Do human categories such as planet, fish or pizza mark real divisions in nature?
In 2023 John agreed with Hank that cancer is a category of diseases.
Axis: categories mark real divisions in nature ... categories are human conveniences imposed on a continuous reality
Positions by date: 11 records in 11 videos. The position did not change in these records.
John
| date | how | position | video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-10-07 | first on record | John says the point of saying categories are not real is to remind people that how we describe things differs from how they are: language is less rich than reality. | Planets Don't Exist 00:10:42 |
| 2023-10-24 | restate | John agrees with Hank's point that cancer is not really a disease but a category of diseases. → refers to My 'Injury' | A Tale of Two Cancers 00:00:08 |
Hank
| date | how | position | video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-04-14 | first on record | The description says we were certain there were very particular buckets to put living things into, and biology was broken again after lichen. | The Organism that Broke Biology video description |
| 2023-06-27 | restate | Hank says cancer is not one disease like strep throat but many; calling it one disease is like calling viruses one disease. | Alone on the Cancer Boat: A Vlogbrothers Reunion 00:05:07 |
| 2023-09-08 | restate | Hank says we still don't know how many giraffe species there are, and in a way can't, because species is a human idea rather than something nature does. | Giraffes are Way More Complicated Than We Thought 00:00:58 |
| 2023-10-20 | restate | Hank says there is no such thing as cancer, just as there is no such thing as virus: there are cancers and viruses, as you get an injury, not injury. | My 'Injury' 00:00:45 |
| 2024-07-26 | restate | Hank says coconut trees look like trees but share no common ancestor with oaks; tree is a made-up classification, like worm, for things that look a certain way. | Hank Green's Top 7 Best Coconut Tree Facts!! 00:01:06 |
| 2024-11-15 | restate | Hank concludes that whales are fish, but only in the same way that humans are. | Whales are Fish (and Everything Else is Beetles) with Lindsay Nikole 00:03:04 |
| 2025-05-30 | restate | Hank says his natural inclination can become an impairment, and so be classified a disorder, because society has to function for other purposes. | My Rare 'Disorder' 00:06:11 |
| 2025-08-22 | restate | Hank has always felt the restrictive criteria-based definition of life is problematic: the criteria seem to exist to exclude anything that doesn't seem alive to us. | Are Languages Alive? 00:01:40 |
| 2025-10-02 | restate | Hank says that because Goodall broke the rules, she saw what they had hidden: the boundary drawn between humans and other animals is thinner and fuzzier than we wanted to believe. | You are Probably Underestimating Jane Goodall’s Impact 00:07:45 |
Background
| date | how | position | video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-01-10 | background | In a mock stand-up bit, John objects that we live 'in' countries but 'on' islands, since countries are human constructs and everything, even Earth in space, is an island. (playful) | Introducing: The Format 00:01:38 |
| 2025-07-15 | background | Asked whether llamas are fish, Hank says yes: all vertebrates are fish because they carry the water around with them; humans are just really weird, hairy fish. (playful) | LLAMAS Are NOT What You Think 00:00:00 |