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Essential videos of 2023

36 of the 107 videos uploaded in 2023 were judged high on "words matter": the ideas are the point of the video, so reading or watching for the argument pays off — a reading guide, not a best-of list. Each entry gives the thesis (with a link to where the argument starts) and one line on why it was judged idea-dense. Back to the overview.

Main speaker: John: 20 · Hank: 16

  • 2023-02-28 · John · Empathy and its Limits · Health, letter vlog
    • In a loose Format video, John says empathy must have limits but his is too limited; the 19th-century word 'invalid' for people disabled by tuberculosis shows how language limits empathy, illness is universal rather than a moral narrative, and though we cannot know others' pain, we can listen and believe them: we validate each other. (00:00:00)
    • Why it is here: A short but coherent argument about empathy toward the sick, built from bird musings, invalids' memoirs and John's meningitis.
  • 2023-03-03 · Hank · The Law That Made the Internet · Internet & YouTube, explainer
    • Hank explains Section 230, which keeps platforms from being treated as the publisher of their users' content, and the Supreme Court case asking whether YouTube is liable for its recommendations; he finds that idea a little bit right but hard to draw the line on, is glad the Court looks unlikely to find YouTube liable, and argues new legislation, not 1996 law, should settle it. (00:01:20)
    • Why it is here: A compact policy argument: what Section 230 does, why recommendation liability is hard to bound, and why Hank thinks Congress rather than the Court should update it.
  • 2023-03-10 · Hank · Is it Good or Bad that we Haven't Met Aliens? · Science & nature, explainer
    • Filming from a paid booth in an airport, Hank asks whether it is good or bad that we have not met aliens, lays out the Fermi paradox's options (civilizations don't last, the great filter; or they are very rare), and proposes a hopeful third: advanced species may learn to stop taking up all available space, and humans may be starting to. (00:02:28)
    • Why it is here: A compact, original argument about the Fermi paradox with a sincere hopeful conclusion; the description corrects his account of the Great Filter.
  • 2023-03-14 · John · The Seduction of Despair · Philosophy & meaning, letter vlog
    • Filming with a hurting back, John says despair is seductive because it is simple and easy to justify, but it is neither helpful nor the whole truth: child mortality halved because people collaborated, and hope lies in slow reparative work and quiet kindnesses like his friend Chris listening to him. (00:00:00)
    • Why it is here: A tightly argued essay on despair and hope, with evidence (TB deaths, under-5 mortality) and a personal close.
  • 2023-03-28 · John · My Tuberculosis Reading List · Global development, recommendation
    • After reading over 20 books on tuberculosis, John recommends three TB reads (Handaa Enkh-Amgalan's memoir Stigmatized, Vidya Krishnan's Phantom Plague with Shreya Tripathi's story, and Paul Farmer's paper on the new tuberculosis) and argues TB persists because of poverty and unequal investment, asking viewers to vote, raise awareness and donate. (00:00:00)
    • Why it is here: Short recommendations carry a sustained argument that TB deaths are an injustice of resources and systems, not of medicine.
  • 2023-03-31 · Hank · The Coming AI Invasion · Internet & YouTube, letter vlog
    • Bracing for a coming wave of AI developments, Hank tells how mongooses brought to Hawaii to control rats devastated native species instead, and suggests AI may fill society with invasive 'counterfeit humans' controlled by anyone from a teenager to Vladimir Putin; ecology suggests isolated groups are most vulnerable and careful control can work, and rapid change is coming. (00:01:38)
    • Why it is here: An original, carefully hedged argument by analogy from invasive species and biological control to AI's effects on society.
  • 2023-04-21 · Hank · On TikTok Bans · Internet & YouTube, letter vlog
    • As Montana, his home state, passes the first state TikTok ban, Hank, perhaps its most-followed TikToker, says the state ban is probably unenforceable and performative, that a national ban raises real worries about China's influence, but that removing a whole platform, with its cultures, would be a dramatic, unprecedented loss. (00:00:47)
    • Why it is here: A careful, openly uncertain argument about a live policy question: performative governance, platform risks, and what a platform is.
  • 2023-05-02 · John · GOOD NEWS · Global development, documentary visit
    • On his first visit to Kono since Covid, John shows Hank the Maternal Center of Excellence under construction (built largely by newly trained women workers), reports that maternal and child mortality have fallen and that Koidu's special care baby unit now saves most of its babies, and asks for the just over $10 million still needed, calling it what humans can do together. (00:04:23)
    • Why it is here: A field report with substantive claims on health-system strengthening, numbers on need and progress, and the fundraising ask.
  • 2023-05-09 · John · on hope · Philosophy & meaning, letter vlog
    • John tries to define what he means by hope: a need to believe consciousness, love, art and collaboration are worth it, and a hope that the human story continues and improves; citing a ceremonial coronation as real if insufficient progress, he says very little in history is inevitable, that we will change the world for the better, and that despair is too simple. (00:00:00)
    • Why it is here: A compact, sincerely argued essay defining hope, with concrete examples of progress and a closing case against simple despair.
  • 2023-06-16 · Hank · So, About This HAIR… · Philosophy & meaning, letter vlog
    • Hank revisits his old line that you have no obligation to your former self: since he is a story he tells himself, he loves his punk 17-year-old self, who wanted a mohawk at 40, and now chooses to honor him, keeping the amount of obligation he wants. (00:00:00)
    • Why it is here: A short argued essay with a clear, quotable position on identity, obligation and connection.
  • 2023-06-23 · Hank · Understanding Cancer Survival Rates · Health, explainer
    • Prompted by his own Hodgkin lymphoma, Hank explains why cancer survival rates, including the five-year survival rate, contain less information than people think (different cancers, stages and patients differ; a patient is one data point), and argues that a person given poor odds is fully alive now and must not be treated as already dead. (00:00:58)
    • Why it is here: A careful explainer with a clear argument about what statistics can and cannot tell a patient, plus a reflection on mortality and Hank's own prognosis.
  • 2023-07-11 · John · Barely Contained Rage: An Open Letter to Johnson & Johnson · Global development, letter vlog
    • As bedaquiline's original patent expires, John explains how Johnson & Johnson is using a secondary 'pen cap' patent to block generic versions of the drug against multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, which experts say will leave up to six million people without it, and asks viewers to pressure the company, arguing evergreening is immoral and bad for its reputation. (00:00:00)
    • Why it is here: A sustained, evidence-backed argument and mobilisation with concrete numbers, history and a direct plea to a company.
  • 2023-07-18 · John · Tuberculosis Fighters Have a Posse · Global development, letter vlog
    • John argues that diseases get solved when they have a global constituency that includes the rich and powerful, as COVID-19, HIV and malaria show, and that tuberculosis, a curable disease of poverty, needs the rich world to listen and give its fighters 'a posse'; he credits the community with a big step last week. (00:00:29)
    • Why it is here: A sustained argument about attention and global health, built on historical examples and concrete figures, ending with a call for rich-world solidarity.
  • 2023-07-21 · Hank · The Biggest Weirdest Telescope We've Ever Built · Science & nature, explainer
    • Hank explains that astronomy has relied only on photons until two recent breakthroughs: pulsar timing that detected the gravitational wave background, and the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctic ice, which used machine learning to make the first map of our galaxy not based on photons. (00:05:26)
    • Why it is here: A structured science explainer with many factual claims and a clear argument about why a new, non-photon way of observing the galaxy matters.
  • 2023-08-04 · Hank · The Biggest Science Story of the Week · Science & nature, explainer
    • Hank argues that the overlooked science story of the week is that a 2020 rule forcing ships to burn low-sulfur fuel cut cloud-seeding ship tracks and largely explains record North Atlantic warming: bad news that warming is worse than thought, but a priceless geoengineering experiment showing we should geoengineer intentionally and carefully rather than accidentally. (00:02:26)
    • Why it is here: A dense, argued science explainer with a clear policy position on geoengineering and forecasts about coming heat.
  • 2023-08-15 · John · Henry · Global development, story
    • John explains his tuberculosis obsession through Henry, a 16-year-old multidrug-resistant TB patient he met at Lakka in 2019 who was saved by a bedaquiline-based cocktail; after their 2023 reunion John asks viewers to follow Henry's YouTube and fund his mother's business, arguing survival should not require extraordinary efforts. (00:05:47)
    • Why it is here: A personal story carrying a sharp argument about unequal access to TB treatment, with a concrete fundraising ask.
  • 2023-08-18 · Hank · The #1 Tip for People Who Use the Internet · Internet & YouTube, letter vlog
    • Hank gives his number one tip for anyone posting online: by 'the axiom of virality' content with wide reach draws every conceivable take, the rare ones are weird and shocking and get boosted by algorithms, so a take's mere existence does not make it worth attention. (00:00:45)
    • Why it is here: A compact, argued piece of creator advice with a named principle and a view on algorithms and on who bears the worst reactions.
  • 2023-08-25 · Hank · Remission · Personal life, letter vlog
    • Hank announces his Hodgkin lymphoma is in complete remission and argues that cancer is not a single binary saving throw one 'beats' but an ongoing process: lasting side effects, raised risks, a chance of relapse and permanent anxiety. (00:03:38)
    • Why it is here: A careful personal reflection with numbers and medical explanation (remission vs cure, relapse vs recurrence) that rejects the simple 'beat cancer' framing.
  • 2023-09-12 · John · Barely Contained Rage: An Open Letter to Danaher and Cepheid · Global development, letter vlog
    • In an open letter John argues that Danaher and its subsidiary Cepheid use a printer-ink business model to overcharge poor countries for GeneXpert tuberculosis test cartridges, and asks viewers to press them by phone, email and social media for $5 tests. (00:00:00)
    • Why it is here: A sustained, evidence-backed argument (diagnosis gaps, cartridge prices vs production costs, public funding) with a concrete campaign ask.
  • 2023-09-14 · John · Talking Tuberculosis, GeneXpert, J&J, and more with MY HEROES · Global development, collab / interview
    • In a livestream panel John talks with TB survivors Nandita Venkatesan and Phumeza Tisile, MSF's Dr. Animesh Sinha and Dr. Carole Mitnick about drug-resistant TB, hearing loss from injectables, GeneXpert diagnostics, bedaquiline and stigma, and asks viewers to keep pressing Danaher and Cepheid. (00:00:00)
    • Why it is here: Survivors' testimony and experts' evidence on diagnosis, treatment, drug and test pricing and stigma, tied to a concrete pressure campaign.
  • 2023-09-15 · Hank · The Worst Disease in Human History · Health, explainer
    • Hank explains why tuberculosis, the deadliest infectious disease for most of human history, is so hard to fight: its thick waxy cell wall resists antibiotics, aids biofilms and resistance, and slows growth, which makes culture diagnosis slow; so molecular test cartridges must get cheap, and he calls Danaher and Cepheid allies against TB in getting them to $5. (00:00:58)
    • Why it is here: A structured biology explainer that builds to a clear argument for cheaper TB tests.
  • 2023-09-19 · John · So, um.... GOOD NEWS?!?!?! · Global development, letter vlog
  • 2023-09-27 · John · John Goes ... to the UNITED NATIONS? · Global development, letter vlog
    • John vlogs his trip to the UN High-Level Meeting on Tuberculosis, where the political declaration is approved, remembers Shreya Tripathi, and in a two-minute speech argues that TB deaths are now caused by human choices: the cure is where the disease is not. (00:02:58)
    • Why it is here: A short speech with a clear argument about resource allocation and human choice in TB deaths, framed by Shreya Tripathi's story and the declaration's limits.
  • 2023-09-30 · John · An Incredible Update · Global development, announcement
    • In a surprise extra Pizzamas video, John reports that Johnson & Johnson will not enforce its secondary bedaquiline patents in any low- or middle-income country, credits the company and the campaigners, and thanks viewers who pushed for it. (00:00:58)
    • Why it is here: Explains why the bedaquiline patent decision matters (generic prices, money freed for TB treatment) and what the campaign achieved.
  • 2023-10-03 · John · Nourished by Leaving · Science & nature, letter vlog
    • After a last-week Pizzamas plug, an anxious John walks in an urban Indianapolis forest and finds comfort that life on Earth is very old and continuous, that the human-made and natural worlds are not really separate, and that trees are nourished by the leaves they let go of. (00:00:19)
    • Why it is here: A short poetic essay whose point lives in its images and phrasing: life's age, no line between artificial and natural, trees nourished by what they leave behind.
  • 2023-10-04 · Hank · A Messy and Unhinged Introduction to Geoengineering · Science & nature, explainer
    • After backlash to his North Atlantic video and a catch-up with climate scientists Adam and Miriam, Hank reconsiders and gives a quick introduction to geoengineering, broadly any intentional change to Earth's systems but today mostly solar radiation management: its techniques, the case for research, and the objections he now finds compelling, and argues that most climate scientists thinking we don't need it yet is good news, since cutting and removing CO2 and methane is the geoengineering everyone favours. (00:12:14)
    • Why it is here: An argued explainer with clear personal positions on which objections to geoengineering matter and on renewables.
    • Replies to: 2023-08-04 The Biggest Science Story of the Week
  • 2023-10-17 · John · My Next Book · Books & writing, letter vlog
    • John explains why he has not published a novel in six years: after labyrinthitis in 2017 he 'retired' from chasing money and fame, which had made him anxious, and now writes for passion and impact, mostly about tuberculosis; he may never publish another novel but will have a next book. (00:01:27)
    • Why it is here: A personal essay with a clear argument about fame, work and writing for passion, plus career news about John's next book.
  • 2023-10-20 · Hank · My 'Injury' · Health, explainer
    • After his son Orin calls Hank's cancer his 'injury', Hank argues that 'cancer' is not one disease but hundreds to billions of different ones, that calling them all 'cancer' breeds hopelessness and the false belief that we have failed to cure it, and that we must cure cancers, not cancer. (00:00:29)
    • Why it is here: A clear, sincerely argued explainer on why 'cancer' is a misleading word, grounded in Hank's own illness.
  • 2023-10-24 · John · A Tale of Two Cancers · Global development, letter vlog
    • Replying to Hank's video on cancer as many diseases, John recalls Hank's Hodgkin lymphoma diagnosis and contrasts it with Mondeh, a Sierra Leonean child whose Hodgkin lymphoma took years to diagnose and treat, arguing that the same cancer is not the same cancer when the standard of care differs. (00:00:29)
    • Why it is here: A sincerely argued health-equity essay built on a personal story and a concrete patient case.
    • Replies to: 2023-10-20 My 'Injury'
  • 2023-11-03 · Hank · We Need to talk about Sarapocial Relationships · Nerdfighteria, letter vlog
    • Hank explains parasocial relationships and describes the reverse, a creator's relationship with the audience he imagines, which John named a 'sarapocial relationship'; he wants Nerdfighteria's core to be strong, dense and capable, and admits it costs him parts of himself and means holding space for disagreement. (00:01:40)
    • Why it is here: An argued reflection on the creator-audience relationship with specific claims about the community's values, its costs and how disagreement is handled.
  • 2023-11-21 · John · Minus Its Charms · Health, letter vlog
    • John describes a two-month bout of depression, OCD and anxiety that began amid the TB-test win, cites Susan Sontag's 'melancholy minus its charms', and rejects despair as the whole story: the debt jubilee in memory of Casey McIntyre shows people can help each other and be kind. (00:01:47)
    • Why it is here: A sincere first-person account of depression joined to an argued claim that hopelessness is not the full story of being a person.
  • 2023-12-05 · John · MASSIVE Tuberculosis News · Global development, letter vlog
    • John reports the endTB trial results: nine-month regimens of existing drugs cure multidrug-resistant TB as well as or better than the toxic 18-month standard at about $300 instead of $5,000, and argues that because drug companies lack incentive to test existing compounds in new combinations, such trials need far more public and philanthropic funding. (00:03:24)
    • Why it is here: A sustained argument about drug-development incentives built on specific trial results, costs and cure rates.
  • 2023-12-08 · Hank · Did Natural Cancer Treatments Save My Life? · Health, letter vlog
    • Hank notes that three of the four chemo drugs that cured his Hodgkin lymphoma (vinblastine, doxorubicin, bleomycin) come from nature and were carefully tested, answers people who urged a 'natural route' instead of chemo by arguing that 'natural cancer treatment' means treatments unproven, ineffective or harmful, and says most cancer deaths happen where people lack chemo, radiation, surgery and screening; he plugs his cancer socks before the Christmas shipping deadline. (00:00:29)
    • Why it is here: A clearly argued case against 'natural' cancer cures, grounded in the origins and testing of his own drugs and in global access to treatment.
  • 2023-12-19 · John · End of a Rough Year · Global development, letter vlog
    • Ending a rough 2023, John finds hope in collaboration: Danaher's drug-resistance TB test cartridges are the product of multi-generational research, yet TB activists disagree with Danaher over the price of the drug-resistant cartridge; Danaher is not the enemy, TB is, and to hope is to refuse to accept the world as it is. (00:00:58)
    • Why it is here: A sincere, argued year-end essay on hope, collaboration and respectful disagreement, applied to the TB test price campaign.
  • 2023-12-22 · Hank · Let's Talk About Death · Philosophy & meaning, letter vlog
    • After eating Buddy the Elf's candy pasta, Hank tells John that getting sick shook his sense of what life is for; in a universe without evident objective meaning he still wanted to live, and concludes that striving and 'wanting to want' in community is the point, then plugs a Christmas Eve video and his cancer stand-up shows. (00:00:54)
    • Why it is here: A personal, argued reflection on mortality and meaning after cancer; the 'I want to want' conclusion is a distinctive position.
  • 2023-12-30 · John · John's Review of Auld Lang Syne · Philosophy & meaning, recommendation
    • In his yearly New Year upload of The Anthropocene Reviewed episode on Auld Lang Syne, John weaves the song's history from Robert Burns to the 1914 Christmas Truce and the trench soldiers' recursive lament with his friendship with Amy Krouse Rosenthal, arguing the song holds longing without romanticizing it and that hope is true; he gives it five stars. (00:09:20)
    • Why it is here: A dense, carefully argued essay on loss, time and hope with checkable history; a repeat of the review he posts each New Year.

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