You can read Hawking’s “A Brief History of Time.” You can study classical literature. You can read religious texts that detail how we got here and what we’re supposed to do now. … or you can gather up a bunch of junk from your bedroom and use it to unpack the majesty of the human experience. The observable universe is unfathomably large, but we can use a piece of paper to understand how it got that way. Humans come in all types and vary tremendously, but really, we’d all fit inside a sugar cube. And despite nearly 8 billion of us running around the planet, it’s pretty easy for us to stand out and do something unique. We’re capable of great things because we’re equipped with a supercomputer that can process even the most complex problems in math, science, and ourselves. It’s not that hard to start working together, especially if we’ve got a few ways to exchange what we know, what we have, and how we feel. Put it all together and we see what we’re working against: the absence of all that value. And because we’re such a critical part of a system too complex to understand, despite paradoxically seeming insignificant, we can find meaning inside an old briefcase. 0:00:00 - The Reveal 0:00:17 - The Universe 0:01:05 - Humanity 0:01:58 - Being You 0:03:16 - Thinking 0:04:19 - Cooperating 0:05:26 - Combining Talents 0:06:12 - Finding Meaning 0:07:22 - Conclusion Math Magic by Vsauce: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObiqJzfyACM Curiosity Box: null The Create Unknown Podcast: null ** SOURCES ** Charles Seife, “Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea”: https://www.amazon.com/Zero-Biography-Dangerous-Charles-Seife/dp/0140296476 Leonard Read, “I, Pencil”: https://www.amazon.com/Pencil-Family-Tree-Told-Leonard-ebook/dp/B003IWYFEO/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=i%2C+pencil&qid=1602613729&s=books&sr=1-1 Mathematics of the Rubik’s Cube: https://ruwix.com/the-rubiks-cube/mathematics-of-the-rubiks-cube-permutation-group/ Niall Ferguson, “The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World”: https://www.amazon.com/Ascent-Money-Financial-History-World/dp/0143116177 Ethan Siegel, “You Are Not Mostly Empty Space”: https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2020/04/16/you-are-not-mostly-empty-space/#4b4d50b42c2b Vsauce2: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@vsaucetwo Twitter: https://twitter.com/VsauceTwo Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VsauceTwo Talk Vsauce2 in The Create Unknown Discord: https://discord.gg/tyh7AVm Hosted and Produced by Kevin Lieber Instagram: http://instagram.com/kevlieber Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevinlieber Podcast: null Research and Writing by Matthew Tabor https://twitter.com/TaborTCU Editing by John Swan https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJuSltoYKrAUKnbYO5EMZ2A Huge Thanks To Paula Lieber https://www.etsy.com/shop/Craftality Music by Basswaite: https://soundcloud.com/basswaiteproductions/sets/the-andromeda-strain/s-PNZVy Select Music By Jake Chudnow: null Get Vsauce's favorite science and math toys delivered to your door! null #education #vsauce #science