collective action

concept · in 14 videos (2007–2013)

Mentions by year: 2007: 2 · 2009: 1 · 2010: 2 · 2011: 2 · 2012: 3 · 2013: 4

Threads

• John's 'Law of Compound Nerdfighting' (2007) — bit, origin, 2007–2007

What the videos say

2007

• 2007-07-02 · Brotherhood 2.0: July 2nd: The Law of Compound Nerdfighting — John defines the Law of Compound Nerdfighting: 100 nerdfighters as a group can do what 100 as individuals cannot, as shown on Hank's shirt where they beat up a popular kid. (00:00:59)
• 2007-12-17 · Project for Awesome: Explanation and Humane Societies — Hank explains 'Nerdfighter' as, in John's phrase, a person made of awesome inside, and 'Power' as the Nerdfighters' strength in being many and working together. (00:00:00)

2009

• 2009-12-04 · $40,000 of Red Balloons — Hank says he, John, the Nerdfighters and YouTube are unusually good at being a tight-knit community that is geographically disparate, making this a chance to 'prove our awesome'. (00:00:30)

2010

• 2010-05-17 · My YouTube Story is Short — Hank says he is far prouder that people chose to work with them on those projects, since without those people the projects would be nothing. (00:01:34)
• 2010-05-17 · My YouTube Story is Short — Hank argues the real story of YouTube is groups of people who do things and have fun together though they rarely occupy the same physical space. (00:01:40)
• 2010-12-21 · Thoughts on the Project for Awesome — Hank stresses that most of the money came from small donations: thousands of individuals giving what they can, adding up to a huge number. (00:02:38)

2011

• 2011-09-12 · Adorable Baby and Insufficient Cartography — John says the great thing is that the brothers are not the only Nerdfighters: thousands work together through YouTube comments, Twitter, Tumblr, the Ning and Your Pants to improve the maps, making better maps than anyone could alone. (00:01:50)
• 2011-10-07 · Steve Jobs and a Song — The song says there is so much to be done and many people to do it; it can be hard, but together we get through it, because nobody does it all alone. (00:01:14)

2012

• 2012-01-20 · Thoughts on SOPA From New Orleans — Hank is extremely proud that the internet banded together, an amorphous anarchy becoming a solid block against the threat, and cast it aside. (00:02:01)
• 2012-09-21 · You. Must. Vote. — To 'one vote can't matter', Hank says voting is a community activity: one vote may not decide who wins, but every vote counts toward how politicians perceive their electorate. (00:00:50)
• 2012-10-16 · Burning Peeps, My OTP, and Velociraptors: It's Question Tuesday — From a year of teaching world history, John says humans generally get less miserable when they collaborate and get totally hosed when they choose ideology over actual humans. (00:03:02)

2013

• 2013-05-31 · Optimism is Not Insane — Hank says every year we avoid the apocalypse not through one superhero but by working together as activists, scientists, writers, politicians and even bureaucrats: we are the superhero, together. (00:02:27)
• 2013-05-31 · Optimism is Not Insane — Hank says it is not just super-smart people but all of us working together to make the world work; we are good at solving problems, but they do not solve themselves. (00:03:20)
• 2013-09-24 · Started from the Bottom: Benjamin Franklin and Drake Compared — John says the idea of the self-made individual who builds a successful career on their own is deeply flawed; as long as we believe it, we collaborate too little and judge others too often. (00:02:26)
• 2013-10-22 · Question Tuesday: The Fault in Our Stars Movie Edition — Massive collaboration of hundreds of people makes movies possible, which is why John argues the urge to collaborate, not curiosity, is the most important human trait. (00:03:24)
• 2013-10-22 · Question Tuesday: The Fault in Our Stars Movie Edition — Many animals are curious, John argues, but only humans can cooperate to make online communities, space telescopes, Imaginariums and movies. (00:03:24)
• 2013-10-22 · Question Tuesday: The Fault in Our Stars Movie Edition — The great thrill of the film experience was seeing humanity do what John thinks it does best: not competing but cooperating, though we do compete a lot. (00:03:24)
• 2013-10-22 · Question Tuesday: The Fault in Our Stars Movie Edition — John tells Hank directly he disagrees: cooperation, not curiosity, though he might be wrong and Hank, usually right, is probably right. (00:03:24)
• 2013-10-25 · When Was it a Million Seconds Ago? — Returning to the earlier conversation, Hank allows the best quality may instead be our capacity and tendency to collaborate to make things bigger than ourselves. (00:02:42)