Skip to content

Let Us Now Praise the Panda Person

2018-11-02 · letter vlog · John · 3:51 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Pop culture (also: History & curiosities, Projects) · mode: Personal essay · tags: civic or action cta, timely hook, calendar ritual, self promotion

John sorts human exploration into kinds (into the unknown, counterintuitive discovery in the known world, and exploration for beauty alone) and praises a panda character who has spent thousands of hours picking flowers in World of Warcraft and Kurt J. Mac's Far Lands or Bust, arguing that playing in worlds in new, strange, beautiful ways is valuable and never wasted time; side notes urge US viewers to vote and plug Pizzamas.

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' drive to explore: the only human species to spread across the globe

  • ★★ John says that although there were many human species, ours alone spread across the whole globe, despite inhospitable habitats and the high risk of death in exploring. — 00:00:03

00:00:29 — Mars as the continuation of exploration; side note: vote on November 6, BallotReady

  • ★★ John expects to live to see the first person set foot on Mars, an astonishing feat but the obvious continuation of what humans have always done. (hedged) — 00:00:29 · Mars
  • ★ John says humans have been exploring for the last 250,000 years. — 00:00:35
  • ★★★ John says the US election next Tuesday (6 November 2018), November 6, is very important and asks eligible viewers to vote. — 00:00:40 · United States
  • ★★ John highly recommends ballotready.org for researching every candidate and referendum on your ballot, adding that it is not sponsored. — 00:00:52

00:00:58 — Exploring the known world in counterintuitive ways: vaccines, football defenders

  • ★★ John suggests that anyone worried they might not vote ask a friend to make sure they vote on Tuesday, and says please vote: it matters. — 00:01:03
  • ★★★ John says there is more than one kind of exploration: sailing into the unknown, and exploring the existing world in new, even counterintuitive ways. — 00:01:10

00:01:27 — Sharing and verifying as the human story; Pizzamas merch at DFTBA.com; linear TV ads aside

  • ★★ John says such exploration found the counterintuitive fact that injecting a weakened form of a virus protects against that virus. — 00:01:27 · vaccine
  • ★★ John says it also found that in football you score more goals with four or three defenders than with one or two. — 00:01:33
  • ★★ John loves that humans figure things out, share, verify and pass the information on: that is the human story, or the best of it. — 00:01:40
  • ★★ John says a mug, sleep mask, t-shirt, button and many other Pizzamas items are available to order now at DFTBA.com. (playful) — 00:01:53 · Pizzamas, DFTBA Records
  • ★ John says linear television has eight minutes of ads for every 22 minutes of content, so Vlogbrothers on TV would have three 30-second commercials per video. (playful) — 00:02:05 · Vlogbrothers

00:02:26 — Exploration for beauty: cave paintings, the World of Warcraft panda person, Far Lands or Bust; play is valuable; pacifist gaming; sign-off

  • ★★★ John loves exploration done for no reason but beauty: we don't know why ancient paintings or a Grecian urn's art were made, but probably partly to make something beautiful, which encourages him. (hedged) — 00:02:26
  • ★ John says the paintings he shows were created by people 25,000 years ago. — 00:02:33
  • ★★ John says Hank sent him an article about a panda person who has spent thousands of hours picking flowers in World of Warcraft, refusing battles or sides: the best thing he has ever heard of. (playful) — 00:02:43 · Hank Green
  • ★★ John praises Kurt J. Mac's beautiful project Far Lands or Bust: for seven and a half years a Minecraft player has walked one direction with his dog toward the distant Far Lands. — 00:02:58
  • ★★★ Against those who call such endeavors huge wastes of time, John says playing in real or virtual worlds in new, strange, beautiful ways is valuable because it makes people think differently about those worlds. (hedged) — 00:03:21
  • ★★★ John says time spent trying to do or make something beautiful never feels wasted to him. — 00:03:33
  • ★★ John says he will soon be back playing video games as a pacifist on HankGames. — 00:03:38 · HankGames

In the description and comments

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Doubleagent · exploration

Also: Projects: DFTBA Records · HankGames · Pizzamas

Works: Far Lands or Bust · Minecraft · World of Warcraft

Organizations: BallotReady

Concepts: advertising · cave painting · vaccine · video game

Places: Mars · United States

Events: 2018 United States elections

Only in the description or credits: Complexly · How to Vote in Every State · Kurt J. Mac

← Previous: Should I Feel Guilty? · Next → Reading Mean Comments with John