Vatican City Explained

Script

Vatican City: capitol of the Catholic Church, home to the pope, owner of impressive collections of art and history all contained within the borders of the world's smallest country: conveniently circumnavigateable on foot in only 40 minutes.

Just how did the world end up with this tiny nation?

The short answer is: because Mussolini and the long answer is fiendishly complicated so here's a simplified medium version:

The popes used to rule a country called the Papal States that covered much of modern day Italy. It was during this 1,000+ year reign that the Popes constructed St. Peter's Basilica the largest church in the world -- and also built a wall around the base of a hill known as Vatican upon which St. Peter's Stood.

But the Kingdom of Italy next door thought Rome would be an awesome capital for their country and so conquered the Papal States.

His nation destroyed the Pope hid behind the walls of Vatican and conflictingly refused to acknowledge that the Kingdom of Italy existed, while simultaneously complaining about being a prisoner of the Kingdom of Italy -- which according to him didn't exist.

Rather than risk religious civil war by getting rid of the pope the Kingdom of Italy decided to wait him out assuming he'd eventually give up -- but religion is nothing if not obstinate -- and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 popes and sixty years later nothing had changed.

Which brings us to Benito Mussolini the then prime minister of Italy who was tired of listing to the Pope complain to Italian Catholics about his self-imposed imprisonment so Mussolini thought he could score some political points by striking a deal which looked like this:

1) Italy gave the land of Vatican to the Pope.

and…

2) Italy gave the Pope a bunch of apology money

In return

1) The Pope acknowledged that Italy existed and

and…

2) The Pope promised to remain neutral in politics and wars.

On the off chance that, you know, Mussolini thought this might be a thing.

The deal was signed and a new country, Vatican City was born.

And today the tiny nation on a hill has all the things you'd expect of a country: its own government that makes its own laws that are enforced by its own police, who put people who break them in its own jail.

It also has its own bank and prints its own stamps and issues its own license plates, though only its citizens can drive within its borders presumably because of terrible, terrible parking -- and as the true mark of any self-respecting nation: it has its own top-level domain: .VA

But, despite all these national trappings Vatican City is not really like any other country. Hold on to your fancy hat, because it's about to get weird:

To understand the Vatican: there are two people and two things that you need to know about: the famous pope, the incredibly confusing Holy See, The Country of Vatican City and along with that the almost completely unknown King of Vatican City.

But first the Pope: who gets a throne to sit upon and from which he acts as the Bishop for all the Catholics in Rome.

Actually all Bishops in the Catholic Church get their own thrones but because the Bishop of Rome is also the Pope his throne is special and has it's own special name: The Holy See.

Every time a Pope dies or retires there is a sort of game of thrones to see which of the bishops will next get to occupy the Holy See.

So while Popes come and go the throne is eternal. As such the name The Holy See not only refers to the throne but also all the rules that make the Catholic Church the Catholic Church.

When Mussolini crafted that aforementioned deal, technically he gave the land of Vatican City to The Holy See -- which, believe it or not, is a legal corporate person in international law. Basically every time you hear the words The Holy See think Catholic Church, Inc of which the Pope is the CEO.

Now back to the King. The King of Vatican City has absolute, unchecked power within the country's borders and his presence makes Vatican City one of only six remanning absolute monarchies in the world, including Brunei, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Swaziland. The King's absolute power is why Vatican City can't join the European Union because only democracies are allowed.

Through Vatican City does, strictly speaking, have a legislative brach of government -- staffed by cardinals, appointed by the pope -- the King of Vatican City can overrule their decisions and at any time for any reason.

So why do you never hear about the King of Vatican City? Because though King and Pope are two different roles, they just happen to be occupied by the same person at the same time -- which has the funny consequence that, because the Pope is elected and the King is all-powerful but they're the same guy it makes Vatican City the world's only elected, non-hereditary absolute monarchy.

It's this dual-role that makes untangling Vatican City so difficult because the Pope, depending on the situation either acts as The King of the country of Vatican City or the Pope of the Holy See.

Got it? No? OK, here's an analogy:

Imagine if a powerful international company, say Grey Industries, had a CEO who convinced the United States to give one of its islands to the Company which then made the island into a new country -- Greytropolis -- with an absolute monarchy as its government and the law that the King of Greytropolis is, by definition, the CEO of Grey Industries.

It's pretty obvious at that point that the CEO should move his corporate headquarters to the new nation -- so that the laws of the country can benefit the company and the company's global reach can benefit the country. As for the man in the middle sometimes it's good to the the CEO and sometimes it's good to be the king.

That is essentially Vatican City.

But if you're still confused, don't worry even other countries can't keep it straight. For example the United Nations has The Holy See the corporation as a member but not Vatican City the actual country. And The Holy See gives passports to Vatican City citizens that other countries accept even though those passports come from a company, not a country.

And speaking of Vatican City citizens, they are perhaps the strangest consequence of the Pope's dual role as religious leader and monarch.

While other countries mint new citizens with the ever popular process of human reproduction Vatican City does not. No one in Vatican City is born a citizen -- and that's not just because, within a rounding error, there are no female Vaticans.

The only way to become a citizen is for the King of Vatican City to appoint you as one. And the King only appoints you a citizen if you work for the Pope -- who is also the King.

And because the King is all-powerful your citizenship is at his whim. If you quit your job for the Pope, the King -- who is also the pope -- will revoke your citizenship.

These rules mean that Vatican City doesn't have a real permanent population to speak of: there are only about 500 full citizens -- which is fewer people that live in single skyscrapers in many countries -- and all these citizens work for The Holy See as either Cardinals or Diplomats or the Pope's bodyguards or other Catholic-related jobs.

So it's best to think of Vatican City as a kind of Sovereign Corporate Headquarters that grants temporary citizenship to its managers rather than a real city-state like Singapore: which has a self-reproducing population of citizens engaged in a variety of economic activities both of which Vatican City lacks.

But in the end, the reason the world cares about Vatican City is not because of the citizens within its walls but because of the billion members of its church outside those walls.

Credits

Images: Tony Perrottet, Marc Simonetti, chongeileen, Chris Wary, buzzwax, proimos (2), edwardlangley, duncanh1, sonofgroucho, phxdailyphotolady, antmoose, jetheriot, isa lias, kengz, joseag, erwin soo, jamiejohn, iamagenious, Toshio Kishiyama, Perrimoon, jeffd, gaspa, alecea, dgodin, & Mike Murphy

Music: Kevin MacLeod

Q&A with Grey

Hello Internet,

Here we are: 500,000 subscribers -- well, actually… by the time I finished this video it's a bit more than that -- but who knew that after I promised to do a Q&A that the pope would resign?

Anyway...

When I uploaded my first explanation video just over two years ago now, I would never have expected this: over half a million subscribers and 16 videos with over a million views. Who knew rapidly spoken educational videos could be so popular?

Thank you, Internet.

Now, as promised -- though slightly behind schedule -- it's time to answer some of your questions.

"What's your educational background?" Rodrigo, Campo Grande, Brazil

I went to school in New York where I earned two college degrees, one in physics and one in sociology. After that I moved to London and earned a PGCE in Science Education, and became a qualified physics teacher in England.

"How long does it take to create a video?" Tracey, Ohio

I've tracked my time to get an accurate answer and every minute of final video you see takes me between 10 and 20 hours of writing and animating to make. So a typical 5 minute video is 50 to 100 hours of work.

While that's a lot, it doesn't include the research phase which is difficult to quantify -- some of the videos I've made I'd been collecting notes on for more than a year before starting.

"What was you favourite video make?" Brittany P, UK

The 2012 video was the most fun by far -- mainly because I didn't have to do a lot of complicated research and I got to complain about things I don't like.

"What change would you make to the education system?" Lumbajack Gangsta, Austin, TX

Instead of grouping kids by age, I'd group try grouping them by ability instead.

The idea that just because a kid is 14-years-old they're ready for trigonometry is weird. No other part of human society organizes itself this way and for good reason: it artificially slows down the best and brightest.

"What is do you think should be in the curriculum but isn't?" Jamaal, Arizona

Computer programming. I was kind of shocked and horrified when I started teaching in the UK to discover there were no real computer programming lessons.

Of course, there are only so many classes in the day, and everyone wants their pet subject taught in schools, so the equally important question is what to get rid of to make room for computer programming and, without the slightest hesitation I'd ditch the foreign languages classes -- after all, computer programming is getting us closer and closer to a universal translator anyway.

"What do you do when you receive pennies?" johnjac, Owasso

I die a little inside thinking about how political systems can distribute tiny costs across large numbers of people to the benefit of a few.

"What's your favorite element?" Rasmus, Denmark

I don't have a favorite but I'm irrationally fond of Tungsten mainly because my wedding ring is made out of it.

"What's the story behind your logo?" Joshua B.

It's basically a personal flag for my love of science and technology.

When I first started this channel, I thought that I would make videos mostly about those two things, but for various reasons, that hasn't happened yet.

And besides, it's not like there's a shortage of good science channels on YouTube.

By the way, If you really like the logo, you can get it on t-shirts and now coffee mugs -- which is particularly appropriate as coffee is the fuel that without which these videos could not be made.

"What do you do in your free time?" Sam L, Higginsville, MO

I like to horseback ride through the mountains.

Nah, it's mostly just Reddit.

Speaking of which...

"Would you rather fight 100 duck-sized horses or 1 horse-sized duck?" techtakular, Alex, va

One horse-sized duck. The cube-squared law means the legs of a horse-sized duck probably wouldn't be structurally sound. Easy fight.

"Are there going to be more "politics in the animal kingdom" videos?" Oli

Yes, I'm sorry, I know this playlist is unfinished and, if any of the videos videos I've ever made can be said to be important, it's these.

I promise at least one more about the single transferable vote, but I don't make any promises about when that will happen.

"Do you think third parties will ever gain ground in the United States?" Kerl, Florida

No.

The problem isn't politics or voter apathy, it's the system that creates the politics and voter apathy.

The US election system is pretty much the worst in the civilized world -- often voting for a 3rd party isn't just a waste it's also a vote against your own best interests.

3rd parties really can't thrive under those conditions.

"What's one technology you wish to see before you die?" zigonick, MO, USA

Immortality technology.

Where do you get your ideas?

It's been my experience that creative projects are self-sustaining. The more you write, the more things you want to write about and the more you program the more programming ideas you have.

For me each video spawns more videos. The daylight saving one, for example, originally contained spots for information about longitude and time zones and the seasons that got cut but will probably become their own videos at some point.

Also, I listen to a monstrous number of audiobooks and podcasts. If you're interested, you can see some of my favorites here. These help me keep in touch with the wider world and expose me to ideas and information that I would not have come across on my own.

"If you could live at any time in history when would it be?" Bonnie, Scotland

I wouldn't.

Allow me to summarize all of human existence with this single graph.

"What's the best way be successful on YouTube?" Joe Kowalski, 44074

Make videos people want to watch.

I'm not trying to be glib here but when asked this question I see many YouTubers talk about the importance of upload schedules and managing your social media and collaborations, and my experience says that's completely backwards.

If you're videos aren't interesting, no one will care that you upload them regularly. And twitter followers don't get you views, views get you twitter followers and people who want to collaborate with you.

I know it's not very helpful advice, but it's the most truthful advice I can give.

"What is the most interesting fact you've ever been told." Stu1278, England

It's difficult to pick just one from an entire lifetime, but last year Veritassium visited me in London and walked me through the process by which trees get water from their roots to their leaves.

That sounds really boring but it was one of the most mind-blowing conversations I've had in a long time.

"How often do you engage with professionals while you research?" theLarom, Washington, DC

For me, being confused and frustrated with a topic is a vital part of figuring out how to explain it to others so I'd say 95% of research I do on my own.

If I'm really out of my depth on a topic -- like the debt video and the pope video -- I try very hard to find an expert to look over the final draft of my script but time constraints and finding trustworthy experts is sometimes a bit difficult.

"What is your favorite internal organ?" trint99, DFW, TX

The Brain -- because it's the one that's me.

"Is there any part of science do you want to be proven wrong?" Jrod N, Massacusetts

Yes, the current interpretations of the ultimate fate of The Universe all make me sad.

"Can you answer 10 questions in under 30 seconds?" YouReadMeName

1: "What is your favorite scientific study ever published?" Marie, Reno, NV

Unskilled Are Unaware: Further Explorations of (Absent) Self-Insight Among the Incompetent.

Link in the description.

2: "Hogwarts house?" Zeinoun Awad, Lebanon

Ravenclaw. (I'd hope)

3: "Celsius or Fahrenheit?" Kubez

Fahrenheit.

4: Kirk or Picard

Picard.

5: "Do you wear glasses?" Spartacus McFancy Pants

Uh, yeah.

6: "Favorite empire?" Caleb Glickman, USA

The second one. Those monks were awesome.

7: "How can a country be totally self sufficient -- as in no imports or exports?" Amberjack1973

Simple, resort to a medieval level of technology.

8: "Favourite sport?" soccernhlfan, Canada

No.

9: "Should science play a bigger role in politics?" Dip, London, UK

What, you mean the method by which we determine truth? Yeah, I think it should.

10: "Can you answer 10 questions in under 30 seconds?" YouReadMeName

Apparently.

Alright, thanks to everyone who submitted questions -- it's been fun, Internet.

Credits:

Music by: Broke for Free.

The Debt Limit Explained

Script:

The debt limit is kind of a financial weapon of mass destruction chained to the United States government by the United States government.

Confused?  Then it's time for The United States debt limit Explained.  

To understand the debt limit you need to know the US splits financial responsibility between the president and congress.  

The president has two jobs when it comes to money:

1. Collect taxes and... 

2. Spend those taxes to run the government.  

This might give you the impression that the president, with regards to money, is all-powerful.  Especially when you hear news reports on 'the president's new budget' or his plan to 'raise taxes on haberdashers' or 'lower taxes on apiarists'.

But reality is just the opposite and the president is the one who takes orders.

From whom?

Congress.  

Congress has the jobs of setting the tax level and determining how much the government will spend by writing a budget.  

So while the president does get to submit budgets to congress, and asks for changes in the tax level, these are just requests that congress doesn't have to pay attention to.

Congress can add or subtract anything they want from the president's budget or throw it out entirely and write a new one.  The same goes for the level of taxes.

So congress decides what it wants: bridges, tanks, buildings, courts, robots on Mars, robots on Earth, National Parks, whatever and approves a budget with that stuff in it.

Once approved the president's is required by law to spend the money Congress listed in the budget and pay for it using the taxes that congress set.*

As long as more taxes come in than spending goes out everything is fine.

But, almost always, Congress puts more stuff in the budget than they cover with taxes which means the president must borrow money to cover the difference.†  

In most countries the story ends here because if their legislatures approved more spending than they have income, they've also implicitly approved the necessary borrowing -- but not in America.  Here Congress also limits the total amount of debt the United States can have.  

A debt limit sounds like a good idea until you see the real-world consequences of these two branches of government interacting.

As the total amount borrowed gets closer to the limit, Congress usually points to the president and acts shocked, shocked that his reckless spending has brought us so close to the debt limit that they, reasonable, prudent Congress have set.   

And while it's technically correct that the president has borrowed this money, congress has forced him to do it, by approving a budget that the president is legally obligated to spend without also approving the necessary taxes to cover that spending.  

So the debt limit fight is essentially the government version of the playground favorite: 'stop hitting yourself' except with added terror for everyone watching.    

For, it's important to note, the debt limit is not about future spending -- it's not a credit card on which the limit will be raised so a crazy government party can be thrown -- the debt limit is about paying bills already incurred.  

For example, the government hires a company to repave a federal highway.  But if the US is at the debt limit, when the company asks to be paid after the work has been done, the government can't.  This shakes trust in the US and since large parts of the global economy depend on the dollar being trust worthy, messing with that trust is a big deal.  

But there is a way out: Congress can raise the debt limit and, because of the aforementioned terror, they always have.  

So… if not raising the debt ceiling is potentially disastrous and the solution is simple and always taken in the end: why does this debate last months‽

Because: politics.

The debt limit isn't in the constitution, congress created it themselves and from their point of view, the debt limit is awesome because:

1. It creates a problem that...

2. Congress can (technically) blame on the president who... 

3. Needs the solution that only they can provide

Congress gets to use the threat of mutual financial self destruction as leverage in negations that they benefit from extending until the last… possible… second.  

Special Thanks:

Neil H. Buchanan & Kyle McMahon.

Credits:

Music: David Rees.

Images: The Noun Project, Jonathan Keating, Luis Prado, Andrew Forrester, Juan Sebastian Rickenmann & Anuar Zhumaev.