00:00Human existence is scary and confusing.
00:04A few hundred thousand years ago,
00:06we became conscious and found ourselves in a strange place.
00:09It was filled with other beings.
00:11We could eat some, some could eat us.
00:14There was liquid stuff we could drink,
00:17things we could use to make more things.
00:19The daytime sky had a tiny yellow ball that warmed our skin.
00:23The night sky was filled with beautiful lights.
00:25This place was obviously made for us.
00:28Something was watching over us.
00:30We were home.
00:31This made everything much less scary and confusing.
00:35But the older we got, the more we learned about the world and ourselves.
00:39We learned that the twinkling lights are not shining beautifully for us,
00:42they just are.
00:44We learned that we're not at the center of what we now call the universe,
00:47and that it is much, much older than we thought.
00:50We learned that we're made of many little dead things,
00:53which make up bigger things that are not dead for some reason.
00:56And that we're just another temporary stage in a history
00:58going back over a billion years.
01:01We learned, in all, that we live on a moist speck of dust
01:04moving around a medium-sized star
01:06in a quiet region of one arm of an average galaxy,
01:09which is part of a galaxy group that we will never leave.
01:12And this group is only one of thousands
01:14that together make up a galaxy supercluster.
01:17But even our supercluster is only one in thousands
01:20that make up what we call the observable universe.
01:23The universe might be a million times bigger,
01:26but we will never know.
01:28We could throw words around like 200 billion galaxies
01:31or trillions of stars or bazillions of planets,
01:34but all of these numbers mean nothing.
01:36Our brains can't comprehend these concepts.
01:39The universe is too big. There is too much of it.
01:42But size is not the most troubling concept we have to deal with.
01:46It's time, or more precisely, the time we have.
01:50If you're lucky enough to live to 100,
01:52you have 5,200 weeks at your disposal.
01:55If you're 25 now, then you have 3,900 weeks left.
02:00If you're going to die at 70, then there are 2,340 weeks left.
02:05A lot of time, but also not really.
02:09And then what?
02:11Your biological processes will break down,
02:14and the dynamic pattern that is you will stop being dynamic.
02:17It will dissolve until there is no you left.
02:21Some believe that there is a part of us we can't see or measure,
02:24but we have no way to find out.
02:26So this life might be it, and we might end up dead forever.
02:31This is less scary than it sounds, though.
02:33If you don't remember the 13.75 billion years that went by before you existed,
02:38then the trillions and trillions and trillions of years that come after
02:41will pass in no time once you're gone.
02:44Close your eyes. Count to one.
02:47That's how long forever feels.
02:50And as far as we know, in the end, the universe itself will die,
02:54and nothing will ever change again.
02:56Our videos induce existential dread in many people,
02:59and the last few minutes probably haven't helped.
03:02So for once, we want to offer a different way of looking at these things,
03:05an unscientific, subjective point of view, if you want.
03:09Please take it with a grain of salt.
03:11We don't know any more about human existence than you do.
03:14We counter existential dread with optimistic nihilism.
03:18What do we mean by that?
03:20Well, to summarize, it seems very unlikely that 200 trillion trillion stars have been made for us.
03:26In a way, it feels like the cruelest joke in existence has been played on us.
03:30We became self-aware, only to realize this story is not about us.
03:35While it is great to know about electrons and the powerhouse of the cell,
03:38science doesn't do a lot to make this less depressing.
03:42Okay, but so what?
03:44You only get one shot at life, which is scary.
03:47But it also sets you free.
03:49If the universe ends in heat death, every humiliation you suffer in your life will be forgotten.
03:54Every mistake you made will not matter in the end.
03:57Every bad thing you did will be voided.
04:00If our life is all we get to experience, then it's the only thing that matters.
04:05If the universe has no principles, the only principles relevant are the ones we decide on.
04:10If the universe has no purpose, then we get to dictate what its purpose is.
04:14Humans will most certainly cease to exist at some point.
04:18But before we do, we get to explore ourselves and the world around us.
04:23We get to experience feelings.
04:25We get to experience food, books, sunrises, and being with each other.
04:29The fact that we're even able to think about these things is already kind of incredible.
04:34It's easy to think of ourselves as separated from everything, but this is not true.
04:39We are as much the universe as a neutron star, or a black hole, or a nebula.
04:44Even better, actually, we are its thinking and feeling part, the sensory organs of the universe.
04:50We are truly free in a universe-sized playground.
04:54So we might as well aim to be happy and to build some kind of utopia in the stars.
04:59It's not as if we've found out everything there is to know.
05:02We don't know why the rules of the universe are as they are, how life came into existence, what life is.
05:08We have no idea what consciousness is, or if we are alone in the universe.
05:13But we can try to find some answers.
05:16There are billions of stars to visit, diseases to cure, people to help, happy feelings to be experienced, and video games to finish.
05:24There is so much to do.
05:26So, wrapping up, you've probably used up a good chunk of the time available to you.
05:31If this is our one shot at life, there is no reason not to have fun and live as happily as possible.
05:37Bonus points if you make the life of other people better.
05:40More bonus points if you help build a galactic human empire.
05:44Do the things that make you feel good.
05:47You get to decide whatever this means for you.
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