Gasoline from air, and a long look at living forever, from Isaac Arthur
Two long episodes in four days: one on synthetic fuel made from captured carbon dioxide, one on what an economy looks like when nobody has to die.
Isaac ArthurStory of Why this story? The channel's weekly summary: what went up this week, what is drawing views now, and where the channel stands among similar channels.
The Economics of Immortality: What Happens If We Live Forever?
Isaac Arthur's usual pace runs a little above 56,000 views a day; right now it is somewhat below that, closer to 48,000. Nobody would call that a slump. It is what a channel of long, patient episodes looks like between big moments, and this week brought two of them.
The first, "The Economics of Immortality: What Happens If We Live Forever?", walks through nearly forty minutes of chapters, from biological immortality and mind uploads to cryonics, and on to the politics of a society whose elders never leave. A segment called "Mad Kings" turns up here, as it did in last week's prison planet episode. The comment section did what SFIA comment sections do and went straight to the bookshelf: Larry Niven's frozen sleepers, the Star Trek episode "The Neutral Zone", the series Upload and Altered Carbon. The most liked joke wonders whether eternity might finally be long enough to pay off a student loan, and one sharp-eyed viewer points out that the frozen Fry of Futurama is Philip J., not Stephen.
Then came "We Can Make Gasoline From Air. So Why Don't We?", a tour of synthetic fuel built from captured carbon dioxide and hydrogen, through the Sabatier process and what the description calls a thermodynamic tax, before ending, in true Arthur fashion, with any world as a fuel depot. Three days old, it is already the channel's busiest video by a wide margin, while the immortality episode and the prison planet one tick along together behind it.
Among science channels of similar size, Reactions had the standout week; Isaac Arthur sits comfortably in the middle of the group.
Published on Trari
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What viewers say
There's a chance of paying off my student loan.
@shaunnichols4664See it on YouTube14:00 Philip J Fry. Stephen Fry, to the best of my knowledge, has not been frozen... yet.
@martythemartian99See it on YouTubeJust about to vacuum the house. Perfect timing SFIA 👌👍
@cammyboy011See it on YouTube
Public comments from the video's page on YouTube
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The videos drawing views on Isaac Arthur right now
- Channel
- Isaac Arthur
- Subscribers
- 1,170,000
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 406,285
- Videos published this week
- 3
- Video published
- September 27, 2026
- Video views so far
- 60,820
- Views on its first day
- 35,377
The numbers
Here is how Isaac Arthur's week looks in figures.
💡 Test your knowledge
In Futurama, Philip J. Fry is accidentally frozen on New Year's Eve and wakes up in which year?
Fry falls into a cryogenic pod on December 31, 1999, and wakes up a thousand years later in the year 3000.
