This little corner of the internet makes me so happy! So, here's a small token of gratitude from a fellow nerd: you taught me not to forget to be awesome, and I'm so thankful to you! Keep being an inspiration you folks!
ALL REMAINING LYRICS Somebody once told me the world is gonna roll me / Her finger and her thumb / in the shape of an “L” on her forehead I hit the ground running / Your brain gets smart but your head gets dumb / So much to see / So what’s wrong with taking the back streets? / if you don’t go Go play / Get the show on / All that glitters is gold / Break the mold They say it gets colder / You’re bundled up now, wait till you get older / The ice we skate is getting pretty thin / The water’s getting warm / how ‘bout yours? / That’s the way / I’ll never get bored Go play / Get the show on / All that glitters is gold / Break the mold Somebody once asked / Could I spare some change for gas? / I said “yep, w̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶a̶ ̶c̶o̶n̶c̶e̶p̶t̶” I hit the ground running / Your brain gets smart but your head gets dumb / So much to see / So what’s wrong with taking the back streets? / If you don’t go Go play / Get the show on / All that glitters is gold / Break the mold Break the mold
“Put them in your brain bucket n shake it around n something falls out” “every creation is a collaboration with the past” Hank churning out tattoo-worthy quotes Also, yes, I agree. I think the pitfall that people often fall into is that they think they have to conjure up this grand new original idea to have it have worth. But like you said, ideas are based on ideas, and it’s helpful to learn to accept and work with that. It’ll be “original” because there’s the “you” element in it, and no one could duplicate that.
"Every creation is a collaboration with the past." This really helped me conceptualize how to work towards my goals. It's about utilizing what Past Me has learned and taking steps /now/ to prepare for where I want Future Me to be. I am collaborating with three people, even if it's just me.
"Every creation is a collaboration with the past." As a history teacher and aspiring author, I really love this way of succinctly and poetically phrasing a complicated idea. Loving the book so far, and I would love more commentaries like this video on ideas in the book. Thank you!
Everyone go check out "we wanna read A beutifully foolish endeavor" a parody of Accio Deathly Hallows that was made just before the book came out and doesn't have spoilers
@@CharlieQuartz i mean the original had a bunch of spoilers in it and some of the predictictions were accurate but as long as PEOPLE DONT TALK ABOUT WHAT WE GOT RIGHT IN THE COMMENTS OF THE VIDEO no one will be spoiled
I highly recommend the "Everything is a Remix" series. You can find it on UA-cam. It suggests that virtually all creativity goes like this: Copy, Transform, Combine. The series discussed it at length, but basically: New ideas come from reusing old ideas, creating new ones with small mutations from old ones, and/or from combining existing ideas. Very rarely if ever does anyone come up with an entirely original idea just like that.
As a student of Economics (gosh can't say that without laughing), development of ideas-at a macro level-also depends on whether you have the suitable institutions (property rights etc) and incentives (yk society applauding and not killing you for having a new idea) for allowing ideas to crop up
I could use a little fuel myself. Thank you Hank, for sharing this lovely perspective. Hey now, nerdfighteria! How's the self care? Are you doing okay? Hydrate, grab some snacks, maybe stretch and play--kindness turns into gold, take your meds, adventure's foretold.
I like to think that the "shoulders of giants" that are being referred to in that quote could be the the giant we build from conglomeration of all previous human experience distilled and filtered down to the knowledge available to us.
Yes!!! I did my senior project in high school about creative thinking and talked about how new ideas are basically just derivatives of old ideas. Like how Rubik's cubes are a combination of color and geometric shapes. It was really fun to do research on and is also a reason why I always argue with people now when they say they aren't a creative person because everyone is/can be!
I finished this book yesterday morning and it completely ROCKED MY WORLD! I’m obsessed please write more stories but no pressure take care of yourself:)
One of my favourite song lyrics is "And now the only piece of advice that continues to help Is anyone that's making anything new only breaks something else" which ties into this a lot. I think it can be read a lot of ways, but often I see it as those who actually believe they're truly creating something new are probably destroying that which paved their way instead of building from it. If you accept that nothing is new than you lessen the path of destruction you leave in the world. The flip side being that maybe you have to break things to make something new and better.
Yes! My brain was awakened at 2:20 when you said "every idea though is contingent upon all of the old ideas." As a writer myself, this was great to hear and to know other great people felt the same. That if I have an idea, and someone says "oh that sounds like..." I don't have to apologize. Thank you!
As a former anthropology student it makes me happy that you bring this IDEA into the world. When I learned about it in class my mind was blown as it often happens in anthropology studies. As most people I felt the pressure of being unique and having new ideas. But qqwhen you come to terms with the fact that ideas, art, etc. doesn't come from a unique ideas void but are actually built on a work and experience of the world it is much easier to live as an artistic person.
Now...think of the ideas that will be created by the next century. We'll have EVEN MORE ideas to build off of. Ideas are amazing...and I can't wait to see the future. Funny. I will be able to see the future...because I'll be alive until either close to the turn of the century, or at the turn of the century. How did I find that out? Math. To the (hopefully) exciting future! Time to rewatch the video because I love it so much! Also... 3:18 "And so when people ask me where ideas come from, it's from there: it's from building on the work of billions of other people over hundreds of thousands of years. And I cannot imagine thinking that makes this less amazing. It *only* makes it *more amazing* to me." YES. Spot on. I love that quote.
This reminds me of another old video Hank made, where he said “Today we feast on the labour of centuries” and today’s video is a new collection of quotes to add to my existing quotes to live by. Congrats on the book Hank!!
I literally just finished ABFE like an hour ago...thank you for illuminating the parallel between how those two characters formulate ideas. I didn't notice that! Thank you thank you a thousand times thank you for choosing to share your ideas. Your ideas are so inspiring...it makes me and hundreds of others want to build and build our own ideas from the viewpoint of standing on your shoulders.
This is inspiring. I've been so afraid to write anything, despite my desire to, out of a fear that my borrowing of the ideas of others to create something "new" would make it somehow not new. That it would make it wrong. That I would be a fraud. I was never planning on being a writer at all, rather this was more a thing of me expressing my 'ideas' and creating narratives that I would find amusing. Tomorrow I'll begin planning for a short story I've been thinking about for months but have been to afraid to do anything with. Thank you, Hank. Lots of love from South Africa 🇿🇦
"Every creation is a collaboration with the past" is a great quote 'cause every time I think I've had an idea I'm like 'someone probably had already think of it' but that should't stop the idea, that is just saying, 'well, take your part, explore this idea and see how they come together!'.
As a recent grad in biology, I can’t help but think of this infinite idea generation through time, and how no ideas are new ideas but that that is fantastic, in the scope of earths development and evolution. Like all our bodies are bits of elements and compounds that have been recycled thousands of times, and yet here we are, in what I believe are unique individuals that have never existed before. Yes, we could only exist on the shoulders of thousands of years of evolution, but we are also each a unique amalgamation of those tiny individual creations along the way.
And this is the part I love about the internet, you can get lucky enough to find a space where the content created entices you to expand your mind and at the same time just feel warm and happy✨ Thanks Hank!
when I read about the first character's struggle in the book, I started crying because all my life I've been expected to come up with new ideas, but I've always built on other peoples' ideas and so felt like a traitor. Thank you Hank for telling me that's okay.
If anyone hasn't read Hank's books yet... truly every single page makes you look at our world in a new way--while also being a super entertaining and crazy and gripping story regardless! 2 chapters into ABFE and I'm already going line-by-line with a bookmark covering the next line! (It's THAT suspenseful, even when just discussing ideas.)
I've been thinking about this kind of stuff recently too. I have aphantasia and have known for many years, but it wasn't until recently that I started really looking at the rest of how I think in relation to it. How it affects my ability to create memories, how those memories are different from the experiences of my day to day life, how that affects how I feel, etc. I've come to realize that in a very direct way my memories and experiences are "ideas". They are almost completely disconnected from the events that caused them and instead exist in a state completely separated from physicality and experience. My mental state is the same way since I can't "relive" an event. The part of me that is thinking and is in the current moment cannot in a way be affected by the past. Maybe this is why I've never really gotten depressed and why I enjoy the feelings of melancholy and sadness when they come? The mind is such an interesting place.
Hank, thank you for this. As a philosopher, this really struck a chord with me. And makes me want to pull out my senior thesis and start working on turning it into a book...a project that has been on hold since I graduated 5 years ago. However, I must first finish reading your amazing contribution!!
I've always worried about taking ideas from somewhere, I feel like I'm plagiarizing something even if I'm just taking inspiration. This video was a great help.👍
Hey, you responded to me when I asked you a question during your recent Reddit AMA and I just wanna say that your response made my day. And again, THANK YOU FOR CRASH COURSE, what would I have done without Crash Course.
Crash course affected me before I knew about Hank and John.. Watched crash course astronomy in grade 8 Best decision of my life.. Then I found vlogbrothers It's like coming full circle..
This is my JAM. It's wild talking to people outside of creative industries about this stuff but I relate to your enthusiasm SO MUCH. Thank you for this video. I will be sharing it when I need to explain this concept to anyone else in the future. Will definitely pick up a copy of your book!
Art idea: "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants" A person standing on the shoulder of a giant, but the giant is made of many more people (ideally portrayed in a not horrifying way).
Thank you! I have no idea why so many people discredit ideas for having been built on other ideas. It seems far more complex and beautiful to thing of the countless people that shaped a single good idea.
Dear Hank, Congrats on your book!!🎉🤗 Today was So Insane!! It Ain't No Mystery that I absolutely fell in love with the Carls and the book came out just in time for my birthday (which is today :)) I can't really describe how much your book means to me and how it - in a way - changed my view on the world. I can't wait to finally read it, thank you so so much for bringing all these insanely lovely characters to life🤗 You're my Everyday Superhero! :) Have a great day and lots of love!😊
I try to explore where an idea came from as below - Whenever I think I've an idea, I look around(world) curiously if the same 'problem' is solved by someone with their own tweak. It's inspiring (seeing a simpler execution) or feeling determined (having seen that there are other problem statements which need handling) I totally resonated with your outlook how we stand on shoulders of billions. Interesting indeed! Thanks for the video!
Well, I'm watching this video so late because I spent all afternoon finishing A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor. May I just say that I just loved living in that world with those people for the last couple of days. I truly enjoyed exploring the ideas you shared and I felt just ALL of the feelings.
1:15 - 1:35, that is a scarily accurate description of how I solve difficult problems when programming. I suppose it's not an uncommon approach (but it certainly feels uncommon when reading certain other people's code)
I think this same logic applies to people who are understood to be "talented." At least for the most part, those people have worked incredibly hard before they were deemed talented. I once saw YA author Marissa Meyer say "you can't compare your own first-draft living to everyone else's final draft" on a book tour, and I think that's important to understand alongside this. Until you do the work to understand as much of the context as you can, you won't be able to approach any kind of solution to a problem in most cases.
"A beautifully foolish endeavor" arrived yeasterday, and besides this wonderful story that got me sucked in completely, I got way to exited when they talked about Hamilton. I'm a german teenager, so I've never met someone in real life, who knows it, and I freaked out way to much.😅 Sometimes I forget that there are way more people appreaciating it than me, and my sister who I forced watching it with me on July 3rd. Weird, how you can feel like the only one liking something, if no one in your small little world even gives it a try, even though across the sea, finding someone who is listening to it at the same time as you is far more likely. Maybe my world is just not big enough. Actually, know I realise, thatI should probably leave my room more, and live my life. And: Could you please write way more boring books, I'm way too much emotinally invested in that story.
FURTHER READING RECCOMENDATION: Anyone else read the essay “Strong Inference” by John R. Platt? Haven’t read Hank’s book yet, but Platt talks about the selecting a problem/expanding your tool kit issue, and I think brings up the exact same Newton quote! The paper’s from the 60s and mostly talks about idea-making in STEM fields, but you can find it for free online and I would 100% recommend it 😊
Yeah, the notion that ideas have to be "original" to be of value and that a world without truly original ideas is "sad" (if original is defined as something that completely new/different and sprung from one person's mind and from no one and nowhere else) feels like it can only be a product of individualism (mm what a powerful set of ideas). Like Hank, I much prefer the more collaborative conception. I love this video, and especially the frame of generating ideas by using our toolkits to address a specific problem. I think a lot of people don't stop long enough to think critically about the problem they're trying to solve, so I'm going to try to remember that.
I am currently about 50 pages into A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor and I came back to watch this video because of how it's talked about in the book. Thank you, Hank, for both your videos and your writing
Love your new book! I started the first one two days ago, I tore through it and I'm really enjoying the sequel. I've often said that I'm an artist through aggregation because I don't feel very original. My workflow when prepping for a speech is very much like Alex's. I just tear through videos, books and podcasts. Often I don't see the thread until I start writing. Thanks for putting words to my experience. "Every idea is a collaboration with the past" - Hank. Well put as always.
Read the book in one sitting - definitely one of my favorite stories of our time. So poignant and witty and /real/ . . . In only the way an apocalyptic book could be. We all needed this book at this time in history.
I am so anxious and happy right now!!!! I am going to be a question asker at tonight's virtual event!!! Is there a word for anxious-happy-afraid-excited? There should be because I am IT. Hank, thank you for your sequel. I am trying to breathe through this anxiety-excitement, and I'm so honored that you picked my question to be A Thing tonight!
On Tuesday,the indian nerdfighters wants john ,to comment something about the hindi adaptation of fault in our stars named "dil bechara"🙏☺️ Since the lead actor is no more with us now! It would be great if john could share some views ,how he feels about it! - an indian nerdfighter
I’m high from watching Hamilton all week and feeling some type of way about story telling and music and then HERE YOU ARE. I will always love the Green brothers. Nurturing my brain for 12 years and I cannot say thank you enough.
Every once in a while, I notice the millennium countdown clock on Hank's shelf, and I remember how incredibly ridiculous I thought those were at the time, which just makes me so incredibly happy now. 😊
What is the book that is like "if Jane Austen wrote fantasy "? I can't remember it's name and a few days ago I saw one of your old videos recommending it and now I can't find it and it's 12 AM here and I'm an anxious mess because I can't remember it!
We had a power outage today. A surge blew out our internet, TV, and a few less important things. The weird part is I'm actually very okay with it and grateful it happened because now I can focus on re-reading AART and beginning ABFE. It's funny how things happen like this when you are reading a book about our online culture and social media frenzied lives.
About ideas building from other people - I can not recommend highly enough James Burke’s BBC series “Connections”, it originally aired in the 70s but resonates so deeply today. Strangely enough the easiest place to watch it is on the Internet Archive.
This reminded me of the amazing TV history/science miniseries "Connections" (and similar series) by James Burke. He would connect two things (people, events, etc) that seem totally unrelated, but show how the one thing ended up influecing the other. One was how the idea of credit hundreds of years ago led to air conditioning, with led to rockets (and with other ideas/inventions in-between).
Glad I did an oops and pre ordered both the audiobook and ebook cause trying to listen and focus on the audiobook is a little difficult for me in my current brain space. I think it’s a great idea the way it was done but I’m a bit frazzled and think reading it myself first would be better. No regrets getting both.
My first ever vlogbrothers video I watched was "songs you never heard of but heard 1000 times" (or something like that) and I loved that idea and I'm thankful for the ride that video took me on
Sometimes I like to think that we are a species bred to be lucky... and amazing. Each individual is the product of ~250 million times ~6 million (male and female options) and this resulting person is incredibly lucky to be the one that was produced. I remember when my wife and I had our second child and we thought "Oh this one will be the same..." only no, they were also a remarkable individual. The odds that you exist, you as a person, are astronomical when you consider the path that was taken to get to you. And that just takes into consideration the humans in the chain. #DFTBA
Hi! Sort of a new Nerdfighter here. I just wanted to say I love how positive this UA-cam community is! A nice comment section is quite hard to come by:)
Hank, another astounding amazing thing about the concept you described, it also explains evolution by natural selection. Small changes where only tiny tweaks at the genome happen and any changes that are more sucessful in a specific environment lead to more offspring and over generations that slight tweak develops into a trait and over even more generations that leads to speciation. This is of course a vastly over-simplified explanation which I've tweaked to fit to the video. Just finished An Absolutely Remarkable Thing and I was not expecting that ending, bravo for going there my man. Looking forward to reading the sequel come payday at the end of the month. Love these videos and never stop that ebuiliant enthusiasm.
Hey Hank! You've got two colo(u)r temperatures for your lighting, your warm room light and your white LED light, which you didn't have before with your tungsten photography bulbs. I suggest turning off your room light and using LEDs only and changing colour temperature in your camera settings to have a prettier more consistent look 😁 hope this helps P.s. congratulations on the book and the many years of incredible videos across your channels, I love your stuff.
I feel like my brain just waits patiently for an idea to happen so I love that there are strategic ways to come up with things and that I can be more proactive about it. When I was reading that part in the book I was like "oh, there are steps I could be taking?!" Thank you for that!
I haven't watched your videos since the start of Corona (but I promise you I will watch every single one of them at least during this summer) but I've noticed that the titles have been lyrics from All-Star and I LOVE IT! Also waiting for your signed book that I pre-ordered! So so excited!
Hank! Could you please do something like a tumblr or reddit ama so that fans can ask questions about your book and you can talk about the ideas in it? When John did that for his last two books, that's what turned me from someone who liked them to someone who evagelised about them. It brought me so much joy.
I like to think ideas come from curiosity and fun. That part of the everyone’s brain that says, “what if this happened?”, but with a little fun and positivity added in.
This reminds me of a Sanders Sides video. It's about trying to come up with an entirely original idea, before realizing that every idea is based on other people's ideas. Nothing exists in a vacuum.
Well damn, Hank. I am that second guy and I never thought I was at all able to create stuff because of it. That perspective legit shifted my own. Thanks for that, fren.
THIS IS SO WEIRD, I haven't started reading the book just yet (my copy arrived today, I'm gonna start reading it in a bit), but coincidentally I've been thinking about this ALL DAY!
i dont watch these videos regularly. but when I do, they leave me feeling 1000000% times better. i don't know how to explain it but they leave me feeling more connected to my life? to myself? idk, keep the good work green brothers!!!!!
"Every creation is a collaboration with the past" is a quote I'll remember for a long time.
🔥🔥 absolutely
DFTBA!!
Same
Everything's a remix.
Seriously, can you put that on a shirt please?
+++ It's so brilliant!!
Okay, but Hank is adorable. he's the kind of friend we all want.
I wish this were true, but I'm that friend that you never see because they're too busy making TikToks.
@@vlogbrothers I don't know what you're talking about, we see you every week.
That exact feeling is what makes his books so good. His voice rings through and it feels like it could be written by your best friend
++++++
Yessss. Making a best friendship potion?
Essence of hank green mandatory
Hank is a chicken now.
“BOOK BOOK BOOK BOOK BOOK BOWK BOWK BOWK BAWK!”
+
Honestly felt like a callback to ua-cam.com/video/2kMJ_1MXZq0/v-deo.html
Did he drink espresso?
@@BlinkingRapidly XD
Could the price you pay for the book be considered "Chicken Feed"?
This little corner of the internet makes me so happy! So, here's a small token of gratitude from a fellow nerd: you taught me not to forget to be awesome, and I'm so thankful to you! Keep being an inspiration you folks!
Ikr!! This place is absolutely awesome
++++++ this place is so epic it's like home.
+
++
@@chirag1764 yeah definitely (ps hi Enc *waves*)
“Idea” stopped sounding like a word less than 2 minutes into this video
Semantic satiation FTW. #fiftycentword
@@frostyw iDeAs
About 50 seconds xD
+
very true :D
ALL REMAINING LYRICS
Somebody once told me the world is gonna roll me /
Her finger and her thumb /
in the shape of an “L” on her forehead
I hit the ground running /
Your brain gets smart but your head gets dumb /
So much to see /
So what’s wrong with taking the back streets? /
if you don’t go
Go play /
Get the show on /
All that glitters is gold /
Break the mold
They say it gets colder /
You’re bundled up now, wait till you get older /
The ice we skate is getting pretty thin /
The water’s getting warm /
how ‘bout yours? /
That’s the way /
I’ll never get bored
Go play /
Get the show on /
All that glitters is gold /
Break the mold
Somebody once asked /
Could I spare some change for gas? /
I said “yep, w̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶a̶ ̶c̶o̶n̶c̶e̶p̶t̶”
I hit the ground running /
Your brain gets smart but your head gets dumb /
So much to see /
So what’s wrong with taking the back streets? /
If you don’t go
Go play /
Get the show on /
All that glitters is gold /
Break the mold
Break the mold
Sounds like a great indie folk song in the making
scarily looking forward to "her finger and her thumb"
Really looking forward to the videos titled "That's the way" and "I said 'yep'"
There's also a lot of places where single words like "if" and "with" are left, but I don't know if they'll actually do those.
@@michaelrobinson166 the first one will be one of the brothers' thoughts on the Mandalorian ;p
“Put them in your brain bucket n shake it around n something falls out”
“every creation is a collaboration with the past”
Hank churning out tattoo-worthy quotes
Also, yes, I agree. I think the pitfall that people often fall into is that they think they have to conjure up this grand new original idea to have it have worth. But like you said, ideas are based on ideas, and it’s helpful to learn to accept and work with that. It’ll be “original” because there’s the “you” element in it, and no one could duplicate that.
You just said what I was trying to say in my comment. Awesome!
++
Ideas are based on ideas [are based on...] is tattoo worthy!
I was watching one of your TikToks when I got this notification. Had to stop watching Hank to come watch Hank 😂
*I used the hank to watch the hank*
pelicans and peppers are just too riveting ahahaha
Great irony!
Haha same!!
Ba ha ha ha
"Every creation is a collaboration with the past." This really helped me conceptualize how to work towards my goals. It's about utilizing what Past Me has learned and taking steps /now/ to prepare for where I want Future Me to be. I am collaborating with three people, even if it's just me.
"Every creation is a collaboration with the past." As a history teacher and aspiring author, I really love this way of succinctly and poetically phrasing a complicated idea. Loving the book so far, and I would love more commentaries like this video on ideas in the book. Thank you!
"put them in your brain bucket and shake them around"
And that's what it's all about
Put your left foot in. , Take your left foot out
ʰᵉʰᵉʰ ᵇᵘᶜᵏᵉᵗ
Everyone go check out "we wanna read A beutifully foolish endeavor" a parody of Accio Deathly Hallows that was made just before the book came out and doesn't have spoilers
Imagine if it did have spoilers, tho...
WE NEED HANK TO SEE THIS!!!!!!
@Kaelyn Taing Ahahah I just noticed, I'm so happy!!
I was literally thinking about taking that song and remaking it for abfe..
It's such a great feeling to be beat by nerdfighteria..
Dftba!!
@@CharlieQuartz i mean the original had a bunch of spoilers in it and some of the predictictions were accurate but as long as PEOPLE DONT TALK ABOUT WHAT WE GOT RIGHT IN THE COMMENTS OF THE VIDEO no one will be spoiled
"If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe." - Carl Sagan
And like a wise man once said, "Butt is legs."
I highly recommend the "Everything is a Remix" series. You can find it on UA-cam. It suggests that virtually all creativity goes like this: Copy, Transform, Combine.
The series discussed it at length, but basically: New ideas come from reusing old ideas, creating new ones with small mutations from old ones, and/or from combining existing ideas. Very rarely if ever does anyone come up with an entirely original idea just like that.
+
"What a concept!!" really is just the most *Hank* phrase
+
+
+
As a student of Economics (gosh can't say that without laughing), development of ideas-at a macro level-also depends on whether you have the suitable institutions (property rights etc) and incentives (yk society applauding and not killing you for having a new idea) for allowing ideas to crop up
I could use a little fuel myself. Thank you Hank, for sharing this lovely perspective.
Hey now, nerdfighteria! How's the self care? Are you doing okay? Hydrate, grab some snacks, maybe stretch and play--kindness turns into gold, take your meds, adventure's foretold.
I like to think that the "shoulders of giants" that are being referred to in that quote could be the the giant we build from conglomeration of all previous human experience distilled and filtered down to the knowledge available to us.
mynameismatt2010 or all the past humans stacked on top of each other to create a giant like how the power rangers can become mega ranger
Katie Woolf what a wonderful analogy. I like you.
Julie why thank you! I like you too
Yes!!! I did my senior project in high school about creative thinking and talked about how new ideas are basically just derivatives of old ideas. Like how Rubik's cubes are a combination of color and geometric shapes. It was really fun to do research on and is also a reason why I always argue with people now when they say they aren't a creative person because everyone is/can be!
“Justice is an idea” my name is Justice... haha.
I mean at one point you were just a concept, that has since changed...but
You're an idea, justice.
Imma wot?
He called you a thot
This is the coolest comment thread ever
There’s this clip of Harry Styles saying “is Olivia even a person?” that broke my brain for a couple days
bought your book from a black owned small local bookstore so, i am still waiting for it to arrive! but, im excited!
++ DFTBA
SAME. Which I'm very glad I did, but waiting is agonizing.
I finished this book yesterday morning and it completely ROCKED MY WORLD! I’m obsessed please write more stories but no pressure take care of yourself:)
Next time I’m told to show my working for something I’m just going to say ‘I put it in my brain bucket and shook it around’
"Every idea is a collaboration with the past."
I am in love with that sentence.
"Every creation is a collaboration with the past" is my new favorite quote ♥️ love you Hank & John!
One of my favourite song lyrics is "And now the only piece of advice that continues to help
Is anyone that's making anything new only breaks something else" which ties into this a lot. I think it can be read a lot of ways, but often I see it as those who actually believe they're truly creating something new are probably destroying that which paved their way instead of building from it. If you accept that nothing is new than you lessen the path of destruction you leave in the world. The flip side being that maybe you have to break things to make something new and better.
Yes! My brain was awakened at 2:20 when you said "every idea though is contingent upon all of the old ideas."
As a writer myself, this was great to hear and to know other great people felt the same. That if I have an idea, and someone says "oh that sounds like..." I don't have to apologize. Thank you!
As a former anthropology student it makes me happy that you bring this IDEA into the world. When I learned about it in class my mind was blown as it often happens in anthropology studies. As most people I felt the pressure of being unique and having new ideas. But qqwhen you come to terms with the fact that ideas, art, etc. doesn't come from a unique ideas void but are actually built on a work and experience of the world it is much easier to live as an artistic person.
Now...think of the ideas that will be created by the next century. We'll have EVEN MORE ideas to build off of.
Ideas are amazing...and I can't wait to see the future. Funny. I will be able to see the future...because I'll be alive until either close to the turn of the century, or at the turn of the century. How did I find that out? Math.
To the (hopefully) exciting future!
Time to rewatch the video because I love it so much!
Also...
3:18
"And so when people ask me where ideas come from, it's from there: it's from building on the work of billions of other people over hundreds of thousands of years. And I cannot imagine thinking that makes this less amazing. It *only* makes it *more amazing* to me." YES. Spot on. I love that quote.
Me: Hank posted a video! Wonder what it is!
Hank: I D E A S
Just finished your first book, an absolutely remarkable thing, and loved it. Can't wait to get my hands on this one
This reminds me of another old video Hank made, where he said “Today we feast on the labour of centuries” and today’s video is a new collection of quotes to add to my existing quotes to live by. Congrats on the book Hank!!
I literally just finished ABFE like an hour ago...thank you for illuminating the parallel between how those two characters formulate ideas. I didn't notice that! Thank you thank you a thousand times thank you for choosing to share your ideas. Your ideas are so inspiring...it makes me and hundreds of others want to build and build our own ideas from the viewpoint of standing on your shoulders.
That character's problem-solving process was one of my absolute favorite part of the book. WHICH I LOVED.
This is inspiring. I've been so afraid to write anything, despite my desire to, out of a fear that my borrowing of the ideas of others to create something "new" would make it somehow not new. That it would make it wrong. That I would be a fraud. I was never planning on being a writer at all, rather this was more a thing of me expressing my 'ideas' and creating narratives that I would find amusing. Tomorrow I'll begin planning for a short story I've been thinking about for months but have been to afraid to do anything with.
Thank you, Hank.
Lots of love from South Africa 🇿🇦
Hank you have spent the whole week not only talking about the book but also throwing it. (though we all liked it)
I had the same thought a few weeks ago! It's awesome how someone could articulate it so well. Good job Hank! Kudos to you
"Every creation is a collaboration with the past" is a great quote 'cause every time I think I've had an idea I'm like 'someone probably had already think of it' but that should't stop the idea, that is just saying, 'well, take your part, explore this idea and see how they come together!'.
As a recent grad in biology, I can’t help but think of this infinite idea generation through time, and how no ideas are new ideas but that that is fantastic, in the scope of earths development and evolution. Like all our bodies are bits of elements and compounds that have been recycled thousands of times, and yet here we are, in what I believe are unique individuals that have never existed before. Yes, we could only exist on the shoulders of thousands of years of evolution, but we are also each a unique amalgamation of those tiny individual creations along the way.
And this is the part I love about the internet, you can get lucky enough to find a space where the content created entices you to expand your mind and at the same time just feel warm and happy✨ Thanks Hank!
when I read about the first character's struggle in the book, I started crying because all my life I've been expected to come up with new ideas, but I've always built on other peoples' ideas and so felt like a traitor. Thank you Hank for telling me that's okay.
Can really tell the difference in lighting to previous videos!
If anyone hasn't read Hank's books yet... truly every single page makes you look at our world in a new way--while also being a super entertaining and crazy and gripping story regardless! 2 chapters into ABFE and I'm already going line-by-line with a bookmark covering the next line! (It's THAT suspenseful, even when just discussing ideas.)
I've been thinking about this kind of stuff recently too. I have aphantasia and have known for many years, but it wasn't until recently that I started really looking at the rest of how I think in relation to it. How it affects my ability to create memories, how those memories are different from the experiences of my day to day life, how that affects how I feel, etc. I've come to realize that in a very direct way my memories and experiences are "ideas". They are almost completely disconnected from the events that caused them and instead exist in a state completely separated from physicality and experience. My mental state is the same way since I can't "relive" an event. The part of me that is thinking and is in the current moment cannot in a way be affected by the past. Maybe this is why I've never really gotten depressed and why I enjoy the feelings of melancholy and sadness when they come? The mind is such an interesting place.
This might be a top 5 Vlogbrothers video for me. I watched three times already, and I’m definitely going to watch it more.
Hank, thank you for this. As a philosopher, this really struck a chord with me. And makes me want to pull out my senior thesis and start working on turning it into a book...a project that has been on hold since I graduated 5 years ago. However, I must first finish reading your amazing contribution!!
I AM SO EXCITED TO READ THE BOOK!!! I JUST GOT IT IN THE MAIL, YAY! :)
I've always worried about taking ideas from somewhere, I feel like I'm plagiarizing something even if I'm just taking inspiration. This video was a great help.👍
Hey, you responded to me when I asked you a question during your recent Reddit AMA and I just wanna say that your response made my day. And again, THANK YOU FOR CRASH COURSE, what would I have done without Crash Course.
Just out of curiosity, what was your question, and what was his response, if you don't mind me asking?
@@albertjackinson www.reddit.com/r/nerdfighters/comments/hn139t/abfe_day_ama/fx8mo7z/?context=3
@@Jason-ke4jf Thanks!
Crash course affected me before I knew about Hank and John..
Watched crash course astronomy in grade 8
Best decision of my life..
Then I found vlogbrothers
It's like coming full circle..
@@chirag1764 Same here. I found Crash Course first, then SciShow, then this channel about a year ago.
This is my JAM. It's wild talking to people outside of creative industries about this stuff but I relate to your enthusiasm SO MUCH. Thank you for this video. I will be sharing it when I need to explain this concept to anyone else in the future. Will definitely pick up a copy of your book!
Art idea: "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants"
A person standing on the shoulder of a giant, but the giant is made of many more people (ideally portrayed in a not horrifying way).
What if the giant was made of the photos of a bunch of people kind of like a collage and the person on the shoulders was just a black silhouette?
Thank you! I have no idea why so many people discredit ideas for having been built on other ideas. It seems far more complex and beautiful to thing of the countless people that shaped a single good idea.
Dear Hank,
Congrats on your book!!🎉🤗
Today was So Insane!! It Ain't No Mystery that I absolutely fell in love with the Carls and the book came out just in time for my birthday (which is today :))
I can't really describe how much your book means to me and how it - in a way - changed my view on the world. I can't wait to finally read it, thank you so so much for bringing all these insanely lovely characters to life🤗
You're my Everyday Superhero! :)
Have a great day and lots of love!😊
I try to explore where an idea came from as below - Whenever I think I've an idea, I look around(world) curiously if the same 'problem' is solved by someone with their own tweak. It's inspiring (seeing a simpler execution) or feeling determined (having seen that there are other problem statements which need handling) I totally resonated with your outlook how we stand on shoulders of billions. Interesting indeed! Thanks for the video!
Well, I'm watching this video so late because I spent all afternoon finishing A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor. May I just say that I just loved living in that world with those people for the last couple of days. I truly enjoyed exploring the ideas you shared and I felt just ALL of the feelings.
1:15 - 1:35, that is a scarily accurate description of how I solve difficult problems when programming.
I suppose it's not an uncommon approach (but it certainly feels uncommon when reading certain other people's code)
I think this same logic applies to people who are understood to be "talented." At least for the most part, those people have worked incredibly hard before they were deemed talented. I once saw YA author Marissa Meyer say "you can't compare your own first-draft living to everyone else's final draft" on a book tour, and I think that's important to understand alongside this. Until you do the work to understand as much of the context as you can, you won't be able to approach any kind of solution to a problem in most cases.
him being so passionate inspires me. also i am loving the book =)
"A beautifully foolish endeavor" arrived yeasterday, and besides this wonderful story that got me sucked in completely, I got way to exited when they talked about Hamilton. I'm a german teenager, so I've never met someone in real life, who knows it, and I freaked out way to much.😅 Sometimes I forget that there are way more people appreaciating it than me, and my sister who I forced watching it with me on July 3rd. Weird, how you can feel like the only one liking something, if no one in your small little world even gives it a try, even though across the sea, finding someone who is listening to it at the same time as you is far more likely. Maybe my world is just not big enough. Actually, know I realise, thatI should probably leave my room more, and live my life.
And: Could you please write way more boring books, I'm way too much emotinally invested in that story.
FURTHER READING RECCOMENDATION: Anyone else read the essay “Strong Inference” by John R. Platt? Haven’t read Hank’s book yet, but Platt talks about the selecting a problem/expanding your tool kit issue, and I think brings up the exact same Newton quote! The paper’s from the 60s and mostly talks about idea-making in STEM fields, but you can find it for free online and I would 100% recommend it 😊
Yeah, the notion that ideas have to be "original" to be of value and that a world without truly original ideas is "sad" (if original is defined as something that completely new/different and sprung from one person's mind and from no one and nowhere else) feels like it can only be a product of individualism (mm what a powerful set of ideas). Like Hank, I much prefer the more collaborative conception.
I love this video, and especially the frame of generating ideas by using our toolkits to address a specific problem. I think a lot of people don't stop long enough to think critically about the problem they're trying to solve, so I'm going to try to remember that.
I am currently about 50 pages into A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor and I came back to watch this video because of how it's talked about in the book. Thank you, Hank, for both your videos and your writing
Love your new book! I started the first one two days ago, I tore through it and I'm really enjoying the sequel. I've often said that I'm an artist through aggregation because I don't feel very original. My workflow when prepping for a speech is very much like Alex's. I just tear through videos, books and podcasts. Often I don't see the thread until I start writing. Thanks for putting words to my experience.
"Every idea is a collaboration with the past" - Hank. Well put as always.
"EVERY CREATION IS A COLLABORATION WITH THE PAST"
- Hank Green, July 2020
Amazing. Thank you, Hank!
Read the book in one sitting - definitely one of my favorite stories of our time. So poignant and witty and /real/ . . . In only the way an apocalyptic book could be. We all needed this book at this time in history.
I am so anxious and happy right now!!!! I am going to be a question asker at tonight's virtual event!!! Is there a word for anxious-happy-afraid-excited? There should be because I am IT. Hank, thank you for your sequel. I am trying to breathe through this anxiety-excitement, and I'm so honored that you picked my question to be A Thing tonight!
On Tuesday,the indian nerdfighters wants john ,to comment something about the hindi adaptation of fault in our stars named "dil bechara"🙏☺️
Since the lead actor is no more with us now!
It would be great if john could share some views ,how he feels about it!
- an indian nerdfighter
I’m high from watching Hamilton all week and feeling some type of way about story telling and music and then HERE YOU ARE. I will always love the Green brothers. Nurturing my brain for 12 years and I cannot say thank you enough.
Every once in a while, I notice the millennium countdown clock on Hank's shelf, and I remember how incredibly ridiculous I thought those were at the time, which just makes me so incredibly happy now. 😊
What is the book that is like "if Jane Austen wrote fantasy "?
I can't remember it's name and a few days ago I saw one of your old videos recommending it and now I can't find it and it's 12 AM here and I'm an anxious mess because I can't remember it!
Tooth and claw by Joe Walton? Think he mentioned it in the extra Patreon podcas, this week in... stuff lol
Sorry, Jo Walton
@@shannonharkin6409 YESSSSSS that was it. Oh my God! Thank you so much! You are a life saver.
Now I'll be able to sleep.🌻
@@shannonharkin6409 oh my!
You found the video too!
I've been searching for this for over an hour.
Thank you so much!!!
100% can recommend Shades of Milk and Honey. And its successors.
We had a power outage today. A surge blew out our internet, TV, and a few less important things. The weird part is I'm actually very okay with it and grateful it happened because now I can focus on re-reading AART and beginning ABFE. It's funny how things happen like this when you are reading a book about our online culture and social media frenzied lives.
About ideas building from other people - I can not recommend highly enough James Burke’s BBC series “Connections”, it originally aired in the 70s but resonates so deeply today. Strangely enough the easiest place to watch it is on the Internet Archive.
This reminded me of the amazing TV history/science miniseries "Connections" (and similar series) by James Burke. He would connect two things (people, events, etc) that seem totally unrelated, but show how the one thing ended up influecing the other. One was how the idea of credit hundreds of years ago led to air conditioning, with led to rockets (and with other ideas/inventions in-between).
Glad I did an oops and pre ordered both the audiobook and ebook cause trying to listen and focus on the audiobook is a little difficult for me in my current brain space. I think it’s a great idea the way it was done but I’m a bit frazzled and think reading it myself first would be better. No regrets getting both.
My first ever vlogbrothers video I watched was "songs you never heard of but heard 1000 times" (or something like that) and I loved that idea and I'm thankful for the ride that video took me on
“Every creation is a collaboration with the past.” Nicely put Hank!
Sometimes I like to think that we are a species bred to be lucky... and amazing. Each individual is the product of ~250 million times ~6 million (male and female options) and this resulting person is incredibly lucky to be the one that was produced.
I remember when my wife and I had our second child and we thought "Oh this one will be the same..." only no, they were also a remarkable individual.
The odds that you exist, you as a person, are astronomical when you consider the path that was taken to get to you. And that just takes into consideration the humans in the chain.
#DFTBA
I totally loved the book!! Thank you for writing it! It was lovely how each chapter was a different character’s perspective. So good Hank!!
When you run out of lyrics, I would be 1000% okay with you guys picking a new song to riff on. What a great source for video ideas!
Hi! Sort of a new Nerdfighter here. I just wanted to say I love how positive this UA-cam community is! A nice comment section is quite hard to come by:)
Hello & welcome! :)
I remember the phrase as being a dwarf on the shoulders of giants, & I thought "are we sure it's not dwarves all the way down?"
New book title: dwarves all the way down
Hank, another astounding amazing thing about the concept you described, it also explains evolution by natural selection. Small changes where only tiny tweaks at the genome happen and any changes that are more sucessful in a specific environment lead to more offspring and over generations that slight tweak develops into a trait and over even more generations that leads to speciation.
This is of course a vastly over-simplified explanation which I've tweaked to fit to the video. Just finished An Absolutely Remarkable Thing and I was not expecting that ending, bravo for going there my man. Looking forward to reading the sequel come payday at the end of the month. Love these videos and never stop that ebuiliant enthusiasm.
Hey Hank! You've got two colo(u)r temperatures for your lighting, your warm room light and your white LED light, which you didn't have before with your tungsten photography bulbs.
I suggest turning off your room light and using LEDs only and changing colour temperature in your camera settings to have a prettier more consistent look 😁 hope this helps
P.s. congratulations on the book and the many years of incredible videos across your channels, I love your stuff.
I feel like my brain just waits patiently for an idea to happen so I love that there are strategic ways to come up with things and that I can be more proactive about it. When I was reading that part in the book I was like "oh, there are steps I could be taking?!" Thank you for that!
“Every creation is a collaboration of the past.” Possibly one of my new favorite quotes :)
I haven't watched your videos since the start of Corona (but I promise you I will watch every single one of them at least during this summer) but I've noticed that the titles have been lyrics from All-Star and I LOVE IT!
Also waiting for your signed book that I pre-ordered! So so excited!
I've just finished ABFE... and now I'm just sad I missed all of the virtual tour events. Thanks for this, though, and the talk with Cory Doctorow!
Hank- your new book is absolutely amazing and exactly what I needed during **gestures broadly** all this.
Hank! Could you please do something like a tumblr or reddit ama so that fans can ask questions about your book and you can talk about the ideas in it? When John did that for his last two books, that's what turned me from someone who liked them to someone who evagelised about them. It brought me so much joy.
I like to think ideas come from curiosity and fun. That part of the everyone’s brain that says, “what if this happened?”, but with a little fun and positivity added in.
I want to do a video series on ideas and on creating ideas. Kind of like a mindful meditation series, but I need help promoting it.
This reminds me of a Sanders Sides video. It's about trying to come up with an entirely original idea, before realizing that every idea is based on other people's ideas. Nothing exists in a vacuum.
Well damn, Hank. I am that second guy and I never thought I was at all able to create stuff because of it. That perspective legit shifted my own. Thanks for that, fren.
I'm in the middle of the book now and it's been incredible. I actually just read the ideas in a box part earlier today and I love it.
THIS IS SO WEIRD, I haven't started reading the book just yet (my copy arrived today, I'm gonna start reading it in a bit), but coincidentally I've been thinking about this ALL DAY!
I really like the method you mention in the book about tackling problems. It’s a good strategy to use 😊👍🏻
Hank, I finished reading the book today. I absolutely loved it. Please keep on writing.
Yes Hank, we all remember that video you did featuring such amazing dancing to (not) bust a move, I rewatched the ending like 8 times
i dont watch these videos regularly. but when I do, they leave me feeling 1000000% times better. i don't know how to explain it but they leave me feeling more connected to my life? to myself? idk, keep the good work green brothers!!!!!