Thoughts From the Universe - Woah
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- čas přidán 14. 07. 2022
- I have been very grateful for these pictures this week. Can't stop thinking about them...
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Music: Ansia Orchestra - Through the Space
Link: • Video
Music provided by: MFY - No Copyright
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And if you're like, "Actually, this planet does matter...we should be loving this life while helping others." Might I suggest waking up every morning with coffee from AwesomeCoffeeClub.com
Hank have you ever read the Physicist/Philosopher David Deutsch? If you haven't I think you would really enjoy his book The Beginning of Infinity - it addresses exactly this question and offers a profoundly optimistic take on the objective importance of humanity in the cosmic scheme of things.
Did John Green help you write this script?
@@EMNstar it does fit in the same vein as a Policy Genius ad.
Hank and John, you are friends I have never met but whose lives ring out a melody I have always found comfort in no matter the time or distance.
After this video today I'm confident that there is a game you should play. Outer Wilds by Mobius Digital. The theme of finding meaning despite our seemingly insignificant scale is its core; and it's all framed by our innate curiosity and deep relationship with music. It feels like it was built to articulate these hard to grasp questions and seeing the way you think about this universe I know you'll find a beautiful peace at its answers. I would love for you to share in that experience.
Stay safe, stay well. And if you need help flying that spaceship in the beginning you can find assistance from some guidelines by a man named Isaac Newton. Inertia can be a tricky thing to grasp the first time you actually have to consciously be aware of it.
Hank. Even Obama and sitting nasa administrator have effectively both admitted that ET ships zip around here on earth. Could you per chance wake the fuk up already.
"I give the Universe five stars."
The Universe Reviewed, by Hank Green
That’s a minuscule amount of stars. 😆I don’t think it really made a difference to the universes capacity.
A++++
Hehehe, this will further contribute to the world’s trouble knowing the difference between Hank and a John Green.
It's already got about 10^24 stars, so five is a bit low.
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Nothing like a profound talk from Hank Green to start my weekend off. We all matter because we are matter.
and that matter has the potential, the capacity, to learn and understand itself...
Is that like we’re here because we’re here?
Smart
these pictures feel like a family reunion billions of years in the making, or the universe finally getting to see their baby pictures :')
That was great, thank you!
the ULTIMATE “thoughts from places”. the “thoughts from every place (kind of)” wonderful.
Hank Green's Journey to the Cosmos
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Thoughts From Space
This video encompasses every idea that anyone has ever thought of.
When I read "Thoughts from the Universe", I interpreted "the Universe" as the one having the thoughts, not the place where the thoughts were being thought. What a beautiful linguistic ambiguity!
Hank, this was beyond comforting. I have spent the past week in and out of ERs with my health taking a nosedive for no apparent reason and struggling to understand why/how my silly tiny human body must go through so much, when there are such beautiful and gigantic things we are just beginning to be able to see and comprehend better. But I'm not just tiny. I matter because I'm matter and I'm here because I'm here. And things will get better. Thank you.
It's so tough when our bodies betray us, but I'm glad this was helpful.
We're here because we're here indeed, my friend❤️
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I’m sending you gentle hugs and hope that the doctors can find a way for you to find your healthier self, again.
I was in the ER last week and yeah, it’s such a weird blend of tedious and scary. I hope you find stability and answers. 💕
I'm going to watch this every time the world feels sad. This is beautiful, gorgeous therapy. Thank you xxx
I just love how Hank can take something so big and complex as the feeling of insignificance that the universe can generate in our small speck of dust that is our existence and turn it back into the universe being like "Hey, take back your dread, we are existing here, we WILL understand you"
It's like
Hello Mr. Universe.
Welcome to Wendy's.
Of all the particles in the universe, we are the only ones who have created Wendy's.
@@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721 well, if the universe is infinite (and the laws of physics stay the same everywhrte) we actually wouldn't be, actually. Stupidly improbably, yes. Only one, no
Maybe, time might tell at some point if we figure out how to put an upper bound on the universe's sky.
@@solsystem1342
Well now I desperately want to go to a Wendy’s elsewhere in the universe.
I don’t even eat Wendys. 😂
@@Kate09090 I mean, if I got to make first contact with aliens you'd better belive I'd deal with some lousy fast food! Lmao
John has talked about how thinking about space makes him feel both infinitesimally small and unfathomably huge; I think this video synthesizes those feelings well. Just looking at the things around us that matter to us: a building, a webpage, feels so absurd when looking at it from such a large scale, but it's also the most complicated and ordered arrangement that matter has taken that we know of, because we did it, we wanted it that way.
I did not realize life on earth had been around for such a proportionally long time. Very cool.
Me either! I just did the math this week.
And to think, Queen Elizabeth II has been around for half of that.
@@vlogbrothers I did a calculation once on the age of the universe and how many times The Milky Way has rotated on its axis _if it formed with The Big Bang_ and I come up with about 60-65 rotations. When I did that I thought the universe is incredibly young.
I had done this math before now (I am a biologist with a passing interest in the origin of life), but it still blows my mind.
Let's just hope the earth doesn't join "the 27 club"
No thoughts, only Hank telling me how to feel about my place in the universe
As someone that always had a lot of fear of death, being insignificant or the infinity of space, thank you so much. You brought a feeling of peace to something that was extremely scary for me. Every time I lay in bed at 3am wondering what my worth is, I'll think about that video.
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How you're doing?
I have been talking about JWST since it’s launch and the second the photos dropped my phone started blowing up from all my friends wanting to know if I’d seen them, what I thought, which ones were my favorite, asking if I could explain what the hell we were actually looking at. These pictures have made me feel so profoundly connected to humanity and proud of us in a time where it’s easy to feel like we’re doing more bad than good as a species. I’m grateful that we are looking to the sky for answers and that we keep learning and trying to do better. I think that’s our true nature, and projects like this just remind us.
you are really lucky to have friends like that
@@lunaargentum1743 I am very grateful for them ❤️ it’s awesome being the space nerd friend lol
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"The vast majority of particles in the universe do not know they exist" elicited INSANT tears.
I am just primed to cry at a vlogbrothers video, or are the Greens just absurdly good at pressing this particular button in my brain?
It should be remembered that in order for one to feel insignificant in the face of cosmic grandeur, one must come to realize that we are relatively small and the universe is unfathomably big. Even just one of those thoughts on its own represents a major milestone in the understanding of existence, so being able to note both is a profoundly significant event.
It takes a big person to admit how small you are.
I actually think it's more like, in order to feel insignificant you must first have thought that you were, or were supposed to be, significant. Which is a very delusional thought to begin with.
"A profoundly significant event" new Hank Green book coming to stores near you!
I don’t know exactly how looking at those photos makes me feel but oh my goodness they’re beautiful.
So beautiful.
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Hank, thank you for this video, especially this: "If you think galaxies are amazing, just wait until you find out about you."
As someone who has struggled with self worth, negative thoughts, and feeling worthless for a major portion of their life, nothing has struck me more. Maybe I am actually amazing, I just have to find out about myself.
Thank you.
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You are. Hope you’re doing well
Seeing these pictures doesn't make me feel small, it makes me feel intrinsically connected to something huge and incredible. To look out at the sky and say, "I love this, I think it is beautiful, I want to understand it," is a tremendously human thing that ties us into that infinity.
You have my exact mind before 2 years. Now some things changed and I have infinitely negative thoughts on my head. I think I should be talking about these subjects anymore.
I never feel small when looking up at the universe, I'm usually in awe at how pretty and overwhelming it all is. But really, why would anything happening in the universe matter? We exist here and now on earth, this is our world, and that's why it matters- that's why we matter.
"We do not take up much space, but we have taken up a lot of time" is just poetic.
I’m only 17, but the prospect of death has been such a terrifying thought for me since the pandemic started. John’s chapter on the human temporal range helped ease the anxiety as “there is some comfort in knowing that life will go on even when we don’t” but since these images have been released, I’ve felt that even then we are still so insignificant in the grand scheme of the universe. However, I really (REALLY) appreciate videos like this because they remind me that there is a purpose to being here whether or not it’s forever, and “we are by far the most interesting thing that ever happened to Earth” and I think that’s pretty cool. Anyways, rambling here, thanks Hank!
Look up the "Sagan Series" its like this but with music and sampling quotes from Carl Sagan
Hi Lauren, as someone who once was 17 with these same thoughts and fears, I just want to send you a virtual hug! I’m glad Hank & John’s videos help.
I don’t have much to add other than I am also 17 so I read your whole comment. It is nice to know that there are other people out there like me.
@@Lee-xw7gf A virtual hug for you, too, Lee!
"The vast majority of particles...do not know they exist. They have never wanted something, they've never looked at something and found it beautiful." This really resonated with me. Brought me to tears. Thank you Hank. 😊
Unless Philip Pullman is right and Dust exists...
I read Steven Hawking's A Brief History of Time back when I was in high school. It sort of changed who I was as a person, and I started thinking about life and humanity and it's role in the universe in the exact same way you describe Hank.
I now work at NASA and do all I can to support missions that help further our understanding of the universe, which helps us further our understanding of ourselves.
Thanks for this great video today Hank.
There is something so deeply beautiful about knowing that throughout history, people have looked to the stars. As people, we love looking at the sky so much that we have developed this amazing telescope, shot it into the sky, and asked it to capture even more images so that we can look to the stars and the galaxies and space itself--just as, in the past, people looked up to the stars.
There's just something about space, and about the creatures who look at it.
You are a part of the time, place, space, technology, and organisms that can look at the stars and see these things, and that is really, really freaking cool.
And more - for even after we're gone, artifacts of ours will remain. Some of which show, even if nobody comes looking, that we were a people who looked up and out into the universe, and wondered. Even long after the words have no meaning because there is nobody to understand them, there will still be *Pioneer, Voyager, Sojourner, Spirit, Opportunity, Curiosity, Insight, Perseverance, Ingenuity,* and more. We give them those names because they represent qualities that push us to do amazing feats because we want to see and know and learn *more.*
It's so sad that light pollution is such a big deal still. I don't know very many other people who've ever seen a properly dark sky :( and more then anything else it feels like humanity is losing touch with the night sky. Since it's always been there up until relatively recently.
@@PyroDesu +++
“If you think galaxies are amazing, just wait until you find out about you”
welp, I’m going to go lay down and cry for a bit 🖤
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Was waiting for the “Good night, Night Vale. Good night.” All kidding aside, this was very beautiful and profound Hank, thank you ♥️
And now, the weather.
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"If you think galaxies are amazing, just wait until you find out about *you*."
How beautiful it is to be, to be here, and to know it.
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Amen
Jesus
We’re the universe discovering itself. We’re the reason anything can matter,
I love seeing images of these giant galaxies and how big the universe is. But I also adore looking at photos of water droplets and seeing how something so small and seemingly insignificant can be just as beautiful as something that’s larger than I can comprehend. Then I think somewhere in between is us, and we’re pretty beautiful too.
"If you think galaxies are amazing, just wait untill you find out, about you"
"But it also does not seem very common, for the universe to find paths toward waking up. And to be a part of that, it feels very big"
I've always liked the way looking at a nightsky and thinking about the universe makes me feel. And I've always described it as feeling small, but then I've also always failed to explain why that made me feel at home and at peace. But I think, I think maybe this is why. There's something to be said for being a part of all this, no matter if that part is big or small. Because maybe, it's significant and amazing either way.
earliest i’ve ever been to a vlogbrothers video!!!! happy friday to all nerdfighters! the universe needs you!
Happy Friday to you too!
Happy Friday! DFTBA!
The thought that struck me today, as I was listening to an astronomer talk about the significance of these photos and how we are looking back in time several billions of years; was that, and I hope I can articulate this clearly, the light from those stars started to travel to our eyes before our eyes even existed. And it's just kind of sat in me.
These images make me so, so happy. Thank you.
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Same.
my thoughts are, sure, we don't matter *to the universe,* but we do matter to ourselves and each other. Whether we will affect the stars shouldn't be the measure of whether we should be good to each other.
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Albert Camus would be proud
THIS is the video I have been waiting for regarding JWST.
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I feel like I’m floating in possibility when I look at the photos
Yeah this is going straight on my "watch when you're feeling sad playlist" Excellent excellent video
same!
Yes! Glad I am not the only one to have one of those!
@@LadyJuse It's been a lifesaver the last two years, honestly
This is exactly how I've always felt as well and it's always made me sad how a lot of people look at these sorts of images and it makes them feel small and insignificant. Our ancestors crawled out of the primordial soup on a space rock and we've grown to the point where we can look at the sky, marvel at its beauty and YEARN for understanding...it's such a SIGNIFICANT thing. It's special, not despite the vastness of the cosmos but because of it.
A wonderful reminder that there is so much we have yet to learn, and so much room in which we have left to grow. Together.
Those images blow my mind and slightly freak me out.
As has happened many times before, you have managed to so eloquently articulate something very close to more amorphous thoughts that I've had myself for a long time. Thanks Hank
Making me cry, this is astounding beautiful, the images and the thoughts. Thanks
One of you vlogbrothers said something along the lines once of "consciousness is the universe observing itself," which these images remind me of. These photos look like something only a god could have ever seen. I am in awe.
Consciousness is more like a rock vibrating when being struck.
To try to relate everything from the perspective of humans while looking into the vastness of space is ironic and narcissistic.
Hi @@toby7582, I'm not sure what you mean. The concept of the universe observing itself to me is a literal definition, whereas your "rock being struck" is certainly a metaphor, and I'll be honest, one I don't understand. Though I would like to hear more, as I'm intrigued by the idea of consciousness and also I love a good metaphor. To your second point, about the narcissism, I'm having trouble figuring out where this point is coming from. Did I say something that sounded narcissistic, or was it something in the video?
@@ilene_music well, I meant more the comment section in general and didn't mean to attack you specifically.
Saying consciousness is the Universe observing itself is actually much more, "poetic" than scientific.
Maybe "rock" wasn't the best word, but a crystal vibrating?
I'm not sure if I could explain this and some things have to be thought about and processed by the brain with the benefit of experience for it to make sense.
If it made sense right away, you'd already know it, wouldn't you?
New knowledge needs to be absorbed and processed with the benefit of experience to put it in context, which can't really be done with space exploration, but you can get a crystal, study them, think about them, hold them, etc. and get REAL experience with them, if that makes sense?
Is english your first language?
I just want to check for any language barriers.
Also, why do the vlog brothers remove/ban comments talking about The Fault in Our Stars?
That seems weird, especially on a video about space.
Hard agree about having objective answers to this question! For example, we know that stars, galaxies, supernovas and black holes are absolutely giant and powerful and operate on the edges of the known laws of physics. But this knowledge seems crazy to us because it is totally different from the typical human experience. From the perspective of the universe, these are pretty common! What is (or atleast seems to be) surprisingly uncommon from this universal perspective? Incredibly complex structures such as life and consciousness. We are more special than we give ourselves credit for.
This explains how I look at life on Earth, and my life on Earth with much better words than I have found so far. I’m still quite young, and I’ve had trouble explaining how being a part of such a vast universe is comforting to me rather than devastating. This explains it nearly perfectly, as perfectly as the universe could be explained, I think. So, thank you Hank Green
I love how the pictures from the JWST have brought so many people together, from corners of my universe that I didn’t think would come together, from coworkers to family to online friends, picking out our favorites and talking about the vast infinity of space. Perhaps that feeling of being small in the vastness is what makes us instinctively draw together to feel less alone. I certainly have felt more connected to the universe lately with these photos in my life.
We literally are the universe's minds. It has many, probably many more than we know about, and they all get to gaze on it from different perspectives and appreciate itself.
That's interesting to me... when I see pictures like these from Webb or even bigger structures like galactic filament simulations I don't feel small, I feel impossibly large. Like I'm outside the universe somewhere looking at it through a window. I don't feel like I can affect the universe this way, it's just the perspective inside my head. Similarly, starting from a very young age, I don't think of myself as lookup up at stars, I think of myself as looking out; as if I'm at the edge of a gravity well, not at the bottom of it. Not sure if that's common or not, but it's how it feels to me.
When I saw the first image from the JWST, I felt so overwhelmed that I almost started to cry. And that feeling came from feeling so small and yet so big at the same time. I couldn't put into words as to why I felt like that but this video feels like you put it into words better than I ever could have.
"Just wait until you find out about ... you." I burst into tears.
And then as I was quietly crying the video ended and a very enthusiastic yogurt commercial came on. Take from that what you will.
I find that "it's not the size, it's how you use it" is a generally good rule of thumb for my place in society, turns out it's also true for our place in the universe.
"Beauty through insignificance; just a star in a sea of light..."
~ Pulling Threads by Ronald James MacKay
if the universe matters because of its vastness, size, and scope... we matter for being a part of it. Those same processes that lead stars to burn and burst are the same ways in which we came to Be. Everything we are, came from the heart of a dying star: The iron in our blood; the calcium in our bones; the carbon in our DNA; the oxygen we breathe... all gifts from dead stars. Stars died so we could live. Even now we humans are burning brightly, constantly consuming energy and emitting Infrared radiation as did our stellar ancestors. We are the Universe. It is beautiful. And so are we. We are imperfect. We are messy. We are sometimes awful. But damn it, we are beautiful, too.
My heart is absolutely racing at this. One of those "there is a chance someone as far away as we can imagine is thinking a thought right now" moments.
Sometimes when I feel sad, anxious, existential dread or all the feels, I come to vlogbrothers videos to calm my mind down. I know that this place is filled with wonderful humans that share some thoughts and feelings with.
This one really helped to lift my spirits up, as I had COVID last week (I'm OK now). Thank you Hank for giving me back some hope and wonder. As someone said in the comments "We all matter because we are matter".
“It doesn’t seem common for the universe to find paths towards waking up, and to be a part of that, it feels very big”
I never thought of life as the universe waking up. That helps one see the preciousness of us all. Thank you for sharing your understanding in this beautiful words with us!
Appreciate that this is in Hank's Journey to the Microcosmos voice. If you like this, you'll love that!
I want to have something profound to say about this but hank's already said it all.
We don’t have to feel small when we look at how infinite and spectacular the universe is, because we are a part of it. Anything that makes up the universe is the universe. We are the universe.
Hank, this is such a great video. Thank you. Since the photos started coming out I was hoping to find something just like this. Full of awe of the beauty that it is to exist and look at the universe so closely, while the photos slowly go by. This is my favorite video on the internet right now. And I only just saw it.
Weirdly, this made me feel like a part of a larger community. Imagine how much meaning is in this universe if just our planet has an insane amount of meaning to us!!
wow, that just brough life to what has always felt so cold and lifeless to me. Thanks for sharing!
This kind of reminds me of something I posted into a group chat with my college friends a while back that I've been thinking of lately, so I think I'll share it here. (For context, this was posted around 5AM on March 18, 2020, not long after I found out that I was going to spend the rest of my final semester at college hundreds of miles from campus and away from all of my friends. also i was a theater major who was taking an intro to astronomy class for the science credit)
so the other day i downloaded stellarium (planetarium software) for my astro 1 lab and i looked at what the sky would look like outside my house for the next couple of days and i saw that jupiter, mars, and saturn would be visible very late at night/early in the morning, rising with the moon around 4am but not getting too high in the sky before the sun would rise a couple of hours later
around 4:30 i looked out my window (which faces east, which is where they'd show up) and saw a little bit of the moon, but most of it was hidden by trees and houses (and the screen on my window didn't help either)
so i went out into my backyard to see if i could get a clearer view. i could sorta maybe kinda see things in a particular spot if i got on my toes but it wasn't enough for me so i went out into the neighborhood to chase down the moon and some planets
as i ran through my neighborhood i would catch glimpses here and there but nothing i found truly satisfying until i got to the edge of the neighborhood and beyond the fence, beyond the distant trees and office buildings, i saw them
the moon, a lovely waning crescent
and above it, two dots of light- the larger brighter one, jupiter
and to its right- a tiny pinprick that i knew was mars
(i still couldn't see saturn- it was farther away and still hidden by the building that my dentist's office is in or some such)
and looking at them, i was just struck by this feeling that i don't know how to put into words but im going to try anyway
it was just like
this full feeling of existence
and of scope
not like "oh the universe is so big and im so small"
but like "everything is so big and also small at the same time"
like jupiter is so huge but so easily hidden by a tree branch
and the moon and mars and jupiter are so big and far away from us but also theyre just there chilling out in the sky
and then i looked up at the stars and theyre also so big and so far away that i cant wrap my head around it but theyre right there, these tiny dots of light making shapes in the sky above my head
and all of it is here and all of it is real and all of it matters
like i am a person and that is such a big and important thing and im in a neighborhood full of people which is part of a town full of neighborhoods which is part of an island full of towns which is part of a state (which admittedly only has a few islands but still) which is part of a country which is part of the Earth which is part of our solar system which is part of the Milky Way which is part of the Universe
and all of it is so big and so small and so connected
and i feel like a lot of these observations are cliche but i wasnt struck by how small and insignificant i am, but like
im real and i matter
and jupiter is real and jupiter matters
and the moon is real and it matters
and the sidewalk underneath my feet is real and it matters
and the stars are real and they matter
and all the cars i can still hear whizzing by on the highway at 5 am and all the people in them are real and matter
and the breath i can see in front of my face and the streetlights and the people asleep in their houses and my dentist's office and everyone around the world who is scared and is alone and all the people who are happy and with their loved ones and all the people who are both and all the ants and the birds and everything anyone's ever made and every song that has ever been sung and every rock and every blade of grass and the unopened half-gallon of apple cider in my fridge and the open box of girl scout cookies i left in my dorm
all real, real, *real*
and we're all important because we're all connected
and we're all part of the same whole thing together
and everything and everyone is so big and so close and so small and so far away
i dont know if any of that makes sense but i wanted to tell you and i love you all so much
This comment is even more beautiful than the video. I am real and I matter.
Between rewatching eXu Unlimited:Calamity, and the existential crises of the JWST images, this video is an excellent endcap of the week to kind of bring it all together.
The stories we tell matter.
We matter.
thoughts from places videos are always my favorite, and wow. from someone who has been marvelling at these pictures all week, thank you. 💛
I've always felt this. It's so nice to hear someone else express that same wonder. Thank you.
If you want to think about it by size, then try this: When you hold your finger up in front of you, you are covering a nigh uncountable number of stars or galaxies.
But when you do it to your friend's face, they are still mostly visible, and maybe a little annoyed about having a finger in their face.
There is no objective perspective in astronomy. So from where we are, we are big.
"If you think galaxies are amazing, just wait until you find out about you." When Hank put this in his Insta stories a few days ago, I knew this video was gonna be amazing. One of my favourite single lines in recent memory. Thank you for this. ✨
Always grateful for the inspiration from both Hank and John. I know how hard it is always being the positive person. How challenging it is to be the optimistic one in the room. Your outlooks on life is infectious and has been an inspiration in my day to day to life for years now. Thank you both.
This made me cry tears of gratitude and joy- I love being apart of this community and loving so wide and so deeply.
🎶……’caaaaaaause the universe is weird 🎶
So glad I'm not the only one who has that reaction to this!
"Now, are we the only chemical system to have built a space telescope? No. The way I understand the universe, that is an impossibility."
But is it, though? After all, *_some_* chemical system would have to be the first one to build a space telescope. I agree that the odds are against us being that chemical system, but we *_could_* be...
It's true...my general feeling is that, in an infinite universe...nothing happens once. And, tautologically, the vast majority of occurrences were not the first.
Especially since, as Hank said, the universe is still pretty young. What if we're the first? There will be more, but not quite yet!
@@vlogbrothers very true. But that's assuming all other chemical systems that may exist are like us. Maybe their biology or physiology is different. Maybe they re not carbon based like us. We experience time chronologically. Something happens, then the next and then the next. But maybe those aliens experience it differently. Like doctor manhattan esque where they experience all of time at once. In that sense, they might be the first and the last to build a telescope.
I'm curious how you would even define "first". Like, what our current moment even is depends on how we're moving. If I understand it correctly, what you consider could "now" in Andromeda fluctuates by hours or days depending on the direction you're moving. There are parts of space that we can see that are moving away from us so quickly that we could describe them as being causally disconnected from us. That is, no event "currently" happening there will ever affect us.
If we are the first, the second one is looking at us right now.
"If you think galaxies are amazing, just wait until you find out about you." Hank i am crying, this video is so beautiful. ❤️
I’m not crying, you’re crying….
The spark of consciousness that happened here in our little insignificant corner of an insignificant arm of a seemingly insignificant galaxy may in fact be totally insignificant (assuming the universe is actually teaming with life)… but also may in fact be the most significant thing to have ever happened or possibly will ever happen in the entire universe throughout all of time.
That is certainly something worth living for.
Absolutely. The mere fact that we exist is something worth existing for.
Similarly, whether or not they believe in a God (and I genuinely believe that that decision is and should be completely up to any person’s self), one cannot deny that meaning in this inherently infinite and therefore eventually meaningless universe can only be found in love and consideration for our fellow and for society.
The Doctor: "900 years of time & space and I've never met someone who wasn't important."
Delenn (Babylon 5): "We are the universe made manifest, trying to figure itself out."
A quick reminder why Scifi matters.
The phrase, "We are the universe experiencing itself," has always stuck in my mind once I read it.
I saw a comment suggesting that feeling small when you come to realize the size of the universe means you thought you were significant, and that that's egotistical. I feel they don't understand the video.
I'm significant to myself, even if no one else. And there are people who will cry when I die. That is valuable.
I felt small as a child when I learned about the universe but in way that made me happy. I felt big, too, like John and others have expressed. I felt connect to everything with knowledge. I never felt not worthwhile by the amount of empty space, in fact I was sad it wasn't filled with life to fully experience and appreciate it. That's not ego, that's valuing existence outside of myself.
To suggest people are in the wrong for valuing themselves is both dangerous and, I suspect, ironically comes from a place of ego.
came back to this today because i needed the reminder. thanks, hank
I've been impatiently awaiting your video this week ever since these photos were released. Thank you.
Thank you for sharing your perspectives, Hank. I appreciate your insight, and I think they are beautiful observations that can give us all a little perspective.
Just thank you for your perspective. you bring structure and understanding to the vastness and grandeur of these images. 🙏
I don't know why this made me tear up, but I think it has something to do with loving the passion and compassion and fascination that you have for the natural universe. I was on my daily dog walk today, just making my way through a park, marveling at the distance we humans have come in so very short a time. We have progressed from an animal barely aware of itself to a being that is able to assign meaning to the world around it, when that world was limited to what was visible with the naked eye, to now... a culture that is aware of the extent of the entire universe (we think), the concept of time, and our minuscule place in the context of it all.
And it is AMAZING. It is MIRACULOUS. And it is WONDERFUL.
Love you guys, sincerely. I'm so glad that you and this community you have fostered are a part of my life.
~Trav
We are a tangible part of the story. It's a story that preceded us, exceeds us, and will succeed us. It's a cool thing man lemme tell ya
It's a cool thing, indeed!
Again, you have so eloquently taken the words out of my mouth. Thank you for posting this.
There's a quote from British astrophysicist Edward R. Harrison that very profoundly and succinctly captures how I feel about our place in the universe: "given enough time, hydrogen begins to wonder where it came from, and where it is going."
I was so excited to hear your lovely words on these amazing images!!!
My word, I cannot believe how beautiful that was. And how incredibly cathartic it is to cry tears of _such joy_ in times like these. Thank you for this.
This video made me feel good. Thanks, Hank, I really needed that.
This is so beautiful in many ways. Thank you Hank
Got me a little teared up on that insight. Love you, man.
Exactly! The complexity of life is what makes it so special and worth caring about. Thanks for putting it so succinctly.
This was beautiful ❤️❤️ thanks for this perspective!
thank you, Hank. I really needed this feeling of mattering today
I love love loveeeee this. Thank you Hank! Will be returning to this a lot I think
You guys have made a number if inspiring videos and other things over the years, but this is the first one that made me think "I want to show this to my kids some day." Well done!
chills & deep space feels this is my new favorite video
This one hit different. I felt the sense of deep sincere existential awe after seeing those pictures in a way that only more tangible experiences have made me feel, like looking out at a mountain range at glacier national park, or scubadiving, in our participation in this greater experience of the universe. It was strange because I then went back to work and on with my day a few minutes later, but these pictures not only make me feel big, but also proud of our species for the collaboration to launching such an ambitious mission and design and now more and more people during a time where there is so much stress and division see tangible results of our shared humanity coming together in the pursuit of science.
I’ve been waiting for this video since the images were released. Beautiful thoughts, Hank!
Every time I’ve seen these pictures I just think how amazing it is that we get to see this and appreciate it!
This actually brought me a lot of peace, maybe even relief. Thank you.
This is the best take I've heard so far on the JWST photos. Thank you
What a fantastic sentiment. Thanks Hank, you cheered me up today