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Announcing NerdCon: Stories

2015-03-27 · announcement · Hank · 4:00 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Philosophy & meaning (also: Projects) · mode: Personal essay · tags: self promotion

Hank argues that what sets humans apart is stories, and announces NerdCon: Stories, a new convention celebrating stories in Minneapolis on October 9-10, 2015.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Humans are special: sports fans' bias toward their team; other organisms excel at one thing, humans at all things

  • ★★ Hank says there is something special about humans as a species, unlike sports teams, which fans think special only through cognitive bias. — 00:00:01
  • ★ Hank says all sports teams are equally special, meaning none of them are. (playful) — 00:00:20
  • ★ Hank says many organisms excel at one thing: giraffes are tall, cheetahs and antelope fast, and some methanogens (he says eukaryotes) thrive in boiling water. — 00:00:25
    • check: some methanogen eukaryotes — doubtful
  • ★★ Hank says humans are good at all the things: diving to the ocean floor, travelling faster than any animal, even leaving the atmosphere. — 00:00:38

00:00:55 — What sets humans apart: not thumbs, tool use or self-awareness; Hank decides it is stories, the vehicle for passing information across generations; we are made of stories

  • ★★ Hank rejects proposed human distinctions: opposable thumbs (raccoons have them), tool use (ravens, primates, dolphins) and self-awareness (many animals). (playful, hedged) — 00:01:00
  • ★★★ Hank says he has decided that what sets humans apart, making possible everything from air conditioning to nuclear war, is one word: stories. (hedged) — 00:01:23
  • ★★ Hank says that before writing, stories were the vehicle by which humanity passed large amounts of information from generation to generation. — 00:01:37
  • ★★★ Hank says stories still define us, our culture, technology and science; any society that wants to behave differently must first change its stories; we are made of stories. (hedged) — 00:01:56

00:02:16 — Announcing NerdCon: Stories (Minneapolis, October 9-10, 2015): origin in VidCon staff, format, guest list, tickets at nerdcon.com

  • ★★ Hank says VidCon's full-time staff have lulls between yearly VidCons and wanted another conference, so he chose stories, a cultural institution as important to him as online video, or more. — 00:02:16 · VidCon
  • ★★★ Hank announces NerdCon: Stories, a new event celebrating stories on October 9-10, 2015, at the Minneapolis Convention Center. — 00:02:39
  • ★ Hank says they are leaving the door open for possible future NerdCons on other things. (hedged) — 00:02:50
  • ★★ Hank says NerdCon: Stories will have panels, talks, performances, Q&A sessions and a tiny vendor room, and will be much smaller than VidCon. — 00:02:54 · VidCon
  • ★★★ Hank lists guests: fantasy, sci-fi and YA authors (Rothfuss, Clare, Black, Kowal, Scalzi, Bacigalupi, Woodson, Perkins), musicians Kimya Dawson and Dessa, and shows Welcome to Night Vale, Wits and Story Collider. — 00:03:06
  • ★★ Hank says the small event is expected to sell out quickly and points those who can come to nerdcon.com for tickets. — 00:03:38

00:03:44 — For those who cannot come: take part in the culture of stories; sign-off

  • ★★ Hank encourages those who cannot come to take part in the culture of stories, which are universal and everywhere. — 00:03:44

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: NerdCon: Stories · storytelling

Also: People: Cassandra Clare · Dessa · Holly Black · Jacqueline Woodson · John Scalzi · Kimya Dawson · Mary Robinette Kowal · Paolo Bacigalupi · Patrick Rothfuss · Stephanie Perkins

Projects: VidCon

Works: The Story Collider · Welcome to Night Vale · Wits

Concepts: cognitive bias · cumulative culture

Places: Minneapolis · Minneapolis Convention Center

Also centred on NerdCon: Stories: Book Towers for Miles · Post-NerdCon Haze · Thoughts from Comic-Con (NO MORE CHEETO MEDIA!) · Let's Talk about Failure

Also centred on storytelling: What's This Video About? · The Stories We Tell Ourselves: Thoughts from Amsterdam

Later videos replying to this one

Part of an exchange of 3 videos, 2015-03-27 – 2015-04-10.