Wait But Why

{{Short description|American blog website}}

{{Infobox website

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| url = {{URL|waitbutwhy.com}}

| editor = Tim Urban

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| language = English, Chinese

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| launch_date = {{nowrap|{{start date and age|2013}}}}

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| current_status = Online

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Wait But Why (WBW) is a website founded by Tim Urban and Andrew Finn and written and illustrated by Urban. The site covers a range of subjects as a long-form blog.{{cite magazine|last1=Davis|first1=Noah|title=How Do You Make a Living, Email Newsletter Writer?|url=https://psmag.com/economics/make-living-email-newsletter-writer-93394|magazine=Pacific Standard|accessdate=22 December 2015|date=30 October 2014}} Typical posts involve long-form discussions of various topics, including artificial intelligence, outer space, and procrastination, using a combination of prose and rough illustrations.{{cite web|url=https://www.vox.com/2015/8/27/9214015/tech-nerds-politics|title=Tech nerds are smart. But they can't seem to get their heads around politics|first=David|last=Roberts|date=27 August 2015|publisher=Vox Media|website=Vox|accessdate=4 September 2016}}{{cite magazine|last1=Grothaus|first1=Michael|title=The Secrets Of Writing Smart, Long-form Articles That Go Absolutely Viral|url=https://www.fastcompany.com/3042312/most-creative-people/the-secrets-of-writing-smart-longform-articles-that-go-absolutely-viral|accessdate=22 December 2015|date=5 March 2015|magazine=Fast Company}}{{cite web|url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/automatic-you/202108/the-behavioral-economics-diet-the-science-killing-bad-habit|title=The Behavioral Economics Diet: The Science of Killing a Bad Habit|work=Psychology Today|last=Eyal|first=Nir|date=10 August 2021|accessdate=16 August 2021}}

On May 21, 2014, Urban posted "The Fermi Paradox", a post that became extremely popular.{{Cite news|url=https://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/fermi-paradox.html|title=The Fermi Paradox - Wait But Why|date=2014-05-21|work=Wait But Why|access-date=2018-03-20|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.vox.com/podcasts/2020/2/10/21131219/tim-urban-wait-but-why-ezra-klein-show-future-of-humanity-technology-ai-climate-change|title="We're in the climax of a movie": Tim Urban on humanity's wild future|last=Klein|first=Ezra|date=2020-02-10|website=Vox|language=en|access-date=2020-04-25}} A 2016 Ted Talk by Urban on procrastination, based on concepts from the blog, had garnered over 74 million views by March 2025, making it the second most viewed TED Talk in history.{{Citation |title=Tim Urban: Inside the mind of a master procrastinator {{!}} TED |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arj7oStGLkU |language=en |access-date=2023-03-01}} A post on the blog about Elon Musk and Neuralink was produced with involvement from Musk himself.{{cite web|url=https://mashable.com/article/elon-musk-reveals-neuralink-progress|title=Elon Musk claims robot surgeon will sew electrodes into human brains in 2020|work=Mashable|last=Welsh|first=Caitlin|date=17 July 2019|accessdate=16 October 2021}}

In 2019, Marie Boran of The Irish Times summarized the website as a collection of "lengthy, thoughtful and well-written blog posts", praising them for being an "accessible and entertaining primer on human nature".{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/weblog-wait-but-why-offers-long-and-thought-provoking-reads-1.4021061|title=Weblog: Wait But Why offers long and thought-provoking reads|newspaper=The Irish Times|last=Boran|first=Marie|date=17 September 2019|accessdate=16 October 2021}}