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Does Human Life Have Real Meaning?

2017-02-21 · Q&A · John · 3:41 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Philosophy & meaning (also: Nerdfighteria, Personal life) · mode: Q&A & conversation · tags: recurring series

In a Question Tuesday, John argues that meaning constructed by us is as real as meaning derived from objective truth (the built fire and the eternal fire), tells a wedding-invitation story, names Back to the Future, the polluted White River and 43 as favourites, and practises saying 'I don't know'.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Question Tuesday greeting

00:00:05 — Does Beyoncé have to reset her router?

  • ★ Asked whether rich people have better Wi-Fi, John says money can buy almost anything but not freedom from Comcast; Beyoncé surely resets her router like everyone. (playful, hedged) — 00:00:10

00:00:19 — Coping with no real meaning in life: the eternal fire and the built fire

  • ★★★ John says meaning in life may be constructed by us rather than derived from some objective truth, but that does not make it any less real. (hedged) — 00:00:22 · meaning of life
  • ★ John warns that one should always be suspicious of people who use metaphor to approach questions of meaning. — 00:00:30 · meaning of life

  • ★★★ John's metaphor: some find an eternal fire needing nothing; others must build and refuel their own, which they understand better; the light and heat of both are equally real. (hedged) — 00:00:33 · meaning of life

    “the light and heat from both fires are equally real”

00:01:14 — Wedding invitation: the 'of course I cannot come' story

  • ★★ John recalls inviting to his and Sarah's wedding a somewhat famous person who had helped bring them together; the invitee's email reply began 'Of course I cannot come', but he bought them wine glasses off their registry. (playful) — 00:01:16 · Sarah Urist Green
  • ★★ Answering a viewer's wedding invitation, John jokes that of course they cannot come, then says if it's in Indianapolis with an open bar, they'll be there. (playful) — 00:01:43 · Indianapolis, Sarah Urist Green

00:01:48 — Quick answers: time travel, Crash Course Literature, the new book, the White River, 53 and 43, the Kuffs nickname

  • ★★ John's favourite fictional depiction of time travel is probably Back to the Future, which has had an outsized influence on his life. (hedged) — 00:01:50
  • ★★ Asked about another season of Crash Course Literature, John says there probably will be one. (hedged) — 00:01:59 · Crash Course
  • ★★ John says he doesn't know everything about his new book because it is not finished yet. — 00:02:03
  • ★★ John is not tired of people asking about his new book: it's nice that people care, he just wishes he had more to tell them. — 00:02:08
  • ★★ John's favourite river is the White River in Indianapolis: beautiful and mostly deserted, so you can kayak for hours without seeing anyone. — 00:02:13 · Indianapolis
  • ★ John says Indianapolis is a city of a million people. — 00:02:15 · Indianapolis
  • ★★ John says the White River seems natural and pristine precisely because it is a heavily polluted open sewer, which makes it a metaphorically resonant river. (playful) — 00:02:23
  • ★★ John says 53 is probably in the top half of two-digit numbers, but 43 is the best. (hedged) — 00:02:43
  • ★★ John says some high-school friends still call him Kuffs because he once said Christian Slater never made a bad movie. (playful) — 00:02:50

00:02:55 — Thoughts and consciousness; practising 'I don't know'; sign-off

  • ★★ John spends much of his free time wondering whether he is made of his thoughts and whether his thoughts belong to him, without reaching any conclusions. (unsure) — 00:02:55
  • ★★★ Asked why people are obsessed with being right, John says he doesn't know, and that he is practising saying 'I don't know' more because it is a really underutilized phrase. (hedged) — 00:03:08
  • ★★ John says he doesn't know when his new book will come out. (unsure) — 00:03:20
  • ★★ Asked whether his greatest hope or greatest fear would win a duel, John says he doesn't know who would win between absolute oblivion and a cure for malaria. (unsure) — 00:03:24 · malaria

Humor (significant)

  • Asked whether Beyoncé must unplug her router, John says money can buy you almost anything — 00:00:10

    “but it cannot buy you freedom from Comcast.”

  • A famous wedding invitee's email begins 'Of course I cannot come to your wedding' — 00:01:32

    “Is there a less necessary of course in the history of the English language?”

  • Answering a viewer's wedding invitation right after the story — 00:01:43

    “of course we cannot come to your wedding. I'm kidding!”

  • John answers 'I don't know' about the boxes behind him, his book's release date and a duel of hope and fear — 00:03:31

    “Hank, this I don't know stuff is amazing. The life-changing magic of I don't know.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Intellectual humility · meaning of life

Also: People: Beyoncé · Christian Slater · Sarah Urist Green

Projects: Crash Course

Works: Back to the Future · John's novel in progress about personhood (2015) · Kuffs

Organizations: Comcast

Rituals: Question Tuesday

Concepts: consciousness · death anxiety · English language · malaria · time travel

Places: Indianapolis · White River (Indiana)

Also centred on Intellectual humility: Towering Mountains of Ignorance · How's the Water? · The Assassination Attempt and the Comfort of Certainty · Fine, I'll Talk About the Drones…

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