't win a lot of arguments. But I've also become comfortable with "its not my job to convince you."

[@leowood5860]

my favorite thing I've seen about this is a thread about a drone show displaying a human face, a comment saying, "Imagine if we put that over an uncontacted tribe and pretended to be their god, they'd go crazy. ", and a reply saying, "or better yet, an American city"

[@brucesoehngen852]

but we've seen drone shows before. imagine if it was a really big mothership. Phoenix lights in 1997 weren't military dropping flares. AZ governor who was in the Air Force even said so.

[@rerere284]

@@brucesoehngen852 fyi it seems like you might want to look into the Phoenix lights again, the wiki page for them has an explanations section. Mentions that a Maryland ANG pilot "confirmed that he had flown one of the aircraft in the formation that dropped flares on the night in question". granted I'm just someone who quickly googled it so idk maybe you've looked into it longer

[@nw42]

⁠​⁠@@brucesoehngen852 Gov Symington wasn’t involved in the exercise, but he was convicted on 7 counts of fraud just a few months later, so he may not be the most reliable witness. More importantly, the lights were seen during Operation Snowbird, in the area in which Snowbird was being conducted, and one of the pilots (Lt. Col. Ed Jones) confirmed that they dropped flares during the exercise.

[@nw42]

@@brucesoehngen852 That same governor was also convicted of 7 counts of fraud later that year, so maybe he’s not the most reliable witness. More importantly, he wasn’t in a position to know. But one of the actual pilots in Operation Snowbird confirmed that they were indeed dropping flares that night.

[@nw42]

⁠@@brucesoehngen852 That governor is a terrible witness: he wasn’t involved in Operation Snowbird, he had no special knowledge of it, and he was convicted of 7 counts of fraud later that year. And one of the actual pilots confirmed that they were indeed dropping flares that night.

[@SpiderJayLink]

Knowing that depth perception basically gives out past 18 feet makes me feel less like I'm incompetent when I'm in a forklift and I can't quite tell how high my forks are when racking a load on the top shelf. Thanks for that random comfort lol

[@matthieudeloget8998]

I think he said 80 feet though :p

[@MilodeVries]

​@@matthieudeloget8998it's 18, so he prob said that (6m for the non-freedom-units folk)

[@NewEnglandGaming413]

@@matthieudeloget8998not 80

[@amytuveson622]

No 18 feet

[@robertschnobert9090]

18 feet and 80 feet can be the same length actually! It all depends on the size of your body parts hahaha 🌈 ​@@matthieudeloget8998

[@MegaKiri11]

I live in New Jersey. Never paid attention before, but recently I started looking at the sky, and OMG we have so much stuff up in the air at any given time! Planes landing at Newark airport, helicopters flying over Hudson river, etc. But I did see something unusual, too. A glowing orb that didn't move, so it wasn't a plane. And it was too bright for a star. It was Venus.

[@williamcrowley5506]

It is amazing how much stuff is up there when one pauses to take a look and take it all in

[@kevink1575]

Most people aren't this dumb and reported far stranger objects going over their house. And no I'm not talking about misidentified planes from a random X post..

[@TreesPlease42]

🤣🤣

[@elliotn7578]

@@kevink1575 Did those "stranger" objects use FAA-regulated lighting? If not, how did they see them?

[@jursamaj]

@@kevink1575 From my experience, you're wrong. Most people **are** this dumb. Most of my co-workers think I'm some sort of genius. I'm smart, but I'm not **that** smart. Most Americans are simply incredibly uninterested in information.

[@VanD3rp]

Yeah, Vice is totally a credible and trustworthy source of investigative reporting 😅

[@shawnmou9600]

I almost didn't click on this video because I am tired of hearing about this subject and I heard a piece from npr a few days ago that explained that the reports were probably nothing. However I'm glad I clicked because what I didn't expect was quite the succinct summary of my general outlook on humanity and how we experience the world and each other. God I love vlogbrothers

[@joshuacheung6518]

Came across my feed 9 times before i finally gave in and watched it

[@lilhonni]

@@joshuacheung65189 times is crazy, I would’ve just clicked ‘not interested’

[@vincentdc211]

Probably "nothing" doesn't have much to discuss. What does that mean? A news source like NPR to simply say....it's probably nothing." Definitely more critical thinking here for discussion on this intriguing topic. It is much more interesting than what Trump is wearing and saying in the news.

[@johnshite4656]

​@@vincentdc211 Thing is, reports like this go back MANY DECADES. The orbs especially. Now we just have this new word and concept, "drone." But you can find 'reports' like this going back to the 1950s and earlier. It has always been a topic among the UFO / alien conspiracy theory crowd. And the same logical explanations existed then: you're probably seeing planets or stars or commercial aircraft or in some cases military aircraft or balloons, and because you have zero aeronautical training you have no idea what it is you're looking at, you have no frame of reference to know how fast or far or big something is; you have NO way to tell. Yet because you have this pre-conceived notion that aliens are probably visiting us, you interpret everything you see in the sky as being something it's not. Nothing has actually changed. That's why so many of us are fed up with this nonsense. I am really not interested in what my 50 year old neighbor who is a nurse thinks about the lights she sees in the sky that she just recently started looking for. Even PILOTS get this stuff wrong sometimes. There are illusions that happen way up in the sky, especially at night, and it is NOT straight-forward to identify what you might see up there. Humans are not birds, we never evolved to be judges of airspace. Dude. It's probably nothing, or at least there is likely a perfectly rational explanation that, yes, is boring, and this whole thing is actually not interesting in the least, and NPR was right. That's pretty much the scientific consensus unless we get ACTUAL EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY. I'm not watching anything about Trump either lately.... That's even worse. But let's not distract ourselves with shiny baubles. A hero killed a monster just 2 weeks ago and the corporate media is doing everything they can to make us forget it. Don't be a sheep! Free Luigi Mangione!

[@shawnmou9600]

@@vincentdc211 I was simplifying, the NPR piece was actually pretty thorough and specific. They brought up several of the same points that Hank discussed here and cited multiple professional airway specialists who debunked the videos & reports. Actually the main difference is that Hank made the whole thing a metaphor for human nature lol. However I do agree that unfortunately, experts carefully picking apart people's anxieties is just less engaging than politicians making big claims & content miners talking about aliens, which is exactly why I kept hearing about this for like a week after the article was published

[@spectralumbra1568]

This is why I like cryptozoology. Not necessarily because I think cryptids are real, but because the actual science/psychology and discourse around it is really interesting. I remember a show years ago where there were sightings of a large creature at the edge of a forest on the side of a road at night. A test was done to see how well people could perceive the size of a creature in the dark by putting humanoid cutouts along the side of that same road, having people drive past, and estimate the size of the cutouts. Pretty reliably, people tended to overestimate the size by a substantial margin. This is also true for things in the sky since, as mentioned in the video, there's nothing to reliably compare the size to. On the side of believers though, specifically people who believe in aliens, a response to the question, "If aliens are here, shouldn't more people be seeing them?" is, "How often do you actually look up into the sky?" The first time I heard that question, I realized I don't personally look up into the night sky all that often. For all I know, there could be objects flying around up there all the time that I'd never know about. At this very moment, there could be something in the sky that I would see if I got up and walked over to my window, and I can't say for sure whether there is or isn't unless I actually take the time to check. Then there's also the tendency when there's a cryptid sighting and a story gets around for other people to jump on the bandwagon and add to it, whether they're actually seeing something or not. One person sees mothman, and suddenly an entire town has their own version of a sighting story. Some might see an owl flying overhead that they overestimate the size of because they don't see owls very often, some might entirely make up a story for attention or to simply conform to the group, and in some situations there might actually be a creature not known to live in the vicinity that's newly discovered for that area. It happens on a much larger scale all the time too, like with the rash of shark attacks that led to the creation of the Jaws movies. There weren't any more shark attacks than normal at the time, but a news channel reported on it and got good ratings, so other news channels did the same. Suddenly it seemed like people were constantly being attacked by sharks out of nowhere. So if you combine the tendency to overestimate the size of things at night, especially in the sky with no objects to use for a size reference, the fact that more people are actually looking up now and possibly seeing drones that have always been there, and that it's a popular issue to talk about right now, the drone situation makes perfect sense without there necessarily being anything malicious about it. TL;DR, the drones are cryptids, basically.

[@chriswest6988]

I hate that I can't remember enough details to find this, but I believe there was a fairly modern string of sightings of an "escaped lion", in, I want to say England, and then when it was tracked down, it was just a moderately large stay dog or something. Wasn't anything remotely the size of a lion, but when you're afraid and uncertain, the scary thing looks BIG.

[@onidaaitsubasa4177]

Actually there are some species of rather large owls, which could explain the mothman sightings, if you see something in a tree that has wings and 2 feather looking Tufts that look like moth antenna and it looks like it has eyes and a nose like a man (it's too dark to see the beak clearly) and it's surely too large to be an owl, cause people always think all owls are the Harry Potter size of owls, so when they see a very large species of owl in the dark, they dismiss it as being one.

[@onidaaitsubasa4177]

However there's likely to be some very rare species of animals and primates that are just really good at avoiding humans cause they know humans will probably harm them, so they're rarely seen, often stories of cryptids or mythical creatures stem from an actual living animal that's just very rare to encounter and is virtually unknown, there's also the possibility of some kind of unethical genetic breeding program going on somewhere to see what kind of animal hybrids can actually thrive, and I wouldn't put it past some genetic scientists from doing just that, so if those animals were to escape, we would clearly be unable to identify what they are, I myself saw something that I couldn't really identify, and it was strangely unusual, and it seemed as if it was an insect, actually there were a whole lot of them, if they were insects, then it's likely they would be around every year, but I only say them for a few days and only one year, I know the animals, crawfish, and insects in my area and these things didn't match any, the most shocking feature I saw on them was when one got flipped on its back, it has a tiny human looking face with a mouth opening and closing and eyes all black, don't think it had nostrils but it had a small nose looking protrusion, right side up it could pass for an insect, but seeing the underside, it didn't look like any insect, I've ever seen before, It looked more like a genetic experiment of different DNA from different sources including human, so I will say, there's certainly some strange unusual species of animals out there that aren't what we usually see everyday. So I don't discount the possibility of cryptids, they're probably just a species we haven't given a clear name or classification.

[@vivalanina]

The “I don’t know” bit is the most important. Too many people are driven by stubbornness, pride and fear of not having answers or admitting they’re wrong. And it makes them so closed minded.

[@EncephaliticArt-g6g]

Yup. People seem to struggle with apologizing and admitting mistakes too.

[@aranautet164]

The creation of God, in a nutshell. Like aliens, he too is unfalsifiable, and is used by believers to explain the things that they do not understand.

[@rileycross7938]

I live in New Jersey. I haven't seen any drones and I actively stargaze almost every night. The videos I've seen all look like planes or drones. The last week or two everyone has suddenly forgotten about the drones. Its like it never happened

[@hi-S8bJz7aYn82]

Nah, I saw a drone yesterday

[@stiimuli]

Being so exhausted from the constant deluge of internet nuttery, the clear-eyed, rational thought in this video makes me so happy. My day is now just better.

[@DABA2024]

Joe Rogan has ruined an entire generation of young men.

[@ratofthedumpster]

​@@DABA2024 Joe Rogan was ruined by an entire different generation - nothing new. Truth is, humanity is both extremely curious and extremely incurious. We want answers so bad we'll just make them up.

[@brucesoehngen852]

@@ratofthedumpster read the bible :)

[@billjones8950]

@@DABA2024how so? Reality is most humans wouldn’t believe in aliens even if one picked them up and showed them the universe. It will shatter their little bubble they live in. It’s like when I tell my dad humans will merge with machines and become immortal. He says that’s sci fi. While playing on his cellphone built out of rocks and liquids out of the ground lmao.

[@Hydra48]

I saw someone post a live stream of a beach, where they were freaking out about a giant orb in the sky that was "summoning other orbs." It was the Moon that was brighter than normal with planes passing through the light of it. That's when I realized that most of these drone observations and assumptions were definitely wrong lol.

[@peregrinecovington4138]

"the moon was brighter than normal with planes passing through the light of it" Can you explain more what that means? I'm having trouble visualizing that.

[@IvoTichelaar]

​@@peregrinecovington4138it's kind of like a giant orb summoning others.

[@Hydra48]

@@peregrinecovington4138 Google can probably explain it better than I can, but the Moon isn't the same brightness every night. I'm pretty sure it depends on the phase of the Moon that night and a couple other factors. I worded the plane portion poorly, my bad. You know how at night, planes can look just like a dot of light? Imagine that, but they were passing in between the camera and the Moon. So for a split second, the light of the plane would blend in with the Moon and then reappear once the plane finished passing the Moon. I hope that makes sense.

[@danieldanton1129]

​@@Hydra48no one has posted this video... Are you kidding.... The moon?? You can't mistake the moon, I'm sorry but no.

[@dojelnotmyrealname4018]

@@peregrinecovington4138 Have you ever looked at the moon and thought "that's a lot bigger than I remember"? Some interaction of atmosphere and the moon's orbit sometimes amplifies it's presence in the sky for reasons I am not informed enough to explain.

[@MePeterNicholls]

8:33 being myopic, every time I take off my glasses and see light it’s “orbs”. At night pin pricks of light are so enormous I can’t see anything but orbs in a city.

[@Nanchantress]

Me too and I love taking my glasses off and looking at the Christmas lights on our tree every year.

[@sunlovinggirl]

​@Nanchantress I'm genuinely sad my boyfriend doesn't see how pretty it looks when the tree lights are blurry and twinkle like mad when you slightly move your head and branches cover/uncover them

[@evelynreynolds1447]

I’m myopic, too. Streetlights, headlights, Xmas lights, they are all big orbs.

[@BradColemanisHere]

The thing I love about Hank is that he takes all of my similar thoughts (plus many more) and uses words in the correct order to properly explain those thoughts. Thank you, Hank.

[@tribalstyle138]

I'm so grateful that you are with us and healthy

[@wookzie]

Nut sized squirrels are a lot less likely than squirrel sized nuts - may be the best statement ever.

[@thomasfoley9564]

"Nut sized squirrels are a lot less likely than squirrel sized nuts" Confucius Spam this if you love justice

[@TheHollomap]

I have never seen a squirrel sized nut or a nut sized squirrel. I immediately say to myself, one of those two things are not what they look like. 😂

[@Kuhmodo]

Honestly, I got caught up at that part, and needed time to process that sentence lol

[@razeezar]

But aren't all squirrels nut-sized before they're ready to hatch?

[@defcon12]

Thanks for talking about drones, Hank

[@crazydov]

This was the only take I need on the topic

[@geeksdo1tbetter]

I'm from Jersey, and I'm totally not mad at you!

[@tjdeuceosix]

Not being detected by radar isn't that crazy. Not giving off a heat signature/not being picked up by IR...kinda crazy.

[@babayaga869]

Just as there is the “God of the Gaps” fallacy, there is now the “Aliens of the Gaps” fallacy.

[@GladeSwope]

Anything different from the teachings automatically considered... The Devil (of the gaps).

[@L.Mitchell-tn4bh]

I personally love this comment the idea that ignorance is in the gap and it leaves it open to imagination and that knowledge defeats ignorance therefore the gap is getting smaller I love this comment

[@minimushrom]

I've seen a cigar shaped craft ten years ago. I know it all just comes down to "trust me bro" but shortly after, the Nimitz incident got covered in that NYT article. Seeing the same thing we witnessed described there again completely blew my mind. Nothing we have comes even close to the movements we saw. Not even close dude. No wings, no propulsion, no sonic boom, just crossed the horizon in half a second, instantly stopped above us and zipped away again. I'm of fairly rational mind, but I can guarantee you that this thing was not human made. The amount of technological breakthroughs in just that one object and that single maneuever. No way.

[@G_handle]

​@L.Mitchell-tn4bh I personally love This comment on that comment! God of the Gaps to Aliens of the Gaps is brilliant. Both feed off of our dissonance with the unknown and instinct to assign Agency to any phenomenon. False Positives have always been safer than False Negatives. (It's better to assume the leaves rustling are from a Lion or Monster rather than the wind.)

[@scottydog6713]

considering "the heavens" was often used to refer to the space, this checks out

[@LuckyDad-s9x]

People have discovered the night sky. Truly incredible times we live in.

[@JamesO512]

For a moment, they took their eyes off the Kardashians, or whatever it is that these people watch nowadays. And of course, they did not comprehend what they saw.

[@KingBobXVI]

@@JamesO512 - Literally the scene in Wall-E where he bumps into someone and knocks their screen away and they basically start a whole new life simply by observing the outside world.

[@Kevinnn111]

@@JamesO512 simultaneously condescending and out of touch. No one is paying attention to the Kardashians anymore lol. Hallmark of believing you’re in the right side of the bell curve when you’re smack in the middle!

[@Tregarz]

@@KingBobXVIHey I love wall-e! Such a good film that warns us not to allow mega corporations to pollute the earth! as well as our own human incompetence, it's not buy-n-large, its just walmart. 😂😊

[@Mary-1000]

Most of the people commenting on this video are so condescending. If you don't think our government has its own "UFO" technology you are way behind and frankly living in your own little bubbles.

[@jupiterrising97]

The neighborhood facebook group in my town is SO FUNNY about this. planes frequently fly over our town because we're right next to the major airport in the area, and the number of people going "I SAW A DRONE!!! IT'S HAPPENING HERE TOO!!!" and posting a picture of an airplane is the best.

[@Imperial_Squid]

"The aliens keep flying back and forth between here and at regular intervals?!?! What could they possibly be planning????"

[@jupiterrising97]

@Imperial_Squid Even better detail I forgot to add: Not only are we like two towns over from the major airport, we also have a small private airport for prop planes and hobby aviators IN TOWN.

[@Imperial_Squid]

@@jupiterrising97 lmao, I wonder how off the deep end they might go, like "the aliens must have holograms or some other kind of disguises, one of them claimed to be my flight instructor the other day?!? I couldn't tell the difference between the alien and the real guy, it was so weird!!!"

[@jupiterrising97]

@Imperial_Squid I don't think the people in my town think they're aliens necessarily, but they definitely think they're surveillance drones. We have an aerospace government contractor in town that's a big employer, so I'm sure these people feel justified.

[@erictasakovic9181]

You haven’t seen one yet. I have they are legit.

[@RobertBrown-e3v]

I find the "fact" about 18 ft depth perception is pretty darn false as someone who's shot every gun but a barret 50 I'm pretty sure we can tell depth much farther than that or we would never hit anything?

[@angusmuir6180]

He's talking about one particular aspect of deprh perception. Obviously there are more otherwise I'd be screwed (blind in one eye), but most of the others don't work well without other objects to compare scale and speed of motion to.

[@xiggywiggs]

Whoever put that Tie Defender in at 9:03 is my freaking hero lol

[@Hedgewalkers]

More like a Cylon raider.. lol!

[@xiggywiggs]

@Hedgewalkers I'm sorry friend but it's a pretty clearly a side view of a Tie Defender

[@ookami5329]

An actual senator was freaking out over a meme of a tie fighter on a flatbed truck with the caption that stated it was a downed drone 🤣

[@ParagonOblivion]

Tbh I'd buy a TIE defender shaped drone if for nothing than the sheer nerd value.

[@Direwolf1771]

Followed by a nice Crossfield-class.

[@petridishproductions]

I love the nuanced conversation that happens on Vlogbrothers

[@QuicklyLiquid]

this should be their catchphrase- vlogbrothers: we make nuanced conversation happen

[@theunknownunknowns256]

USAF pilot got chased by a silver cigar shaped object for ~40mins. It was a bubble in his cockpit canopy.

[@Lantalia]

Is _that_ what it was? Nice

[@zanderzephyrlistens]

​@@Lantalialook mahne, being a red neck pilot is HARD okaaaayy

[@KevinJDildonik]

Human observers are garbage. No matter who they are. I have an uncle who swears the military showed him an invisible jeep once. He also did a lot of drugs in the military. So how do you know if he saw an invisible jeep. Or if he was high on mushrooms and his friends taped tinfoil to a jeep and absolutely blew his mind. I'm sure he is totally certain of what he saw. And he was a trained observer.... He's also a braggart and a pothead. Both can be true.

[@1183newman]

Unlikely since they have radar

[@HeyManDinosaursRule-lc3qt]

@@1183newman The bubbles have radar!?!?

[@zackrog1270]

I disagree entirely. I believe a nut-sized squirrel should not be entirely ruled out of possibility.

[@daurgo2001]

I love how real this video is, and I wish SO much more media could break things down like this and be honest about not knowing, AND be ok with that.

[@stylesraw]

There's only one logical explanation. Santa Claus is really stepping up his delivery logistics game with new tech.

[@YOURMOMYURMUMMA]

😂

[@CaptNSquared]

"And your brain would conclude that's a big nut" Oh, uh yeah. Definatly don't see a tiny squirrel. Nope, certainly not. *gulp*

[@tealkerberus748]

I've seen enough pics and footage of tiny vertebrates to be perfectly comfortable with a squirrel that size.

[@mage3690]

Yeah, was going to say, a small squirrel seems much more likely than an acorn that size. If nothing else, the very good game Grounded has primed me to think that very small animals is much more likely than very large plants.

[@saym2756]

This doesn’t explain the pilots’ reports though.

[@jasondoss763]

"In the space where 'I don't know' should live, people will put aliens" is the best phrase, or rather the most successfully articulated idea I've heard in a while. That one was worth a like and a subscribe. You make logical rants.

[@repeat_defender]

This! This is what I've been trying to tell people! I'm a BIG nerd and avid sky watcher. As soon as I saw the videos people were posting, I knew it was a mass hysteria-type incident. Well, my first thought actually was, "Y'all, if they were drones doing anything illegal, they wouldn't have the lights on." It's disappointing that people are so easily fooled.

[@johnmarston2474]

Just the fact that people can't tell the difference between a drone and a plane is all you need to know. Oh, and that they're only shown at night.

[@erictasakovic9181]

@@repeat_defender they are real. This is happening. I saw them. 12/17 crystal clear night. I was a skeptic too. But what is saw blew my mind and I’ve been obsessed since. 12/18 was raining and cloudy. 12/19 I went out again they are in the sky from 530-9pm est. went back to where I saw them on 12/17. Didn’t see anything headed home and saw the blinking lights in the distance. Headed that way and parked in a field and saw over 20 from 8pm to 830.

[@ZedCactus]

@@erictasakovic9181 yes, airplanes are real.

[@ebmusicman84]

To quote Tim Minchin: "Throughout history, every mystery, ever solved, turned out to be NOT MAGIC."

[@justanerdykat]

Turned out to be not magic, not aliens and not god.

[@Alice_Fumo]

Is anyone saying that this has anything to do with magic? I just see some claims of it being alien technology, which is not magical whatsoever. Have you encountered a single claim of this being something magical?

[@altejoh]

Does that mean that all of the ones still unsolved definitely are magic, though? XD

[@brandnewdan]

Storm is genius!

[@JP-JustSayin]

​@@Alice_FumoNo mysteries have ever turned out to be aliens either, tho. 🙃

[@MrLettuceguy]

To be fair "I don't know" doesn't also mean "it's 100% nothing and it can all be explained". I would encourage everyone to have an open mind and not just dismiss this as explainable with stuff we already know. This isn't the first time drones or UAP have appeared like this in large numbers (for instance 1952 Washington DC UFO incident). If that fact is a surprise to you then that should be a sign that you may have some blind spots. Look up Robert Hastings work on UFOs and Nukes. American Alchemy by Jessie Michels also has some great interviews as well. Again, there is A LOT of hoaxes and BS out there, HOWEVER, simply being a professional skeptic and dismissing everything on it's face is not scientific either.

[@jonathanwright5338]

Absolutely. I do think the tone of the video was leaning toward “I don’t know” in the scientific method sense. But i can see how viewers can misinterpret it. As he said, we are human after all and more often than not our biases get in the way, leading us to either discard the unknown outright, or put a tinfoil hat on.

[@MrLettuceguy]

@@jonathanwright5338 I just don't get why a lot of science influencers have this weird condescending way of communicating. It's really off putting. Also, this idea that our only two options are totally dismissing everything or tin foil hats is a false dichotomy and not something someone who claims to be a science based thinker should be saying. I would expect more nuanced thinking from a science communicator.

[@pax6833]

Hank Green finally puts out a video addressing the mass hysteria event that people seem unable to recognize is mass hysteria.

[@apw9929]

People don’t learn enough about history to understand that events like this happen every few years

[@bryanjk]

@@pax6833 eh, I’m open minded but more inclined with your opinion. Btw, do you guys have this urge to just dance?

[@MiguelFlores-tv3dz]

"histeria colectiva"?? segun tu logica, respirar y comer forma parte de una histeria colectiva tambien

[@mycosys]

@@MiguelFlores-tv3dz You cant help being dumb

[@LoLo1k2k3k]

@@MiguelFlores-tv3dz yeah if you don’t really know what logic is, sure

[@comradepeter87]

This guy's mind is so tuned to scientific method/thinking, it's inspiring. I wish I could be intuitively so critical and conscious of what I'm consuming.

[@angusmuir6180]

It's not intuitive, it's practiced. Hank has been doing this a long time. But he still gets caught in the same mental traps we do. He's made videos where he talks about wrong things he believed and lies he accepted. He's only human, just like us.

[@gammaraygem]

it has nothing to do with science. He can not even tell you what Thought is. Without which he has nothing at all. I thought science was supposed to be rigorous and methodical. About mastering your basic tools. Like silencing the inner dialogue at will and explore that silence. He is just another parrot

[@billjones8950]

@@gammaraygemmost scientists are against aliens visiting because it would mean Einstein was wrong or missing something. And they don’t want it to be true.

[@nephatrine]

It's weird how someone having basic common sense is being hailed as some inspiring ability.

[@lawnmanGman]

the observation fallacy is pretty dumb

[@alyssafigliano3994]

The idea that answering the question "I don't know" with aliens is probably similar to how humanity came up with gods is haunting me right now EDIT: This isn't a takedown on religion guys, or projecting any opinions onto Hank, it was just me being a little philosophical.

[@judewakefield7213]

That was me about 5 years ago

[@colinm366]

That's exactly how we got religion. Invent a cause, pass it down thousands of generations till it's not questioned anymore.

[@Existidor.Serial137]

It is exactly the same. God of the gaps.

[@pongmaster123]

its an american thing. people are not educated and the system with mass media spreads uncontrolled news. ABC news for example got hysteric about planet venus being a drone. well its popcorn time for me as an european, but i still love you americans.

[@Ethan-wr2os]

Nah y'all need Jesus lol this got nothing to do with that at all

[@juneair]

Sure, beeing able to say "I don't know", is important especially when it is simply true. But speculating parents trying out their gifts is a bit absurd when 50-60 drones are beeing reported by policemen who say that they come from the ocean in grid patterns... I mean... You kinda wanna know, you know?

[@nlald]

7:26 This is a great point, but to put a finer point on it: people don't just understand "imagining things" as them being told they're wrong, but as them being told they're delusional.

[@jimburton5592]

Generally speaking, when someone is simply wrong, hearing conflicting evidence will decrease their confidence. They cross over into delusional when they spin conflicting evidence until it INCREASES their confidence.

[@manaspradhan8041]

because that's all it can mean? in what context would it be appropriate to interpret "you're imagining things" as being told you're wrong and not being told that you are "imagining things"?

[@bghiggy]

Reminds me of people calling 911 during the LA blackout to report a strange cloud in the sky and it turned out they were just seeing the milky way for the first time. When people see something unfamiliar they freak out and assume the worst because I'm assuming that's how our ancestors survived. Even if the rustling in the bush isn't a lion, the ones who don't stick around to find out are more likely to pass on their scaredy cat genes.

[@burkles4456]

@@bghiggydamn we are all the descendants of yellow bellies 😂

[@larrywalsh9939]

The depth perception limitation was something I was ALWAYS reminded of every time I watched Star Wars... "That's no moon, it's a space station" "It's too big to be a space station!" - how can you tell? How can you even tell how big a moon is from any one point of view? The most you can tell without actual quantified measurements is "From this point, it looks about this big around, approximately", but if you can't tell its distance then you can't discern its size.

[@colincleary5972]

The force! Duh!

[@ericmollison2760]

In the context of the story, they know how fast they are moving and how fast the view of the death star is expanding and can assume it's not moving and guess how far away it is. Also instrumentation and radar and stuff. And the force!

[@Jake-xe1wu]

The only reason I know something the size of a house took off from the woods near my house is because of a combination of studying local topology and applying trigonometry. Once it was above the trees though there was no hope in estimating it if it was all you had seen. Only reason I didn't write it off as something wrong with my brain was the person next to me that saw the same thing. Still can't tell you who was flying it or why though. Just that when it took off from a standstill after rising above the trees slowly, turning and tilting, all the while it slowly going from orange to deep red, it went from less than a quarter mile away to gone in as near the minimum frames as the human eye can perceive which on the high end is 400 frames per second and with no acceleration. That was just shy of 15 years ago.

[@lsswappedcessna]

I never really experienced that because I almost completely lack depth perception. Before anyone asks, yes I can drive, yes I have to be careful, no I've never been in a major accident but years ago I have backed into someone else's vehicle at a very low speed and did it again a year or so later, both times neither vehicle was damaged and a police report wasn't even obtained. With that out of the way, I've always found it interesting how people who have lived with completely normal depth perception cope with suddenly not having it (i.e. due to distance). My brain has learned to cope with it naturally over my life, and (especially when wearing glasses to sharpen my usable but suboptimal 20/30 vision) I have almost like fake depth perception that's mostly movement based. Damn it, I just realized that means I'm a human T-Rex.

[@CorwynGC]

For the death star, looking at the details and being very familiar with the way in which spaceships are built would give one an idea about scale.

[@owngamesgamer4030]

when i saw the "mysterious orb" I immediately thought to myself: "that's just a bokeh... I have a photo of Jupiter on my phone that looks just like it"

[@Existidor.Serial137]

It is sad that believers just dont get it. For them they are plasma orbs or even worst biblical angels.

[@codexstudios]

Big Bokeh Balls

[@unduloid]

@@Existidor.Serial137 As an actual Biblically Accurate Angel I feel kind of offended.

[@JamesO512]

Somewhere else, someone insisted that the "orb" couldn't possibly be something mundane, because they could clearly see a rotating cube in the middle of it. Jeez, maybe we shouldn't legalize weed and mushrooms after all! 😉

[@themichaeldonovan]

I found myself being called a fed and getting heat by a bunch of people because I explained “that’s an out of focus image. Probably Venus or Jupiter.” People truly believe these are angels or aliens and refuse to learn how things work. Apparently we have this weird math that occurred in the last 5 years: Alex Jones + Covid Lockdowns + Trump = Narnia We are all trapped here now forces to deal with people who distrust anything and everything, except the people who tell them to distrust anything and everything

[@otisdriftwood]

Glad you got to the bingo word: “unfalsifiable”

[@alexlock6463]

Hank, this was an absolutely masterful video. You are such a compelling and impactful storyteller and science communicator!

[@thunklayer]

If I were a part of a secret drone program to fly secret drones around New Jersey secretly, I would totally cover those secret drones with bright flashing, FAA compliant, lights.

[@North_West1]

Absolutely

[@xbabu142x]

What would be the purpose of those drones though, when you have public surveillance and warrants if necessary.

[@hWat-Ever]

Xbabu, "warrants"

[@xbabu142x]

@@hWat-Ever Yes, are you unaware that the laws in New Jersey allow this? I understand drone surveillance in a rural area maybe, New Jersey is wild.

[@runed0s86]

They're planes guys, cmon. Planes far away look smaller than they are...

[@vampyricon7026]

12:40 Well played.

[@dzmcm]

"I don't know" could be applied to a lot more than ambiguous visual phenomenon. I have what I consider to be a good idea of what is humanly possible. This ever evolving concept has served me well. But I don't know anything with the kind of confidence that some people flippantly espouse. It's nice to hear someone appreciate ignorance rather than fearing inquiry.

[@punditgi]

One of the best videos ever made. It should be required viewing in every high school in North America! 🎉😊

[@oru8612]

9:20 This right here is exactly what frustrates me to no end. Every single message is always misconstrued to be the most outrageous clickbaity version of itself. Unexplained object in the sky -> it's unexplained therefore it defies physics, officials can't 100% confirm what something is -> scientists are baffled by strange objects in sky.

[@falcoperegrinus82]

That's literally every headline about this subject. Our media is so incredibly bad.

[@runed0s86]

I've been reporting every article like this as misleading/sensational

[@GeoffBlackmore]

A voice of reason, thank you. I've been dismayed at how many "experts" are failing to question even the most obvious mis-identifications, like the drones that look exactly like passenger airliners. It's a mass hysteria event over nothing.

[@10Exahertz]

I've been using this whole drone nonsense as a litmus test. I've been plane spotting since I was a child so I knew immediately 99% of these were airplanes. Maybe a handful were real drones a few CGI. But watching a NJ WSJ tech reporter focus on on an airplane and say "oh come on, come in so close" as if she was was wit easing something newsworthy made me feel like I had had a stroke. WSJ failed, NYT and AP barely passed, every cable news station failed horribly, Reuters passed. And I'm happy to say Hank passed!! Thank God.

[@Melvin420x12]

@@10Exahertz Mass hysteria, it's an age old societal disease observed all the way back in the dark ages with the crazy dancing disease in Europe. Where a disease made people dance till they died. Dozens of people all around Europe died because of this "disease". It was mass hysteria. And people susceptible to this indeed started dancing till they couldn't anymore. Not because an actual disease was in their bodies; but because they believed it. The human mind is strong

[@shuckyducky-lu8nc]

So what about the drone that flew past the i.s.s. a couple days ago? Was caught on flim and the feed was cut about 3 sec into the frames after you can see it

[@billjones8950]

@@shuckyducky-lu8ncsend this guy far enough back in time he’d just tell people they saw a weather anomaly.

[@markkarasik2211]

@@shuckyducky-lu8ncIt was Elon Musk’s personal flying saucer

[@LadyL823]

Thousands of ''drones'' sightings worldwide, the capabilities of the crafts are not explainable with our current technology. None have been captured, nor have they been affected by electronic countermeasures. If China had anti-gravity technology Taiwan would be part of China by now, Ukraine part of Russia. No country on this planet have anti-gravity technology currently. To note that extraterrestrial intelligence mastered all of that!

[@wrongbeefboy7928]

This is one of the few times where instead of splitting my attention from viewing a video every few seconds on random intervals, I was completely engaged in the content and felt my brain happily dancing in it's cage as a result. Absolute cinema.

[@karlrobinpoder942]

oh my god finally someone sensible

[@justinanovak8040]

Agreed!

[@rosianna]

I had absolutely no idea about this drone thing and it is WILD to learn about it in this way. It really does feel indicative of a very US thing right now.

[@AcidSugar1414]

We don’t know how much we don’t know. Stay safe out there 💜

[@TheFelloMello]

We're all screwed here. Stay far away 😂😂

[@DABA2024]

Idiocracy.

[@pongmaster123]

its an american thing. people are not educated and the system with mass media spreads uncontrolled news. ABC news for example got hysteric about planet venus being a drone. well its popcorn time for me as an european, but i still love you americans.

[@mgerry7468]

A lot of people feeling very uncertain and worried about our country and our future, and a lot of people all too ready to capitalize on those emotions. It definitely feels like a microcosm of where we’re at as a country right now 😕

[@eldie3d]

Everything you said makes sense, however... I'm a licensed FAA drone pilot. I have anti-collision lights on my drone, and enhanced anti-collision lights for night flights. All of my lights blink, and never does my drone look like a stagnant bright light (or orb). I'm not saying they are orbs. I'm saying that hobby drones don't have super-powerful blinding LEDs that stay on at all times.... 🤷

[@sunla]

Very well said. When people bring up something I'm not knowledgeable about, or some huge unfolding news, and they ask me for my opinion on it, I tell them "I don't have an opinion yet, because I don't have enough information" If they then show me something biased to see me more context, but it's limited to the narrative they side with, it drives them crazy that I *still* say I don't have enough information to form an opinion. Because if there are multiple ways to view it, I need to know, and I need more details, especially if some were withheld previously... Even then, my brain has to chew on that information for a bit. It takes time to form your own opinions. If you don't know what something is, say you don't know. If you don't have enough information to form an opinion or come to a conclusion, then leave it open-ended for when you get more info. More info will come, and then we can be more sure. But we shouldn't be listening to confidently wrong podcasters with no background on identifying these things. People are so quick to believe something. They forget they don't have to have an opinion on what it might be.

[@oystercatcher943]

yes yes yes!! I've had exactly this experience and it drives people mad. And they accuse YOU of not being open-minded!

[@sunla]

@oystercatcher943 absolutely! It ends up working in our favor though, because when they end up being wrong about the whole ordeal, it's kind of satisfying - that is if they've pressured you to think like them, and you could just tell you didn't have enough info to come to a conclusion. You kind of hope you're at least setting a good example for them, so that hopefully they can do that in the future, too.

[@MixMeMcGee]

Also around Christmastime because it gets dark sooo early that people notice more totally normal lights in the sky. But like Hank said - we’ll likely not know the initial start.

[@noranhc9969]

This video both informed me that there is a drone issue in the news and that said issue is actually a nonissue. Thanks, Hank Green!

[@polaroid_of_a_polar_bear1764]

when i put this video to be on the background while doodling, i didn't expect to get such helpful insights for my mental health (when hank was talking about "i don't know " and aliens and all.) my ocd sometimes gives me a hard time about not being 100% sure and not knowing, and what hank said really helped vocalize those thoughts i've had about letting the "i don't know" just exist. thank you so much!!

[@Coderjo.]

While I don't know the source for the shimmering orb at 8:43, it looks like the one that was broadcast by abc7ny evening news at 5pm last week, by a reporter and a camera op doing a live spot from Mendham, NJ. If you plug in that location and time into a sky map program, to the south-southwest you will find Venus, at about 23 degrees altitude and 28 degrees azimuth

[@Hardcoresual]

​@GeorgeMirra a measurement of direction. Its similar to degrees, so it's basically a measurement of direction using angle. I think.

[@nonegiven3242]

What everyone needs to remember is that life is often stranger than fiction, and infinitely more boring.

[@StarseedChris]

Keep eating that brainwashed government slop for breakfast. You're about to see how boring it isn't. I bet you won't come back here when proven wrong and be like "damn I was wrong". No you people will change your mind immediately and be like "I knew all along". Clowns.

[@DemsW]

Fiction is patterns, reality is chaos, which you find interesting is really subjective

[@cwj2733]

@ take the tinfoil off you loon. go talk to people, go talk to a therapist, ANYTHING.

[@chrisnotaperson8127]

In my AP bio class back in high school, for as best I can figure, shits and giggles my professor spent a class talking about the mind and about suggestion and how people can be primed to see things in even the most random splatter of ink of page and then showed us a slide, it was in black and white and was a chaos of spots and blotches all irregular. Then he pointed out that it was a black and white photo of a cow by a fence with a barn in the background and it was freaking nuts to experience that.

[@peterbergvall7752]

The beginning of wisdom is to admit you don't know. Socrates said something to that effect

[@olwenpuralena4576]

Im so glad we dont have the 4 minute rule anymore! 18 mins gives time for sweet, delicious nuance 😋 🎉❤

[@MrHawkeye41]

Thank you so much for talking about the size of the drones. Its been driving me crazy that no one has been questioning laymen estimating the size of what they are seeing

[@tomantrobus1901]

Well, I hate to break it to you, but American fighter pilots have been reporting sightings of these things for years, I wouldn't classify them as laymen. You might want to do some of your own research and not just rely on KZbin videos

[@garethamery3167]

@@tomantrobus1901 No. American pilots have been reporting strange things, not these strange things at these times; those reports were by laymen... and that discounts the ability of experts to experience tunnel vision in terms of expectations... The problem with doing ones own research is that this means starting with showing that 1 + 1 = 2 (if working over, say, the reals), and then building all science from there (because one cannot trust any body of knowledge)... this way madness lies ...(as well as an incomplete job)

[@tomantrobus1901]

@garethamery3167 that's a very strange way to structure your argument. The pertinent information is that pilots have been seeing whatever these things are. You have to look at things as a whole, not cherry-pick. Sure, you can say a bunch of laymen in New Jersey saw some stuff, and they more than likely had no idea what they were looking at, and it would probably be true. You also have to take into account that highly trained individuals have also reported these things. To dismiss this is to throw the baby out with the bath water, no? At the very least, we should all agree that one should do their own research. Take arguments from all sides. Blindly believing what you're being told has led humanity down some pretty dark paths

[@garethamery3167]

@@tomantrobus1901 My point is that a) to conflate the values we will give to all observations is dangerous (as you note), and b) unidentified ot= [insert prefered conspiracy] ...it just mean unidentified, unexplained etc... This approach is precisely the opposite of blind belief; it is to suspend judgement until one has better data...

[@tacoisadog]

"It's a MESS! We're in a mess! I kinda can't believe no-one is saying this!" Thank you for saying it, Hank!

[@destiny8730]

A Melee, as some whistleblowers and predictions have called it

[@canuckinsk]

I didn't take it seriously until they started shutting down military installations. Not mentioning that in this video is strange.

[@thospe-f8x]

Thank you for being a voice of reason on this. I've been low simmering with annoyance about the whole thing, profoundly not caring but wanting somebody to figure something out so that people would just shut up about it.

[@scarlett6143]

worded how i've been feeling perfectly. like we've got real stuff going on lets focus on that