I'm Scared of 2024...So Here's 3 Optimistic Thoughts
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- Опубліковано 4 січ 2024
- I was like, "I'M GONNA MAKE THIS VIDEO" and I did it. Look, there are plenty of days when I burn through all of my optimism lately. But there's also a lot of perspective that I often have a hard time holding on to.
I have been saying for a long time that I think this whole "internet and society" thing is going to get worse before it gets better, and I still think that's true. But I have also seen some signs that indicate that the premise of that thought (that things will get better) is actually true...which I do not believe every day!
Happy New Year everyone!
SoCal Shows:
Wednesday 1/17
Brea Improv - Brea, CA - 8:00pm
SOLD OUT
Friday 1/19
Oxnard Levity Live - Oxnard, CA - 9:15
www.ticketweb.com/event/hank-...
Sunday 1/21
American Comedy Co. - San Diego, CA
Show at 6pm - SOLD OUT
Show at 9pm - SOLD OUT
Monday 1/22
Los Angeles - exact location undisclosed
Taped Shows
Shows at 6:00pm & 8:00pm
Ticket Request Link
1iota.com/show/1653/hank-gree...
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Look at me...pinning a comment. Here are my SoCal comedy dates:
Wednesday 1/17
Brea Improv - Brea, CA - 8:00pm
www.ticketweb.com/event/hank-green-pissing-out-cancer-brea-improv-tickets/13319233
Friday 1/19
Oxnard Levity Live - Oxnard, CA - 9:15
www.ticketweb.com/event/hank-green-pissing-out-cancer-oxnard-levity-live-tickets/13396463?pl=oxnardlevity
Sunday 1/21
American Comedy Co. - San Diego, CA
Show at 6pm - SOLD OUT
Show at 9pm - SOLD OUT
Monday 1/22
Los Angeles - exact location undisclosed
*Taped Shows*
Shows at 6:00pm & 8:00pm
Ticket Request Link
1iota.com/show/1653/hank-green:-pissing-out-cancer
Ummm, sorry to say this comment is not pinned. ❤
+ not quite pinned yet :)
You might have to pin this fam
excited for my first-ever nerdfighter gathering (in person)!
See, humanity is learning!
“Brain cut us some slack. We invented agriculture like five minutes ago” Hank Green 2024
Agriculture was a mistake.
Return to monke.
Favorite quote so far 😂
Agriculture war.
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LMAO accurate
Another positive thing: Unionisation rates are going up again, largely thanks to the very visible successes of the WAG and SAG-AFTRA strikes! Unionisation is a large part of how we stop the world from being controlled by 12 guys in California, so I encourage everybody to get involved where you can ❤
YES YES YES! 🎉❤
My first job, years and years ago, was in a unionized grocery store. Thinking back on it, much criticism as the union shop steward got, having the union was so much better than not having the union. Even as a part-time employee, I got health insurance and a decent wage, even a pension, had I made it my career. I strongly support unions, even though I've never worked in another union organization (even though a few should have been).
solidarity forever!
Excellent point.
but unions are socialism 🙄
All of social media revolving around the whims of 12 weird guys in California is the perfect description
If you still have to note that they are weird when you are mentioning they are in California...
And 1 weird guy in China. Just to keep things interesting.
The whims of 12 weird guys in California who care much, much more about being very rich than anything else.
@@pattheplanterweird by California standards
The Zuck is not a typical Californian
I'm worried about a lot of things in 2024 too... but one of them is NOT an eclipse! That's gonna be awesome.
I missed 2017, and will probably miss this one, and I'm super bummed.
a normal one or a Berserk one?
My hometown is in the path of the full solar eclipse and I am so stoked
I was in totality in 2017. If I could do it over, I would have had my children quit their jobs if necessary to travel to be with me, and experience it.
Best wishes to all chasing the eclipse in 2024! May you be prepared by UA-cam videos, and may you have good weather!
@@melanieaveryeasthope3980 Definitely worth taking extreme measures to see a totality..
“You’re a weird monkey in a box” is something I tell myself whenever I’m sitting at home, feeling overwhelmed by work and everything. It helps put life in perspective
I needed this, thanks lol
Me too. Thank you.
I really feel what Hank has said about adapting to all this social media noise. Like, I have been addicted to youtube for several years now with many failed attempts to control it, but in the last few months, my brain has requested silence more and more often. It's amazing; I start thinking about what to watch or listen to and my brain just goes "nah, I'm good" or "let me just pay attention to these rustling leaves".
once you just realize that a lot of the content is garbage/useless it gets easier to focus on other things or just watch more educational content
i have been addicited to (scrolling on) tiktok and instagram for the last 5 years at least and have been off all social media for the past 3 months. Still dealing with the impulse to reach for my phone (not sure what i am looking "for" but I never see to find it), but it is really exciting nonetheless!
god, felt! I try to ask myself, am I enjoying this? am I going to remember what I just saw in an hour? and that provides a good reality check.
and it's still so hard to break free. 😑 but sometimes I can switch from endless drama clickbait to educational content (that's still interesting) and from there, it's easier to switch off entirely so I can process what I just learned.
all the best to you! we'll get there or we won't--but either way, we're here right now, and should learn to make the most of it the best we can. ❤ all the best!!!
Me too sort of!! I struggle hard with phone addiction and lately my brain is just like "let's read instead. If you need noise, we can listen to a podcast in the background"
@@sabrinawise7938 Spooky tales are nice for that, including putting me to sleep, very restful.
"Humanity could go either way" is a more optimistic view than a lot of people have. Many gave up completely years ago.
Right, people seem to be willfully hurtful now. As though it's a status signal or something. 😬
What I love about "humanity could go either way" is that it gives me a way forward, we have the capacity to build a better way for humanity
@@NinaDmytraczenko It's a reminder that nothing is inevitable. Making a better future will take work, but it's still possible.
There's a reason why people who want to take your power away from you teach you to be afraid - be they corporations or authoritarian nations (all of them, currently) or just confused parents and teachers. As Hermann Goering noted: "the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” Or school, or institution, or any household, even. Fight and flight sells. (Freeze doesn't, which is why they want to give everyone with depression drugs to make them angry or scared.) Flow, on the other hand, is strong and powerful. Try to find your flow, if you want to escape the brainwashing that makes you let others tell you what to do with your life.
@@elmdixon I actually tend to disagree, on hope being the most important thing. Hope is only useful with action. Otherwise, it is just a numbing agent or covering your eyes. Realism and community will get us through this awful, not just hope.
My dad died of Covid-19 in 2020, 25 days before Margaret Sheehan got the first dose of the Covid vaccine in the world. My large family chose a politician over me. My adult children are addicted to entertainment and substances. My church lost it's mind. My husband was forced to retire in 2020, with a small retirement amount that pre-pandemic would have been 'just okay' but now has us at the food pantry . I often feel very, very alone.
I still have hope.
I STILL HAVE HOPE.
Somehow, someday, we will all be okay. I pray for peace, provision and good health for all. I want so very much to support humans, and not corporations and investment firms. I don't know how. 😢
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hey guess what? we *are* all gonna be okay ❤️
writing this only a couple weeks past a very bad place (was on the edge of becoming bedbound from cfs but a medication change miraculously allowed me to recover to mild) and i can tell you, hope is the greatest thing to have right now. its hard to believe im looking back on that time because when I was there i thought there was no way I was ever gonna get better... stands to reason that if I ended up okay we all will. It's so strong of you to have hope and I really admire that willpower and determination.
I’m sorry for the loss of your dad and the many challenges you have faced in recent years. Your commitment to hope is admirable in the face of those challenges. John would say that “hope is the correct response.” May your hopes be justified this new year and dftba ❤
I'm so sorry. *hugs*
For some reason, I read this as an r/exmormon post.
“Dumpster fires all the way down” would be a great band name
Sequel to John's book.
Crossover between Hank and John's books.
"Weird Monkey in a Box" is the debut album
great name for a book they collab on!
at first i saw "brand name" lol both work
"It's very hard to be this weird." Yes, it apparently is proving to be so.... thank you so eloquently crystalizing these thoughts.
Yeah my thing was people forgot how to act in public, seems like we are remembering, or maybe relearning.
I'd wear this on a shirt ❤
Dear species,
When you are world-alteringly weird, like the earliest cyanobacteria responsible for the transformation of Earth’s atmosphere - and quite possibly for an ice age - you are destined to be in danger of bringing yourself to the brink. A baby transforming the cradle, a fetus wreaking havoc on its womb. You are an event that happens to yourself. Like the “great oxidation event,” you will choke out some preexisting life. Strive, dear species, to be as great as the cyanobacteria, who not only survived themselves, but breathed new life into the world.
- sir dumpsterfirediver2024… the third
@@cutelittledevil88Absolutely!
I would like merch pls. I don't actually need another t-shirt but I kind of would like this one
I was born in 98 and grew up on the internet at a time when adults/parents/teachers weren't really on the internet. It was interesting to be taught a lot of things about it that were obviously incorrect and uninformed, and to watch that generation get on the internet and suddenly understand the real problems with it has been interesting.
I think what adults were worried about back then was internet activity bleeding into real life. It was always, don't share your name, don't meet up with strangers. Nobody had a sense that the actual internet had any bearing on real life, like you could just choose not to let it affect you.
One thing that bothered me in a way that I couldn't articulate until actually pretty recently was the narrative of "you're getting cyberbullied? Just don't use the computer." The truth is, "don't go on social media" wasn't really an option. Not using the internet meant being completely disconnected from everyone else. All people would talk about would be internet memes and internet news. Not to mention that that stuff still emotionally impacts you even if you legit just log off.
Another thing that older people back then didn't get was how easily false information spread and how nasty some internet communities got. We were never taught how to avoid those communities, we had to teach ourselves. I think that's one of the reasons older people fell for QAnon. Anyone my age and younger hears the phrase "anon" and we immediately get what that means. We know how weird and nasty 4chan is, and we already went through the trial by fire to avoid places like that. The people that were supposed to be teaching us how to navigate the internet, though? They had no idea that kind of stuff was even going on. They never learned how to avoid it.
But people my age and a little older are now the ones in charge and teaching kids how to actually navigate the internet. I'm sure our culture hasn't totally figured it out yet, but we're getting there. We're starting to see what this thing is now.
As someone nearly twice your age it was really interesting to read your perspective on this. I’m kind of in between those two generations.
I came to the internet as a young adult and learned many of the harsh lessons you mentioned through trial and error, but there are plenty of people my age who fall into that older generation pattern too.
We kind of got divided based on our predisposition (or lack of) for nerdy pursuits.
Anyway, you’ve given me hope that maybe the truly negative impact of social media is something we can move past.
It’s easy to get overwhelmed by it sometimes so thanks for the up lift.
@@judyb4155 Historically speaking, the internet is still VERY new, and it's easy to forget that. Some day the internet will be 200 years old and people will think of 2024 as the early days.
@@perrisavallon5170 Very true.
Maybe our comments here will even be studied by the historians of the future.
Contemporary accounts of regular folks trying to figure things out! 😉
@@perrisavallon5170 in 200 years, the Internet might be obsolete! It could end up being something that only a few nerdy enthusiasts keep alive, like the harpsichord, or just another thing for students to learn about in history class.
@@myladycasagrande863 They'll have tour guides, and the Dark Web will be sealed off by a huge, concrete dome.
The occasional appearance of Uncharacteristically Anxious Hank reinforces the sincerity of Regular Programming Optimistic Hank
I feel like I get how Hank is feeling. Like, I am constantly anxious about everything that contributes to the ongoing dumpster fire, but I know enough about everything that I can be optimistic about it.
My husband designs book covers. The major publishers he works with now explicitly ban using AI. I think this signals that they are expecting lawsuits to come.
That's beautiful, I learned something else optimistic today
could be because you can't copyright ai stuff. but either way, awesome
That’s a great thing
Ha, you think people are still going to buy books when they can ask a computer to write whatever book they can imagine in whosever style they want.
@@twelvecatsinatrenchcoat yes
I vividly remember saying, at the end of 2019: "well, at least it can't get any worse." I will never be able to forget those words, and the fact that I repeated them a year later.
My sister and I had an absolutely awful 2016-2019. We kept saying 2020 was our year, lol. Now I know better.
2017-2019 was a ticking time bomb and then in 2020, the bomb went off.
I procrastinated through the 2010s on making a life change I really wanted to make, afraid to do it. Finally did it at the end of 2019. I waited too long and have been paying dearly these past four years.@@KatieLisko
"Revolutions in communications technologies always lead to societal upheaval." As someone who got a whole degree in this, thank you!! It's True!
Oh you have a degree? Does calling for the genocide of J's constitute harassments or bullying?
I think stopping to recognize that what we're doing as a species is unprecedented and extremely complicated gives perspective that it's gets lost in the day to day struggles that people deal with. I mean we're just monkeys that can talk, we should cut ourselves some slack
I understand and appreciate this but GOD I want to live in precedented times for once
@@Drewbydrewprecedented times, when being governed by eighty year olds made sense actually
There's a recurring theme in history that during tech revolutions peoples lives usually get worse initially. We know when the agricultural revolution started kid's lifespans went down. The printing press brought the European Wars of Religion and massive social upheaval. The industrial revolution saw people moved from generational homes in country lifestyles into factory jobs in soot covered urban slums.
It always takes the society time to work out all the kinks and get the new technology helping people. Our problem is technology is accelerating and we havn't even started absorbing the impacts of the internet before an even bigger shockwave is hitting.
Wealth doesn't go to older people rather than younger people -- wealth goes to wealthy people rather than poor people. And older people tend to be wealthier, both just because they have had more time to accumulate wealth already, and also because this effect of wealth going to the wealthy has gotten worse over time so older people were more able to grow wealthier faster when they were younger. But for old people who have not managed to accumulate wealth, there's nothing especially directing wealth at them, and they're often some of the most vulnerable of poor people because they are less capable, in body and mind, of doing the kind of work that's in demand than a young person who is still healthy and grew up with the latest tech would be.
“It’s hard being this weird.” Literally every neurodivergent person has been telling this to us for years!!
All brains are "neurodivergent". There's no "normal brain". We're all unique, in our own way. We're all weird to someone else, if not most others. Honestly. The diversity is the best part of evolution, if we only stopped repressing ourselves to "fit in" to a dinosaur-like society of competition and cruelty, and started acting like the delightfully weird humans we are.
@@thewiseturtleshut up and let us have our labels
@@thewiseturtle Sometimes labelling is bad. But sometimes, applying a label is helpful. It can help a person, and those they interact with, cultivate their environment and interactions and experiences in a way that is most beneficial for everyone involved. I have ADHD (specifically Inattentive ADHD) and so I consider myself neurodivergent. If you give my a repetitive task and sit me alone in a corner with no one else around, I'm going to go insane. Now, if you give me a complex task or an interesting puzzle, I'll work better. If you put another person next to me doing their own thing, I'll work even better. These are all things (puzzle solving, body doubling, etc.) that come up when you look up how to help people with Inattentive ADHD. Neurodivergent is the label that says "Hey, interactions with this person might benefit from some research!" and the ADHD narrows it down more. Sometimes labels (applied carefully) aren't harmful, they're a cheat sheet on how to make things easier.
@@gqsnowman Labels are great, when they are meaningful. "Neurodivergent" isn't meaningful, since we're all weird in our own ways. People who get bored easily, like you and me, are just emotionally and/or intellectually creative people. It's great to study different personality types, but it's unhelpful to elevate one personality type to being "the most weird", since, again, there's no normal to compare to. There might be more popular types (the extraverts with social anxiety tend to be in politics, sports, acting, etc. as they are more performative, and give much needed social validation tend to get seen more often in current pop culture), but that doesn't make them "normal". Introverts are just as normal as extraverts, and socially anxious (emotionally protective) folks are just as normal as emotionally creative (non-socially-anxious) types.
@@ambivac I can't stop you from using any language you want. Me speaking about word choice is an offer to help folks learn something valuable. That's what we're all here for, right? To learn from one another, and find ways to make the world a better place. Right? That's what John's hoping for, as he said. How about you?
Reason to be optimistic: it's a leap year so there's an extra day to volunteer for something in your local community.
Yes, that's rather a good approach. February the 29th "International Day of the Volunteer" would be a good slogan.
I think that should be more often than every 4 years.
Good point. I can be optimistic for one day, as long as it does not bleed into the rest of 2024. 😆
Yes would love to see that become a thing
Thanks for confirming that I have reason to worry... but not panic... I'm hoping we don't panic.
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Damn it! I got a like from Hank and couldn't live my grammical errors being associated with it. I'll live with my screenshot.
I am now going to quote this EVERYWHERE "[Humanity is] the weirdest thing in the known universe... it's very hard to be this weird!" -Hank Green. Thanks for helping add more weirdness to the human world Hank!
Good lord, just hearing someone put it all into words so succinctly helps keep me from feeling like I'm going crazy. I live in Texas, and it feels like pretty much no one around here cares about ANY of the terrible things you said your worried about... but me. And maybe a small smattering of other people who help make the tiny blue dot in the sea of red. Thank you for actually PUTTING IT INTO WORDS THE WAY YOU DID. It does actually make me feel better--because I'm not losing my mind.
💙
this video feels like hank telling me he's proud of me for still being here holding on despite everything
we’re all proud of you and happy that you are here! it ain’t easy. dftba
“Dumpster Fires All The Way Down” sounds like the ultimate John & Hank novel collaboration
I lost my mom to the pandemic - not the virus, but the mental toll it took on her and the sudden inability to socialize or do much of anything. The almost total isolation. She was never the same afterwards. Now she has dementia and is still suffering from extreme anxiety and depression. She's here physically but mentally... Not so much. I miss her and wish I could rewind. Go back and do things better. But I know that even if I did everything perfectly, she would probably still be in this position.
Now she's safe in a home. I had the task of going through all of her possessions. I went through over 70 years of life and let me tell you, it was one of the worst experiences of my life. Making the heartbreaking decision of what to keep or donate almost broke me.
These last few years have felt like a lifetime and I'm so. damn. tired. I'm in the middle of moving apartments and I'm truly exhausted. But I'll keep going, because I have hope that better days will come and I'm excited to be in a new place all my own.
You have done a very difficult thing. Rest, find friends, and eat some good food. DFTBA.
"safe In a home". 😞 I hope I never have to make that decision. Good moms deserve so much more effort. Kids will dump parents so fast it's ridiculous. Kids just dumping their parents in hospital wings. Ya know, when I became anti social and angry I got love. When I shat and vomited myself as a baby she cleaned it and wore it. Every sickness and illness she faced with me. Never to hand me off to another, besides doctors. Every tear that shed was wiped when I was young and old, feeling uncontrollable anger, confusion...hatred, depression, anxiety, epilepsy...she held me and now, she holds my daughter. And I see it so much clearer.
To the moms that make a difference. And the children who don't give up. To the ones left without a choice. I wish for nothing but good, happiness and medical science that will help them so ppl never have to face this horror of a decision on their parent they love. I can't imagine what brought you to that place. Best to you.
@@kagitsune Thank you.
You said it yourself: never to hand you off to others, except doctors. Realising that your beloved parent needs 24/7 medical care to not be distressed from dementia and anxiety is heartbreaking! Don't underestimate how difficult of a realisation that would be to come to terms with as a child who loves their parents. I agree that a LOT people in homes are abandoned. But if my mom needs that severe medical help, she's getting it, and i am right there as much as I possibly could be. My dad was in hospital for cancer, and for perspective what you're saying is like saying we should have kept him home to take care of him instead of him being in hospital. It isnt giving up. It is the worst thing you have to see through to make sure they are taken care of.
You said it yourself: never to hand you off to others, except doctors. Realising that your beloved parent needs 24/7 medical care to not be distressed from dementia and anxiety is heartbreaking! Don't underestimate how difficult of a realisation that would be to come to terms with as a child who loves their parents. I agree that a LOT people in homes are abandoned. But if my mom needs that severe medical help, she's getting it, and i am right there as much as I possibly could be. My dad was in hospital for cancer, and for perspective what you're saying is like saying we should have kept him home to take care of him instead of him being in hospital. It isnt giving up. It is the worst thing you have to see through to make sure they are taken care of.
This will be the last time I go on UA-cam this week, and Instagram is already deleted. Thank you Hank for allowing me some form of closure on the idea of social media.
Here to 2024 not being 2023...
Or 2022
Or 2021
Or 2020
You get the picture
As a STEM student, i am very excited about where AI might be heading, but as a member of society, i am a little worried. I don't like the lack of empathy some tech ppl r showing regarding the consequences of AI, but initiatives like Glaze give me hope. All in all, I like that we are taking the AI revolution slowly; we're actually processing what's happening and considering the consequences.
I can only hope that AI will eventually evolve to be better than humans and help keep us in check, instead of just echoing or amplifying our worst qualities like it does now.
If your aspirations as someone who is interested in technology are misaligned with your aspirations as a human, I would strongly suggest you reevaluate your moral core before you start putting tech before people. Lest your fate be one of those 12 weird guys in California.
Godspeed.
“Very pessimistic, and very forgiving” is a good mindset to have when it comes to humans
Hank Green in an Emotionally Exhausted shirt while talking about dumpster fires is exactly what I needed today. Thanks.
Love this video so much. I constantly catch myself not using social media and asking myself, "When did I start using this less?" or "Why doesn't that bring joy like it used to?" Then I promptly realize I'm still seeking joy in new ways and limiting my time to creators that add to society in a usually positive/optimistic way. I've gotten back to my usage of the internet how I did before FB, which is cool.
I just stopped using Instagram, too. I thought my addiction would go on forever but, to my surprise, there came a point where I just got tired of it and deleted the app. Once it wasn't there on my screen, I found myself able to resist the temptation.
Marshall McLuhan is a 20th century philosopher who wrote a lot about how a shifting media landscape shapes culture, from manuscripts to the printing press to radio and tv, all of these modes require different things from audiences and individuals that we can see reflected in the cultures that make use of them. He was an incredibly popular thinker in his time, but he had no staying power in the media after his death because he came to the obvious conclusion in his work that capitalism was a problem, just like Hank talked about social media platforms optimizing for keeping people online longer to see more ads, or higher education and healthcare increasing costs way past the inflation rate. To talk about the damaging forces in the modern world and ignore the capitalist elephant in the room is missing the clearest piece of the puzzle, the "12 guys in silicon valley" are greedy, bloodthirsty capitalists. The reason they are a problem is that the society encourages their sociopathic dragon hoarding. Someone did a calculation of how much gold Smaug from LotR has, and billionaires like Musk are far wealthier, and far less willing to part with thay wealth for the good of humanity. To call them reptilian is merely an acknowledgement that their priorities align much more closely with those of the dragons of fiction than with the communal primates they're biologically part of.
pretty much fully agree, but the reptilian angle is not without its baggage. the popularizer of that particular verbiage is David Icke, a conspiracy theorist who synthesized the reptilian conspiracy by referencing old antisemitic conspiracist texts like the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. while the comparison to dragons is apt, i think, calling billionaires reptilian is used pretty extensively by conspiracist figures as a dogwhistle for jewish people, or more vaguely for """international bankers""", so i'd be careful with it.
This is very well written and I completely agree with you! Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this ☺️
I'm not really sure about comparing capitalists to reptiles though..
There's this conspiracy theory that the most powerful people in the world are literal lizard people, here to conquer the earth. This conspiracy theory is heavily intertwined with antisemitism.
NBCNews did an interesting article on this called "Like QAnon's Capitol rioters, the Nashville bomber's lizard people theory is deadly serious". I'd recommend it if you'd like to learn more.
Have a nice day!
This is so good.
I mean, it's terrible that it's true. But it's a great characterisation of a terrible truth.
Nicely said, about Marshall McLuhan. I read much of his works when he was still alive, they were most eye opening.
Hank I was literally thinking "man what are some optimistic things about this year" and then you uploaded this you never cease to impress us with your mind reading capabilities
I recently searched "good news" and everything was at least 3 years old lol
@@slimylobster9406😭😭😭
"Dumpster fires all the way down"
Probably the best Hank Green quote of all time forever.
I saw a comment that said "Hank is becoming John and John is becoming Hank and this year was a big step for that" and I haven't stopped thinking about it since
The stat about the trouble passengers going down was so good to hear!! ❤ Thankful for your thoughts always, optimistic or pessimistic. 😊 Happy New Year!
I assume that's down from the astronomical spike we got from covid, and therefore still higher than in "precedented times," but it's still nice that more people are able to go in public without being an absolute menace.
Huh, I really have been gradually going outside and interacting with people more and more and posting less and less in the last 2 years or so. Didn't even consider to think of it in the context of the pandemic or to see the struggles of learning how to interact with people and my hostility and lack of trust as a sign of the fact that I'm finally interacting with people again, which is a very good thing. This channel was one of the things probably most responsible for de-radicalizing me the last few years after a TikTok echo chamber, so thank you, and yeah maybe we're making progress solving these problems
I like that you thought 2 minutes in was going to be half of the video. I love that you kept going. Fingers crossed for 2024!
Edit: Your sweatshirt has been my vibe for the last year
That is my new year 2024 mantra “As a human it’s really hard to be this weird!”❤
“The cycles that perpetuate inequality” that is my biggest concern too. Especially things like the broken foster care system, and in general our country’s complete inability to prioritize the needs of children. They are the next generation of adults and ignoring their best interests, their safety, their education… this results in a worse society.
You just crammed so much of what I've been thinking and feeling and trying to understand for the last eight years into a 7-minute video. You continue to astonish us Hank, and I'm glad that we've had your honest yet hopeful insights through it all
Likewise!!
I've been working on a research proposal involving politics and empathy. I have read so many articles on empathy and essentially have learned it is hard to measure and a very personal experience. This has been a wonderful thing to learn! Because it has made me more empathetic toward people I once preceived as unempathetic because they just do it differently. And this has made me more hopeful for and forgiving of society. If we can start celebrating peoples' kindness maybe we can change the dynamic of our society. I know that watching the kindness of all of Nerdfighteria makes me want to try to be a little better every day.
As a disabled person who is mostly housebound (have been for over a decade, but even more so now that no one is willing to protect me and others like me by wearing masks, etc), and without social media I would definitely be in more isolation and have no way to interact with the rest of the world. While I do not love how certain people profit from social media, nor do I love how some have started censoring me for talking about disability, social media is a tool that I hope we continue to work on, and that can only happen if wonderful people choose to use it. During lockdown my life became so much more full because of what moved online (the people and accessibility to art/learning/visuals etc), but now all that has been removed and I am once again left without that access. And because of Covid, more and more people are becoming chronically ill and disabled, forcing many to live in isolation and this is because everyone wants to 'go back to normal' instead of making a better, more accessible normal.
Hearing Hank talk about fears that I have and feel completely trapped beneath is both relieving and deeply terrifying. At the same time, I've made a lot of progress in 2023 because I adopted the mindset that life around me isn't going to get better so I have to get better instead. It hasn't gotten me a job yet, but it's given me the determination to not feel like giving up constantly.
Thank you for expressing pretty much everything I’ve been thinking. I’m terrified and am having a difficult time finding hope. I appreciate your continued attempts to share positivity.
Elliot Sang, one of my fav UA-camrs, recently said his reason for optimism is that the world is always in constant change. If things feel very bad right now, it means they will get better eventually. Hopefully we'll live to see that, and I think these terrifying communication platforms will speed run societal change in a way we've not seen before. We just have to maintain hope through the bad.
I'm also worried of this year, but I'm also very happy. This year I'll start HRT, possibly change my name legally, I'm gonna become close to who I am
Congrats. Hope it goes well.
Hank I’m very glad you continued with the positive thoughts because you really got me in the first half 😭😂
I *love* my DFTBA "Good riddance 2016" shirt because looking at it feels like....oh, you sweet summer child, you had no idea what was to come....
Hanks new hair is nice
My optimistic thought is that, Hank has gotten increasingly more attractive the older he gets. So, it's possible for that to happen to me too!
Marking 2016 as the beginning of the "dumpster fire" years is interesting to think about, because I think collectively we actually forgot a lot of good stuff that happened in 2016 before the election. (Remember late summer, when everyone was playing Pokémon Go, listening to Coloring Book, and watching The Good Place?) That's the last year I remember feeling like the good news and the bad news arrived at a commensurate rate.
Also re the speed of tech dev: I grew up in a suburb an hour outside of San Francisco, and I know the drive between my home and the airport like the back of my hand. It's mind-boggling how much the freeway advertising landscape around SF has changed in just a year. Almost none of the billboards along the 101 are even legible to anyone who doesn't work in software dev or AI startups. "Groundbreaking innovations" in communication technologies won't feel constructive to me until it's clear that they're supposed to be used responsibly, constructively, in pursuit of a shared language. Here's hoping that in 2024, we can slow down enough to see one another.
I remember people complaining a lot about 2012-2014 as well. (And the Pokemon Go summer was so fun!)
Something I've noticed in my personal life and in my age demographic is that there is a resurgence in desire for connection and socialization. I'm noticing a boom in things like Meetups, hobby group, book clubs etc. in my city even more than before before the pandemic. I noticed this change in myself as well. I no longer take socialization for granted like I used to.
Hank, I am so glad you exist as a person and that I am allowed to hear your thoughts. Even when it's bad news, knowing that somebody else is worried is comforting. And the perspective on the far future and near past was also appreciated.
Off topic but it makes me so happy to see one of my favorite creators wearing another of my favorite creator's merch. 🥰
Love to all the Green family ❤ Happy New Year. No matter how it turns out we'll get through it together.
I'm worried about the genocides in Congo, Sudan, Tigray, Ethiopia and so many others. And, really, I'm really worried about my country, Palestine.
We have to be good to each other and help people to use their brain and have a decent life (house, job with reasonable income, etc). Less people have difficulties and less problems there will be.
me too.
Thank you so much for laying it all out there for us! Loved it.
Through the entire pandemic, I ran a pretty active and large discord server, worked from home, and basically didn't leave my room. I got a job in a "real" place last september, and just going outside is progress now. Posting less does give a person more perspective on themselves and often times the best work we do on ourselves is when we are finally free of feeling like we have to socialise all the time, 24/7/365. You made a great point and I'm cheering on anyone who needs to post less to do so.
The still-continuing pandemic would be going much better if we had done a better job of harnessing the positive power of mass communication platforms. Instead of taking this moment to improve social support networks and come together to take collective action to make things better, we.... let the loudest, most profit-motivated voices dominate the decisions and ended up worse off than we started. Millions and millions of people dead and disabled not because we couldn't do anything to prevent it but because we couldn't convince people to take simple steps to make things a ton better. We have the tools and we just... decided not to use them. One of the greatest and saddest failures of modern history.
Complete agreement. Historians are going to look back and marvel at how militantly ignorant we made ourselves, just to have concerts and brunch again as quickly as possible. 🙃
While I broadly agree, I think you missed the fact that these decisions aren't all in the past tense. They're still being made and we can still steer them in the right direction. We can look at all the ways we've been failing and push down on the brakes. I think we as humans are very adaptable but it still takes us a while to find our footing in the face of unprecedented times like these.
Basically I think it's a bit premature to call the whole thing a loss 😊
@@scobeymeister1 You have more capacity for long-term hope than I do! I think this pandemic has shown me the true face of humanity: we are monsters to each other.
The first two minutes are most of the reasons I refuse to move back to the US. Some of those issues are worldwide, but some are mostly American and I just can't deal with them anymore.
Where do you live now? Thinking about an exit strategy, just in case
@@TheEnigmaticKasai the UK. I wouldn't say it's great, but it's better. If it was up to me I'd be in Norway.
@lindsaykat3675 I think the issue with nationalism is actually less of an issue in America than it is in other places. If there is a rise in nationalism in the US, it is a response to other country's nationalist behavior. Most notably, China, which I think is probably the situation he is referencing.
@@TheEnigmaticKasaiGo to Australia. It's enough like the US that you won't have culture shock, but it has a lot less people, incredible outdoor spaces, and excellent weather. I never thought I'd want to live anywhere except the US, but then I went to Australia...
That’s just laughable
This is BRILLIANT!!
I will haveto watch atleast17 times to catch close to all of it,
but first-view gestalt has my head spinning and I am crazed and grinning at the same time.
These moments are always good.
Happy New Year John and Hank. always look forward to these every week.
These are really good positives (except #2 because I don’t live in the US but good for you). I feel like you might be right about the profound shift that social media is creating. In 2011 at a conference I heard it referred to as The Gutenberg Parenthesis, but since then I haven’t been able to find that terms anywhere in the literature or remember who it was that said it. The brief period in which we relied heavily on the cold medium of written text, capped at both ends by oral histories. I think a lot about this.
That is such a cool way to think of it! My thoughts (and my youtube feed) have been heavily influenced by ideas about indigeneity and traditional cultures lately, and how capitalism has largely alienated people from that by driving cultural shifts toward more exploitable family units.
It's nice to know people have been having similar thoughts I have, about regaining cultural connections through storytelling, now that we're able to overcome geographical obstacles via the internet! "We live in anthropologically fascinating times" is how I'm keeping the hope lol
Definitely need this! Happy new year Hank and John. And happy future for nerdfiteria!
Thank you for saying this. It's nice to hear a voice of reason. Good luck on your trip.
Hank you managed to PERFECTLY articulate my fears and concerns for 2024 and the future. But I also appreciate your grounded, realistic, and hopeful optimism about some of this stuff. You and John have done so much to help me recognize the complexity of our world that social media flattens, and you've helped me keep a generally hopeful perspective on humanity. Thank you for another great video, you're an important force for good in this world
Long post no one will read but is cathartic to write. :)
The way you start this video feels synchronistic. After like a decade of watching your videos I finally started listening to the Dear Hank and John podcast when my brain is threatening to spiral and I need something engaging and funny and real. It works VERY well. I just listened to an episode from 2015 (#32 Broccoli-Flavored Chocolate) and kept thinking "oh these sweet people don't know what's going to happen yet". There was a question about apocalypse scenarios and John was asking if a near earth object were identified wouldn't mitigation efforts be hampered by a lack of scientific consensus and political support (did he secretly write Don't Look Up)? Hank you were saying you'd like to see the world come together to address it and you believed we would. If we use the near earth object as a metaphor for Covid you were both right. The scientific world came together to make tests and vaccines. The people and the politics ruined all other safety measures and we lost the plot. Things are bad, times are hard, but people continue to try and we help each other, and we can listen to 9-year-old podcasts to keep from succumbing to madness. Thank you both once again for tethering me to the world and giving me hope.
We Blame The Internet Too Much And Ourselves Too Little
( so it's an amplifier in an echo chamber, we are still the ones making the noise )
I am so upset I missed you in Syracuse!! I hope you had a good time here
Thanks, Hank. I am too quite forgiving of humanity. People have been through A LOT!
Oh, I'm so so so excited that it'll be recorded and distributed somehow, I'm STOKED to see your standup!
Happy first Friday of 2024, Hank. 😄
I'm glad you are here. Thank you
So excited to hear you’re recording the routine!
I left Twitter for group-chats and reading. I read 100 books and played with my dog in 2023 instead of using social media ❤ And it made my life much better
Same in sep 2023 i gave up social media and went from reading 0 books from jan to aug to 60 from sep to dec.
A slight correction... we are still going through a pandemic (per the WHO, just a few days ago), and it is causing a ton of ongoing death, disability, and trauma. It is impossible to heal from trauma when we're still going through it. There are an awful lot of us who are not okay.
Hank, I’ve been pretty concerned about this year too, and by 90% the way through this, you helped me feel like I had a genuinely worth-being-optimistic-about lifeline to hang on to in between spurts of climbing my way up.
By the last couple sentences of the video, you’d helped me find my way back to the feeling of “yeah! you know what, it is a marvel that we’re conscious and doing stuff in this weird magical choose your own adventure universe! it is actually a lot more marvelous and a lot less Serious and Important and Businesslike than I had been feeling like it was.”
Thank you for the help!!! It changed the course of the rest of my day. I’m sure I’ll be back here to rewatch a few more times over this year. 👍💕
I can’t believe I didn’t know about your Oxnard show til today - and now it’s sold out! I hope Ventura County treats you well!
Heartbreaking to see y’all haven’t mentioned the genocide in Gaza. 🇵🇸 been a long time watcher but I can’t bring myself to continue subscribing
Happy 2024!
This might be the most resonant video I've seen from either of you guys in all these years. Thank you Hank.
Thank you for sharing your optimism. Just anything that conveys some sense of stability is what I really need right now at the start of this new year
"Dumpster Fires All the Way Down"
Together, the Green brothers (by way of Terry Pratchett) have described the 21st century in a way everyone can understand
I’m a real big fan of your hoodie Hank. I think we’re all emotionally exhausted, and I’m watching this on the fifth of January, 2024. It’s early yet, but I still feel it’s true.
It’s from Philip Defraco
Thank you for creating today. I am optimistic that our brains work best when solving problems.
Some of us weirdos needed this message, Hank- so thanks, you're a pretty great sarapocial-internet-stranger for a long of people, keep on doing you. Happy New Years, y'all!
"It's very hard to be this weird." - Hank Green, 2024
Welp, that about sums me up.
+++
Thank you for putting the pandemic in the present tense. My hope for 2024 is that we start cleaning the air in the same way we cleaned the water for cholera, so that those of us with rubbish immune systems can live more normally and be less isolated :)
I am very ill rn anxious abt that and for everything going on in the world. Thank you for this video.
Thank you ❤
Petition for John to write a new book , *dumpster fires all the way down* about a girl trying to find optimism and navigate these hellish times we live in.
The first part fed into my serious current anxiety, honestly I'm not sure the second part helped. I am going to go look at videos of kittens and puppies
It's nice to hear the list of things Hank is worried about. It makes me feel less crazy. That's the kind of optimism I needed.
I'm glad you're talking about all that matters, got really anxious about the state of humanity in the last couple weeks.
Happy New Year, weirdos.
I think the social isolation of the pandemic leveled the playing field for people with autism. As one who is autistic, I am in my element when left alone.
Work from home has to be one of the best things that ever happened for (some) neurodiverse folks. Open office layouts? Gone. Overhead lights? Lamps all the way, baby. Having to run into Barb at the water cooler and make smalltalk? Haha slack status is set to Away, be back never.
Spitting facts my dude! I wish you a healthy happy new year
Thanks guys for the navigating digital information content. It helped. I used it.
It's very interesting that you say 2016 is when a lot of people got into social media... because that's exactly when I bailed. I've been on Facebook since about 2008, used to check out constantly, but coming up to the 2016 election... and then afterwards... I eventually realized that every time I got on Facebook, I just ended up angry and upset. So I stopped checking it. I didn't get rid of my account, because it's the only way I know how to contact a lot of my friends, but I very rarely touch it anymore. It almost instantly makes me anxious. And other social media kind of fell aside as well. Which was a bit unfortunate, because eventually I realized (probably during the early pandemic) that I was becoming isolated and lonely... but I'm trying to work on that.