Why Do Things Exist?

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  • Опубликовано: 31 май 2024
  • In which John considers a question from his 5-year-old nephew: Why do things exist? Why does anything exist? Why are we here? Also, chickens.
    p.s. awesomecoffeeclub.com
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Комментарии • 873

  • @vlogbrothers
    @vlogbrothers  Год назад +221

    Learn more about the Awesome Coffee Club here: awesomecoffeeclub.com From the biodegradable packaging to the farmland to the compensation of the farmers, Awesome Coffee wants to be a different kind of coffee company--one that makes awesome coffee that is also awesome for the people who farm it and for the world. And best of all, 100% of the profits go to improve healthcare systems in impoverished communities. -John
    p.s. We don't know why anything exists!

    • @piaest.6456
      @piaest.6456 Год назад +5

      not knowing the answer to "why do things exist?" is kind of a bummer when you also wonder what their purpose are (which reminds me of):
      In the beginning, God created the earth, and he looked upon it in His cosmic loneliness.
      And God said, "Let Us make living creatures out of mud, so the mud can see what We have done." And God created every living creature that now moveth, and one was man. Mud as man alone could speak. God leaned close as mud as man sat up, looked around, and spoke. Man blinked. "What is the purpose of all this?" he asked politely.
      "Everything must have a purpose?" asked God.
      "Certainly," said man.
      "Then I leave it to you to think of one for all this," said God.
      And He went away.
      [fucking love vonnegut - a.y.]

    • @pedratorta7061
      @pedratorta7061 Год назад

      Hi! Phat clone

    • @myladycasagrande863
      @myladycasagrande863 Год назад +1

      But why does coffee exist?

    • @SpikeTheDog84
      @SpikeTheDog84 Год назад

      +

    • @PanikaMCD
      @PanikaMCD Год назад

      would like a light roast. until then, I'm sticking with Fara since they're Rainforest Alliance certified and that'll take y'all another 4 years to achieve. the only difference is that all of your proceeds go to charitable efforts while only a portion of theirs does and that you don't have light roast as I guess you're the type of people who wake up from the taste and I'm one who wakes up from the caffeine.

  • @spectrumspectre
    @spectrumspectre Год назад +3346

    John is just casually giving a five year old his first existential crisis, as all good uncles should

    • @dawson3089
      @dawson3089 Год назад +61

      Bringing a whole new meaning to the "But... why?" phase.

    • @felixrobertson534
      @felixrobertson534 Год назад +28

      Mixed with an advert for coffee, of course

    • @thombruce
      @thombruce Год назад +40

      Kid's definitely gonna need that coffee.

    • @RainaRamsay
      @RainaRamsay Год назад +60

      "Baby's first existential crisis" would make an awesome book series, actually

    • @nitfens6863
      @nitfens6863 Год назад +8

      Well I need to be giving my nephews and nieces more existential crises...

  • @jacoL8
    @jacoL8 Год назад +1339

    even though I know that this video is not just for hank's 5-year-old kid, but the fact that you don't ever talk down to the person you're addressing even if you know they are a kid and they won't understand half the things you are talking about is honestly the best part of the vid... as a kid I loathed adults that talked down to me and now I try my best to never do it, even if a child doesn't understand what I'm saying all that means is that more questions will be asked and they'll learn more!

    • @vlogbrothers
      @vlogbrothers  Год назад +930

      Thanks. This is also how I talk to the chickens. -John

    • @Hi_Brien
      @Hi_Brien Год назад +38

      Orin is a very smart kid, there is no evidence he doesn't understand this video.

    • @RainaRamsay
      @RainaRamsay Год назад +38

      Yes! Let kids learn at their own pace, which means not holding them back to what you think they "should" be capable of!

    • @miriamrosemary9110
      @miriamrosemary9110 Год назад +64

      @@vlogbrothers Good, because those chickens are sick and tired of being spoken down to!
      Side note: While that is meant to be a joke, I also was amazed a few years ago to find out first hand how intelligent and social chickens are. So odd that they're depicted so often as the dumbest bird in stories and media. They're truly incredible creatures. I wonder if we've depicted them this way so that we don't feel bad for eating them?

    • @a_pyrple
      @a_pyrple Год назад

      @@vlogbrothers genial

  • @amyberger9559
    @amyberger9559 Год назад +150

    I have a toddler who is endlessly clapping for himself, delighting in every tiny discovery. When Hank shared the stat that we are currently only about 0.01% of the way through the lifespan of the universe and that it is still so young, I realized that the universe is a lot like a big toddler, continuously clapping for itself, as if to say, “Isn’t this wonderful?!? More, more!!”

    • @whimgarden
      @whimgarden Год назад +2

      Gorgeous thought!

    • @rosengrenj9
      @rosengrenj9 Год назад +7

      If you measure the lifespan of the universe from the Big Bang to the evaporation of the last black hole, the universe has actually been through about 0.00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001% of its lifespan (btw I didn’t just spam 0’s, that’s the actual number 🤣🤣)

    • @Danuxsy
      @Danuxsy 9 месяцев назад

      *looks at all the suffering in the world* yea.. wonderful...

    • @NoOneCaresJSYK
      @NoOneCaresJSYK Месяц назад +1

      I want you to know that your comment has really helped me tonight. I’ve been severely grieving the love of my life/best friend for 6 years. It’s been extra, extra difficult lately. Lots of questioning and a massive existential crisis. I was having a bad panic attack like 10 minutes ago bc I was overthinking everything. So I decided to watch a video so I could pay attention to what someone else was saying instead of what I was thinking. Your comment really put things into perspective for me. I’ve never thought about it like that. With time we’ll be able to understand. The universe’s brain just isn’t developed all the way yet and it can’t because we haven’t experienced enough. We have to keep learning and growing bc it’s not physically possible for us to understand all the things that we have to learn over time. That makes so much sense to me. Absolutely love that. Thank you
      💞

  • @SophieHartstein
    @SophieHartstein Год назад +224

    "we are made out of the universe" is exactly what i needed to hear today

  • @727Phoenix
    @727Phoenix Год назад +307

    *Please* make more videos for your nephew _PLEASE!!_ This is the kind of thing many of us adults never got to hear when we were that young. And far too often the answers we did hear came from within a mind-constricting and sometimes frightening religious context. And... Well, it's going to be just plain refreshing to all of us if some of what you & Hank tell _us_ is really for _a small child._ *Thank you!*

  • @mariewikiwaka3851
    @mariewikiwaka3851 Год назад +76

    Snazzy new glasses, John!

    • @Dalenthas
      @Dalenthas Год назад +2

      I spent the first minute trying to figure out what was different before settling on "new glasses" 😅

    • @mariewikiwaka3851
      @mariewikiwaka3851 Год назад

      @@Dalenthas Yea for me it was that the glasses are blue not black.

  • @Alexander_D_Shaffer
    @Alexander_D_Shaffer Год назад +193

    Teaching children is kind of like catching someone up who starts at the most recent book in a series. You have all the answers for getting them caught up but you're just as in the dark about what comes next or any questions that remain unanswered so far.

  • @JaredTakesTime
    @JaredTakesTime Год назад +44

    I don't know why things exist, but I am glad those glasses exist.

  • @RainaRamsay
    @RainaRamsay Год назад +113

    I love that 5-year-olds regularly come up with questions that the answer is so obvious, you have a hard time remembering that there was ever a time you learned this... and also with questions that all of humanity has struggled with for all of our existence.

  • @MarcosProjects
    @MarcosProjects Год назад +102

    My son's name is Sagan because his eponym Carl popularized the idea that "we are a way for the Cosmos to know itself" :)

    • @MikeGraceJediDad
      @MikeGraceJediDad Год назад +2

      Well said. I was a bit more wordy and thinking of another author, but well said.

    • @MichaelSchwarzbacha
      @MichaelSchwarzbacha Год назад +6

      couldn't have named him Carl, huh?

    • @hexeddecimals
      @hexeddecimals Год назад +8

      Today I learned what an eponym is

  • @ERowe-fs2zr
    @ERowe-fs2zr Год назад +150

    Four minutes of reasons to be generally in favor of humans. Man, I love us! I love that we question things. I love that we make awesome coffee. I love that we are the universe trying to understand itself.

  • @aadisha6621
    @aadisha6621 Год назад +511

    Hey John, I have been reading Anthropocene reviewed recently and honestly it is my comfort book. I know you say that thinking of a human to be more than a human is a treacherous thing but your writing is like a comfortable blanket for me. I guess its good to know someone out there feels the same way you do. College entrances have been scary. Your videos keep the sanity intact. Thanks for what you do. I am so glad that you exist :)

    • @vlogbrothers
      @vlogbrothers  Год назад +227

      I'm so grateful that you've found reading the book a comfort. I hoped it could be. -John

    • @akshatdubey7904
      @akshatdubey7904 Год назад +23

      I went through the same self-image-shattering process. Glad to see you're here on the other side with me.

    • @danielisozaki7500
      @danielisozaki7500 Год назад +13

      Oh my goodness, yes! And yes, John's book is one of the main things that got me through. Thank you so much John

    • @joshgoldenberg4398
      @joshgoldenberg4398 Год назад +7

      This made me tear up a bit. Thank you

    • @SueSolberg
      @SueSolberg Год назад +8

      Same. I still haven't read it cover to cover, but I like to open it up and read whatever essay comes to hand. We had a chalice circle recently where the topic was book and it was one of the books I took to recommend to everyone.

  • @v1ntagecassette
    @v1ntagecassette Год назад +27

    When I was really little, I asked my dad why water freezes into ice. His answer was that it gets cold, which makes it solid, but I wanted to know why cold made it solid in the first place. That's how I learned about molecules at age 3, and did a science fair project about them at age 6

  • @huburgalula4031
    @huburgalula4031 Год назад +271

    So cute to see John make a video response for Orin! Used to be their thing with Hank and now they get to share it with little hank!

    • @turdl38
      @turdl38 Год назад +9

      I remember Hank doing one for Henry back in the day. Love it.

  • @rejithkumarg
    @rejithkumarg Год назад +207

    I just end up teary eyed every single time hank or John talk about the universe in such a beautiful manner

    • @whimgarden
      @whimgarden Год назад

      Me too Rejith, it's absolutely lovely.

  • @talia9525
    @talia9525 Год назад +48

    Those glasses fit exceedingly well with your newly established fancy coffee-drinking persona. I’m a fan.

    • @tass466
      @tass466 Год назад +5

      They are new glasses, right??? Came to the comments trying to figure out if I was the only one who thought they looked different...

    • @splash__
      @splash__ Год назад

      @@tass466 he made a comment last week (I think) saying something about new glasses. Last week's video was one pair and this week's was another

    • @dianeb.8242
      @dianeb.8242 Год назад +2

      I think you mean fancy nauseous puddle water-drinking persona :)

    • @talia9525
      @talia9525 Год назад

      @@dianeb.8242 oops definitely meant that!

    • @TheBeccabus
      @TheBeccabus Год назад

      Yes! Strong agree!

  • @daevans315
    @daevans315 Год назад +426

    The real question is, why when discussing questions like this,
    I'm fixated on if John got new glasses.

    • @fyorarules
      @fyorarules Год назад +17

      I was thinking the same thing 🤣 started squinting at the thumbnails of their older videos to see if I can tell the difference between then and now

    • @tegalto
      @tegalto Год назад +16

      YES! I was so distracted! 😅

    • @The_Serpent_of_Eden
      @The_Serpent_of_Eden Год назад +16

      Also he looks so gray here, lol. Which no hate, I'm younger than him and going gray too, it's been a rough decade!

    • @jobriq5
      @jobriq5 Год назад +4

      He did (I think he mentioned on tiktok)

    • @jessicaonymous4352
      @jessicaonymous4352 Год назад +5

      I noticed last week, pretty sure they're new

  • @messyhair42
    @messyhair42 Год назад +121

    John's monologue combined with puff levels are giving me some early Vlogbrothers energy, like 2009 Vlogbrothers

    • @cbjgirl23
      @cbjgirl23 Год назад +7

      the slight change in glasses shape towards the 2009 glasses in my mind also help it

    • @jennifercampbell2512
      @jennifercampbell2512 Год назад

      Here, here! Also: +

    • @gennaslists
      @gennaslists Год назад +1

      The glasses is giving me “I am not a pornographer” era

    • @ivytarablair
      @ivytarablair Год назад +2

      SAME! (Long Live the Puff!)

    • @DawnyPotter
      @DawnyPotter Год назад +1

      The jump cut and new angle and tone at 3:10ish is extremely brotherhood 2.0

  • @Beligol
    @Beligol Год назад +65

    It was thinking about questions like this that pushed me to physics. I can remember when I started asking smaller bigger questions to myself and being able to piece together the answers from what I had learned. Now I get to teach college students the wonder and the glory that is physics.

    • @elliottmcollins
      @elliottmcollins Год назад +2

      Whenever I hear questions like "Why do things exists", my first thought is "is this a physics question or a story question"? Because is "why" means "what's the goal/purpose?" then I've got some stuff to say about how things don't do stuff for reasons like people do. But if you mean "why" like "what happened that made it like this?" then I've got some awesome physics to tell you about.

    • @hopewilliard6781
      @hopewilliard6781 Год назад

      That’s so cool!

  • @jaretanderson
    @jaretanderson Год назад +123

    Hank and John gonna be in the textbook for how to nail midroll ad production in Content Creator University courses in 10 years

  • @amberbydreamsart5467
    @amberbydreamsart5467 Год назад +30

    Did I know you have chickens? I don't think I knew you have chickens. Congratulations on the chickens!! I hope to have chickens someday but right now I live in an apartment, and nothing about an apartment is conducive to chickens.

  • @KristenRowenPliske
    @KristenRowenPliske Год назад +10

    That is a beautiful thing to tell a child. “You ARE the universe”
    Because it’s true, from a parent’s perspective. And it’s also true that adults don’t know everything & it’s ok to tell a child that.
    “I don’t know but let’s find out together.”

  • @_nicolefwong
    @_nicolefwong Год назад +32

    fantastic video as always

  • @sn0wflake
    @sn0wflake Год назад +13

    That last line, addressed to Orin, is so wonderful that I couldn’t help but tear up. (Not the coffee one. Although the club sounds great.)

  • @TheRosielikesvideos
    @TheRosielikesvideos Год назад +8

    I adore that John's voice goes up when addressing Orin - he is such a Dad
    (I also laugh that it goes down when he talks about awesome coffee as his cantankerous side shines through)

  • @laurapeterson5158
    @laurapeterson5158 Год назад +5

    Love when John wears Green.

  • @an__ant___anakahqjq
    @an__ant___anakahqjq Год назад +37

    Interrupting the existential crisis for chickens and coffee is the best thing I’ve seen all day

  • @theawesomesaucelady9
    @theawesomesaucelady9 Год назад +15

    John's really good at writing in the second perspective. Like, if I were teaching a class on different narration POV's I'd certainly pick something written by John Green to demonstrate how useful and beautiful it can be.

  • @johnarbuckle2619
    @johnarbuckle2619 Год назад +6

    You have chickens !?!?
    You are full of surprises, John...

  • @myinternetidentitystill
    @myinternetidentitystill Год назад +5

    I gotta get on the anthropocene-reviewed-praise-train. Lately, I sat in a train towards my home town. German trains are quite crowded at the time, so a seat is already Something exclusive. Re-listening to some of my favoutite chapters (like Sycamore trees), read by you.. It always does something to me. Thank you for all the emotions you help me process, it shows me that there is so many nice things around me, like a stranger offering me a seat for my bandaged leg.
    ~Christoph

  • @secretforreddit
    @secretforreddit Год назад +4

    Sometimes certain videos just hit you in a different way and make you seriously reexamine questions you had put out of your mind long ago, when you were still a child. This is one of those videos. John, thank you for not only speaking to your 5-year-old nephew, but for reminding all of us that we can still ponder those questions that we annoyed adults with as kids. They were annoyed because they didn't have the answers, so we kept asking (until we stopped), but not having the answers makes them more interesting and important, in a way.

  • @TotalTimoTime
    @TotalTimoTime Год назад +11

    Hey John, I love how you encourage children with these wonderful questions. Wonder in the literal sense of „desire to know“. Adults to me seem less wonderful and I always had to fight hard to keep my sense of wonder on the midst of „dont worry about it“ or „it doesnt matter“. This video reminded me of the little prince which is still comforting to this day to me.
    Stay awesome,
    ~Timo

  • @AA_21861
    @AA_21861 Год назад +12

    Hey John! What gives me comfort is that not being able to answer "Why?" is only temporary.
    500 years ago, we didn't know "Why the earth rotates around the sun" but along came Newton and Einstein and all those smart people who told us about gravity. It is not *the* answer, but it is *an* answer that works for us right now.
    So let's keep looking! One day, we may be able to give at least *an* answer to your nephew's question, if not *the* answer. Thanks as always!

  • @HamzaSayedAli
    @HamzaSayedAli Год назад +8

    This last couple weeks of responding to the new space images by talking about how we fit into them has made me feel really weird. Its so amazing but at the same time it feels like I wasn't meant to be able to see that far out into the universe. The fact that we didn't even know about other galaxies till like 99 years ago,, it really is a lot to process without even asking the "Why does any of it exist?" part

    • @SinHurr
      @SinHurr Год назад +1

      I try to think "why not" instead. Which as a scientific question is all but useless but as an existential foci is much more comforting.

  • @Karishma_Unspecified
    @Karishma_Unspecified Год назад +6

    This is such a gentle way to answer an existential question... thanks.

  • @aidanclyens3899
    @aidanclyens3899 Год назад +5

    It's such a human experience to try to find meaning in places where there isn't necessarily any. And the fact that we start asking these huge questions at such a young age is amazing! Thanks for the inspiration John!

  • @sebastianlopez9433
    @sebastianlopez9433 Год назад +5

    John! Be careful about using coffee grounds as garden fertilizer, you can put it in your composting bin, sure... But when on the soil it releases caffeine, which affects the development of seeds (it's an anti-competition strategy that the coffee cherry uses)
    Of course, caffeine is water soluble, and it will wash out, but it can affect your seedlings if you put it directly on the soil

    • @bouncingbean
      @bouncingbean Год назад +2

      Thank you for this comment! I did not realize I needed to know what evolutionary advantage the coffee plant derives from caffeine, but that makes sense!
      AND… when I was a kid, my dad used to tell me I shouldn’t drink Coke because it would stunt my growth. Later, I always thought he was making it up because he didn’t want to share his soda. But maybe he was actually basing it on this information about caffeine’s effects on seedlings. (Or possibly he was conflating with the idea that carbonated beverages can interfere with calcium absorption, which can be a factor in osteoporosis.) Either way, I never did get much into the habit of drinking soda on a regular basis. So, thanks dad - love ya! 🙂

  • @DanielFlailed
    @DanielFlailed Год назад +6

    I never thought that John Green would become the modern day Steve from Blues Clues, but here we are. I could watch a whole channel of this.

  • @marieeveduchesne
    @marieeveduchesne Год назад +2

    " You, my 5 year old nephew, are the universe, trying to understand itself", is such a beautifully phrased sentence.

  • @clairevanstolk7903
    @clairevanstolk7903 Год назад +1

    My grandma is dying rn and it’s got me thinking about all the little things she’s leaving behind: old newspapers, leftover ice cream bars in the freezer, dried up concealer, fuzzy blankets, the contacts of all her family stuck to the wall in the kitchen, etc. Some items are just things that probably will be thrown out or given away and they have no “value”. But they had to come from somewhere and now are gonna end up as the remains of someone’s life. It doesn’t really matter where or how they got here because the person that carried meaning for will be gone.
    This is not at all related but I can’t get past the fact that you shaved your beard. Maybe it’s just one little detail to focus on when everything feels so big and existential.
    So thanks for that

    • @bouncingbean
      @bouncingbean Год назад +1

      Hoping for peaceful moments for you and your grandma and other loved ones, during this liminal time. 💜

  • @joshuasims5421
    @joshuasims5421 Год назад +4

    A lot of this video is a great answer to “why does matter exist” or even “why does stuff exist.” But a ‘thing’ is an abstract grouping of ‘stuff’, a clump of matter we treat as a unit because of its behavior or other qualities. So I think the answer to “why do things exist” is also because humans categorize the things they see according to their uses and properties, and we require this abstraction of an infinite universe of matter into a discrete array of ‘things’ in order to function. From a certain point of view, ‘things’ do not exist, they are sort of an illusion of human perception. Why do things exist? Because we call them names.

    • @pintpullinggeek
      @pintpullinggeek Год назад +1

      Everything is a thing, that's how every things get!
      (With apologies to Bill Wurtz)

    • @waynemv
      @waynemv Год назад +1

      I like your answer, and if I correctly understand the philosopher Kant, I think he would have agreed with you.
      I think it's very premature to ask why things exist, without first deeply exploring how and whether we even know that "things exist", but I rarely find philosophers making that prerequisite investigation. Maybe existence versus nonexistence is not even a concept that reality itself would "care" about? (Please, excuse the anthropomorphism. I'm just not sure how otherwise to say that.)

    • @InefficientCustard
      @InefficientCustard Год назад +1

      " 'things' do not exist they are a sort of illusion of human perception" Does that mean we are ourselves are an illusion of our own perception? :)
      In all seriousness get your point that to make sense of reality we divide it into digestable slices. But it seems even if we saw everything as only one thing that would still entail the idea of nothing. When we say anything exists at all we slip in the assumption that it is possible for it to not exist.
      So ends my ramblings (I am very tired right now so perhaps I'm just spewing nonsense and am too exhausted to tell.)

  • @thomaswburkhart
    @thomaswburkhart Год назад +1

    i think the craziest thing is being able to ask these questions-to be so advanced and be able to comprehend these impossibilities (wondering about things we probably won’t ever learn) to me is beyond fascinating. the ability to ‘think’ and consciously acknowledge these ‘big questions’ is so astounding

  • @lynkbaugus1265
    @lynkbaugus1265 Год назад +2

    Just had this sudden thought that vlogbrothers has been a formative force in my life since 2008. I met my best friend because of vlogbrothers, I started writing because of vlogbrothers, I became invested in helping the world suck less because of vlogbrothers. I've been experiencing the universe alongside 3.5 million other nerdfighters, whom I do not know personally, and I will continue to do so twice a week until otherwise unable. Thanks John.

  • @cassaroooo
    @cassaroooo Год назад +2

    The end of this video made me cry. I don't know why. Maybe it's that my son is turning 2 on Friday and just the act of telling a 5 year old that he will make discoveries in the future makes me more optimistic about a future. Maybe I wanted to remind myself that I'm also part of the universe. Idk. thanks John.

  • @pipmacrae
    @pipmacrae Год назад +3

    Thanks for always being uplifting John. Glad to be part of this universe with all of Nerdfighteria.

  • @sassy8910
    @sassy8910 Год назад +2

    Topics like this are why I subbed! Thanks, John. Your nephew is lucky to have you and his dad both

  • @dianeb.8242
    @dianeb.8242 Год назад

    This was really lovely, and made me smile. So many people brush off children's questions as silly (especially because kids tend to ask the same questions over and over - and of course you're going to do that if Mom and Dad ignore you!)
    I love this channel because it is genuine, thinks complexly, and isn't afraid to confront bigger topics. This video felt like it could fit perfectly into The Anthropocene Reviewed (my nephew's accidentally existentialist question, 4.5 stars) and I loved it.

  • @sarahgayle6079
    @sarahgayle6079 Год назад +1

    Oh my gosh, I didn’t know I needed Chicken John but the universe did! I’m gonna need more Chicken John content!

  • @francescakyanda9182
    @francescakyanda9182 Год назад

    You differentiating between “how” and “why” made me so happy as a person with a lot of questions

  • @Sonia-cb8dj
    @Sonia-cb8dj Год назад +1

    Thank you for taking us outside to the chickens. It is quite hot here today and it felt refreshing to see some nice fresh greenery.

  • @Kate-dk9yv
    @Kate-dk9yv Год назад +3

    I'm always torn between freaked out that we will never know why we exist and content to know that it just means we get to choose why we exist.

  • @TheShaleco
    @TheShaleco Год назад +1

    Okay but I would pay money for an hour video of the chickens just being chickens. I don't know why I find watching chickens to be so soothing but it is something I have discovered in myself.

  • @riiiuh
    @riiiuh Год назад

    What I appreciate most about this is that it shows you can tackle big, hairy, audacious, and controversial questions and just give the simple, humble, and true answer which is this: "I don't know."

  • @TazziToz
    @TazziToz Год назад

    I think Is one of your most thoughtful and beautiful responses. I felt alive listening to it. Thank you

  • @drdrake17
    @drdrake17 Год назад

    Never change, but I *love* the idea of you making videos for your nephew, it's adorable!

  • @waffles3629
    @waffles3629 Год назад

    Please do more videos like this. And I love that you don't talk down to him like so many adults are in the habit of doing. I hated that as a kid, people assumed that just because I was young, I was also stupid. And it sucks. As well as stunting your desire to learn.

  • @henrietteneuschwander219
    @henrietteneuschwander219 Год назад +4

    Whoa, I've never been this early! You guys rock, thank you for your videos and everything else you do!

  • @cloudwaveASMRsleepsounds
    @cloudwaveASMRsleepsounds Год назад +1

    Really good Awesome Coffee Club segue.

  • @nameslessone
    @nameslessone Год назад

    This was actually very touching! I love y'alls videos please keep up the great work!!

  • @MattPalka
    @MattPalka Год назад

    I also love that we can play and have fun and not need to understand why everything is the way it is. Knowing adds to wonder and doesn't lessen it al ALL

  • @DeathlyTired
    @DeathlyTired Год назад +1

    Reminds me of the MItchell & Webb sketch about the fictional quiz show, 'Nobody Knows'; in which, the answer to every question is, "Nobody knows".

  • @AMPdphoto
    @AMPdphoto Год назад +1

    John, I love that you can get me all teary eyed even when marketing coffee. You’re the king of last lines

  • @gloriousexceptionalism2346
    @gloriousexceptionalism2346 Год назад

    Another video that teases out the smiles and the thinking 🤩🥹 thank you

  • @t3hsis324
    @t3hsis324 Год назад

    Petition for more of these 'answer kids questions' in vlogbrothers, because it's so wholesome and I want to know, too. Also, that is so AWESOME John has chickens. Farm fresh eggs are the best and it makes me SO happy to see HAPPY HEALTHY CHICKENS in a small, clean enclosure and I'm sure they get to do some roaming around out there as well, which makes them equally happy (PS they love fruit and vegteble scraps - try to give them watermelon rind! It's a hoot!!)

  • @d.h.4778
    @d.h.4778 Год назад

    So much information in such little time and actually rather eye opening and even tho this was aimed at a five year old, you pulled me out of my existential crisis. Thank you.

  • @jordanparks99
    @jordanparks99 Год назад +1

    John and Hank, I’ll just say you guys are great. Keep making videos please.

  • @rosepetal0208
    @rosepetal0208 Год назад

    The way you popped up and screamed "WE DON'T KNOW" was so like Hank it made me smile

  • @rodney_d
    @rodney_d Год назад

    Hey John, all these philosophical questions are great, but it would also be interesting to hear about your experience with farm animals! I have had the interest in buying a turkey at the beginning of the year so I can prepare it for Thanksgiving or Christmas.

  • @aheoteokke9073
    @aheoteokke9073 Год назад

    I remember this from the Mindblowers video! Very good summary of the discussion you had, with added faith in and wonder at humanity. :)

  • @kporter002
    @kporter002 Год назад

    Are you trying to make me cry this morning? That was the sweetest, funniest videos you've done in a while. I hope Orin responds, but to Henry LOL!

  • @emmybnye
    @emmybnye Год назад

    Reminds me of one of my north star quotes. From EM Forster's A Room with a View: "Make him realize that by the side of the everlasting Why there is a Yes--a transitory Yes if you like, but a Yes." Always makes me feel good when I get a little spun out on the "why" of it all.

  • @alicenguyen6410
    @alicenguyen6410 Год назад

    Thank you for todays video John

  • @timmcgee34
    @timmcgee34 Год назад

    John, you created Awesome Coffee Club for many reasons, but it feels like a big one is that you get to create adds for Awesome Coffee Club whenever you want - keep up the good ad copy!

  • @Smidge204
    @Smidge204 Год назад +8

    I think the question "why do things exist?" is fundamentally flawed since it implies, perhaps unintentionally, that there is a purpose. Purpose is a value proposition that we impose on things, not something that exists independently.
    Of course the other way to parse the question is one of causality, as in through what mechanism did we come into existence. I think it's better to frame that question as a "how" though, since it avoids that ambiguity.
    Remember; There is no "Y" in "Science," but there is one in "Philosophy!"

    • @hughcaldwell1034
      @hughcaldwell1034 Год назад +1

      Okay, but if you give the mechanistic answer, you're kicking the can down the road. Then you have to explain by what mechanism that mechanism came to be and work the way it does, etc. There is another way to interpret the question that doesn't rely on purpose but which still gets at the difference between how and why - necessity. We're essentially asking whether the universe necessarily exists, or whether it was contingent. Certainly it seems intuitive that there could have been nothing rather than something, and our everyday experience of nature is that it's lazy. If there's no particular cause for something, it generally doesn't happen.

    • @Smidge204
      @Smidge204 Год назад

      @@hughcaldwell1034 I feel there's folly in wanting an "ultimate answer" - there's nothing wrong with kicking the can down an infinitely long road, in my opinion. Science is about understanding what is, and if that means chasing an infinite regress of causation then so be it! Richard Feynman would certainly have strong opinions about that.
      Asking if the universe is contingent is also kicking the can down the road: If the existence of the universe is contingent upon something, then should the existence of that something also be contingent on something else, etc? This doesn't really get us anywhere scientifically, and I'd argue cosmological arguments are more philosopher's metal masturbation than anything else.
      Perhaps the universe exists simply because there is no other alternative; existence itself is inevitable. Or perhaps it's coincidence, and by pure happenstance we, who presume ourselves sentient and intelligent, are merely Douglas Adams' puddle trying to justify ourselves to ourselves. That's for the philosophers and theologians to fritter away their lives on...

  • @pgraterol
    @pgraterol Год назад +3

    Have a great day everyone!

  • @Dyslexic-Artist-Theory-on-Time
    @Dyslexic-Artist-Theory-on-Time Год назад +1

    Because we have a process of spherical symmetry forming and breaking that forms the potential for entropy. This process also forms the potential to form greater symmetry as in cell life and the potential to form evermore abstract maths.

  • @mayabutlikebetter2345
    @mayabutlikebetter2345 Год назад

    This has been my favorite pondering lately. I was in the middle of finals and I just suddenly was completely amazed but how the room around me came to being. I knew it was construction made from metal and wood, but how had it all come to be and why?

  • @caitlincurtis7844
    @caitlincurtis7844 Год назад

    My first awesome coffee club order should be here Friday and I’m so excited!!! Even though I don’t drink coffee I bought it for my husband. I love participating in the awesome clubs to help raise money. 😊

  • @dosesandmimoses
    @dosesandmimoses 3 месяца назад

    I thoroughly enjoyed this episode.. the level of intensity is brilliant.. this is my life lol

  • @haleyherzog1089
    @haleyherzog1089 Год назад +2

    I love this question! As someone who lives for Jesus, to be more like Him, and to spread the love and hope He brings and is, I feel secure in my "why", but I am so grateful for such a broad and also humble look at simple things in life that bring purpose and meaning to our lives...like AWESOME COFFEE!

  • @anniesoernym
    @anniesoernym Год назад

    John, as much as I love the topic of the video and your explanations/answers/questioning to Orin, I can't get over the fact that in this new pair of glasses you look so much (more) like your dad ☺️

  • @willswardstrom
    @willswardstrom Год назад

    Been watching for over a decade...this may be one of the top 5 videos on this channel.

  • @mikeysrose
    @mikeysrose Год назад

    I was really hoping that you would outtro by addressing Orin instead of Hank, and I'm so glad you delivered. ❤😊

  • @wpwscience4027
    @wpwscience4027 Год назад +1

    Did you ever meet Carl Sagan? I mean not in the way we meet the people whose books we've read but in person. I don't think that is better or worse, just curious. Sometimes I feel like people can be known best not through meeting them but through reading their words or by looking at their paintings. When I was first exploring being an adult I was spending a lot of time in nature by a lake and went looking for God this way. After a decade or so of following those threads I became a biologist and teacher. But more importantly I looked at a lot of stuff, which has been a really good experience. I've lost my religion but found something that's given me more peace and tolerance, and really all the best parts of the faith I had. I found borderless connectivity to life and that's kind of the positive stuff that I get when I read Sagan or Carson or Leopold, or that thing you wrote about the Sycamore tree. It's also the vibe I get from this video to your kin, which makes me curious if you ever met Sagan. I figure you're too young to have met the other two.

  • @untappedinkwell
    @untappedinkwell Год назад +1

    This is such a sweet video. I hope Orin finds it helpful.

  • @harmonymelodypress
    @harmonymelodypress Год назад

    This made me cry. Why did this make me cry?

  • @borrellipatrick
    @borrellipatrick Год назад +1

    I liked that the coffee ad at the chicken coop was super sneaky 🤓
    Most of the time, they're abrasive and take up a few minutes of a video and I'm just jamming on the fast forward button 🥴😅

  • @tylerharrell9862
    @tylerharrell9862 Год назад

    After reading this on Twitter, I love seeing the conversation continue 😁

  • @greencellist
    @greencellist Год назад +2

    From "The Books of Bokonon":
    Tiger got to hunt,
    Bird got to fly;
    Man got to sit and wonder, ‘Why, why, why?’
    Tiger got to sleep,
    Bird got to land,
    Man got to tell himself he understand.
    *Man I miss Kurt Vonnegut

  • @Starlysh
    @Starlysh Год назад +2

    Love the glasses, love the chickens, love the coffee!

  • @chojay13
    @chojay13 Год назад +1

    It truly is fantastic coffee with unbelievable service :)

  • @hannahmeas7157
    @hannahmeas7157 Год назад

    i love the way you say things

  • @smhill818
    @smhill818 Год назад

    I really love thinking about this, even though I don't expect to ever know the answer. It's just so mind-boggingly beautifully unbelievable that anything exists at all. And yet it does! 🤯

  • @millief6299
    @millief6299 Год назад

    Beautiful video, awesome new glasses.

  • @trbz_8745
    @trbz_8745 Год назад

    One of my favorite descriptions of identity is by Alan Watts -- to paraphrase, you aren't a thing, you are an action. In the same way that an ocean waves, the universe yous. You exist because matter is youing.

  • @alexandral8894
    @alexandral8894 Год назад +1

    Loving the new glasses John!

  • @toriiwoodd
    @toriiwoodd Год назад

    I didn’t know you had chickens!! I too have chickens and they’re about to get more awesome because my awesome coffee club coffee grounds are going to their coop starting tomorrow morning!

  • @philipalcazar
    @philipalcazar Год назад

    Wow John, you managed answer this unfathomably hard question in such a beautiful way. I might have to copy some of your words for when it’s my turn to try to explain the “why” to my daughter.

  • @dragonflies6793
    @dragonflies6793 Год назад +1

    John's glasses are changing. Like the purple!