You Cannot Trust Yourself (Hank's End of the Year Worries)

2022-12-23 · letter vlog · Hank · 3:55 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Internet & YouTube (also: Books & writing) · mode: Personal essay

In his last video of 2022, replying to John's video on his books, Hank says fiction (Peter and Altus) shows how easily people reason their way to what they want; since internet platforms reward him with joy and attention, he cannot trust his own instincts about them and resolves to engage with problems rather than create them, erring toward quiet when unsure.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Last video of 2022; thanks John for his thoughts on Hank's books; fiction as a place to find insight

★★ Hank thanks John for sharing thoughts about Hank's books. — 00:00:00 · John Green
★★ Hank says he wrote his first book to show more clearly what the internet is actually like, and his second is more about what he thinks it is going to be like. — 00:00:00 · An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor
★★ Hank finds it legitimately weird to watch parallels to his second book come true. — 00:00:00 · A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor
★★ Hank thinks fiction, writing and reading are a good place for insight: Elon Musk and Twitter bury him in details, but his character Peter and Altus he understands. — 00:00:00 · Twitter

00:00:44 — Peter and Altus: people manufacture reasons to get what they hunger for and believe what they want to believe

★★★ Hank says it is very easy to manufacture whatever reasoning you need to get what you hunger for, and the list of hungers is short: food, water, air, joy, sex, meaning, love. — 00:00:44
★★ So it makes sense for a character to do the opposite of what he championed his whole public life to gain status, because status brings him meaning. — 00:00:44
★★★ Hank says research shows we are very bad at arguing with ourselves and almost always end up believing what we want to believe. — 00:01:15
★★★ That is fun to say about others but uncomfortable about ourselves; it is true of all of us and worth remembering in a fast-changing new year. — 00:01:15

00:01:38 — Hank cannot trust his instincts about platforms that reward him; he resolves to engage with problems and err toward quiet

★★ Hank says he is very good at becoming whatever a platform wants him to be: he got good at YouTube, Twitter and TikTok, and just had the top toot of the day on Mastodon. — 00:01:38 · YouTube, Twitter, TikTok
★★★ Because platforms bring him joy, connection, meaning and attention, Hank finds it hard to trust his instincts about whether to spend time there: he is arguing with a self that wants to. — 00:01:38
★★★ Hank asks whether to just follow what interests him, as in the channel's first ten years, or keep wondering if algorithms hack his pro-social biology toward misinformation and loneliness; he needs both. — 00:02:16 · recommender system
★★ That is annoying personal work on his motives and responsibilities; it sucks to feel conflicted about what brings you joy, but progress needs talking about problems. (playful) — 00:02:37
★★★ Hank thinks never seeing anything without simultaneously critiquing it does damage: there is room for critique, but you can also love it, and room for improvement is not evil. — 00:02:59
★★★ Hank concludes he must use internet platforms to engage with problems rather than create them, to do work rather than deepen conflict, and to err toward quiet when unsure. — 00:02:59
★★ When unsure whether a post is good, the self deciding is the one about to gain attention and status; Hank asks himself whether he is unsure or just won't look too hard. (playful) — 00:03:28

In the description and comments

★★ The description says Hank cut a section complaining about people who ignore their impact and are surprised by anger, realizing it was exactly what he means to stop doing. — video description

Threads in this video

restate · Is the internet, including social media, good for people? — Hank asks whether to just follow what interests him, as in the channel's first ten years, or keep wondering if algorithms hack his pro-social biology toward misinformation and loneliness; he needs both. (00:02:16)
restate · Does having influence (role model, big platform) bring special responsibility? — Hank concludes he must use internet platforms to engage with problems rather than create them, to do work rather than deepen conflict, and to err toward quiet when unsure. (00:02:59)
mentioned · Hank joins TikTok and posts several TikToks a day (2020) — Hank says he is very good at becoming whatever a platform wants him to be: he got good at YouTube, Twitter and TikTok, and just had the top toot of the day on Mastodon. (00:01:38)

Mentioned

Central: motivated reasoning

Also: People: Elon Musk

Works: A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor · An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

Organizations: Mastodon (social network) · TikTok · Twitter · YouTube

Concepts: loneliness · misinformation · recommender system

Characters: Altus · Peter Petrawicki

Also centred on motivated reasoning: The Liger Delusion · How We Form Opinions

Replies to

continues · The Best Books Get Better — “John, I'm very grateful to you for sharing some thoughts about my books.”

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