Why are we here? Is there life beyond death? Why do we hiccup? These are the big questions in life. Thankfully, you no longer have to struggle through a book by a dead white guy to start philosophizing on your own — you can have an 8-bit existential crisis.

From the Thug Notes YouTube channel comes 8-Bit Philosophy, a video series that uses impressive 8-bit animations to explain some of philosophy’s toughest questions. Below, you can break your brain on philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s contention that although science may be the best tool we have for discovering the world, it doesn’t necessarily show us the truth of the universe:

It’s a tall order to double jump through epistemology and the tension between science and religion in such a short video, but somehow, the 8-bit bibles and caped Nietzsches seem to help.

This being philosophy, people are bound to disagree. Personally, it’s hard for me to understand the claim that science is basically its own religion. It’s based on a completely different epistemological foundation, does not appeal to authority, and fundamentally challenges so-called “absolute truths.”

In fact, most working scientists would probably disagree with the common definition of a scientific fact, which the 8-bit video likens to a religious proclamation. Instead, the more specific definition of a scientific fact is an idea with so much evidence behind it that it would take much more evidence to disprove it. Facts have mountains of evidence supporting them, but they can always crumble. It’s possible that new evidence will come along and then the “fact” would have to change. This is not what happens within religious dogma.

Science gives us a glimpse of the real world, but it’s not the oracle of it. “Truth” is a fluid concept. That’s something I didn’t expect to glean from a video that ends with an 8-bit Friedrich Nietzsche fire-balling a scientist.