Why do we ask questions? Michael "Vsauce" Stevens at TEDxVienna

Summary

In this engaging talk, the speaker explores the art of asking questions through the lens of humor and science. With a background in psychology, the speaker delves into the joy of discovery and the power of curiosity, using puns and thought-provoking questions to illustrate how questioning fuels learning and self-expression. The talk highlights the importance of good explanations and the interconnectedness of knowledge, emphasizing the unique human ability to seek and share information.

Takeaways

• 🧀 The speaker humorously suggests 'Camembert' as the best cheese to catch a bear, highlighting the use of puns and wordplay.
• 😅 The speaker admits to having a plethora of cheese-related puns, emphasizing the entertainment value of language play.
• 🔍 The speaker discusses the 'why game', a method of inquiry where questions are repeatedly asked to explore deeper meanings.
• 📚 The speaker operates a YouTube channel called Vsauce, where they explore scientific and mathematical concepts behind intriguing questions.
• 📈 Vsauce has experienced significant growth, with millions of views and a rapidly increasing subscriber base.
• 🤔 The speaker poses thought-provoking questions, such as 'Is anything real?', to spark curiosity and不经意间 educate viewers on broader topics.
• 🎓 The speaker's background in psychology influences their approach to questioning and the exploration of why things are the way they are.
• 🗣️ The speaker believes that the limits of human interest are limitless and that anything can be made interesting if connected to someone's interests.
• 👥 The speaker shares that people are motivated to share knowledge because it reflects their identity and interests, and it allows them to express themselves.
• 🌈 The speaker uses the example of explaining why the sky is blue to illustrate how connecting scientific concepts to everyday phenomena can engage an audience.
• 🤷‍♂️ The speaker reflects on the uniqueness of human questioning, suggesting that our ability to ask questions is tied to our understanding of others' perspectives and knowledge.

Q & A

What is the humorous suggestion for the best kind of cheese to use to catch a bear?

The humorous suggestion is to use 'Camembert' as a play on words with 'come here, bear.'

What is the pun about cheese looking into a mirror?

The pun is that the piece of cheese says 'Halloumi,' which is a play on the phrase 'hello, me.'

Why does the speaker believe that asking questions is important?

The speaker believes that asking questions is important because it stimulates curiosity, encourages learning, and allows for the exploration and expression of personal interests.

What is the name of the YouTube channel where the speaker shares his curiosity and knowledge?

The name of the YouTube channel is Vsauce.

How has the growth of Vsauce been described in the script?

The growth of Vsauce has been described as 'phenomenal,' with over 30 million views every month and a subscriber base growing by more than 10,000 new subscribers daily.

What is the speaker's approach to making educational content engaging?

The speaker's approach is to start with a captivating question, make the audience curious, and then 'accidentally' teach them various aspects of the universe while addressing the question.

What is the significance of the phrase 'come here bear' in the context of the script?

The phrase 'come here bear' is significant as it is a pun used to introduce the concept of wordplay and humor, setting a light-hearted tone for the discussion about the joy of asking questions.

Why does the speaker mention the 'why game' in the script?

The 'why game' is mentioned to illustrate the relentless nature of questioning and the human tendency to seek deeper understanding, even when answers may not fully satisfy the curiosity.

What does the speaker suggest about the limits of human interest?

The speaker suggests that the limits of what one can be interested in are unlimited, emphasizing the potential for curiosity and learning in every individual.

How does the speaker describe the process of creating engaging educational content?

The speaker describes the process as one of deep research into a subject, finding unique hooks or angles to attract different audiences, and presenting information in a way that is both informative and captivating.

What is the main reason the speaker believes people share educational content?

The speaker believes people share educational content because it allows them to express their interests and identity, as sharing reflects a part of who they are and what they value.

Outlines

00:00

🧀 The Art of Questioning and the Humor of Puns

The speaker, known for their YouTube channel Vsauce, starts with a humorous question about the best cheese to catch a bear, leading to a pun-filled dialogue. They express their love for puns and the surprise element they bring, which is a testament to the complexity of language. The speaker then transitions into a discussion about the 'why game,' a repetitive questioning technique used by children and suggested for adults to stimulate curiosity. Despite its potential for annoyance, the speaker embraces this method in their work, exploring scientific and mathematical theories behind various phenomena. The channel's success, with millions of views and a rapidly growing subscriber base, is attributed to the intriguing questions it poses, aiming to spark curiosity and accidental learning.

05:03

🎤 The Journey from Solo Explanations to Public Discovery

The speaker shares their personal narrative, beginning with a history of explaining things to themselves out loud, which they find beneficial for understanding. They recount their first public speaking experience, where they won an informative speaking competition with a speech about ketchup. This early success solidified their belief in the power of good explanations and the universal appeal of interesting content. The speaker emphasizes that anything can be fascinating if connected to someone's interests, and they discuss how sharing knowledge is a form of self-expression. They also highlight the importance of authenticity in content creation, suggesting that the best way to engage an audience is to be true to oneself and to create content that allows the audience to express their identity.

10:05

🌌 The Strategy Behind Captivating Educational Content

The speaker delves into their approach to creating educational content that appeals to a broad audience. They discuss the importance of understanding the subject matter deeply to find engaging 'hooks' that can draw in viewers. Using the example of Rayleigh scattering, which explains both the blue of the sky and the blue of human eyes, the speaker illustrates how connecting scientific concepts to everyday phenomena can captivate an audience. They also touch on the idea of making educational content visually compelling, referencing Harold Edgerton's photographs of nuclear explosions, which made physical phenomena more accessible and fascinating. The speaker concludes by emphasizing the importance of asking questions, even difficult ones, as a means of exploration and learning.

15:07

🤔 The Uniquely Human Act of Questioning

In the final paragraph, the speaker reflects on the nature of questions and their significance. They note that while animals can communicate and understand complex ideas, they do not ask questions, suggesting that this ability is unique to humans. The speaker discusses the 'Theory of Mind,' which posits that humans assume others have access to different information or intentions, a concept difficult to demonstrate in animals. They conclude by celebrating the joy of discovery and the human capacity to learn from one another. The speaker encourages viewers to embrace the act of questioning, both for personal growth and to foster a deeper understanding of the world around them.

Keywords

💡Puns

Puns are a form of word play that exploit multiple meanings of a term, or similar sounds of different words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. In the video, the speaker uses puns related to cheese to engage the audience and lighten the mood, such as 'Camembert' and 'Halloumi', which are used to create a playful atmosphere and demonstrate the speaker's love for language and humor.

💡Vsauce

Vsauce is a popular YouTube channel known for its educational content that explores a wide range of scientific and philosophical questions. The channel is mentioned in the script as the platform where the speaker, who is the creator of Vsauce, shares his curiosity and knowledge. Vsauce's content is characterized by its ability to make complex topics accessible and engaging, as exemplified by the speaker's approach to asking 'funny why questions'.

💡Rayleigh scattering

Rayleigh scattering is a phenomenon in physics that explains why the sky appears blue. It occurs when light is scattered in the atmosphere, with shorter wavelengths (like blue and violet) scattering more than longer ones (like red and yellow). In the script, the speaker uses Rayleigh scattering to explain the color of the sky and connects it to the color of blue eyes, illustrating how scientific concepts can be related to everyday observations.

💡Creepy

The term 'creepy' is used to describe something that causes an unsettling or fearful feeling. In the video, the speaker includes 'Why are things creepy?' as an example of the kind of intriguing questions they explore. This question taps into psychological aspects and the human tendency to be curious about the unknown, which is a central theme in the speaker's quest to make learning engaging.

💡Questions

Questions are central to the video's theme, representing the human drive to seek knowledge and understanding. The speaker emphasizes the importance of asking questions as a way to learn, to explore interests, and to express oneself. Questions are portrayed as a fundamental tool for discovery and a means to connect with others, as they can reveal shared interests and foster a sense of community.

💡Theory of Mind

The Theory of Mind is a psychological concept referring to the ability to attribute mental states—beliefs, intents, desires, pretending, knowledge, etc.—to oneself and others. In the script, the speaker discusses this concept in the context of whether animals can ask questions, suggesting that the capacity to ask questions might be unique to humans because it involves understanding that others have different knowledge or perspectives.

💡Education

Education in the video is presented as a process that should engage and captivate learners. The speaker quotes Harold Edgerton, emphasizing that effective education happens when learners are so engaged that they don't realize they are learning until it's too late. This concept is central to the speaker's approach to creating content that is both educational and entertaining.

💡Curiosity

Curiosity is portrayed as a driving force behind asking questions and seeking knowledge. The speaker's passion for asking 'why' questions is fueled by curiosity, which is also what they aim to ignite in their audience. Curiosity is seen as a natural human trait that can be harnessed for learning and personal growth.

💡Discovery

Discovery is mentioned in relation to the joy and excitement of learning new things. The speaker references Richard Feynman's description of the 'kick in the discovery,' suggesting that the process of uncovering new information can be exhilarating. This concept is used to explain why people are drawn to asking questions and why the speaker enjoys creating content that facilitates such discoveries.

💡Expression

Expression is discussed in the context of how people communicate their interests and identities. The speaker notes that sharing knowledge and asking questions are forms of self-expression, allowing individuals to connect with others over shared interests. This concept is integral to the video's message about the social and personal value of inquiry and learning.

💡Perception

Perception is the process by which the brain interprets sensory information to understand the surrounding environment. The script touches on the philosophical question of whether individuals perceive colors in the same way, highlighting the complexity of perception and the limitations of subjective experience. This concept is used to explore the uniqueness of human communication and the importance of questioning.

Highlights

The best kind of cheese to use to catch a bear is 'Camembert', as humorously suggested.

The speaker has a plethora of cheese puns but was advised to keep it 'brie'-f.

A pun about a piece of cheese saying 'Halloumi' when it looks into the mirror is shared.

The speaker expresses a love for puns due to their surprise factor and clever use of language.

The 'why game' is discussed as a method of inquiry, often used by children and suggested for adults.

The importance of asking 'why' is emphasized, even when it may seem irritating or endless.

The speaker's YouTube channel, Vsauce, is highlighted for its growth and educational content.

Vsauce's monthly views exceed 30 million, with a rapidly growing subscriber base.

The channel focuses on answering ridiculous yet thought-provoking questions about the universe.

Examples of questions explored include the weight of a shadow and the color of a mirror.

The psychological aspect of what makes things 'creepy' is touched upon.

The speaker's background in psychology influences the type of questions asked on Vsauce.

A personal anecdote about the speaker's habit of talking to themselves to explain concepts is shared.

The value of being able to explain something simply is discussed, referencing Albert Einstein.

The speaker's first public speaking victory with a speech about ketchup is mentioned.

People's innate love for a good explanation is highlighted as a key takeaway.

The idea that anything can be interesting if connected to someone's interests is explored.

The importance of expressing oneself through knowledge and interests is discussed.

The strategy of using hooks in educational content to attract different types of learners is explained.

The speaker's approach to making educational content that is both entertaining and informative is shared.

The unique human ability to ask questions and the concept of 'Theory of Mind' is discussed.

The significance of questions in learning and self-expression is emphasized.

The talk concludes with a call to celebrate the act of questioning and the joy of discovery.

Transcripts

Translator: Sue Su Reviewer: Denise RQ

What is the best kind of cheese to use to catch a bear?

Someone knows over here?

Obviously, the answer is "come here bear."

Camembert!

(Laughter)

Camembert!

(Applause)

Thank you.

I have a head full of cheese puns,

but I was told I had to keep it 'brie'-f.

(Laughter)

What did the piece of cheese say

when it looked into the mirror?

No. It said, "Halloumi."

(Laughter)

Hello me!

What can I say guys? I love a good pun.

Why?

I don't know;

because puns are funny, right?

Why?

Well, because there is a bit of a surprise factor.

You feel outsmarted for a second until you get the double meaning.

Why?

Because that's the way language works.

OK. I get what these slides are doing.

They're playing the why game

where you keep asking, "Why, why, but why?"

after everything someone says.

Kids do it all of the time

and adults should do it more often.

I'm just kidding. Don't. It's annoying.

(Laughter)

You can ask why, over, and over, and over again for ever,

even if one day, we explain

every physical interaction, and scientific law,

and hope, and dream, and regret with a single elegant equation.

You could still ask, "Why? Why that equation?

Why doesn't the universe operate with some different equation?"

So, yes; the why game is irritating, it's annoying,

and it's what I do for a living.

Every week, for the past few years,

I have researched a big question, a funny why question.

I've researched the science's, the mathematics’s recent theories

behind all kinds of things.

I do this on my YouTube channel: Vsauce.

So, Vsauce, in the last couple of years, has grown phenomenally.

It's hard to believe.

I'm now doing more than 30 million views every single month,

with five and a half subscribers

growing more than 10,000 new subscribers every day.

It's awesome. I love it.

I get to ask some pretty ridiculous questions.

For instance, "Is anything real?"

Come on! How can you possible answer that?

Well, that's not really the point.

The point is to bring people in with a great question,

make them curious, and once they're there,

accidentally teach them a whole bunch of things about the universe.

(Laughter)

Some examples of other questions I've asked:

how much does a shadow weigh?

What does it mean to ask a question like that, "What us a shadow?"

What color is a mirror?

In answering this question, you could explain a lot

about specular reflection, the physics of light.

This is one of my favorites, "Why are things creepy?

(Laughter)

I often go into psychology - that's more where my background is in -

but a question I have yet to answer, - hopefully, someone out there knows -

please tell me why is this called your 'bottom'

if it's technically in the middle of your body?

(Laughter)

It's ridiculous.

But it's a really good question.

I ask questions all of the time, but today, this is my question.

Why do we ask questions?

Seriously. I mean, what's the point?

Who cares why things are creepy? They just are.

Who cares why this is called my bottom?

It's gross, don't do that anymore.

Questions.

How do I get people to care about these questions?

Especially people who think that learning is boring.

I like to believe that the limits of what you can be interested in

are unlimited.

And this is my story.

I began making YouTube videos about six years ago,

but only recently did I start making explanatory videos.

I've no idea what took me so long.

I have been explaining things my entire life.

Except, usually, I did it alone, out loud.

I talk to myself when I'm alone; all the time.

If you snuck up on me when I didn't think anyone was around,

you would overhear me explaining the most mundane stuff.

It's kind of weird, maybe.

OK, it's really weird, but for me, it is a great way,

for me to know that I kind of know more what I'm talking about

if I can verbally explain it.

As Albert Einstein said,

"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough."

When I was a teenager, I discovered a competitive speaking program

and one of the events was informative speaking,

where you literally got to write a speech explaining something to judges,

and then you were given points and medals if you were good enough.

My very first informative speech ever was about ketchup:

the history of ketchup. the etymology of the name,

its legal status, the physics of its viscosity, and how it flowed.

It was super nerdy stuff.

But at my very, very first public speaking tournament

I took first place.

Hey!

(Applause)

Look at that guy.

(Applause)

Some of the hair here moved down here, but other than that,

I'm the same guy.

Seriously, I'm still doing the same thing.

To be at that tournament and to see the expression on someone's face

when they suddenly understand and are fascinated by something,

in the same way that you are

is a phenomenal feeling.

I've learned two things from this:

first of all, people love a good explanation.

They hunt them down.

Even people who say they hate learning, and hate books, and all that stuff,

pff, they love explanations.

Second of all, if you look closely enough

and you take the time,

anything can be interesting to anyone

because everything is related in some way to something they care about.

Richard Feynman called

"the pleasure of finding things out" a "kick in the discovery."

And I agree, but I think there might be a little bit more to that.

Let's get rid of this picture of me.

We want to express ourselves,

everyone wants to express themselves.

They do it through the music they listen to, the clothing they wear,

the way they act, but they also do it with knowledge.

The things they know about the stuff they like,

Their interests, their hobbies.

I've noticed that the most operative motive

behind someone sharing one of my videos, promoting me by word of mouth,

isn't so much about me as it is about them.

"Hey! Look what I found!", "I like this."

"I am like this."

Whenever you share a video, whenever you share anything,

a few of the attributes of that thing reflect back onto you.

I've found that one of the best ways to gain attentive listeners

is not to be who you think your audience wants you to be,

but instead, to say, and make, and show things

that allow your audience or your students to be who they want to be.

I once discussed in a video,

"Why the sky is blue?"

And backstage, when I was going through what I want to to talk about,

I ran into this girl.

This seriously actually happened backstage, go find her.

I said, "Do you know why the sky is blue?"

She said, "I think I used to know, but it didn't really mattered."

Exactly. Exactly.

And I knew that was going to be a problem.

It turns out that the sky is blue

because of the way light scatters in our atmosphere.

It's called Rayleigh scattering.

A light of shorter wave lengths scatters more,

so, greens, blues, and violets.

That's why when you look at the sky away from the Sun,

you see this beautiful sky blue;

it's all of those shorter wave lengths combining.

When you look directly at the Sun - which you shouldn't do very often;

don't do it ever -

you see the longer wave lengths which are surviving that scattering.

That's why the Sun looks yellow during the day.

Of course, when the Sun's light needs to travel through a whole lot of air

to get into your eyeball,

a lot of scattering occurs,

and only really, really long wave lengths make it all the way there

directly from the Sun,

which is why it looks orange, or sometimes red at sunrise or sunset.

I think that's really cool, but obviously, some people

- including someone backstage right now -, don't.

Or maybe they already know it,

or could probably figure out if they thought about it.

So what do you do?

I'm trying to collect the largest audience possible that I can,

I want to appeal to and attract as many people as possible.

So what I do is I camp out with the subject.

In this case, Rayleigh scattering.

I've learned as much about it as I can.

What else is it responsible for?

Who is it named after? Who did he love?

Whatever I can find that could become a great hook

to bring in just the right person.

So, in this case, I've read about Rayleigh scattering,

and I realized-- I didn't realize, I learned,

that blue eyes are blue for the exact same reason.

Blue eyes do not have blue pigment in them.

Ouch! That would hurt if that was real.

Blue eyes don't have blue pigment in them

any more than the air has blue pigment in it.

If you were to rip out my iris, I would be like, "Ouch!" but then

(Laughter)

if you grounded it up into a fine powder, it wouldn't be blue anymore

it would be a dull brownish-blackish color.

Instead, blue eyes are blue because at a microscopic level,

their texture scatters light

just like the air in our atmosphere scatters the Sun's light

to make the sky blue.

Maybe you already know why the sky is blue,

maybe you don't care,

but maybe you will be fascinated by something like this.

This is why my episodes often seem to go all over the place.

It's not just because I'm crazy it's also because I want to have

as many hooks out as possible

to catch as many people and to make them interested.

I once did a video about rainbows.

I thought, "Some people might think rainbows are lame."

I'll teach about rainbows.

What other types of bows are there?

Well, like when a string, like a knot...

Is a bow a knot?

Why do headphones always get tied up into knots?

I researched the mathematics behind this; it's fascinating.

([Laughter)

I'll spare you all of the details;

also, this will allow you to go check out my videos

and give me many, many views rather than just one.

In the 1950s, Harold Edgerton took a series of amazing pictures

of nuclear explosions.

This is a detonation

just milliseconds after happening,

with an exposure time of one billionth of a second.

You can see the energy of this plasma ball,

the energy of the explosion is vaporizing the metal wires holding up the tower.

That's where these glowing, spindly legs come form.

His work attracted wider and new interest to physical phenomenon

simply because he featured something

that people couldn't help but want to look at.

A moment you couldn't witness alone.

He famously said, "The trick to education

is to teach in such a way

that people only find out they're learning when it's too late."

(Laughter)

It works for me.

So recently, I took on the most difficult question ever,

but also the most requested,

"How do I know that the colors I see are the same to you?

How do I know that when I look at something red,

you don't look at the same thing and see what I would call green,

but you call it red because that's what you've always heard,

and we both agree, and go on our separate lives

never knowing just how different our perceptions were.

There's no such thing as a stupid question,

but there are questions that makes us feel stupid.

This is one of them

because there is no way for me to crawl inside someone else's mind

to see the world as they see it.

I thought that might be frustrating to my viewers,

that there really wasn't a good answer.

I couldn't finish this once and for all.

So I started looking more generally into questions.

And the more I read about them, and their history,

the more I realized that questions might be quite unique to humans.

Apes that have been taught to use sign language can communicate with us.

They can answer complex questions,

they can convey novel thoughts, and they can express their emotions,

but an ape who knows sign language

has never been observed to ask a question.

Soliciting information from an organism belies this assumption

that other organisms, in some way, have access to information that you don't;

that they have different, unique intentions or desires.

It's often called the Theory of Mind,

and it is incredibly difficult to show that animals have such a thing.

But of course, we intuitively feel that we do.

Chimpanzees are clever,

but they fail a pretty simple, seeming test - deciding who to go to

to get food that's been hiding in a room:

a person who was literally in the room and saw where the food was hidden,

or a person who was also in the room,

but has had a bucket on their head all day.

Whether or not animals have the capacity to ask questions is still being debated.

But after reading all of this, I realized that questions are very special.

We ask them because it's fun.

Learning things is a fun experience,

it's what Feynman called, "a kick in the discovery."

We also ask questions

because learning things allows us to explore what we like

and to show off what we know about it, to show what we are.

But we also ask questions because we can;

because perhaps uniquely here on Earth, we know that other people can help.

And that's a great reason to ask more and more questions,

to celebrate more and more whys.

We all want to be "kicked in the discovery,"

it feels great, but we don't all have a discovery in the same place.

Taking the time to find where someone's discovery is

so you can give them a kick there

isn't just about whys, it's also a very wise thing to do.

And as always, thanks for watching.

(Applause)