Skip to content

Thank God We Got This Right…

2022-01-14 · letter vlog · Hank · 3:58 · watch on YouTube

Topic: History & curiosities (also: Projects) · mode: Curiosity & trivia · tags: community lore, self correction

Prompted by a Dear Hank and John question about whether the Northern Hemisphere is really on top, Hank argues that 'up' on maps is arbitrary but that choosing north as up was the right call (more land and people, easy standardization), despite drawbacks such as a bias toward northern places, unlike the 12-month calendar he calls a historical screw-up.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — An unhinged Dear Hank and John episode coming next week and Avery's question about which way is up

  • ★ Hank says a particularly unhinged Dear Hank and John episode goes up next week (week of 17 January 2022): the brothers talked for 90 minutes before recording and then lacked time to record. (playful) — 00:00:00 · Dear Hank and John, John Green
  • ★★ Answering Avery's podcast question whether the Earth really has the Northern Hemisphere on top, Hank says there is no up: it is all arbitrary, things we feel and decide. — 00:00:00 · Earth

00:00:29 — There is no up: going up or down the Bitterroot, rivers flowing north, and north on top of maps as someone's decision

  • ★★ In Missoula, newcomers say they go 'down' the Bitterroot, while longtime residents with a deeper connection to the land say 'up', because going there is south but upstream and uphill. — 00:00:29 · Missoula, Montana
  • ★★ Hank says the Bitterroot River, unlike most rivers in America, flows south to north, as does the Nile; this feels weird though no river must flow any particular direction. — 00:00:29 · United States
  • ★★★ Hank says south is very much not down: globes and maps show north on top only because someone decided that, and he does not know who. — 00:00:58

00:01:27 — Aside on things we got wrong: the 12-month year versus a 13-month calendar of four-week months

  • ★★★ Hank makes the strong case that whoever chose north as up made the right decision. — 00:01:27
  • ★★ Hank calls 12 months a year terrible: with 13 months, every month would be 28 days (one 27), exactly four weeks starting on Monday, holidays on the same day yearly, plus one short six-day week. (playful) — 00:01:27

00:02:09 — Why north-up was the right call: west-up would be confusing, the north has more land and people, standardization outweighs the bias toward the north

  • ★★ Hank says maps in the past often put west or east at the top; west-up would have been historically bad because Earth spins, so where west is moves around in space, and it breaks his brain. — 00:02:09 · Earth
  • ★★★ South-up would have been subpar: the southern hemisphere is 80% ocean and the northern 60%, so the north has twice as much land, and 90% of people live in the northern hemisphere. — 00:02:49
  • ★★ Hank says north-up has drawbacks: we show unconscious bias against the southern hemisphere, and in tests people unconsciously assign more value to places further north. — 00:03:18
  • ★★★ Hank concludes there is huge value in standardization, one part of the map always up: the choice had pros, cons and negative effects, but it was the right call and avoided a problem we never think about. — 00:03:18

00:03:47 — Halloween on a Friday every year and the sign-off

In the description and comments

  • ★ In a channel comment Hank corrects his math: a 13-month calendar would leave not a six-day week but one extra day without a month or weekday (two in leap years), which is even better. (playful) — creator comment
  • ★★ The description says no decision that affects many people is free of negative impacts, and that a fixed weekday for each date would add certainty to life. — video description

Humor (significant)

  • After pitching a 13-month calendar with a weird short week, Hank laments that we're stuck with 12 months. — 00:02:09

    “This is a historical screw up that we all have to live with forever.”

  • Imagining maps with west on top while the Earth spins, Hank says it breaks him. — 00:02:49

    “dodged a cosmic bullet here.”

  • Hank says he always has to think about what the 13-month calendar would have given us. — 00:03:47

    “we could have lived in a world where Halloween was always on a Friday night every year.”

  • The sign-off, mocking the 12-month calendar once more. — 00:03:47

    “John, I'll see you on Tuesday, which is some random day of the month.”

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: map · Northern Hemisphere

Also: Projects: Dear Hank and John

Concepts: cognitive bias

Places: Bitterroot River · Bitterroot Valley · Earth · Missoula, Montana · Nile · Southern Hemisphere · United States

Events: Halloween (holiday)

Policies: Gregorian calendar

Also centred on map: 42 Amazing Maps · These Maps are Lying (if you let them)

← Previous: The Fault in Our Stars - Ten Years Later · Next → The Miracle of the Leone Stars