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It's My Fault Too

2022-05-20 · letter vlog · Hank · 3:27 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Everyday life · mode: Personal essay · tags: self promotion

Using the litter on a sidewalk near a convenience store, Hank argues that quantities are flows: a few people can make a big mess, and a few can clean it. He draws three lessons for problems in general, the last being that getting mad is easier than doing something. He closes by plugging the new video version of SciShow Tangents.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Litter near a convenience store; one litterer makes 30 pieces a month, one picker-up clears it in two weeks

  • ★★ Hank often walks a stretch of sidewalk near a convenience store, where he thinks people buy chips or a drink and drop the wrapper on the ground on their way home. (hedged) — 00:00:00
  • ★★ Hank says the litter upsets him and makes him feel surrounded by people who do not respect shared space, and calls that feeling irrational. — 00:00:00
  • ★★★ Hank reasons that one person dropping one piece of trash a day makes 30 pieces after a month, and may be one of hundreds of shoppers: almost no one litters, yet the street is covered. (hypothetical) — 00:00:00
  • ★★★ Hank says what changed his mind: one person picking up two pieces of trash every day would leave no trash after two weeks. (hypothetical) — 00:00:29

  • ★★★ Hank calls it one of the best tools he was taught: minds imagine set quantities, but quantities are inputs and outputs; a street without litter is one where trash is picked up faster than it is dropped. — 00:00:29

    “A street with no litter is not one that never gets littered on”

00:00:58 — Quantities as inflows and outflows; not picking up is half the reason; Hank picks up trash, to Katherine's dismay

  • ★★★ Hank says the person who dropped the trash is only half the reason it is there; the other half is that he did not pick it up. He is not equally morally responsible, but cares about the trash, not morality. — 00:00:58
  • ★★ Hank picks up the trash every time, and Katherine asks where he is going now: across the street for a half-empty malt liquor bottle. (playful) — 00:01:27 · Katherine Green
  • ★★ Hank says that if dropping trash is somewhat disrespectful to a shared space, picking it up is an equal and opposite amount of respectful. — 00:01:27

00:01:56 — Three lessons for problems generally; easier to get mad than to act; sign-off

  • ★★ Hank says neighbourhood litter is not one of the world's biggest problems, and almost every problem other than a bag of Doritos in a hedge is harder to solve than bending over. (playful) — 00:01:56
  • ★★★ Hank's first lesson for problems in general: one person can drop a lot of trash, so a lot of trash does not mean everyone is dropping it. — 00:01:56
  • ★★★ Hank's second lesson: bad things are not static but inflows and outflows; we cannot stop all of them, but can slow problem formation and speed up problem solving. — 00:02:26
  • ★★★ Hank's third lesson: it is almost always easier to get mad about something than to do something about it, even something very small, and he must fight that instinct in himself. — 00:02:26

00:02:53 — Spare minute: the video version of SciShow Tangents on YouTube

  • ★★ Having a spare minute, Hank encourages viewers to watch, and subscribe to, the new video version of SciShow Tangents at youtube.com/scishowtangents. — 00:02:53 · YouTube
  • ★★ Hank describes Tangents as a comedy game show science podcast with Ceri and Sam Schultz, and says that as of this week (week of 16 May 2022) they are starting to upload it to YouTube. — 00:02:53 · YouTube

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description calls the video a little story about the trash in Hank's neighbourhood and what it makes him think about the whole world, including the social internet. — video description

Threads in this video

  • restate · Is outrage useful? — Hank's third lesson: it is almost always easier to get mad about something than to do something about it, even something very small, and he must fight that instinct in himself. (00:02:26)
  • refine · Is doing nothing a choice, or are passive non-choices still choices? — Hank says the person who dropped the trash is only half the reason it is there; the other half is that he did not pick it up. He is not equally morally responsible, but cares about the trash, not morality. (00:00:58)

Mentioned

Central: litter · systems thinking

Also: Doritos · Katherine Green · SciShow Tangents · YouTube

Only in the description or credits: Ceri · Sam Schultz · social media

Also centred on systems thinking: The Things that People Do (Thoughts from New York City) (Pizzamas Day 7) · SYSTEMS!!!! · The Only Psychiatric Hospital in Sierra Leone

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