WEBVTT

00:00:19.626 --> 00:00:24.460
What is the best kind of cheese
to use to catch a bear?

00:00:25.752 --> 00:00:27.639
Someone knows over here?

00:00:28.099 --> 00:00:30.893
Obviously, the answer is "come here bear."

00:00:30.894 --> 00:00:32.043
Camembert!

00:00:32.052 --> 00:00:33.166
(Laughter)

00:00:33.167 --> 00:00:34.376
Camembert!

00:00:34.391 --> 00:00:35.555
(Applause)

00:00:37.135 --> 00:00:38.481
Thank you.

00:00:39.461 --> 00:00:42.833
I have a head full of cheese puns,

00:00:42.834 --> 00:00:46.543
but I was told I had to keep it 'brie'-f.

00:00:46.546 --> 00:00:47.796
(Laughter)

00:00:48.716 --> 00:00:51.518
What did the piece of cheese say

00:00:51.519 --> 00:00:54.412
when it looked into the mirror?

00:00:57.417 --> 00:01:00.851
No. It said, "Halloumi."

00:01:00.852 --> 00:01:02.261
(Laughter)

00:01:02.262 --> 00:01:03.742
Hello me!

00:01:04.382 --> 00:01:08.544
What can I say guys? I love a good pun.

00:01:09.854 --> 00:01:12.744
Why?

00:01:13.214 --> 00:01:14.669
I don't know;

00:01:14.670 --> 00:01:17.263
because puns are funny, right?

00:01:18.493 --> 00:01:19.576
Why?

00:01:19.577 --> 00:01:22.760
Well, because there is
a bit of a surprise factor.

00:01:22.761 --> 00:01:26.452
You feel outsmarted for a second
until you get the double meaning.

00:01:27.208 --> 00:01:28.353
Why?

00:01:29.323 --> 00:01:32.142
Because that's the way language works.

00:01:34.352 --> 00:01:37.209
OK. I get what these slides are doing.

00:01:37.210 --> 00:01:40.663
They're playing the why game

00:01:40.664 --> 00:01:43.953
where you keep asking,
"Why, why, but why?"

00:01:43.954 --> 00:01:45.686
after everything someone says.

00:01:45.687 --> 00:01:47.718
Kids do it all of the time

00:01:48.648 --> 00:01:53.188
and adults should do it more often.

00:01:53.189 --> 00:01:55.118
I'm just kidding. Don't. It's annoying.

00:01:55.119 --> 00:01:56.566
(Laughter)

00:01:58.266 --> 00:02:02.376
You can ask why, over, and over,
and over again for ever,

00:02:02.377 --> 00:02:05.391
even if one day, we explain

00:02:05.392 --> 00:02:07.601
every physical interaction,
and scientific law,

00:02:07.602 --> 00:02:12.680
and hope, and dream, and regret
with a single elegant equation.

00:02:12.681 --> 00:02:17.413
You could still ask,
"Why? Why that equation?

00:02:17.414 --> 00:02:22.058
Why doesn't the universe operate
with some different equation?"

00:02:22.059 --> 00:02:27.260
So, yes; the why game
is irritating, it's annoying,

00:02:27.261 --> 00:02:29.061
and it's what I do for a living.

00:02:30.601 --> 00:02:32.844
Every week, for the past few years,

00:02:32.845 --> 00:02:37.690
I have researched a big question,
a funny why question.

00:02:37.709 --> 00:02:40.724
I've researched the science's,
the mathematics’s recent theories

00:02:40.844 --> 00:02:43.231
behind all kinds of things.

00:02:43.250 --> 00:02:47.521
I do this on my YouTube channel: Vsauce.

00:02:47.522 --> 00:02:51.541
So, Vsauce, in the last couple
of years, has grown phenomenally.

00:02:51.542 --> 00:02:53.281
It's hard to believe.

00:02:53.282 --> 00:02:57.436
I'm now doing more than 30 million views
every single month,

00:02:57.437 --> 00:02:59.656
with five and a half subscribers

00:02:59.657 --> 00:03:03.297
growing more
than 10,000 new subscribers every day.

00:03:04.437 --> 00:03:06.889
It's awesome. I love it.

00:03:06.890 --> 00:03:10.485
I get to ask
some pretty ridiculous questions.

00:03:10.486 --> 00:03:13.584
For instance, "Is anything real?"

00:03:14.134 --> 00:03:17.935
Come on! How can you possible answer that?

00:03:17.936 --> 00:03:19.563
Well, that's not really the point.

00:03:19.564 --> 00:03:22.175
The point is to bring people in
with a great question,

00:03:22.176 --> 00:03:24.768
make them curious, and once they're there,

00:03:24.769 --> 00:03:28.774
accidentally teach them a whole bunch
of things about the universe.

00:03:28.775 --> 00:03:30.494
(Laughter)

00:03:30.495 --> 00:03:34.603
Some examples
of other questions I've asked:

00:03:36.930 --> 00:03:39.270
how much does a shadow weigh?

00:03:40.150 --> 00:03:43.676
What does it mean to ask
a question like that, "What us a shadow?"

00:03:46.432 --> 00:03:48.352
What color is a mirror?

00:03:49.252 --> 00:03:51.645
In answering this question,
you could explain a lot

00:03:51.765 --> 00:03:55.220
about specular reflection,
the physics of light.

00:03:55.221 --> 00:03:59.232
This is one of my favorites,
"Why are things creepy?

00:03:59.233 --> 00:04:00.399
(Laughter)

00:04:02.259 --> 00:04:06.270
I often go into psychology
- that's more where my background is in -

00:04:06.271 --> 00:04:12.179
but a question I have yet to answer,
- hopefully, someone out there knows -

00:04:12.180 --> 00:04:15.655
please tell me
why is this called your 'bottom'

00:04:15.656 --> 00:04:17.857
if it's technically
in the middle of your body?

00:04:17.976 --> 00:04:19.172
(Laughter)

00:04:19.173 --> 00:04:20.300
It's ridiculous.

00:04:20.301 --> 00:04:22.019
But it's a really good question.

00:04:22.021 --> 00:04:26.415
I ask questions all of the time,
but today, this is my question.

00:04:28.085 --> 00:04:30.062
Why do we ask questions?

00:04:31.102 --> 00:04:32.900
Seriously. I mean, what's the point?

00:04:32.901 --> 00:04:36.576
Who cares why things are creepy?
They just are.

00:04:36.577 --> 00:04:39.430
Who cares why this is called my bottom?

00:04:39.431 --> 00:04:41.096
It's gross, don't do that anymore.

00:04:45.054 --> 00:04:46.240
Questions.

00:04:47.380 --> 00:04:52.862
How do I get people
to care about these questions?

00:04:52.863 --> 00:04:56.342
Especially people who think
that learning is boring.

00:04:57.022 --> 00:05:03.471
I like to believe that the limits
of what you can be interested in

00:05:03.472 --> 00:05:05.350
are unlimited.

00:05:05.351 --> 00:05:06.570
And this is my story.

00:05:07.720 --> 00:05:10.804
I began making YouTube videos
about six years ago,

00:05:10.805 --> 00:05:14.383
but only recently did I start
making explanatory videos.

00:05:14.384 --> 00:05:16.213
I've no idea what took me so long.

00:05:16.214 --> 00:05:19.297
I have been explaining things
my entire life.

00:05:19.298 --> 00:05:24.017
Except, usually, I did it alone, out loud.

00:05:24.018 --> 00:05:27.618
I talk to myself
when I'm alone; all the time.

00:05:27.619 --> 00:05:30.514
If you snuck up on me
when I didn't think anyone was around,

00:05:30.515 --> 00:05:34.861
you would overhear me explaining
the most mundane stuff.

00:05:34.862 --> 00:05:37.382
It's kind of weird, maybe.

00:05:38.822 --> 00:05:42.375
OK, it's really weird,
but for me, it is a great way,

00:05:42.376 --> 00:05:46.780
for me to know that I kind of know
more what I'm talking about

00:05:46.781 --> 00:05:49.328
if I can verbally explain it.

00:05:51.238 --> 00:05:52.723
As Albert Einstein said,

00:05:52.724 --> 00:05:57.553
"If you can't explain it simply,
you don't understand it well enough."

00:05:57.554 --> 00:06:02.452
When I was a teenager, I discovered
a competitive speaking program

00:06:02.453 --> 00:06:04.783
and one of the events
was informative speaking,

00:06:04.784 --> 00:06:09.018
where you literally got to write a speech
explaining something to judges,

00:06:09.019 --> 00:06:12.593
and then you were given points and medals
if you were good enough.

00:06:12.594 --> 00:06:18.062
My very first informative speech ever
was about ketchup:

00:06:20.022 --> 00:06:23.451
the history of ketchup.
the etymology of the name,

00:06:23.452 --> 00:06:27.333
its legal status, the physics
of its viscosity, and how it flowed.

00:06:27.334 --> 00:06:30.600
It was super nerdy stuff.

00:06:30.601 --> 00:06:35.935
But at my very, very first
public speaking tournament

00:06:35.936 --> 00:06:38.583
I took first place.

00:06:38.584 --> 00:06:39.709
Hey!

00:06:39.720 --> 00:06:41.533
(Applause)

00:06:41.534 --> 00:06:42.663
Look at that guy.

00:06:42.664 --> 00:06:44.254
(Applause)

00:06:45.844 --> 00:06:50.169
Some of the hair here moved down here,
but other than that,

00:06:50.170 --> 00:06:51.848
I'm the same guy.

00:06:51.849 --> 00:06:54.072
Seriously, I'm still doing the same thing.

00:06:56.432 --> 00:06:59.889
To be at that tournament and to see
the expression on someone's face

00:07:00.749 --> 00:07:06.074
when they suddenly understand
and are fascinated by something,

00:07:06.075 --> 00:07:08.430
in the same way that you are

00:07:09.510 --> 00:07:10.939
is a phenomenal feeling.

00:07:10.940 --> 00:07:12.821
I've learned two things from this:

00:07:12.822 --> 00:07:16.090
first of all, people love
a good explanation.

00:07:16.091 --> 00:07:17.630
They hunt them down.

00:07:17.631 --> 00:07:21.859
Even people who say they hate learning,
and hate books, and all that stuff,

00:07:21.876 --> 00:07:24.059
pff, they love explanations.

00:07:24.060 --> 00:07:26.955
Second of all, if you look closely enough

00:07:27.905 --> 00:07:29.896
and you take the time,

00:07:29.897 --> 00:07:33.812
anything can be interesting to anyone

00:07:33.813 --> 00:07:37.320
because everything is related
in some way to something they care about.

00:07:38.880 --> 00:07:40.596
Richard Feynman called

00:07:40.597 --> 00:07:45.982
"the pleasure of finding things out"
a "kick in the discovery."

00:07:45.983 --> 00:07:49.687
And I agree, but I think
there might be a little bit more to that.

00:07:49.688 --> 00:07:51.680
Let's get rid of this picture of me.

00:07:51.681 --> 00:07:56.494
We want to express ourselves,

00:07:56.495 --> 00:07:58.362
everyone wants to express themselves.

00:07:58.363 --> 00:08:01.760
They do it through the music
they listen to, the clothing they wear,

00:08:01.761 --> 00:08:06.179
the way they act,
but they also do it with knowledge.

00:08:06.180 --> 00:08:09.260
The things they know
about the stuff they like,

00:08:09.261 --> 00:08:11.927
Their interests, their hobbies.

00:08:11.928 --> 00:08:14.730
I've noticed
that the most operative motive

00:08:14.731 --> 00:08:19.978
behind someone sharing one of my videos,
promoting me by word of mouth,

00:08:19.979 --> 00:08:24.345
isn't so much about me
as it is about them.

00:08:24.346 --> 00:08:28.641
"Hey! Look what I found!", "I like this."

00:08:28.642 --> 00:08:31.294
"I am like this."

00:08:33.424 --> 00:08:36.899
Whenever you share a video,
whenever you share anything,

00:08:36.900 --> 00:08:40.179
a few of the attributes
of that thing reflect back onto you.

00:08:41.609 --> 00:08:46.520
I've found that one of the best ways
to gain attentive listeners

00:08:47.840 --> 00:08:52.523
is not to be who you think
your audience wants you to be,

00:08:52.524 --> 00:08:56.185
but instead, to say,
and make, and show things

00:08:56.186 --> 00:09:01.630
that allow your audience or your students
to be who they want to be.

00:09:05.556 --> 00:09:08.202
I once discussed in a video,

00:09:09.792 --> 00:09:11.844
"Why the sky is blue?"

00:09:14.374 --> 00:09:18.754
And backstage, when I was going through
what I want to to talk about,

00:09:18.755 --> 00:09:20.143
I ran into this girl.

00:09:20.144 --> 00:09:23.355
This seriously actually happened
backstage, go find her.

00:09:23.356 --> 00:09:26.001
I said, "Do you know why the sky is blue?"

00:09:27.161 --> 00:09:31.493
She said, "I think I used to know,
but it didn't really mattered."

00:09:31.494 --> 00:09:33.509
Exactly. Exactly.

00:09:33.510 --> 00:09:35.591
And I knew
that was going to be a problem.

00:09:35.592 --> 00:09:37.232
It turns out that the sky is blue

00:09:37.233 --> 00:09:40.700
because of the way light
scatters in our atmosphere.

00:09:40.701 --> 00:09:42.614
It's called Rayleigh scattering.

00:09:42.626 --> 00:09:47.445
A light of shorter wave lengths
scatters more,

00:09:47.446 --> 00:09:49.169
so, greens, blues, and violets.

00:09:49.170 --> 00:09:51.758
That's why when you look at the sky
away from the Sun,

00:09:51.759 --> 00:09:53.999
you see this beautiful sky blue;

00:09:54.000 --> 00:09:56.491
it's all of those shorter
wave lengths combining.

00:09:56.492 --> 00:09:59.818
When you look directly at the Sun
- which you shouldn't do very often;

00:09:59.819 --> 00:10:01.200
don't do it ever -

00:10:01.209 --> 00:10:05.459
you see the longer wave lengths
which are surviving that scattering.

00:10:05.460 --> 00:10:08.927
That's why the Sun looks yellow
during the day.

00:10:08.928 --> 00:10:12.421
Of course, when the Sun's light
needs to travel through a whole lot of air

00:10:12.541 --> 00:10:13.766
to get into your eyeball,

00:10:13.767 --> 00:10:15.833
a lot of scattering occurs,

00:10:15.834 --> 00:10:19.251
and only really, really long wave lengths
make it all the way there

00:10:19.280 --> 00:10:20.489
directly from the Sun,

00:10:20.490 --> 00:10:24.791
which is why it looks orange,
or sometimes red at sunrise or sunset.

00:10:25.561 --> 00:10:29.369
I think that's really cool,
but obviously, some people

00:10:29.375 --> 00:10:32.334
- including someone
backstage right now -, don't.

00:10:32.338 --> 00:10:35.808
Or maybe they already know it,

00:10:35.809 --> 00:10:39.259
or could probably figure out
if they thought about it.

00:10:39.260 --> 00:10:40.577
So what do you do?

00:10:40.578 --> 00:10:43.600
I'm trying to collect
the largest audience possible that I can,

00:10:43.601 --> 00:10:47.435
I want to appeal to and attract
as many people as possible.

00:10:48.385 --> 00:10:52.217
So what I do is
I camp out with the subject.

00:10:52.218 --> 00:10:54.469
In this case, Rayleigh scattering.

00:10:54.470 --> 00:10:57.418
I've learned as much about it as I can.

00:10:57.419 --> 00:10:59.695
What else is it responsible for?

00:10:59.696 --> 00:11:04.497
Who is it named after? Who did he love?

00:11:04.498 --> 00:11:07.412
Whatever I can find
that could become a great hook

00:11:07.413 --> 00:11:10.566
to bring in just the right person.

00:11:10.567 --> 00:11:13.582
So, in this case, I've read
about Rayleigh scattering,

00:11:13.583 --> 00:11:17.062
and I realized--
I didn't realize, I learned,

00:11:18.272 --> 00:11:23.432
that blue eyes are blue
for the exact same reason.

00:11:24.702 --> 00:11:27.856
Blue eyes do not have
blue pigment in them.

00:11:27.857 --> 00:11:29.762
Ouch! That would hurt if that was real.

00:11:31.482 --> 00:11:33.535
Blue eyes don't have blue pigment in them

00:11:33.536 --> 00:11:36.506
any more than the air
has blue pigment in it.

00:11:37.256 --> 00:11:42.154
If you were to rip out my iris,
I would be like, "Ouch!" but then

00:11:42.155 --> 00:11:43.464
(Laughter)

00:11:43.465 --> 00:11:47.299
if you grounded it up into a fine powder,
it wouldn't be blue anymore

00:11:47.300 --> 00:11:51.094
it would be
a dull brownish-blackish color.

00:11:51.095 --> 00:11:54.077
Instead, blue eyes are blue
because at a microscopic level,

00:11:54.078 --> 00:11:56.363
their texture scatters light

00:11:56.364 --> 00:12:00.593
just like the air in our atmosphere
scatters the Sun's light

00:12:00.594 --> 00:12:02.214
to make the sky blue.

00:12:03.024 --> 00:12:05.805
Maybe you already know
why the sky is blue,

00:12:05.806 --> 00:12:07.302
maybe you don't care,

00:12:07.303 --> 00:12:09.972
but maybe you will be fascinated
by something like this.

00:12:09.973 --> 00:12:12.813
This is why my episodes often seem
to go all over the place.

00:12:12.814 --> 00:12:16.155
It's not just because I'm crazy
it's also because I want to have

00:12:16.156 --> 00:12:18.011
as many hooks out as possible

00:12:18.012 --> 00:12:20.852
to catch as many people
and to make them interested.

00:12:21.309 --> 00:12:23.640
I once did a video about rainbows.

00:12:24.340 --> 00:12:27.121
I thought, "Some people
might think rainbows are lame."

00:12:27.122 --> 00:12:30.487
I'll teach about rainbows.

00:12:30.488 --> 00:12:33.602
What other types of bows are there?

00:12:34.292 --> 00:12:37.970
Well, like when a string, like a knot...

00:12:37.971 --> 00:12:40.500
Is a bow a knot?

00:12:40.501 --> 00:12:44.576
Why do headphones
always get tied up into knots?

00:12:45.186 --> 00:12:48.343
I researched the mathematics
behind this; it's fascinating.

00:12:48.344 --> 00:12:49.926
([Laughter)

00:12:51.396 --> 00:12:53.205
I'll spare you all of the details;

00:12:53.206 --> 00:12:55.689
also, this will allow you
to go check out my videos

00:12:55.690 --> 00:12:58.035
and give me many, many views
rather than just one.

00:12:59.292 --> 00:13:05.248
In the 1950s, Harold Edgerton
took a series of amazing pictures

00:13:05.249 --> 00:13:07.023
of nuclear explosions.

00:13:07.024 --> 00:13:08.873
This is a detonation

00:13:08.874 --> 00:13:10.802
just milliseconds after happening,

00:13:10.803 --> 00:13:14.503
with an exposure time
of one billionth of a second.

00:13:15.293 --> 00:13:18.774
You can see the energy
of this plasma ball,

00:13:18.775 --> 00:13:22.604
the energy of the explosion is vaporizing
the metal wires holding up the tower.

00:13:22.605 --> 00:13:25.585
That's where these glowing,
spindly legs come form.

00:13:26.225 --> 00:13:31.964
His work attracted wider and new interest
to physical phenomenon

00:13:31.965 --> 00:13:33.814
simply because he featured something

00:13:33.815 --> 00:13:36.815
that people couldn't help
but want to look at.

00:13:37.515 --> 00:13:39.713
A moment you couldn't witness alone.

00:13:40.363 --> 00:13:43.714
He famously said, "The trick to education

00:13:45.130 --> 00:13:47.553
is to teach in such a way

00:13:47.554 --> 00:13:51.249
that people only find out
they're learning when it's too late."

00:13:51.250 --> 00:13:52.723
(Laughter)

00:13:52.724 --> 00:13:54.044
It works for me.

00:13:54.045 --> 00:13:56.778
So recently, I took on
the most difficult question ever,

00:13:56.779 --> 00:13:58.796
but also the most requested,

00:13:58.797 --> 00:14:05.129
"How do I know that the colors
I see are the same to you?

00:14:06.049 --> 00:14:09.141
How do I know
that when I look at something red,

00:14:09.142 --> 00:14:12.234
you don't look at the same thing
and see what I would call green,

00:14:12.235 --> 00:14:15.114
but you call it red because that's
what you've always heard,

00:14:15.115 --> 00:14:17.374
and we both agree,
and go on our separate lives

00:14:17.375 --> 00:14:20.535
never knowing just how different
our perceptions were.

00:14:22.315 --> 00:14:25.554
There's no such thing
as a stupid question,

00:14:25.555 --> 00:14:28.057
but there are questions
that makes us feel stupid.

00:14:28.058 --> 00:14:29.549
This is one of them

00:14:29.550 --> 00:14:33.899
because there is no way for me
to crawl inside someone else's mind

00:14:33.900 --> 00:14:36.759
to see the world as they see it.

00:14:36.760 --> 00:14:39.229
I thought that might be
frustrating to my viewers,

00:14:39.230 --> 00:14:41.125
that there really wasn't a good answer.

00:14:41.126 --> 00:14:43.046
I couldn't finish this once and for all.

00:14:43.047 --> 00:14:47.216
So I started looking
more generally into questions.

00:14:47.217 --> 00:14:49.928
And the more I read
about them, and their history,

00:14:49.929 --> 00:14:55.452
the more I realized that questions
might be quite unique to humans.

00:14:57.292 --> 00:15:02.252
Apes that have been taught to use
sign language can communicate with us.

00:15:03.492 --> 00:15:07.173
They can answer complex questions,

00:15:07.174 --> 00:15:10.713
they can convey novel thoughts,
and they can express their emotions,

00:15:10.714 --> 00:15:13.758
but an ape who knows sign language

00:15:13.759 --> 00:15:18.929
has never been observed to ask a question.

00:15:21.979 --> 00:15:26.377
Soliciting information from an organism
belies this assumption

00:15:26.378 --> 00:15:30.622
that other organisms, in some way,
have access to information that you don't;

00:15:30.623 --> 00:15:33.895
that they have different,
unique intentions or desires.

00:15:33.896 --> 00:15:35.695
It's often called the Theory of Mind,

00:15:35.696 --> 00:15:39.648
and it is incredibly difficult to show
that animals have such a thing.

00:15:40.922 --> 00:15:43.608
But of course,
we intuitively feel that we do.

00:15:43.609 --> 00:15:45.655
Chimpanzees are clever,

00:15:45.656 --> 00:15:50.875
but they fail a pretty simple,
seeming test - deciding who to go to

00:15:50.876 --> 00:15:54.121
to get food that's been hiding in a room:

00:15:54.122 --> 00:15:58.732
a person who was literally in the room
and saw where the food was hidden,

00:15:58.733 --> 00:16:01.232
or a person who was also in the room,

00:16:01.233 --> 00:16:03.783
but has had a bucket
on their head all day.

00:16:06.043 --> 00:16:12.262
Whether or not animals have the capacity
to ask questions is still being debated.

00:16:13.432 --> 00:16:19.540
But after reading all of this, I realized
that questions are very special.

00:16:20.590 --> 00:16:24.078
We ask them because it's fun.

00:16:24.079 --> 00:16:27.149
Learning things is a fun experience,

00:16:27.156 --> 00:16:30.175
it's what Feynman called,
"a kick in the discovery."

00:16:30.176 --> 00:16:31.450
We also ask questions

00:16:31.451 --> 00:16:34.981
because learning things allows us
to explore what we like

00:16:35.731 --> 00:16:39.106
and to show off what we know about it,
to show what we are.

00:16:39.107 --> 00:16:43.970
But we also ask questions because we can;

00:16:43.971 --> 00:16:48.855
because perhaps uniquely here on Earth,
we know that other people can help.

00:16:50.105 --> 00:16:53.822
And that's a great reason
to ask more and more questions,

00:16:53.823 --> 00:16:57.497
to celebrate more and more whys.

00:16:58.427 --> 00:17:00.586
We all want to be "kicked
in the discovery,"

00:17:00.587 --> 00:17:04.332
it feels great, but we don't all have
a discovery in the same place.

00:17:04.333 --> 00:17:07.505
Taking the time to find
where someone's discovery is

00:17:07.506 --> 00:17:09.454
so you can give them a kick there

00:17:09.455 --> 00:17:15.571
isn't just about whys,
it's also a very wise thing to do.

00:17:16.382 --> 00:17:18.058
And as always, thanks for watching.

00:17:18.059 --> 00:17:19.417
(Applause)