What Is the Purpose of Tim Urban's Wait But Why?

TL;DR

Tim Urban’s purpose with Wait But Why is to pursue work he genuinely enjoys while helping people direct their awareness, time, money, and talent toward important issues. After spending nine years after college doing work he did not truly want, he found a role built around constant learning, creative expression, and interesting conversations. Read on for his views on impact, human history, and meaningful work.

Transcript

is the purpose of wait but why to start kind of informing people to get them to care before it's too late or what is your intent with the whole like all the content you're making the purpose in general is for me to do something I'm having fun at do it I spent nine years after college doing something that was kind of objectively a cool thing but I w... Read More

Key Insights

• "I want to be excited to wake up I want to be excited to do my work" (0:30)
• "I'm very curious so I get to be a constant learner" (0:36)
• "a post is a piece of art in a way" (0:46)
• "if I can convince really smart people to turn their attention or their money or their time towards important things" (2:28)
• "the population balloons from less than a billion to seven billion on page 500 alone" (4:35)

Questions & Answers

Q: What is the purpose of Tim Urban's Wait But Why?

Tim Urban says the purpose begins with doing work he enjoys and feels excited to wake up for. As Wait But Why became more popular and explored deeper topics, he also came to value its ability to direct attention, money, and time toward important things.

Q: Why does Tim Urban enjoy working on Wait But Why?

The work lets him be a constant learner, have conversations with interesting people, and create artistically. Switching topics repeatedly also makes each subject feel like a whole new planet, keeping him in what he calls the honeymoon phase of the job.

Q: What did Tim Urban do before focusing on Wait But Why?

He says he spent nine years after college doing something that was objectively cool but was not what he wanted to do. He wanted work that felt exciting and playful rather than something pursued only from obligation.

Q: How does Tim Urban describe a Wait But Why post?

He describes a post as a piece of art in a way. Writing posts satisfies his desire to create while allowing him to keep learning and changing topics.

Q: What impact does Tim Urban hope his writing can have?

He hopes it can convince smart people to direct their attention, money, or time toward important things. He considers that about as large an impact as he could have because it can influence more than his own individual effort.

Q: How did Wait But Why influence students Tim Urban met at MIT?

Tim Urban says two students told him they were pursuing work because of his posts. One was working at SpaceX, and another planned to work in AI the following year.

Q: How does Tim Urban explain the acceleration of human history?

He imagines roughly 100 thousand years of human history as a 500-page book, with each page covering two centuries. The first 450 pages contain hunter-gatherers and migrations, while the Industrial Revolution arrives near the beginning of the final page.

Q: What changes does Tim Urban place on page 500 of his human-history analogy?

He says the population grows from less than a billion to seven billion on page 500 alone. Transportation advances from walking, running, and sailboats to cars, planes, and the Space Station, while communication expands from speech and handwritten letters to FaceTime and the internet.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• The power of emerging technologies, such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), can revolutionize gaming, entertainment, communication, and education.

• Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin present a new paradigm in decentralized systems, with the potential to transform the way we think about currency and transactions.

• Advances in genetic engineering, like CRISPR, could lead to breakthroughs in healthcare and human enhancement, fundamentally altering our understanding of human biology.

• The exploration of space, particularly the colonization of other planets like Mars, offers immense opportunities for scientific discovery, innovation, and multiplanetary living.