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Free Will Fetish

2009-03-01 · explainer · John · 2:38 · watch on YouTube

Topic: History & curiosities · mode: Curiosity & trivia · tags: community lore, civic or action cta

John tells how René Descartes' fetish for cross-eyed women, traced to a cross-eyed childhood playmate and dissolved once he remembered her, became a linchpin of his argument that the mind controls the body and for free will; he then reveals the vlogbrothers have more subscribers than Google and invites Nerdfighters to challenge the brothers.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Newsday: Descartes (father of modern philosophy, free will, mind over body), his fetish for cross-eyed women, strabismus, the cross-eyed childhood playmate; Star Wars figures aside

  • ★★★ John says an anonymous 17th-century French girl helped create modern philosophy with her crossed eyes. (playful) — 00:00:00
  • ★★★ John says Descartes, often called the father of modern philosophy, wrote 'I think, therefore I am', believed in free will and argued the mind could control the body's desires. — 00:00:00
  • ★ John says Descartes believed in never getting up before noon. (playful) — 00:00:00
  • ★★★ John says Descartes had a fetish for cross-eyed women. (playful) — 00:00:00
  • ★★ John says 99% of cases of strabismus (cross-eyedness) are fixable today, unlike in the 17th century. — 00:00:38
  • ★★★ John says Descartes realized his attraction came from a cross-eyed girl he played with as a child. (playful) — 00:00:38

00:01:07 — Remembering the girl ends the desire, showing the mind can control the body - a linchpin of Descartes' defense of free will; a disaster for cross-eyed women

  • ★★★ John says that once Descartes connected the childhood memory to his desire, the desire went away; he took this as showing the mind controls the body, a linchpin of his defense of free will. (playful) — 00:01:07

00:02:12 — The vlogbrothers have more subscribers than Google; to thank Nerdfighters the brothers will take challenges - leave ideas in comments

  • ★★★ John reveals, whispering, that the vlogbrothers now have more subscribers than Google, the company that owns YouTube. (playful) — 00:02:12 · Vlogbrothers, Google, YouTube

  • ★★★ To thank Nerdfighters, John says he and Hank will do pretty much whatever they are told, and asks for challenge ideas in the comments. — 00:02:12 · Nerdfighteria, Hank Green

    “Hank and I will do pretty much whatever you tell us to do.”

Humor (significant)

  • John reminds Hank of the famous axiom 'gentlemen prefer blondes'. — 00:00:38

    “philosophers prefer cross-eyed women.”

  • John notes he played with Star Wars figures as a kid but didn't grow up with a figurine fetish. — 00:01:07

    “That would be crazy, you know, like when Princess Leia and Han Solo... I mean, that'd be... That'd be nuts.”

  • Descartes' insight is great for philosophy, John says, but not for everyone. — 00:01:42

    “Obviously, for the cross-eyed women of the 17th century, it was a freakin' disaster.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: free will · Google · mind-body dualism · René Descartes

Also: Works: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes · Star Wars

Organizations: YouTube

Terms: made of awesome

Concepts: strabismus

Characters: Han Solo · Inigo Montoya · Princess Leia

animal: Willy

Also centred on free will: Intentionally Ignorant: Does Free Will Exist? · My Two Favorite Jokes

Also centred on mind-body dualism: My Body Is a Broken Temple · 1,100 Days: A Mental and Physical Health Update

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