Should people care about strangers as much as about their family and those close to them?

Since 2010 both brothers have said people naturally care more about those close to them. John believes all human lives are equally valuable and wants to stay close to others' suffering, yet since 2022 accepts that empathy needs limits. In 2025 Hank added that widening our circle of empathy works against human nature.

Axis: care for all equally ... it is right and inevitable to care most about those close to us

Positions by date: 8 records in 8 videos. The position was refined (2025), never reversed, in these records.

John

date	how	position	video
2010-03-19	first on record	John thinks everyone privileges those close to them over those who aren't, and close threats over distant ones; utilitarian equality is legitimate but nobody lives by it.	Foreign John Green Books and the Ultimate Concern 00:02:33
2017-08-22	restate	John says he really believes all human lives are equally valuable, but he can't live that belief if he can't empathize with people living in poverty or in fear of cholera.	The Causes of Cholera 00:03:38
2021-11-02	restate	John says he forgets he has enough because insulating himself from precarity distances him from suffering; closer to it he would use more of his resources to alleviate it, instead of looking away from injustice.	enough 00:03:15
2022-05-17	restate	As they discussed recently, John says nobody can care about everything all the time: empathy has limits, and must; grieving every death like a loved one's would make functioning impossible.	Reasons Not to Care 00:01:27
2023-02-28	restate	John says if he felt all those deaths as strongly as a death in his family he couldn't function, so he understands empathy needs limits.	Empathy and its Limits 00:00:29

Hank

date	how	position	video
2010-03-17	first on record	Hank says you can't care about everything, and can't care about a neighbor's baby as much as about his nephew Henry.	Side-Boob is Not my Ultimate Concern 00:02:40
2025-03-14	refine	Hank says we attend to what is put in front of us (threats, new or worsening things), so focusing on terrible but slowly improving problems far away takes effort against human nature.	Probably the Luckiest Thing in my Life 00:03:09
2025-10-31	restate	Hank says this is no indictment of people: humans care about what they care about, and expanding our circle of empathy is in some ways contrary to our nature.	We Did It… 00:04:19

Background

date	how	position	video
2026-01-09	background	Hank says some of this bias is inevitable: with a stranger on one track and his brother on the other, he would absolutely pull the lever, being a human, not a moral calculator. (playful)	There is Only One Source of Value 00:01:56