Does science diminish wonder?
Hank treats physics and observation as sources of awe, from his quark songs of 2010 and 2012 to a 2024 image of ancient art. John said in 2017 that he never bought the idea that scientific understanding robs the universe of its beauty, and he finds a fact mind-blowing when it reframes his place in the universe.
Axis: science deepens wonder ... science disenchants
Positions by date: 10 records in 10 videos. The position did not change in these records.
John
| date | how | position | video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-07-04 | first on record | John finds it helpful to know how sunsets work and has never bought the romantic notion that scientific understanding robs the universe of its beauty. | Civil Twilight 00:02:07 |
| 2019-08-27 | restate | John says not since watching Carl Sagan host Cosmos as a kid has he felt such awe toward the strange universe around us. | Are Viruses Necessary? 00:02:26 |
| 2021-06-22 | restate | John thinks a fact is mind-blowing when it makes him feel either big or small, recontextualizing his understanding of himself and his place in the universe. · also in: John and Hank Hanging Out but they Keep Getting Younger and More Pixelated | Mindblowers with Hank and John 00:03:07 |
Hank
| date | how | position | video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010-10-20 | first on record | Hank sings that, though quarks are confusing and lack a unified theory, the fact that we have identified them at all is so remarkable he sits in awe. | Strange Charm: A Song about Quarks 00:01:27 |
| 2012-07-20 | restate | Hank's song treats the physics of quarks, photons, electrons and the 4% of known mass-energy as reasons for wonder: the universe is weird and he is kind of freaking out. | The Universe is Weird: A Song 00:00:29 |
| 2014-04-25 (said on 2014-04-26, implied) | restate | In the song, Hank loves Carl Sagan for looking up at the sky and never stopping wondering why. | I Love Science (Clean Version) (Uncensored link in the Description) 00:01:09 |
| 2021-09-17 | restate | Hank says the competition reminds him how amazing the world is, how amazing our tools for observing it are, and how amazing the people are who observe it in all its ways. | The Top 10 Micro-Photos of 2021 00:03:45 |
| 2023-04-14 | restate | Hank says we can now see what is invisible to our eyes: every tree holds a little world that, once glass was polished carefully enough, broke many rules we thought we knew. | The Organism that Broke Biology 00:02:52 |
| 2024-12-06 | restate | Hank says the image gives him a rare secular mysterium tremendum: the planet holds art probably made by two human species, and an archaeologist's drawing of it shows the depth and complexity of our story. | One of the Most Important Images On Earth 00:03:17 |
| 2025-09-12 | restate | Hank says that if the question of life on Mars is answered yes, it becomes a trillion exciting new questions. | This Might Actually be Happening 00:15:45 |
Dates are upload dates, which set the order. Where the speaker gives a different recording date in the video, it is added as "said on YYYY-MM-DD, implied" (derived from the date said in the video).