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Battling Apathy and Searching for Meaning on Question Tuesday

2019-02-19 · Q&A · John · 4:00 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Nerdfighteria (also: Philosophy & meaning, Health) · mode: Q&A & conversation · tags: recurring series, self promotion, community lore

On Question Tuesday John answers viewer questions on loneliness, the meaning of life, life off social media, school, the Turtles All the Way Down film and his watery cereal, and argues that despair is simple while humanity is complex, so we must see the joy, hope and progress as well as the pain.

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 opens: feeling alone and isolated, breaking the cycle

  • ★★ John says loneliness can be a cycle: when lonely he often does things that distract him but make it worse, which can feel infinite but is not; it will get better. — 00:00:00

00:00:29 — Meaning of life; enjoying life off social media; football scarves; liking physics

  • ★★ John doesn't think the questioner's isolation comes from a lack of courage, and encourages them to talk today to someone they trust in real life and say they are struggling and need support. — 00:00:29
  • ★★★ John thinks the meaning of life differs between people and times; for him right now it is to use the gift of human consciousness to pay attention. — 00:00:29 · meaning of life
  • ★★ Off social media, John says he treated Instagram and Twitter like first love, as if an experience's realness depended on its sharedness; he enjoys looking at things outside the frame of shareability. — 00:00:29 · Instagram, Twitter
  • ★ John collects football scarves: very limited function, but a beautiful form. (playful) — 00:00:58
  • ★★ Asked how to make yourself like physics, John says to watch MinutePhysics. — 00:00:58

00:01:27 — Point of school; Harvey and The Anthropocene Reviewed; first comments; liberal arts degrees

  • ★★★ John says school can feel like it is about tests, grades and constant worry, but its point is to understand the universe better, and physics can help with that. — 00:01:27 · education
  • ★★ John says his favorite movie forever is Harvey. — 00:01:27
  • ★★ John says Harvey is one of the subjects of the next Anthropocene Reviewed. — 00:01:27 · The Anthropocene Reviewed (podcast)
  • ★★ Asked for more frequent Anthropocene Reviewed episodes, John says it takes him an entire month to write one. — 00:01:27 · The Anthropocene Reviewed (podcast)
  • ★★ John thinks people still writing 'first' in comments in 2019 is great: he likes any tradition that isn't offensive and can survive for 12 years online. — 00:01:56 · First post
  • ★★★ John says that to maximize lifetime income you probably shouldn't get a liberal arts degree, but income is not the only metric for judging the quality of a human life. (hedged) — 00:01:56
  • ★ John says he studied English and religious studies, and now sits in a basement talking to a camera. (playful) — 00:01:56

00:02:26 — Turtles All the Way Down movie; cereal with water; advice to his younger selves; the apathy question

  • ★★★ John says Turtles All the Way Down is being made into a movie, hopefully, and Hannah Marks, who is wonderful and often watches these videos, has been hired as director. (hedged) — 00:02:26 · Turtles All the Way Down
  • ★★ John still eats cereal with water, says it is still delicious and refuses to be shamed for it. (playful) — 00:02:26
  • ★★ John's advice to himself 12 years ago when starting Vlogbrothers: edit jump cuts tighter, and ridiculing someone else's world doesn't make anything better, which he still needs to hear. — 00:02:26 · Vlogbrothers
  • ★★ John would tell his high school self that he knows it's hard, he is doing okay, more loved than he knows and worthy of love, and to smoke fewer cigarettes. — 00:02:55

00:03:24 — Despair is simple, humanity is complex: how John escapes the apathy trap; sign-off

  • ★★★ John says he has felt despair at pain and found justification for it, but believes despair is simple and humanity complex: there is cause for despair, and for other feelings. — 00:03:24 · hope
  • ★★★ John thinks we must see and listen to the pain but also the joy, hope and progress, in individual lives and as a species; that is how he escapes the apathy trap. — 00:03:24 · hope, progress

Humor (significant)

  • John admits his football-scarf collection is not very useful. — 00:00:58

    “Admittedly, they have very limited function, but what a beautiful form.”

  • Answering whether liberal arts degrees are worth it, John points to himself. — 00:01:56

    “look at me, sitting here in a basement, talking to a camera.”

  • Defending his watery cereal, John turns the shaming back on milk drinkers. — 00:02:26

    “I think it's weird that all of you people drink your cereal with cow juice.”

  • After tender advice to his high school self, John adds a practical note. — 00:02:55

    “and also I would tell him to smoke fewer cigarettes.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: hope

Also: People: Hannah Marks · Henry Reich

Projects: The Anthropocene Reviewed (podcast)

Works: Harvey (film) · Turtles All the Way Down · Turtles All the Way Down (film)

Organizations: Instagram · Twitter

Rituals: Question Tuesday

Concepts: consciousness · education · jump cut · liberal arts education · loneliness · meaning of life · progress · tobacco smoking

Memes: First post

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