Skip to content

Thoughts From the Universe - Woah

2022-07-15 · letter vlog · Hank · 4:00 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Science & nature (also: Philosophy & meaning) · mode: Personal essay · tags: timely hook

Responding to the first James Webb Space Telescope images, which leave many people feeling insignificant, Hank argues size is the wrong measure: life on Earth has existed for 27% of the universe's lifetime, and the rare particles that know they exist, like our brains, make him feel very big.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — First Webb images; feeling small or big; human and possibly objective answers to whether anything on Earth matters

  • ★★ Hank says the first James Webb Space Telescope images have just arrived, and many people seem to feel small, humbled or insignificant. (hedged) — 00:00:00
  • ★★★ Hank says that, strangely, he is not sure whether he feels very small right now or very big. (hedged) — 00:00:00
  • ★★ Hank describes the Cosmic Cliffs, with peaks seven light-years tall, and a deep field image where a pinky finger covers several galaxies. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ Such images make people ask why anything on Earth matters; Hank says there are really good human answers: we give our universe meaning, and we matter to each other. — 00:00:00 · meaning of life, Earth
  • ★★ Hank says there may also be some kind of objective answers to whether we matter. (hedged) — 00:00:00 · meaning of life

00:00:48 — Feeling insignificant as mattering spread across an infinite universe; is size the right measure; consistent physics everywhere

  • ★★ Hank says an area of sky the size of a grain of sand contains thousands of galaxies, each with billions of stars. — 00:00:48
  • ★★★ Hank says feeling insignificant is not saying nothing matters but an instinct that mattering is spread across a basically infinite universe, so we, being too small, don't matter. — 00:00:48 · meaning of life
  • ★★★ Hank asks whether size is the right measure of mattering. — 00:01:16
  • ★★ Hank says practically infinite fields seem to make particles exist and interact, and oxygen and hydrogen spectra in galaxies billions of light-years away show the rules are consistent throughout the universe. (hedged) — 00:01:16

00:01:46 — The universe is young in time; life on Earth has existed for 27% of its lifetime

  • ★★★ Hank says the universe is astoundingly big, very possibly infinite, but not that big in time: 13.7 billion years is young compared to infinity and to its eventual lifespan. — 00:01:46
  • ★★★ Hank says life on Earth is one continual chemical system dating back 3.7 billion years. — 00:01:46 · Earth
  • ★★★ Hank says life on Earth, everything from brachiosaurus to BTS, has existed for 27% of the lifetime of the universe. — 00:02:15 · Earth

  • ★★★ Hank says that we do not take up much space, but we have taken up a lot of time: one way we are bigger than we think. — 00:02:15

    “We do not take up much space, but we have taken up a lot of time.”

  • ★★★ Hank says the vast majority of particles in the universe do not know they exist, have never wanted or found anything beautiful; those in systems with wants and sensations are so few they may as well be ignored. — 00:02:15

00:02:46 — Particles that know they exist; as many neurons in your head as stars in the Milky Way

  • ★★★ Hank says we can agree those particles should not be ignored, because they are strange, different and beautiful and know things about themselves and each other. — 00:02:46
  • ★★ Hank says your head holds about as many neurons as there are stars in the Milky Way; neurons are much smaller but more ordered, and arguably each is more complex than a star. — 00:03:15

  • ★★★ Hank says that if you think galaxies are amazing, just wait until you find out about you. — 00:03:15

    “If you think galaxies are amazing, just wait until you find out about you.”

00:03:37 — Not the only chemical system to build a telescope, but waking up is rare, and being part of it feels big; sign-off

  • ★★ Hank says we are not the only chemical system to have built a space telescope: the way he understands the universe, that is impossible. — 00:03:37
  • ★★ Hank says it does not seem very common for the universe to find paths toward waking up. (hedged) — 00:03:37
  • ★★★ Hank says being part of the universe waking up feels very big. — 00:03:37 · meaning of life

In the description and comments

  • ★ The description says Hank has been very grateful for these pictures this week (week of 11 July 2022) and can't stop thinking about them. — video description
  • ★★ In a comment Hank suggests that anyone who thinks this planet matters and wants to love life while helping others wake up every morning with coffee from AwesomeCoffeeClub.com. (playful) — creator comment · Awesome Coffee Club
  • ★★ In a comment Hank says his general feeling is that in an infinite universe nothing happens once, and the vast majority of occurrences were not the first. — creator comment
  • ★ Agreeing that life on Earth has existed for a proportionally long time, Hank says in a comment he had not realized it either and just did the math this week (week of 11 July 2022). — creator comment · Earth

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: consciousness · James Webb Space Telescope · life · meaning of life · universe

Also: Works: Webb's First Deep Field

Groups: BTS

Concepts: age of the universe · Brachiosaurus · extraterrestrial life · neuron · quantum field theory

Places: Cosmic Cliffs · Earth · Milky Way

Only in the description or credits: Awesome Coffee Club

Also centred on James Webb Space Telescope: Top 5 Awesome Things About the Webb Telescope · Can I be Space President? · It's HANKO DE MAYO!!!!! · 29 Days of Astronomical Terror

Also centred on life: Google Is Alive! · Nourished by Leaving · Are Languages Alive? · I Had a Hallucination This Week · Moon Joy

Also centred on universe: How Big is the Universe? · The Universe is Weird: A Song · Why Do Things Exist? · The Hottest Place and the Coldest Place in the Universe are the SAME PLACE

← Previous: Nauseous Puddle Water · Next → Why Do Things Exist?