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We're All Gonna Die - A Song

2015-12-18 · song · Hank · 3:19 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Philosophy & meaning (also: Projects, World affairs) · mode: Comedy & performance · tags: song or performance, heavy topic, self promotion, timely hook

Hank sings a fast comic song arguing that every living thing, including us, will die and nothing can stop it, yet death is a gift because it means we lived; he then gives a life update and some good news.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Mock warning that the video confronts human mortality

00:00:22 — Song 'We're All Gonna Die': every living thing dies, no escape, but death is a gift; so have a good time and be nice

  • ★★★ Hank sings that every living thing is a temporary assemblage of atoms and that everyone, including everyone you know, will die. (playful) — 00:00:22
  • ★★ Hank sings that hopes of escaping death by fixing telomeres, digitizing brains, freezing bodies or the singularity will fail; no one outruns the hearse, the sun's explosion or heat death. (playful) — 00:00:53

  • ★★★ Hank sings that death is a gift, since we can only die because we lived, and marvels at the improbability of life and what minds have made. — 00:01:31

    “The marvelous truth of it all is that death is such a gift”

  • ★★ Hank closes the song's message: so have a good time and be nice to each other. — 00:02:04

00:02:07 — Why the song topic; life update: SciShow, Crash Course Philosophy shooting, not seen Star Wars, 29th Dear Hank and John

  • ★★ Hank says the song topic is not that weird for Dear Hank and John listeners: understanding his brief place in the universe matters to him. — 00:02:08 · Dear Hank and John
  • ★★ Hank is making SciShow and Crash Course episodes and has just started shooting the new series Crash Course Philosophy, which will not be uploaded for a while. — 00:02:23 · SciShow, Crash Course
  • ★ Hank has not seen the new Star Wars film yet and jokes about what kind of nerd that makes him. (playful) — 00:02:32
  • ★★ Hank says the brothers just recorded their 29th Dear Hank and John podcast, 29 weeks in, due out Monday or Tuesday. — 00:02:35 · Dear Hank and John

00:02:49 — Good news: US-Cuba flights resume, economy grew without emissions growth, Saudi women vote

  • ★★ Hank says that against the bad news of death there is lots of good news, then jokes that it all balances out and everything will be fine. (playful) — 00:02:49 · progress
  • ★★ Hank reports that scheduled flights between the US and Cuba are to resume for the first time in 50 years. — 00:02:52 · United States
  • ★★ Hank reports the world just had its first year in which the global economy grew while global carbon emissions did not. — 00:02:56 · climate change
  • ★★ Hank reports that women just voted for the first time in Saudi Arabia and some were elected; he says it is late but at least it happened. — 00:03:02

00:03:14 — Sign-off

Humor (significant)

  • Hank issues a solemn content warning about human mortality, then pitches the video to those who want doom. — 00:00:17

    “and indeed universal oblivion sounds like your cup of tea...Proceed.”

  • After listing ways people hope to escape death, the chorus dismisses the techno-optimist hope too. — 00:01:17

    “The singularity won't save you There's not a thing that you can do”

  • Mid-song, Hank loses track of the lyrics. — 00:01:22

    “I forgot the last verse...um...”

  • After a song about universal death, Hank offsets it with three good-news headlines. — 00:03:11

    “So yeah, some bad news, some good news, it all balances out, everything's gonna be fine,”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Projects: Crash Course · Dear Hank and John · SciShow

Works: Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Concepts: climate change · cryonics · death anxiety · economic growth · heat death of the universe · life extension · mind uploading · progress · suffrage · technological singularity · telomere

Places: Cuba · Saudi Arabia · Sun (star) · United States

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