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There is Only One Source of Value

2026-01-09 · letter vlog · Hank · 5:06 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Global development (also: Philosophy & meaning) · mode: Personal essay · tags: fundraising ask, calendar ritual

Replying to John's video on hope, Hank argues that since no one can predict the long-term effects of what we do (Fritz Haber, the internet), giving should not optimize for far-future people; the one reliable protection against harm is believing that all lives are equally valuable, a value we generate today that drives a better future, which is why the Project for Awesome backs Partners In Health and Save the Children; he announces P4A 2026 dates and asks for matching donors.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Reply to John's video: a hopeful worldview makes hopeful outcomes likelier

  • ★★ Hank agrees with John's point that believing in a hopeful worldview makes it more likely that hopeful things come to pass: he thinks it is probably right. (hedged) — 00:00:00 · John Green, hope
  • ★★ Hank says the effect is hard to tease out: at times hope becomes hard partly because hopeful outcomes are becoming less likely. — 00:00:00 · hope
  • ★★ Hank says Fritz Haber arguably saved the most lives in human history, though he was in fact intending to research how to blow people up better. (hedged) — 00:00:00

00:00:29 — We cannot predict the future: Fritz Haber and the global communication network

  • ★★★ Hank says we never really know what is going to result in what. — 00:00:29
  • ★★★ Hank would have guessed that a global network making it as easy to talk to someone in Nepal as to a neighbour would make the world more connected and empathetic; it has had on average the opposite effect. — 00:00:58 · empathy
  • ★★★ Hank says understanding in retrospect why that happened matters, but just as important is recognizing that no one can predict the future, especially more than ten years ahead. — 00:00:58
  • ★★ Hank reports that some people argue giving and philanthropy should optimize not only for people today but also for people who do not exist yet, many generations from now. — 00:00:58

00:01:27 — Against optimizing giving for far-future people; the belief that lives are equally valuable as the source of all value

  • ★★★ Hank calls this fine in theory, especially for concrete aims like keeping the Earth livable, but in his 45 years he has seen that we just don't know what will help people in the long term. — 00:01:27 · Earth
  • ★★★ Hank says the one thing very protective against harm to people is the belief that lives are valuable, and pushing back against our brains' belief that some lives are more valuable than others. — 00:01:56
  • ★★ Hank says some of this bias is inevitable: with a stranger on one track and his brother on the other, he would absolutely pull the lever, being a human, not a moral calculator. (playful) — 00:01:56 · John Green
  • ★★★ Hank warns that turning yourself into a moral calculator ignores the real path of progress: lives keep getting more valuable because people believe they are, and that value drives better lives. — 00:02:26 · progress
  • ★★ Hank says this progress did not come from someone applying moral calculus to the future, but simply because life is precious. — 00:02:55
  • ★★ Hank's first point: since we cannot predict the future, we are likely much better at achieving near-term goals, which are never a terrible focus. — 00:02:55
  • ★★★ Hank's second, more important point: focusing on nearer-term goals may actually be more likely to deliver the better future. (hedged) — 00:02:55
  • ★★★ Hank argues that, using today's resources, the more we fight to value people's lives, saving them and making them rich, the faster we reach a world that does not treat lives as cheap. — 00:03:24

  • ★★★ Hank says the value of life is not something we will discover in the future but something we generate and cultivate in the present. — 00:03:24

    “It's something that we generate and cultivate in the present.”

  • ★★★ Hank calls the value of life a resource that grows the more we insist it exists, and the base for literally all value creation. — 00:03:24

00:03:53 — Conclusion: valuing lives today builds the better future; why P4A works with Partners In Health and Save the Children

  • ★★★ Hank concludes that, as a hopeful worldview makes hopeful outcomes likelier, believing lives should be full, rich and long today is likely the most effective path to such a future. (hedged) — 00:03:53 · hope
  • ★★ Hank says that is why years ago the brothers began working with Partners In Health and Save the Children during the Project for Awesome: they reject the idea that some lives are worth more. — 00:03:53 · Partners In Health, Save the Children, Project for Awesome
  • ★★★ Hank says the Project for Awesome, a good and hopeful time every year, is just around the corner: February 13th to the 15th. — 00:03:53 · Project for Awesome

00:04:26 — P4A 2026 dates and the ask for matching donors; sign-off

  • ★★★ Hank asks those able to give more to become P4A matching donors (checks, stocks, donor-advised funds, credit cards, PayPal); matches can double, triple or quadruple donations during the livestream. — 00:04:26 · Project for Awesome

  • ★★ Hank closes: we do not need to wait; we make lives more valuable in the future by insisting that lives are more valuable today. — 00:04:56

    “We make lives more valuable in the future by insisting that lives are more valuable today.”

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description says matching donations of more than $500 are open until noon EST on Sunday, February 8, 2026 at projectforawesome.com/matching. — video description · Project for Awesome
  • ★★★ The description says anyone making people more comfortable with injustice by convincing them their lives are worth more than others' should be ostracized. — video description
  • ★★ In a channel comment Hank says he really thinks longtermism is deeply flawed but did not want to make a whole video about it. — creator comment

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: longtermism · value of life

Also: People: Fritz Haber

Projects: Project for Awesome

Organizations: Partners In Health · PayPal · Save the Children

Concepts: empathy · hope · Internet · progress · trolley problem · utilitarianism

Places: Nepal

Also centred on value of life: Google Is Alive! · How Much is a Human Life Worth?

Replies to

  • continues · Hope Is Not a Feeling — “In your video this week, you were talking about how believing in a hopeful worldview actually makes it more likely that the hopeful stuff will come to pass.”

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