BABIES! The 2018 Project for Awesome is here…

2018-12-07 · announcement · John · 4:00 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Global development · mode: Personal essay · tags: calendar ritual, fundraising ask, civic or action cta, self promotion, heavy topic, community lore

Opening the 12th Project for Awesome, John marvels that the 353,000 babies born yesterday, though skill-less, will soon know what took humanity millennia, calls shared knowledge the central hope of history, and argues that children's health has improved because we prioritized it, but not enough: thousands born yesterday will still die young, so give.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — P4A 2018 is here; 353,000 babies born yesterday, skill-less yet soon to understand the solar system

• ★★★ John announces that the 2018 Project for Awesome is here: viewers can join the 48-hour livestream at projectforawesome.com/live or donate at projectforawesome.com/donate. — 00:00:02 · Project for Awesome
• ★★ John says about 353,000 babies were born yesterday, like the population of Honolulu, Hawaii. (hedged) — 00:00:13
• ★★ John says newborns have no skills, not even having discovered their own hands, yet many born yesterday are eight or nine years from understanding that Earth is part of a solar system orbiting the Sun. (playful) — 00:00:29 · Earth
• ★★★ John says humans have been around for about 250,000 years, and it took 249,500 of them to figure out that the Earth was not the center of the universe. (hedged) — 00:00:47 · Earth

00:00:58 — Shared knowledge as the central hope; children born into the healthiest moment, yet many will die; the simple solution of prioritizing children

• ★★★ John calls it the central hope of human history that we accumulate, share and pass on knowledge so well that yesterday's babies may within decades solve problems that feel unfixable. (hedged) — 00:01:03 · hope
• ★★★ John says yesterday's babies were born into the healthiest, best-educated moment in human history, more than twice as likely to survive to adulthood as children born in 1990. — 00:01:17 · child mortality, progress
• ★★ John says these children are far more likely to go to school and less likely to experience extreme poverty or malnutrition. — 00:01:27 · extreme poverty
• ★★★ John says this did not happen by accident or because progress is natural, but because we as a species decided to prioritize children. — 00:01:33 · progress
• ★★★ John argues we have not prioritized children nearly enough. (hedged) — 00:01:40
• ★★★ John says 266,000 children are expected to die of malaria this year (2018), 728 of them born yesterday, and another 14,000 children born yesterday will die before age five. — 00:01:43 · malaria, child mortality
• ★★ John says most of them will die of easily treatable or preventable illnesses: diarrhea, pneumonia, starvation. — 00:01:56
• ★★ John acknowledges that delivering health care in poor communities is exceptionally complex: not just food or medicine but sanitation, staffing, transportation and storage. — 00:02:02 · global health
• ★★★ John says the problems are not simple but the solution is: the more humanity prioritizes the health of its most vulnerable children, the more likely they are to lead healthy lives. (hedged) — 00:02:13 · child mortality

00:02:26 — P4A first-half charities, matching, perks, second-half voting and the livestream

• ★★ John says the community has worked with Partners In Health and Save the Children for over ten years, supporting Save the Children's work in refugee camps and its health, education and nutrition help for children. — 00:02:26 · Nerdfighteria, Partners In Health, Save the Children · also in: Project for Awesome 2026 part 5!
• ★★ John says Partners In Health does extraordinary work providing health care to the poor from Sierra Leone to Haiti. — 00:02:38 · Partners In Health, Sierra Leone
• ★★ John says both are highly rated charities known for their efficiency and effectiveness. — 00:02:44 · Partners In Health, Save the Children
• ★★★ John says all donations during the first half of the P4A, until noon Saturday, go to support these two charities. — 00:02:47 · Project for Awesome, Partners In Health, Save the Children
• ★★★ John says that thanks to overwhelming support from matching donations, every dollar donated will count as four dollars. — 00:02:55 · Project for Awesome
• ★★★ John asks viewers to do what they can to give all the babies born yesterday a healthy life. — 00:03:00 · Project for Awesome
• ★★ John lists P4A perks, from the P4A commemorative coin and a poster to secret episodes of Dear Hank and John and The Anthropocene Reviewed. — 00:03:04 · Project for Awesome, Dear Hank and John, The Anthropocene Reviewed (podcast)
• ★★ John says he and Sarah are making a P4A-only podcast called The Statue Got Me High. — 00:03:12 · Sarah Urist Green, Project for Awesome
• ★★ John says Sarah and Catherine are hosting a version of Dear Hank and John called Dear Sarah and Catherine. — 00:03:17 · Sarah Urist Green, Katherine Green, Dear Hank and John
• ★ John offers pressed pennies, horrible worthless pennies turned into souvenirs, including one honoring the late great Fireball Wilson Roberts. (playful) — 00:03:21 · Willy
• ★★★ John says the second half raises money for charities chosen by viewers, who can submit P4A videos now at projectforawesome.com. — 00:03:30 · Project for Awesome
• ★★★ John asks viewers to vote for Project for Awesome videos and help decide where the money goes. — 00:03:38 · Project for Awesome
• ★★ John says the 48-hour P4A livestream starts now at projectforawesome.com/live and will be so much fun. — 00:03:43 · Project for Awesome
• ★ John can't believe this is the 12th Project for Awesome and quotes Prufrock: 'I grow old, I grow old.' (playful) — 00:03:50 · Project for Awesome

00:03:53 — The 12th P4A, a Prufrock line and sign-off

Threads in this video

• launched · P4A 2018 edition — John announces that the 2018 Project for Awesome is here: viewers can join the 48-hour livestream at projectforawesome.com/live or donate at projectforawesome.com/donate. (00:00:02)
• restate · Is it reasonable to be hopeful about the future? — John calls it the central hope of human history that we accumulate, share and pass on knowledge so well that yesterday's babies may within decades solve problems that feel unfixable. (00:01:03)
• restate · Is human life getting better; is now the best time to be alive? — John says yesterday's babies were born into the healthiest, best-educated moment in human history, more than twice as likely to survive to adulthood as children born in 1990. (00:01:17)
• restate · Do big problems have simple solutions? — John says the problems are not simple but the solution is: the more humanity prioritizes the health of its most vulnerable children, the more likely they are to lead healthy lives. (00:02:13)
• progress update · John (with Hank): match all donations to the first half of P4A 2018 up to $150,000 (2018) — John says that thanks to overwhelming support from matching donations, every dollar donated will count as four dollars. (00:02:55)
• asked · John asks viewers to donate to P4A 2018 at projectforawesome.com/donate (2018) — John asks viewers to do what they can to give all the babies born yesterday a healthy life. (00:03:00)
• reminder · John asks viewers to make P4A 2018 videos for charities they care about (2018) — John says the second half raises money for charities chosen by viewers, who can submit P4A videos now at projectforawesome.com. (00:03:30)
• asked · John asks viewers to vote for P4A 2018 videos at projectforawesome.com (2018) — John asks viewers to vote for Project for Awesome videos and help decide where the money goes. (00:03:38)
• reminder · Hank asks viewers to join the P4A 2018 livestream (2018) — John says the 48-hour P4A livestream starts now at projectforawesome.com/live and will be so much fun. (00:03:43)
• restate · Is history inevitable, or made by choices? — John says this did not happen by accident or because progress is natural, but because we as a species decided to prioritize children. (00:01:33)
• restate · Which causes deserve the most support? — John argues we have not prioritized children nearly enough. (00:01:40)
• callback · Willy as the Dread Pirate Fireball Wilson Roberts (2008) — John offers pressed pennies, horrible worthless pennies turned into souvenirs, including one honoring the late great Fireball Wilson Roberts. (00:03:21)
• result reported · John asks donors of $1,000 or more to join the P4A 2018 matching fund by email (2018) — John says that thanks to overwhelming support from matching donations, every dollar donated will count as four dollars. (00:02:55)

Where the stories that moved here went next

• John asks viewers to donate to P4A 2018 at projectforawesome.com/donate (2018) — reported back; last: thanks, 2019-01-04
• John asks donors of $1,000 or more to join the P4A 2018 matching fund by email (2018) — reported back; last: result reported, 2018-12-07
• John (with Hank): match all donations to the first half of P4A 2018 up to $150,000 (2018) — the project it belongs to reported its result; last: progress update, 2018-12-07
• P4A 2018 edition — completed; last: looked back, 2019-01-04

Mentioned

Central: child mortality · Project for Awesome

Also: People: Katherine Green · Sarah Urist Green

Projects: Dear Hank and John · The Anthropocene Reviewed (podcast)

Works: Dear Sarah and Catherine · The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock · The Statue Got Me High

Organizations: Partners In Health · Save the Children

Concepts: cumulative culture · diarrhea · effective altruism · extreme poverty · global health · heliocentrism · malaria · malnutrition · pneumonia · progress · refugee

Places: Earth · Haiti · Honolulu, Hawaii · Sierra Leone · Solar System · Sun (star)

animal: Willy

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