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We Were Taught to Call Death a Blessing

CGP Grey · explainer · Watch on YouTube

Medicine & infectious diseasePhilosophy & ethicsFuturism & technology and society

What it is

CGP Grey narrates an animated adaptation of Nick Bostrom's Fable of the Dragon-Tyrant. The story uses a dragon that demands a daily toll of lives as a metaphor for aging and society's acceptance of death.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN commenters repeatedly recommend it in longevity and aging threads as a concise, fun case for fighting aging.

  • 12 people recommended it
  • 11 different months
  • 4 strong recommendations
  • first 2018, last 2025

What HN commenters said

  1. “Everybody should watch The Fable of The Dragon Tyrant”

    Animated fable arguing aging should be fought

    snvzz, 2018-06 · Strong recommendation · in “Around the World, People Have Surprisingly Modest Notions of the ‘Ideal’ Life”

  2. “Make "The Fable of the Dragon-Tyrant" required reading/watching for all schoolchildren”

    Fable arguing for accelerating anti-aging research

    mLuby, 2019-09 · Strong recommendation · in “Alan Turing to be the face of new £50 note”

  3. “CGP gray's videos on YouTube are maybe the most concise and fun to watch materials I've seen on the subject.”

    Concise, fun explanation of the case for ending aging

    seer, 2020-01 · Strong recommendation · in “Scientists identify pathways that extend nematode worm lifespan fivefold”

  4. “I'd suggest the following excellent exploration of the idea of extinguishing natural death by CGP Grey.”

    Excellent exploration challenging the belief that natural death is acceptable

    tjlingham, 2023-08 · Strong recommendation · in “Scientists find way to wipe a cell's memory to reprogram it as a stem cell”

  5. “I've always found this to be an interesting topic. See here for more”

    Argues aging is a condition that could be solved

    jeffreylees, 2018-06 · Recommendation · in “Matter: How Long Can We Live? The Limit Hasn’t Been Reached, Study Finds”

  6. “And here it is in video form as well”

    Video form of Bostrom's story on the fight against aging

    dtujmer, 2019-03 · Recommendation · in “Longevity and anti-aging research: ‘Prime time for an impact on the globe’”

  7. “See also: The Fable of the Dragon-Tyrant by CGP Grey”

    Fable urging not accepting old age without a fight

    cosmojg, 2020-09 · Recommendation · in “On Old Age”

  8. “because we are very close to solving the problem of death for good”

    Argues death is close to being solved

    chr1, 2021-05 · Recommendation · in “LiveLeak shuts down after 15 years online”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: dragon tyrant, anti-aging, nick bostrom, death, fable

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