If meaning is defined by the things you find meaningful, there's really no need to construct your own meaning. The perception of meaning is deeply embedded into human nature: even if it's ultimately an illusion, it's almost impossible to EXPERIENCE it as illusory. It's like colour: a quality imposed on the objective things in the world that you can't help but experience, even if in some sense it "doesn't exist." Human beings across cultures mostly agree about the things that are deeply meaningful. Family is meaningful. Relationships are meaningful. The articulation of great truths is meaningful. Bettering the human condition is meaningful. It takes a particular conscious twisting of these things to see them as meaningless; far from needing construction, meaning is the default state. Jordan Peterson argues that this is because meaning is the evolved intuition by which human beings recognize modes of being that are life-giving and rejuvenating for the individual, the community and society; especially those that remain effective across time and circumstance (because those have formed a consistent evolutionary pressure). We see meaning for the same reason we see colour: In the end, it helps us survive and thrive.
acapellascience The problem I find with this is I am in constant war against my humanity. Though it may by default provide me with meaning, it also causes me to sit in front of my computer for hours on end watching mindless UA-cam videos. In my eyes humanity is a curse rather than a blessing. This leads me to rely on logic, which works well most of the time, except of course when it comes to the problem of ultimate meaning.
That's interesting. I found that I say "I don't know" far too often, when I do in fact know. So while I attempt to avoid unecessarily denying knowledge, you strive to intentionally acknowledge your ignorance. There's probably a fine balance to find.
I LAUGH & CRY For Fun I'd use it as a way to postpone answering. Kind of like a stutter. It's a bad habit I want to break. Because of this, it's a bit amusing to me to hear someone intentionally say it more.
I used to do this all the time because I don't like the feeling of saying words... people noticed and after a while it became easier to just answer the question rather than sit through all the follow up questions they would ask.
Julia Smith, I'm no psychiatrist, but I would imagine that if you learn how to become unapologetically you, then you will no longer have the need for unnecessary "I don't know"s. Just a thought, I don't know. ;)
Absolute oblivion isn't that bad. Just think about near-absolute oblivion, where everything except your mind is destroyed and you're stuck perceiving a void for eternity. Oh, crap. Why did I think about that?
Oh, my god, right!? I had a similar thought maybe a year ago or so in which when you die you're like still in your body, but you can't move or anything like that. And then they bury you! And now you're stuck there forever! I actually got some quite bad anxiety from that thought for a few weeks. Aaahh, don't you just love death, uncertainty, and anxiety?
I'd love to see a Crash Course: Literature that explores less "literary" modern books but modern books that have had a huge impact on our culture, a la Harry Potter.
The48cats We actually studied the Philosopher's Stone at A-level- comparing it to Tom Brown's Schooldays as an example of the Bildungsroman. The first Harry Potter especially is much more about public school than magic.
I don't know, I feel like crash course is primarily an aid for students in literature and language classes... You don't really read Harry Potter in AP lit. However, it'd be cool if you made your own channel analyzing those kinds of books!
Erica Croft I took both AP Lit and Lang years ago, yet I still watch CC; on behalf of slightly older nerdfighters, I fully support this idea of examining works that aren't what would usually be considered "of great literary merit."
Bruce Dunn but in that case Butler only did it under Artemis's direct order. So while the butler is always to blame, the social order where a 12 year old is allowed to have a almost unfailingly fateful, highly OP man servent should really take the credit.
grayseeroly Finland doesn't do homework and they're said to be the most thriving in regards with they're country's education. if this is inaccurate I'd be happy to know? lol
Absolute oblivion would be one of my greatest fears as well. The only thing you can do is not think to much about it, just realize it's meaningless to do so. Well, John has probably already come to that conclusion too. John, you deserve a lot of credit for daring to speak about these topics to the public. I find it very hard to talk about with others as it often makes either them or me uncomfortable. Thank you for your awsome videos!
Ok. But what if there is a meaning of life outside myself and I don’t do it? Like if I spend my whole life doing what I want and not furthering a better thing instead?
@@mayawaalkes3591 Anything better than self happiness. Maybe afterlife. Or it could be furthering a humanitarian cause like world peace or something. Either there is meaning to life or there is no meaning to life. Right? Is it possible for an in between? If there is no in between and there is no meaning to life, then it would be better to say, "Life is ultimately meaningless." Then to say, "Make up your own meaning." Or if there is a meaning to life, then do that. In either case, "Do you what makes you happy" or "the meaning of life is subjective" seems to be a shortcut that ovoids the real question. Either there is meaning to life or there is no meaning to life. Which is it?
@@leprekhantar347 there is no meaning to life. Whatever your meaning to life might be I can say why it isn't a good meaning to your life, so life is inherently meaningless. There's no meaning to human suffering nor is there meaning for greatest human achievements, as all of them are going to be swept by time and be forgotten in the infinite void of the universe. There's no afterlife, no god or gods, or any reason to exist at all, no higher purpose to dedicate yourself to. Isn't that a liberating idea? You're not meant to be happy you're meant to exist, so why not make your own existence a happy one? There is no meaning to your greatest achivements but there's also no meaning for your greatest failure, so why not try things for their own sake no matter how embarassing or pointless they maight be? There's no meaning to your greatest connection with another person but so there's no meaning to your greatest rival, so why not do things as you like instead of listening to people and how they think you should live? Not only that but it also doesn't stop you from having your own moral compass. It isn't based something solid and defined like religion or ideology, but I like to think that because of that your compass can be as flexible as you want it to be. It really all depends on what you base your compass around, if your basis is compassion then your compass will be as flexible as the amount of suffering you are not able to tolerate. In other words, you have the flexibility to adapt to changing times without having to sacrafice your morality. Nihilism is the greatest philosophy that had been developed in recent times as it allows for the progress of human wisdom. But so many people reject it, due to stigmas that are often untrue.
@@leprekhantar347 i would not say it’s a shortcut necessarily for me for example I first had that belief that there is absolutely no meaning to life when I abandoned religion as my worldview and it actually took me quite a while to come to the mindset of „well why not make my own meaning then?“. I do believe ultimately it doesn’t inherently have any meaning we are just crumbs of dust on a space rock in a vast universe after all, but that meaninglessness and aimlessness is a way to just make existence more miserable in my experience. But if it is meaningless, that to me suggests that every meaning we add to it is valid in its own right, every beauty of life you find every purpose you aspire to no matter how useless in the grand scheme of things is that little more meaning to keep living another day. Maybe you could still say it’s an easy way out of a heavy dilemma but finding that meaning is a challenge in itself much less just drifting without it where you have no real significant reason to keep on going
0:20 I like John Green's explanation. He doesn't dismiss the possibility of an intrinsic meaning in life, but instead states that those who don't find one can still make their own meaning/purpose for life.
Hey, Nerdfighters! Guess who got her Uni Degree today?? No more homework and exams for me!! (for now, at least) Now I can watch all the UA-cam videos I want without that nagging feeling (a.k.a. guilt).
Wait until the existentialist angst sets in. Then every youtube video you watch will make you feel guilty and you won't know WHY!! Oh yeah, sorry, congratulations.
are 43, white river and 'i don't know' clues? because i know for sure that your book has something to do with the white river, you said it in a previous question tuesday video!
+ Or how about he just does a full crash course on fantasy literature. Wouldn't that be great? Book series like Lord of the Rings or A Song of Ice and Fire.
Ideas for next season of CC Lit: Franz Kafka, maybe Samuel Beckett et. al., fairy tales, late 1800s-early 1900s Russian authors, non-Western literature more broadly.
Excellent ideas! In general more non-English literature would be way cool. The history of literature is more like a mesh of multilingual ideas than a linear timeline of anglospheric events.
Wow I thought this was going to be a big serious video about life and meaning so I avoided it yesterday while my mind was overloaded but to my surprise it was pleasant and lighthearted and exactly what I needed today!
If you ever want to look at that "Do my thoughts comprise my self?" problem I highly recommend roleplay. It won't get you any close to a definitive answer but the juxtaposition of "These are my thoughts, they came from my brain and are influenced by my past" and "These are not my thoughts, they are of by and for a person that does not exist in response to a situation that does not exist and informed by a past that does not exist" provides some interesting insights.
I thought the number 43 was a reference to Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, but then I realized that it was number 42... the meaning of life, the universe and everything. Which, ironically, would have answered your question of the meaning of life as well.
Re: Crash Course Literature, please read East of Eden! It's been the most important and influential piece of literature that I've ever read (over and over again). I still reflect on it all the time. Most recently, relating to this insane amount of rain we've been getting in California, I thought of this quote: “During the dry years, the people forgot about the rich years, and when the wet years returned, they lost all memory of the dry years. It was always that way.”
It's weird how universe works sometimes.. This morning i randomly started thinking about The Kite Runner(which I read almost a year ago..) and it's night, now, i come to watch this video on yt instead of doing other works i should have been doing.. AND then I come across a comment talking about The Kite Runner! Wow! I mean, what were the odds! I love Hosseini's works, btw.. I haven't been quite the same after A thousand splendid suns and The kite runner, and that for good, i daresay
Had a long and slightly crappy day but the end of this video really made me smile. Also, I'm a Religious Studies teacher (partly thanks to you,John) and I am definitely going to show my classes the fire analogy. I love it!
What should we read in Literature 4? The Awakening by Kate Chopin. Huxley's Brave New World. Or, how about Daniel Quinn's Ishmael? Thank you person who reads all these comments for your 10 seconds - I bet you see a lot of interesting ideas and probably some not so interesting comments too...
Hi, John. Fellow Hoosier here and I am actually working on one of the largest construction project in Indiana that will help make the White River less of an open sewer.
Then people can start the argument of "that's why we have kids" and "life is beautiful because it doesn't last forever." Life is "meaningless" not because we eventually die, but because the word "meaning" itself is a religious term that is based solely on our emotion, not logic.
A duel between failing everybody in my life and them hating me and having a big enough impact that i either win an election or my b-day is a google doodle.
42 isn't the meaning of life, it's simply the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything. As to what the question is - I don't know.
I agree with and appreciate almost everything in this video. "I don't know," though, is more complicated than you've painted it. I understand the idea behind why you guys have lately been really into the phrase lately, and I totally agree that it is important to acknowledge when you don't know things rather than to make up stuff and pretend you're right about everything or that you're capable of understanding everything. However, there are dangers to overusing it also. It is wise, to an extent, to say "I don't know," but it can become too easy an answer, the lazy answer, the replacement for having to think about the question, to speculate, to imagine. I prefer "I don't know, but here is what I think the answer may potentially be, or here is how we may find out the answer." And "I don't know" is vague and has so many dimensions to it; what do you not know? Why do you not know it? Do you not know or are you using that as a device to end the conversation? How could you reword it to make it more precise? Allowing yourself to say it and leave it at that, while it is okay in some situations, and definitely a thing some people need to work on saying more, for others it may be a phrase that is actually overused, and perhaps encouraging the use of "I don't know" is not always a good thing. Communication takes effort, as does knowledge. But I do understand where the joke is coming from in the case of the vlogbrothers; *cough* Hank *cough* --jk. This is just a thing that has come up a few times in my personal relationships over the years, and as we are always trying to learn to communicate with each other more effectively, I figured it might be useful to give a different perspective on it here.
I heart "I don't know." I definitely consider it an underutilized phrase myself. I like it because so often it's maybe the most accurate thing a person can say to a given prompt, plus it can cut through the need to be perceived as correct. I like the idea so much that when I go against my better judgement and argue with people on the internet about politics, I'll assume that other people probably don't know either. Like, "I'm not an expert in international economics (and I'm pretty sure no one reading this is either)..." and then I'll go on to make my point using whatever limited information I think most people can agree on. ...Idk if I've ever even softened someone's views, but I hope to show people a good way to argue civilly and as correctly as possible.
How can you be so intelligent, funny, and HUMAN all at once? I want to be like you when I grow up. ...I'm 31. I don't think I'm going to make it. BUT! I'm closer than I would be if you didn't post these :) Thank you for existing ❤
Oh John, I love how you started with the meaning of life and yet by the end of the video managed to find yourself at the event horizon of a nihilistic spiral. Never before has "Hank, I will see you on Friday" sounded so ominous!
I can see it now Crash Course English literature Intro and table of contents in video one a brief history of olde English parts 1 & 2 Shakespearian grammar Grammar of speech/dialogue in English from Mark Twain through today MLA formatting and standardized grammar rules today
It might be a bad idea. English is my first language and I just learned it cause its the language of my whole family. However, whenever I try and learn something new whether it was biochem, math, Spanish, I always had to learn the rules and terminology first and figure things out from there through trial and error and practice. I wasn't great at working backwards if I didn't first know the rules. It seems like a terrible way to try and learn something
Love your wedding criteria!!! Also, I'd recommend you read 'The God of Small Things' by Arundhati Roy. It's spiritual and political and fulfilling and so incredibly intensely beautifully written. I have yet to read as great a book, and I'm quite well read.
I invited a famous author+spouse I had met a few times to my wedding AND THEY CAME. It was such a magical day and the fact that they cared enough to come meant even more.
It was Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon. They're pretty private people so at first I was hesitant to call them out, but in retrospect it probably doesn't matter that much.
I love Mercedes Lackey! I particularly love the Valdemar books! I can't believe I found another Mercedes Lackey fan :) I haven't been able to find any irl (I realize this is a belated response - I'm doing a lot of that atm, sorry :/)
Hi John. I work for AT&T in their business division and I can tell you that money can in fact buy you freedom from Comcast. If you consider yourself a business and your house the location that you run your business out of, you could qualify for business internet. What that means is that AT&T could build out your own fiber line to your house. This would come with service level agreements that would guarantee the speed you pay for, a certain level of jitter, and the internet will be up 99.999% of the time or we will start paying you back for the time down. The reason people have to unplug and then re-plug their router is because they were kicked off the internet. They were kicked off because people on residential internet share their connection with everyone in their vicinity. If there is a high traffic time, you will be kicked off. However, if you want dedicated business level internet for you house, is doesn't come cheap. We are talking $550+ a month depending on what speed you want. My point is, it's possible to have consistent internet that doesn't go down. You just have to want it badly enough to pay for it.
Growing up "I don't know" kind of became my catch phrase in a way. It drove my parents and sister crazy though because before I even started to answer a question they would say "don't say 'I don't know'! "
I don't know if John thought about this, but "I don't know" is VERY common at the high school level. There it is used as a cop out (is that how the expression goes?) rather than John's intended honest admittance of being in the dark about something.
The thing that makes "I don't know" so powerful is that it should encourage you to follow it up with "but let me find out!" Humanity has only ever made progress by people not knowing something, and then striving to fix that. That's why I love the internet so much: it offers delayed conversations so that I can say "I don't know", but then go find the answer before I respond to people, thus making it seem like I always know everything after all :P
So, I've been catching up on Dear Hank and John and just finished Crash Course: Philosophy. When I scanned UA-cam for today's update, I saw the title and immediately went, "ahh, this question again."
I find the meaninglessness of the universe and life and everything so calming. Like i'm never going to know, do, or see everything. Most people don't think of me or will remember be the way I think i want them to but potentially ANYTHING exists. Like anything you can imagine and everything you can't EXISTS and it can never not exist because we will never understand everything. That's beautiful. And i could die to day but who cares because The universe is insane and i got to be aware of its existence or potential nonexistence. I have nothing to live up to or achieve but I have the ability to achieve whatever I want! It's just amazing.
For crash course's new season, I humbly recommend 'The Myth of Sisyphus' by Albert Camus. Works by Robert Frost. 'Brave New World' by Aldous Huxley. 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower' by Stephen Chbosky. 'Animal Farm' by George Orwell. happy reading John!
I say I don't know quite often, because being thirteen, I only have had thirteen years of knowing. I actually wish I could have more concrete thoughts and decisions than loosely based ones. However, I really do appreciate you acceptance of not knowing.
In response to my earnest invitation to my wedding, my brother said, "I think we both know I won't be coming". I hear you about the unnecessary "of courses" of the world.
this man..yes this..he made me cry.....that novel...the fault in my stars ...omg....one of my favorite novel...he is my favorite writer.....i love him...
John, I hope you see this comment. "Why have people become so obsessed with being right, rather than developing richer ways of thinking?" The question is a little confused because if people were really obsessed with being right, where being right is correspondence to reality, then they would, as a consequence, develop richer ways of thinking, and eagerly change their beliefs when presented with evidence that contradicts their current beliefs. But, as the question implies, and from my own observations, they don't do that. So a better phrasing is "people are more obsessed with having right/truth/reality be what they already think it is, than with actually being right." A remedy to this is, as you know, saying "I don't know" more often, but I don't think you go far enough. A better method is to replace the qualitative way of thinking, with its three degrees of certainty: "I am right", "I don't know", and "I am wrong", with a quantitative way, with its uncountably infinite degrees of certainty. To take an example: your last statement, "I don't know for sure whether I'll see you on Friday, but I hope I do". Following the qualitative way, you're right, you don't know about Friday, because you can't predict the future. But following the quantitative way, the fact that you have consistently posted videos on time for the past ten years, and whatever little knowledge you may possess about your plans for Friday, can and should lead you to say, "I'm 80% certain I'll see you on Friday." (Here, 20% certainty is reserved for unforeseen circumstances.) This makes for a much more accurate statement. Consequently, the only valid usage of "hope" is about events you have no control over, such as "John, I hope you see this comment."
I say for the next crash course literature it would be cool if you let the viewers choose what you read, create a poll with a list of books and put it to a vote.
"if nothing that we do matters, then all that matters is what we do"
Hey, it's the Angel Koan! My favorite of the koans...
Katytastic That doesn't make any sense.
Katytastic Kat! :)
basically whatever you want to matter, does
KAT!!! :-)
1:45 *my fiance someday is really going to wonder why I'm so insistent on Indianapolis for our wedding..*
Dan Smoke +
And an open bar
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This is deeper than my future university debt.
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N J Allan more like my current university debt haha
N J Allan and that's saying something
Maybe that you don't necessarily have to go that route?
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Life is a meme. No one asks for it, children love it, old people dont understand it, and its lack of purpose is its purpose.
This is beautiful and I am going to use it from now on. Thanks!
well said
Sure
There is actually something beautiful about the phrase "I don't know". It calls to mind wonder, and wonder is a step away from magic.
LA Fresh Life Best quote ever! I'm going to use this a lot :D
Is that like a double meaning of the word wonder? :)
I don't know.
I agree, especially here on UA-cam, where so many people claim to know everything about aliens, demons, bigfoot, you name it.
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If meaning is defined by the things you find meaningful, there's really no need to construct your own meaning. The perception of meaning is deeply embedded into human nature: even if it's ultimately an illusion, it's almost impossible to EXPERIENCE it as illusory. It's like colour: a quality imposed on the objective things in the world that you can't help but experience, even if in some sense it "doesn't exist."
Human beings across cultures mostly agree about the things that are deeply meaningful. Family is meaningful. Relationships are meaningful. The articulation of great truths is meaningful. Bettering the human condition is meaningful. It takes a particular conscious twisting of these things to see them as meaningless; far from needing construction, meaning is the default state. Jordan Peterson argues that this is because meaning is the evolved intuition by which human beings recognize modes of being that are life-giving and rejuvenating for the individual, the community and society; especially those that remain effective across time and circumstance (because those have formed a consistent evolutionary pressure). We see meaning for the same reason we see colour: In the end, it helps us survive and thrive.
acapellascience The problem I find with this is I am in constant war against my humanity. Though it may by default provide me with meaning, it also causes me to sit in front of my computer for hours on end watching mindless UA-cam videos. In my eyes humanity is a curse rather than a blessing. This leads me to rely on logic, which works well most of the time, except of course when it comes to the problem of ultimate meaning.
Samuel Butler do you have any further insight on this
That's interesting. I found that I say "I don't know" far too often, when I do in fact know. So while I attempt to avoid unecessarily denying knowledge, you strive to intentionally acknowledge your ignorance.
There's probably a fine balance to find.
why would you intentionally say I don't know, when you do?
I LAUGH & CRY For Fun I'd use it as a way to postpone answering. Kind of like a stutter. It's a bad habit I want to break. Because of this, it's a bit amusing to me to hear someone intentionally say it more.
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I used to do this all the time because I don't like the feeling of saying words... people noticed and after a while it became easier to just answer the question rather than sit through all the follow up questions they would ask.
Julia Smith, I'm no psychiatrist, but I would imagine that if you learn how to become unapologetically you, then you will no longer have the need for unnecessary "I don't know"s. Just a thought, I don't know. ;)
Absolute oblivion isn't that bad. Just think about near-absolute oblivion, where everything except your mind is destroyed and you're stuck perceiving a void for eternity.
Oh, crap. Why did I think about that?
Actually, close your eyes and count to 1. That's how long forever feels.
That would be hella boring
Oh, my god, right!? I had a similar thought maybe a year ago or so in which when you die you're like still in your body, but you can't move or anything like that. And then they bury you! And now you're stuck there forever! I actually got some quite bad anxiety from that thought for a few weeks. Aaahh, don't you just love death, uncertainty, and anxiety?
Why DID you think that🥺🥺🥺
That fire analogy is actually a pretty thought provoking one!
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+ up you go!
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I'd love to see a Crash Course: Literature that explores less "literary" modern books but modern books that have had a huge impact on our culture, a la Harry Potter.
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The48cats We actually studied the Philosopher's Stone at A-level- comparing it to Tom Brown's Schooldays as an example of the Bildungsroman. The first Harry Potter especially is much more about public school than magic.
I don't know, I feel like crash course is primarily an aid for students in literature and language classes... You don't really read Harry Potter in AP lit. However, it'd be cool if you made your own channel analyzing those kinds of books!
Erica Croft I took both AP Lit and Lang years ago, yet I still watch CC; on behalf of slightly older nerdfighters, I fully support this idea of examining works that aren't what would usually be considered "of great literary merit."
John, if you are struggling with the end of your book always remember "the butler did it":
I like to imagine that book is about a butler trying to achieve his dreams.
Zuzu Superfly
Go team Butler!
+Bruce Dunn Artemis fowl?
Aditya Khanna
No, not *that* Butler. Fairynapping is a real crime that should be punished.
Bruce Dunn but in that case Butler only did it under Artemis's direct order. So while the butler is always to blame, the social order where a 12 year old is allowed to have a almost unfailingly fateful, highly OP man servent should really take the credit.
You and your brother are such a joy. I'm grateful for your existence.
This is me at 2am when I should be doing homework.
Charlie Snowball and I have a mid tomorrow :/
If its 2am you should not be doing your homework.
Not everyone lives on a 9-5 schedule. Do your homework in the best time that you can, but do try to get enough sleep. You'll think better.
grayseeroly Finland doesn't do homework and they're said to be the most thriving in regards with they're country's education. if this is inaccurate I'd be happy to know? lol
"should"
Absolute oblivion would be one of my greatest fears as well. The only thing you can do is not think to much about it, just realize it's meaningless to do so. Well, John has probably already come to that conclusion too.
John, you deserve a lot of credit for daring to speak about these topics to the public. I find it very hard to talk about with others as it often makes either them or me uncomfortable. Thank you for your awsome videos!
The meaning of life is simply to live it. Do what makes you happy. Do what you want. Do what you can.
Ok. But what if there is a meaning of life outside myself and I don’t do it? Like if I spend my whole life doing what I want and not furthering a better thing instead?
@@leprekhantar347 What do you mean by living for a better thing? like a mission? god?
@@mayawaalkes3591 Anything better than self happiness. Maybe afterlife. Or it could be furthering a humanitarian cause like world peace or something.
Either there is meaning to life or there is no meaning to life. Right? Is it possible for an in between?
If there is no in between and there is no meaning to life, then it would be better to say, "Life is ultimately meaningless." Then to say, "Make up your own meaning."
Or if there is a meaning to life, then do that.
In either case, "Do you what makes you happy" or "the meaning of life is subjective" seems to be a shortcut that ovoids the real question.
Either there is meaning to life or there is no meaning to life. Which is it?
@@leprekhantar347 there is no meaning to life. Whatever your meaning to life might be I can say why it isn't a good meaning to your life, so life is inherently meaningless. There's no meaning to human suffering nor is there meaning for greatest human achievements, as all of them are going to be swept by time and be forgotten in the infinite void of the universe. There's no afterlife, no god or gods, or any reason to exist at all, no higher purpose to dedicate yourself to.
Isn't that a liberating idea? You're not meant to be happy you're meant to exist, so why not make your own existence a happy one? There is no meaning to your greatest achivements but there's also no meaning for your greatest failure, so why not try things for their own sake no matter how embarassing or pointless they maight be? There's no meaning to your greatest connection with another person but so there's no meaning to your greatest rival, so why not do things as you like instead of listening to people and how they think you should live?
Not only that but it also doesn't stop you from having your own moral compass. It isn't based something solid and defined like religion or ideology, but I like to think that because of that your compass can be as flexible as you want it to be. It really all depends on what you base your compass around, if your basis is compassion then your compass will be as flexible as the amount of suffering you are not able to tolerate. In other words, you have the flexibility to adapt to changing times without having to sacrafice your morality.
Nihilism is the greatest philosophy that had been developed in recent times as it allows for the progress of human wisdom. But so many people reject it, due to stigmas that are often untrue.
@@leprekhantar347 i would not say it’s a shortcut necessarily for me for example I first had that belief that there is absolutely no meaning to life when I abandoned religion as my worldview and it actually took me quite a while to come to the mindset of „well why not make my own meaning then?“. I do believe ultimately it doesn’t inherently have any meaning we are just crumbs of dust on a space rock in a vast universe after all, but that meaninglessness and aimlessness is a way to just make existence more miserable in my experience. But if it is meaningless, that to me suggests that every meaning we add to it is valid in its own right, every beauty of life you find every purpose you aspire to no matter how useless in the grand scheme of things is that little more meaning to keep living another day. Maybe you could still say it’s an easy way out of a heavy dilemma but finding that meaning is a challenge in itself much less just drifting without it where you have no real significant reason to keep on going
0:20
I like John Green's explanation. He doesn't dismiss the possibility of an intrinsic meaning in life, but instead states that those who don't find one can still make their own meaning/purpose for life.
Hey, Nerdfighters! Guess who got her Uni Degree today?? No more homework and exams for me!! (for now, at least) Now I can watch all the UA-cam videos I want without that nagging feeling (a.k.a. guilt).
wow good job! nice going!
Please tell me that you didn't graduate from the humanities.
Wait until the existentialist angst sets in. Then every youtube video you watch will make you feel guilty and you won't know WHY!!
Oh yeah, sorry, congratulations.
Sort of... Translation Studies :D . But University works differently in Argentina.
How so?
Kids, don't try the I don't know method on your math tests...trust me.
'Meaning of life' is very subjective. You make the meaning of your *own life*
schlöer grape meaning of life is inherently a metaphor. People aren't books or other means of communication, so we can't have meaning.
Joshua Hillerup why is that books can have 'Meaning', and not human life? It depends on how you define 'meaning'
Death is only the end if you think the story is about you.
we arent the scriptures. we are the interpreters
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I love how John's voice goes "I'm Batman" at the end of each sentence.
are 43, white river and 'i don't know' clues? because i know for sure that your book has something to do with the white river, you said it in a previous question tuesday video!
43 is, try wikipedia
which wikipedia?? I'm so lost, there's no pinned comment on this video...
starfirenonie yeah idk about this one. I haven't noticed any differences in the background...
Can you do LOTR for the next crash course literature??
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Or how about he just does a full crash course on fantasy literature. Wouldn't that be great?
Book series like Lord of the Rings or A Song of Ice and Fire.
supershinigami1 yes, even better. I like the sound of this.
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I was sitting here wondering "Why doesn't this have *WAY more comments*?"... then I saw it was just released 1 minute ago! 😀💯
SAME!
This fire metaphor didn't answer my questions, but at least it made them valid. Thank you John, I'll see you next Tuesday
Ideas for next season of CC Lit: Franz Kafka, maybe Samuel Beckett et. al., fairy tales, late 1800s-early 1900s Russian authors, non-Western literature more broadly.
old fairy tales would be amazing!
RastafarianPilgrim how about some Spanish language writers?
Like Ruben Dario or the magical realism guys
Excellent ideas! In general more non-English literature would be way cool. The history of literature is more like a mesh of multilingual ideas than a linear timeline of anglospheric events.
Fairy tales and folklore are so important to literature, but they get so little love!
Goethe's Faust is another good read.
Wow I thought this was going to be a big serious video about life and meaning so I avoided it yesterday while my mind was overloaded but to my surprise it was pleasant and lighthearted and exactly what I needed today!
Is 43 the next clue? I'm thinking Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy...
notmystory i am pretty sure the next clue is 69
notmystory The special number from HHGTTG was 42, not 43.
Devin Ward you're right! my bad!
I thought that was strange too, why 43? Do you think it was a clue that it was 43 instead of 42, or is that too meta even for John?
Amanda Graef May be the clue is +1...
That's something I loved about the Freakonomics books (especially Think Like a Freak) is that they encourage people to say that they don't know.
I love how your videos are always both painfully depressing and astonishingly amusing
If you ever want to look at that "Do my thoughts comprise my self?" problem I highly recommend roleplay. It won't get you any close to a definitive answer but the juxtaposition of "These are my thoughts, they came from my brain and are influenced by my past" and "These are not my thoughts, they are of by and for a person that does not exist in response to a situation that does not exist and informed by a past that does not exist" provides some interesting insights.
I thought the number 43 was a reference to Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, but then I realized that it was number 42... the meaning of life, the universe and everything. Which, ironically, would have answered your question of the meaning of life as well.
He just one-upped my favourite author.
Re: Crash Course Literature, please read East of Eden! It's been the most important and influential piece of literature that I've ever read (over and over again). I still reflect on it all the time. Most recently, relating to this insane amount of rain we've been getting in California, I thought of this quote: “During the dry years, the people forgot about the rich years, and when the wet years returned, they lost all memory of the dry years. It was always that way.”
I don't know what to comment.
ItTakesII same
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ItTakesII You actually do.
I see what you did there... good one.
Anything but "I don't know what to comment." would be good
I love how this is clearly inspired by yesterday's dear hank and john, it shows that he really takes what they talk about to heart.
You should read The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini for next crash course literature!
It's weird how universe works sometimes.. This morning i randomly started thinking about The Kite Runner(which I read almost a year ago..) and it's night, now, i come to watch this video on yt instead of doing other works i should have been doing.. AND then I come across a comment talking about The Kite Runner! Wow! I mean, what were the odds!
I love Hosseini's works, btw.. I haven't been quite the same after A thousand splendid suns and The kite runner, and that for good, i daresay
Had a long and slightly crappy day but the end of this video really made me smile. Also, I'm a Religious Studies teacher (partly thanks to you,John) and I am definitely going to show my classes the fire analogy. I love it!
What should we read in Literature 4? The Awakening by Kate Chopin. Huxley's Brave New World. Or, how about Daniel Quinn's Ishmael? Thank you person who reads all these comments for your 10 seconds - I bet you see a lot of interesting ideas and probably some not so interesting comments too...
I love "I don't know." Some people find it unsatisfying but I appreciate the honesty.
Hey, I think you should do Crash Course literature on 'Heart of Darkness' because who doesn't love the depressing/existentially horrifying?
+1 for Heart of Darkness
Samuel Wirt +
Hi, John. Fellow Hoosier here and I am actually working on one of the largest construction project in Indiana that will help make the White River less of an open sewer.
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I'm a very sarcastic person so when I saw the video title my first thought was "No."
You're not only sarcastic but correct.
life is meaningless, in the end we all die.
Then people can start the argument of "that's why we have kids" and "life is beautiful because it doesn't last forever." Life is "meaningless" not because we eventually die, but because the word "meaning" itself is a religious term that is based solely on our emotion, not logic.
A duel between failing everybody in my life and them hating me and having a big enough impact that i either win an election or my b-day is a google doodle.
43???????????????? The literal title of the video is about the meaning of life. 42 JOHN 4-2.!!!
42 isn't the meaning of life, it's simply the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything. As to what the question is - I don't know.
Jess Wagstrom That was a fantastically relevant comment. Thank you for making my day!
I agree with and appreciate almost everything in this video. "I don't know," though, is more complicated than you've painted it. I understand the idea behind why you guys have lately been really into the phrase lately, and I totally agree that it is important to acknowledge when you don't know things rather than to make up stuff and pretend you're right about everything or that you're capable of understanding everything. However, there are dangers to overusing it also. It is wise, to an extent, to say "I don't know," but it can become too easy an answer, the lazy answer, the replacement for having to think about the question, to speculate, to imagine. I prefer "I don't know, but here is what I think the answer may potentially be, or here is how we may find out the answer." And "I don't know" is vague and has so many dimensions to it; what do you not know? Why do you not know it? Do you not know or are you using that as a device to end the conversation? How could you reword it to make it more precise? Allowing yourself to say it and leave it at that, while it is okay in some situations, and definitely a thing some people need to work on saying more, for others it may be a phrase that is actually overused, and perhaps encouraging the use of "I don't know" is not always a good thing. Communication takes effort, as does knowledge. But I do understand where the joke is coming from in the case of the vlogbrothers; *cough* Hank *cough* --jk. This is just a thing that has come up a few times in my personal relationships over the years, and as we are always trying to learn to communicate with each other more effectively, I figured it might be useful to give a different perspective on it here.
can you talk about 1984 in crash course literature? i just think it's a fascinating book
I heart "I don't know." I definitely consider it an underutilized phrase myself. I like it because so often it's maybe the most accurate thing a person can say to a given prompt, plus it can cut through the need to be perceived as correct. I like the idea so much that when I go against my better judgement and argue with people on the internet about politics, I'll assume that other people probably don't know either. Like, "I'm not an expert in international economics (and I'm pretty sure no one reading this is either)..." and then I'll go on to make my point using whatever limited information I think most people can agree on. ...Idk if I've ever even softened someone's views, but I hope to show people a good way to argue civilly and as correctly as possible.
How can you be so intelligent, funny, and HUMAN all at once? I want to be like you when I grow up. ...I'm 31. I don't think I'm going to make it. BUT! I'm closer than I would be if you didn't post these :) Thank you for existing ❤
Oh John, I love how you started with the meaning of life and yet by the end of the video managed to find yourself at the event horizon of a nihilistic spiral. Never before has "Hank, I will see you on Friday" sounded so ominous!
I would suggest On the Road for another season of Crash Course Literature.
I appreciated what you said about saying, "I don't know." I also enjoy saying that. I also enjoy saying, "I have no idea," some of the time.
I think the entirety of the next season of Crash Course Literature should be devoted to the Harry Potter series and/or Hamlet.
"I don't know", is my favorite thing to say", "leave me alone" is second. It usually goes, "I don't know, please leave me alone".
Instead of another crash course literature, why don't you do a crash course English grammar for those learning English as a second language?
I can see it now Crash Course English literature Intro and table of contents in video one
a brief history of olde English parts 1 & 2
Shakespearian grammar
Grammar of speech/dialogue in English from Mark Twain through today
MLA formatting and standardized grammar rules today
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Dylan my second language is English and literature is actually more helpful than Grammer
It might be a bad idea. English is my first language and I just learned it cause its the language of my whole family. However, whenever I try and learn something new whether it was biochem, math, Spanish, I always had to learn the rules and terminology first and figure things out from there through trial and error and practice. I wasn't great at working backwards if I didn't first know the rules. It seems like a terrible way to try and learn something
TO READ: SHORT STORIES!!!! easy to follow along week to week! Borges & García-Márquez are stellar places to start.
Let us read some Jane Austen (any of them), a rebelling, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and Caraval
We should definitely read some Austen! And I love I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Great ideas! -John
John I know you are not going to see this, but you don't need to sign off when you comment. Hank isn't just going to comment on one of your videos.
Kingof- You say that because you haven't read enough Jane Austen
I meant a retelling John. Damn you autocorrect!
Someone should count how many of John's videos have a thumbnail of him putting his hands on his head
As long as it outnumbers the head-desks we are doing okay.
why are people trying to find clues and what are the clues for?
cause I wanna find some clues too
Love your wedding criteria!!! Also, I'd recommend you read 'The God of Small Things' by Arundhati Roy. It's spiritual and political and fulfilling and so incredibly intensely beautifully written. I have yet to read as great a book, and I'm quite well read.
I invited a famous author+spouse I had met a few times to my wedding AND THEY CAME. It was such a magical day and the fact that they cared enough to come meant even more.
I can't believe you didn't name them! I want to know who they are! -John
It was Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon. They're pretty private people so at first I was hesitant to call them out, but in retrospect it probably doesn't matter that much.
I love Mercedes Lackey! I particularly love the Valdemar books! I can't believe I found another Mercedes Lackey fan :) I haven't been able to find any irl (I realize this is a belated response - I'm doing a lot of that atm, sorry :/)
"i wish we could go back to the beyonce question"
don't we all
Hi John. I work for AT&T in their business division and I can tell you that money can in fact buy you freedom from Comcast. If you consider yourself a business and your house the location that you run your business out of, you could qualify for business internet. What that means is that AT&T could build out your own fiber line to your house. This would come with service level agreements that would guarantee the speed you pay for, a certain level of jitter, and the internet will be up 99.999% of the time or we will start paying you back for the time down. The reason people have to unplug and then re-plug their router is because they were kicked off the internet. They were kicked off because people on residential internet share their connection with everyone in their vicinity. If there is a high traffic time, you will be kicked off. However, if you want dedicated business level internet for you house, is doesn't come cheap. We are talking $550+ a month depending on what speed you want. My point is, it's possible to have consistent internet that doesn't go down. You just have to want it badly enough to pay for it.
"JG---Kuffs?" 😂
~ page 37
finally i know what it means :)
As a twenty-something year old struggling to wrap my head around the notion of a 'meaningful life', this helps, and I truly mean that. Thank you
You should read Ender's Game for crash course lit
Asking about the meaning of life is like asking about the colour of a song. You can only ever get metaphorical and subjective or BS answers.
Aww no pinned comment yet :(
Well, apparently it wasn't necesarry :D
When I was in grade 9 I kept answering my teacher with "I don't know" and he said that was just an excuse to not think about a better answer
HOW CAN 43 BE THE BEST NUMBER?! THIS WHOLE VIDEO HAD SO MUCH ABOUT THE MEANING OF LIFE, THE UNIVERSE, AND EVERYTHING, AND YET YOU STILL DIDN'T SAY 42!
Growing up "I don't know" kind of became my catch phrase in a way. It drove my parents and sister crazy though because before I even started to answer a question they would say "don't say 'I don't know'! "
Stop worrying about silly subjective questions.
Concentrate on the here and now. (this can include planning for the future/ correcting past mistakes).
I don't know if John thought about this, but "I don't know" is VERY common at the high school level. There it is used as a cop out (is that how the expression goes?) rather than John's intended honest admittance of being in the dark about something.
PLEASE READ THE STRANGER BY ALBERT CAMUS FOR CRASH COURSE!!!!!!! Thank you
DaleC5195 Il serait génial de lire L'Étranger!!
The white river gets pretty smelly through Muncie after a big rain (water treatment plant overflow), but nice to bike along at other times!
That may be why my head burns when I ask myself the meaning or the purpose of life. My neurons are trying to start a fire
My mom always told me that the wisest one is not the one who knows the most but the one who knows how much they don't know.
john is definitely my favourite internet friend, hank a close second ofcourse
As someone who works in retail and has to answer random questions from customers every day, I can confirm, "I don't know" is incredibly underrated.
The life changing magic of "I don't know" might just be my new mantra. -Mark
The thing that makes "I don't know" so powerful is that it should encourage you to follow it up with "but let me find out!" Humanity has only ever made progress by people not knowing something, and then striving to fix that.
That's why I love the internet so much: it offers delayed conversations so that I can say "I don't know", but then go find the answer before I respond to people, thus making it seem like I always know everything after all :P
The boxes make me think John is signing things again. I am so ready to see a sequel to the tfios signing madness!
I actually love using "I don't know" to answer stuff... though I usually feel bad when those are test/quiz questions.
The funny thing is that as soon as john started talking about slow wifi the video buffered.
So, I've been catching up on Dear Hank and John and just finished Crash Course: Philosophy. When I scanned UA-cam for today's update, I saw the title and immediately went, "ahh, this question again."
I'm in! This week's clue was good, John. 👏
I find the meaninglessness of the universe and life and everything so calming. Like i'm never going to know, do, or see everything. Most people don't think of me or will remember be the way I think i want them to but potentially ANYTHING exists. Like anything you can imagine and everything you can't EXISTS and it can never not exist because we will never understand everything. That's beautiful. And i could die to day but who cares because The universe is insane and i got to be aware of its existence or potential nonexistence. I have nothing to live up to or achieve but I have the ability to achieve whatever I want! It's just amazing.
"The life changing magic of I don't know" would be a KILLER book title
This video... Just makes me wish that there were more episodes of Dear Hank and John out.
Funny how he said "no more questions about the meaning of life" and then he answers the question later on in the video.
My mom hates it when I say "I don't know", she would presume thinking I'm unintelligent because I don't have the answer.
I've been practicing saying "I don't know" less because it has a negative influence on my self-esteem. Usually when I use that phrase, I _do_ know.
So many quality John Green quotes up in this vid
For crash course's new season, I humbly recommend 'The Myth of Sisyphus' by Albert Camus. Works by Robert Frost. 'Brave New World' by Aldous Huxley. 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower' by Stephen Chbosky. 'Animal Farm' by George Orwell.
happy reading John!
I say I don't know quite often, because being thirteen, I only have had thirteen years of knowing. I actually wish I could have more concrete thoughts and decisions than loosely based ones. However, I really do appreciate you acceptance of not knowing.
In response to my earnest invitation to my wedding, my brother said, "I think we both know I won't be coming".
I hear you about the unnecessary "of courses" of the world.
this man..yes this..he made me cry.....that novel...the fault in my stars ...omg....one of my favorite novel...he is my favorite writer.....i love him...
I wasn't prepared to ingest this video. So many tears...
John, I hope you see this comment.
"Why have people become so obsessed with being right, rather than developing richer ways of thinking?" The question is a little confused because if people were really obsessed with being right, where being right is correspondence to reality, then they would, as a consequence, develop richer ways of thinking, and eagerly change their beliefs when presented with evidence that contradicts their current beliefs. But, as the question implies, and from my own observations, they don't do that. So a better phrasing is "people are more obsessed with having right/truth/reality be what they already think it is, than with actually being right."
A remedy to this is, as you know, saying "I don't know" more often, but I don't think you go far enough. A better method is to replace the qualitative way of thinking, with its three degrees of certainty: "I am right", "I don't know", and "I am wrong", with a quantitative way, with its uncountably infinite degrees of certainty.
To take an example: your last statement, "I don't know for sure whether I'll see you on Friday, but I hope I do". Following the qualitative way, you're right, you don't know about Friday, because you can't predict the future. But following the quantitative way, the fact that you have consistently posted videos on time for the past ten years, and whatever little knowledge you may possess about your plans for Friday, can and should lead you to say, "I'm 80% certain I'll see you on Friday." (Here, 20% certainty is reserved for unforeseen circumstances.) This makes for a much more accurate statement.
Consequently, the only valid usage of "hope" is about events you have no control over, such as "John, I hope you see this comment."
I love "I don't know." It's one of the most honest things I am capable of saying.
I say for the next crash course literature it would be cool if you let the viewers choose what you read, create a poll with a list of books and put it to a vote.
is it just me, or is john's videos are always fun?!