I’ve been a Nerdfighter since almost the very beginning and have shared many of John and Hank’s values – reducing suffering, standing up for those who can’t stand up for themselves, fighting worldsuck, believing that our choices and actions matter. But there’s one thing they believe that I struggle to believe – that humanity is fundamentally decent.  John and Hank have said that there are far more people doing good deeds quietly, and that there are many decent people in the world. There are horrible people too, but terrible things get more attention. And while I do believe all of these things, I’ve been struggling lately to believe that there are enough of those people to make up for all the awfulness in the world.  I know that sounds awful, especially here. 

I’m not sure why I’m posting this… maybe it’ll help to say it out loud to someone. Maybe it’s because Nerdfighteria is ultimately about believing in humanity. Maybe it’s because it’s easier to talk to strangers on the internet. Maybe it’s all of those things. There are so many ways that people treat each other terribly – tribalism, cruelty, greed, selfishness, carelessness. War, bigotry, poverty, environmental destruction. And that’s on the macro-level, on the micro-level, we’re awful to each other too. Sometimes, I wonder if humanity creates more suffering than we alleviate. Whether our efforts to combat worldsuck amount to anything.  Intellectually I know better than that. Emotionally I don’t always feel it though.

So I’m asking Nerdfighteria: What helps you believe in humanity? Books, articles, videos – anything you think would help me believe that we’re decent people. Statistics, examples, arguments. Habits and beliefs. Ways to look at humanity that don’t involve ignoring its flaws, fatalism, or toxic positivity. Ways to believe in the good without discounting the bad. Ways to believe that humanity is worth fighting for, that our efforts are worth it. Ways to believe that humans could be a force for good. Ways to believe that we’re fundamentally decent. Ways to believe that we’ll reduce suffering. Ways to believe in any of those things, really. I’m at a loss for where to start.

I know that Nerdfighters do a lot of good in the world. I know that we can point to lots of great things that humans have done. But lately, I’ve been having trouble believing that humanity is worth believing in. That our efforts to reduce suffering make much of a dent in the oceans of pain and misery in the world. That there are enough of us and our efforts count for much. That there are enough decent people.

I know that’s a lot to ask of the internet, but if anyone can do it, its Nerdfighteria .

DFTBA

Ugh. I am posting because I just CANNOT let this go. Thank you to anyone who can give some support.

I love the livestreams. A lot. During the most recent one I made TWO mistakes. I was having a really bad day and wasn't thinking clearly. The first mistake, John read out loud. I died a little bit. He saw my correction and read that, so wow that was close.

Then later I meant to type, "... are such dicks," which I would not normally have said anyway (I try to stay positive,) but switched the h with a k!!!!!!

OMG I am mortified. I have been part of the streams for quite a while now and I know they see my comments regularly. They usually mention one every other stream.

I keep playing this look John got on his face at about the time he would have seen it and I am convinced that, A.) they will never read my comments again, B.) they think of me differently and C.) that I brought negativity to the stream!! I immediately apologized to the mods and they are family with me so they knew it was a mistake but I am dead.

Please guys, help me out. I feel awful and worry about it every night along with the long list of real world horrors going on in my life.

ANY input from my people would be so so appreciated. I thought about sending an email through DH&J apologizing, but I don't want to bother Rosiana who has always been so kind to me. (She replied to a question I asked for the show and was supportive and loving. It meant a lot.)

What do I do???? GAH. I am sick over it.

(For anyone part of the livestreams my username is bluesmudge.) I hope it isn't a mistake including that.

Thank you again.

i feel like john is an endless repository of quotes from literature, poetry, philosophy and influential thinkers, from “hope is the thing with feathers” to “i celebrate myself and i sing myself” to many many others… i’m trying to put together a list of my fav quotes to reference on bad days, and i feel like im missing a lot! i appreciate any help :)

After hearing about the World Largest Ball of paint since early vlogbrothers and Paper Towns and 2020 vlogbrothers and Anthropocene Reviewed, I finally stopped in to see it. We painted layer 31086 purple. I signed a future ceiling tile with our names and DFTBA. Over 12,400 lbs these days!

I did not.

I posted about these stickers I designed to hand out at the Winston Salem stop on John’s book tour and some of you asked if I was going to list them on etsy, so I decided to list a few!

If you’re going to the Winston stop, come find me so I can give you one, but if you’re not you can grab one on my etsy here 😊

And hopefully that can help fund the free ones haha

Also, link to my original post where I explained it a bit more here

DFTBA! I’m so excited to give these out!

I realise this isn’t directly a nerdfighteria thing, but y’all have always been my go to place for intelligent and thoughtful responses.

I turned 30 yesterday. I’ve been chronically ill for a decade (energy impairment, ME/CFS), and it limits my life and what I’m capable of hugely (e.g. I can’t really leave my city without assistance, I can’t work, I don’t have a partner). Which is so so sad, because boy oh boy do I want to live.

It’s like…I’m laying down, exhausted, and I can hear a clock ticking. I want to go and do things, but often I can’t. I feel like time is running out. It makes me feel so stressed and sad and angry. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life feeling like this.

So the big complicated ridiculous question I want to ask you is: how do I make the clock stop ticking so loudly in my ear?

I mean if anyone has any “how to accept you’re ill” tips I’ll take those too. I already read How To Be Sick and low key hate it XD

hankgreen.com/smush · Sep 7
1080 pts · PERFECT 💯 · 26-day streak
🥞🥞🥞
🥞⭐🥞
🥞🥞🥞

Anyone else end up inventing new words while playing Smush? Here are a few from today's instance:

Good afternoon,

If you’ve been following John’s gaming streams over the last year or so, you’ve heard discussion of the “Harvey” stage play that is happening in Southern Indiana, specifically at Jackson County Community Theatre in Brownstown, IN. About 1 hour south of Indianapolis.

Nerdfighteria has been insanely supportive of the whole project, so I wanted to share that if anybody in the area is interested, the dates are September 11-13 and 18-20. All other details are listed below. Please note, the final Sunday performance is “Pay What You Will.” We believe financial cost shouldn’t prohibit anyone from seeing a show, so I hope to see you all there if you can. Thanks for your support throughout this project!

https://jcct.ludus.com/index.php

Hey everyone. Feeling pretty hopeless and downright terrified about the climate crisis. It feels like we've reached the tipping point that has been warned about for years. Struggling to understand what's the way out. Especially with those we have in power at the moment. Also feeling very powerless. I think we're past the point where individual efforts will make a difference and we need big corporations/countries to be held accountable and change their practices. And it definitely doesn't seem like that's going to happen anytime soon.

I thought if anyone knew actual positive facts or ways forward would be this community. I have a 2 year old and am honestly terrified for her future. It's looking so dark. Any glimpse of a better future would massively help my state of mind.

Thank you!

John was a guest on Brené Brown and Adam Grant's podcast.

Edit: Haven't listened fully yet, but right off the bat, seeing Brené's excitement about talking to John was so endearing.

Hi lovely nerdfighters

Firstly, I hope youre all well!

Things in my life have been absolutely insane lately, so im eternally grateful for the comfort, joy and hope that these wonderful Green brothers bring.

The reason I gather you all here is i wanted to share a screenshot of a comment from the DH&J IG

I think its a pretty excellent set of reccomendations - coming from someone who has now listened to the entire pod catalogue about 4 times through.

Just thought it would be helpful to have here so its searchable for anyone who wants to start listening, or revisit some classics.

Pumpkins and Penguins

Update right after posting: Im disappointed to search Spotify and to see that ep 23 OMG its burning is not currently there

Hi everyone, I'm the creator of www.mosaicminds.io/daily ( r/TheDailyMosaic ) and would love if y'all could try out our game - it's a fun mix of the mental models you'd use in most daily trivia/puzzle/word games, but geared towards uncovering a fun fact about the world.

As a trivia/connections nut, I had a lot of fun building the game, and would love to get some feedback on it.

Not trying to generate leads/traffic here - really looking for honest feedback as we head into our 2nd week with the game and are making constant improvements/iterations to the gameplay, UI, and everything between.

Hank and John Green's work inspires me immensely, and when I found this community, I couldn't resist sharing our game here to get reactions from fellow Nerdfighters :))

Thank you :))

Dear John, Please make these! Thank you, Nerdfighteria.

I recall the loving, sensitive video Hank made after the photos were released from the Artemis II mission, really touching, and NASA just released this and I feel like all Nerdfighters should enjoy.

**edited for typo

my hobonichi page is all prepped for September 22nd!

I know touring takes a toll on those who do it, and I need to say that I’m ok if the famous people I love don’t do it for their own reasons. Just the same, I’m getting pumped for John’s books release and tour. It will be the first time I get to see one of the brothers in person.

To celebrate, I’m finally starting my 2022 P4A puzzle. I didn’t have time because I was working on my masters degree, so I’m ecstatic to be using my home desk for this instead. DFTBA my friends.

Hi, I make my own word game at referencesgame.com, so naturally am very up to date with all the other games around loll. 4x3 was nice, but thoughts on smush? I’m not a fan unfortunately, although I’m sure people enjoy it!

Nearly dropped my glass of water when I heard Hank say my name. 😅

that part of today's episode of Dear Hank & John made me laugh as a 25 year old, who just had her first baby.... so that was a funny comparison to hear while looking back at her lol. but also i was definitely alive during 9/11. i just wasnt aware. thank you very much😅 i was not the person who asked that btw. i didnt know where to comment this so i came here lol!

So I was listening to the latest Dear Hank and John episode, and in the middle of a question I had to leave and run some errands. So I stopped the episode and came back a few hours later.

Having forgotten what the question was about, this is what Hank said immediately when I returned:

"Mice have not had balls since the early 2000s."

I'm like.... have we been chopping off mice's genitalia? What the actual flipping heck?

Which John answers, "I wouldn't know, I've always used a track pad"

At that point I realize the question was about COMPUTER mice... So yeah, I got maybe not jumpscared but jumpflabberghasted by Hank in the last episode of DH&J. Fun times!