Informative YouTube channels | Hacker News Reader

Informative YouTube channels

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Great list!

The biggest channel that's missing is, obviously, khan academy.

Here's my list that I would like to add(with the HN crowd in mind):

- Khan Academy (https://www.youtube.com/user/khanacademy)

- Backyard Brains (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCICLIvkj29GG63NpA3K2Elw)

- DEFCONConference (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6Om9kAkl32dWlDSNlDS9Iw) - DEFCON talks.

- Emacs rocks (https://www.youtube.com/user/emacsrocks) - brilliant emacs tutorials. (watch older videos, recent ones are tutorials on Clojure).

- MIT OpenCourseWare (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEBb1b_L6zDS3xTUrIALZOw) - MIT lectures

- Y Combinator (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcefcZRL2oaA_uBNeo5UOWg) - startup interviews

- How to Start a Startup(https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxIJaCMEptJjxmmQgGFsnCg) - brilliant course about startups from YC

Not HN-related:

- Dean Leysen (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYDsDpSWZUJdTtQoRFRQZzA) - Essays on science and trivia, very fun.

- FZDSCHOOL(https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbdyjrrJAjDIACjCsjAGFAA) - Fantastic painting tutorials.

- Proko (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClM2LuQ1q5WEc23462tQzBg) - Also great painting tutorials

I hope you guys can suggest some more.

Nice expansion pack! Some of those were in their nominees list (see the link at the bottom of their article) but didn't quite make it into the shortlist. All subjective, I'm sure!

You have copy paste error in link to Dean Leysen

Thank you, corrected!

For the mathematically inclined, this channel has some of best videos I've seen on machine learning (and other topics):

mathematicalmonk - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcAtD_VYwcYwVbTdvArsm7w

These two are new and hot:

Mathologer - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1_uAIS3r8Vu6JjXWvastJg

Welch Labs - https://www.youtube.com/user/Taylorns34

One of my favorites, the SETI Institute hosts a ton of seminars on astrobiology, physics, etc: https://www.youtube.com/user/setiinstitute/videos

They have listed The Game Theorists and Extra Credits, but they didn't list my personal favorite game analyst, Errant Signal (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm4JnxTxtvItQecKUc4zRhQ).

I find The Game Theorists and Extra Credits to be too preachy and focused on a traditional view of games to be informative, but with Errant Signal the analysis takes a literary approach, looking less at 'game feel' and more at metaphor and message.

Ben Krasnow's applied science channel - https://www.youtube.com/user/bkraz333

Should definitely be in there!

'Bout to drop a real gem...

mrpete222 AKA TUBALCAIN - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKLIIdKEpjAnn8E76KP7sQg

I haven't come across anything as informative as this channel. This guy has a seriously badass machine shop and has videos about milling parts, how to use different tools, creating various things and general machine shop topics like how to care for drill bits.

Among other things, he milled his own miniature steam engine: Part I - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1t24sxjdZU

I'm surprised they left out The Engineer Guy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp33ZprO0Ck

Not very prolific, but interesting and in-depth explanations of all sorts of engineering topics - from the function of microwave ovens (that's the link up there ^ ) to what keeps nuclear weapons from proliferating.

Here's a few more:

EngineerGuy: https://www.youtube.com/user/engineerguyvideo Really cool videos about the engineering behind all kinds of things. I'm surprised it's not on this list.

C0nc0rdance: https://www.youtube.com/user/C0nc0rdance In depth videos about science, mostly.

Some other stuff people on HN might find interesting:

Shamus Young: https://www.youtube.com/user/ShamusYoung Not many videos, but the some of the ones that are there are interesting. Some stuff on procedural generation and game design in general.

Creature Mann: https://www.youtube.com/user/kjlg74 A lot of videos on computer simulations of evolution, but also some videos explaining computer science stuff.

NitrogenFingers: https://www.youtube.com/user/NitrogenFingers This is really niche because he mostly does stuff with the computercraft mod of minecraft. But the stuff he does is really impressive. He has videos on doing all sorts of cool things with this mod, from building an email server, to 3d computer graphics, simple video games, a 3d printer, and a robot butler.

You need to check out Numberphile if you have even the tiniest bit of love for recreational math.

Their vids on the math in Futurama/Simpsons is worth the sub alone!

Even if you don't. It might spark an interest in it! They really do a great job on making it enjoyable.

In a world where the blatantly fraudulent sixpackshortcuts[1] is the biggest fitness channel on YouTube, I feel that a list of informative fitness channels is paramount. The only ones I've found so far are ScottHermanFitness and JuggernautFitnessTV

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7YOSl4UkTU

I was curious what you meant by "blatantly fraudulent", as in, I thought surely this must just be your own opinion.

I clicked through, and it really is "blatantly" fraudulent, like they're not even hiding it a little bit. (Folks, picture "Imagine if you could literally live forever, as in, never die, not at age 70, not at age 90, and still look like you're 18 years old." type speech.)

Check out Allan Thrall/untamed strength .. Great, Down to Earth informative videos. Awesome beard too.

I would add Athlean-X as one of the best fitness channels - "Putting the science back in Strength" - https://www.youtube.com/user/JDCav24

The guy, Jeff Cavaliere, is amazing!

I can't recommend Veritasium and CGP Grey enough. They are amazing YouTube Channels! Check out this video where Veritasium explains Quantum Entanglement. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuvK-od647c

It amazes me how he explains something so difficult in less than 10 minutes!

Confreaks - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWnPjmqvljcafA0z2U1fwKQ Is a really good collection of tech conference talks.

I like them but it seems like 75% rails, any other good channels of talks on other languages?

I know it is not for every one, but Stratfor (https://www.youtube.com/user/STRATFORvideo) has enriched my geo-political world view.

As someone who frequently watches videos, changing the tempo is very underrated, as there's usually no good reason to waste time watching people talk at their natural speed. I used to do this with VLC (it can stream YouTube), but YouTube's HTML5 player now implements tempo adjustment as well, and I use the ImprovedTube Chrome extension to set the tempo to 1.5x by default. It can be conveniently changed with the keyboard as well (Ctrl+< and Ctrl+>). Discovering this has been a game changer with regard to watching technical videos.

The shortcuts are actually Shift+> and Shift+<.

Another great channel is Cody's Lab.

It's basically a guy doing Minecraft IRL, digging, mining ore, smelting it building tools etc. Even a video on how to make gunpowder from hay and your own pee!

https://www.youtube.com/user/theCodyReeder

I found Film Riot's humor to be sufficiently disjointed that it was destructive to my orderly-thinking habits. I also didn't like the lead presenter's personality. He has everything, except a compatible (to me) reason to live.

So I protect myself from it, and chose more organized, humane content.

I'd like to add Making Games With Ben: https://www.youtube.com/user/makinggameswithben

A really nice paced (I think) set of tutorials going through modern C++ & Open GL.

Really interesting channel about Geopolitics: Kaspian Report https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwnKziETDbHJtx78nIkfYug

Also Xidnaf has super interesting videos about linguistics - https://www.youtube.com/user/Xidnaf/featured

60 youtube channels that will make you think you are getting smarter.

If you're going to say something like that, you might as well explain why you think that way.

They seem to fill the void between in-depth study and knowing absolutely nothing.

I'm with you for the most part. However, learning bits and pieces of something without any indication that the source is credible (which is often the case with youtube videos), could be less helpful than learning nothing at all.

Thus 'getting smarter' could be an overstatement in this case.

A good experiment might be to watch 1,000 hours of educational videos and see if you've actually learned enough to test out of an introductory course on the subject. I could see that happening with, say, Khan Academy, but less so with the various popular "wow, science!" types of videos.

I've watched probably 1000 hours of woodworking videos. I even bought a whole shop of tools.

When I get an urge to make something, I go into the garage, and freeze. How do I put two pieces of wood together again?

Do you think if you had read the 1000 hours of wood working books that you'd be any better off?

There clearly comes a point that even in depth studying of a topic has limited ability to translate to real world skill. Very few things can translate well from study go skill.

Just like going to all the lectures and not doing any homework isn't going to prepare you for finals. Videos introduce and explain ideas, but you need to puzzle through problems yourself to gain a real understanding.

It's not about knowledge, it's about grasping. When the thing is made easy to grasp, you increase knowledge, not global understanding. To understand better, you have to practice understanding. (supposedly)

And so rather than watching digested videos, I recommend reading the works and essays of great minds, and struggling (reasonably), to embrace their way of thought, while appreciating the content. Understand some, then go again, and understand more. Socrates taught Plato, and Plato taught Aristotles. Is it a coincidence? I would find the greatest mind I can find, first among other strategies. Personally, I've started reading Emerson, everyday, or Montesquieu. I write parts I like, on paper, and try to understand better along, why he says what he says, and why he writes how he writes.

But this is supposing I'm smart, and have my word to say... Well, let us settle on the compromise then, and experiment? Because also, different people are at different levels of grasping, and also, they have different definitions for 'smart', so you should do depending on what you want to become, and which 'they' you want to be a part of.

Personally, I don't care that much, it just feels good to be so near a great mind, though surely everyone has his own view of what that is.

the ability to grasp is more valuable than the knowledge though-- this is why my alma mater didn't really worry too much about making the material digesting us.

not joking. Frankly, it makes my degree more valuable

I didn't say grasping is superior to knowledge, I said the optimum path to increase grasping (intelligence) may be different than the optimum path to increase knowledge, and that if this is the case, then I would train with hard-to-grasp material rather than easy-to-digest videos. I admit my first sentence was badly worded (I'm not English, though it's no excuse).

What's the difference?

The difference is in the approach.

Most YouTube channels are trying to make you think you are getting smarter because flattering your viewership's egos is a proven way to grow it. They work from a top-down perspective where they hold the information and you listen without questioning; much like a classroom; for people who mostly think "learning" is such process.

It is an entirely different experience to watch a YouTube channel where the host is actually working hard to make you think, even when this forces the host to be stern with its listeners, to correct their incorrect patterns of thinking when they call in, and to be available for any corrections by their viewers and willing to publicly correct an error.

For all that, I like Stefan Molyneux's podcasts on YouTube.

Thanks, his videos are quite interesting and even fun.

You won't become a physicist from watching Carl Sagan's Cosmos, but I found it immensely educational. It's worth knowing what science knows about what the universe is and our place in it. Of course you aren't going to become an expert in astronomy, but you don't need to be.

Many, certainly not all, but many of these videos are educational in the same sense. They give a layman a basic grasp of a complex subject. E.g. this video on the immune system won't make you a biologist, but it's still pretty informative: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQGOcOUBi6s

These are the kinds of videos that teachers might show in a classroom. Certainly they are way better made than the cheesy, poorly made educational videos I saw in school.

And to be fair, all of this stuff is entertainment, even Cosmos. There's no practical value to me to learn about how stars are made, or how the immune system works. But I find these things interesting.

PatrickJMT's channel, which is included on the linked list, is an amazing channel. Helped me through a few math classes in college so far. I highly recommend checking out that one.

GrandIllusions for gentle and peaceful demonstrations of toys.

Lindybeige for minimal monologues to camera about historical and warfare misconceptions, and swing dancing.

I'm glad numberphile was on there as its one of my favorites. They do a great job

I've been watching this YouTube channel phenomenon develop. Not quite sure how it's going to end up, but it's fascinating.

One example: I don't watch TV, but I love watching late show clips on YouTube. Jimmy Kimmel, Conan, Jimmy Fallon. Their channels are pretty good. They upload portions of the show, and I can quickly gauge by the title if I'm interested. I would have never watched any of this footage if not for their YouTube channels.

Fallon: https://www.youtube.com/user/latenight

Conan: https://www.youtube.com/user/teamcoco

Kimmel: https://www.youtube.com/user/JimmyKimmelLive

I watched Smarter Every Day grow from a small userbase to giant, along with all these other "learning" channels mentioned in the article. These guys are setting up Patreons now and getting paid per video, some of them a lot of money, and so they are really incentivized to produce quality, which is also an interesting recent development.

There is just so much good content on YouTube it's crazy. My daughters love watching How To Cook That (https://www.youtube.com/user/howtocookthat). The fact our children have access to such an enormous amount of interesting content is mind-boggling to me. And it's really only just beginning.

Educational/learning channels that should have been included:

AvE - metal&wood working, amazing tool reviews, hilarious guy - https://www.youtube.com/user/arduinoversusevil

taofledermaus - stuff with mercury, shoots strange projectiles out of a shotgun - https://www.youtube.com/user/taofledermaus

King of Random - lots of interesting random builds, nice quick format - https://www.youtube.com/user/01032010814

Woodworking (&metal) Channels:

Diresta - this guy... makes everything look easy - https://www.youtube.com/user/jimmydiresta

Izzy Swan - woodworker pro who has recently switched to doing YT full time - https://www.youtube.com/user/rusticman1973

I Build It - personal favorite - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzGbp-rRVNwyFhn9gHoZr5g

Matthias Wandel - everyone in the community knows this guy, can make anything - https://www.youtube.com/user/Matthiaswandel

Marius Hornberger - similar feel to Matthias - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCn7lavsPdVGV0qmEEBT6NyA

AWE Me - pros making amazing weapons, nice quick format - https://www.youtube.com/user/AweMeChannel

Alain Vaillancourt - check out his workshop build - https://www.youtube.com/user/lgosseuxdbois

Shop Time/Peter Brown - does crazy projects - https://www.youtube.com/user/kludge1977

Make - maker channel, features lots of guys from other popular channels making stuff, and their own stuff - https://www.youtube.com/user/makemagazine

Slingshot Channel/Joerg Sprave - makes all kinds of crazy gadgets with wood - https://www.youtube.com/user/JoergSprave

---

Anyway, that is more than enough to get started (I have a couple dozen more). I didn't find all these guys at once, they will mention each other, and provide links in the description.

I think I'm subscribed to most of those channels, haven't stumbled upon Vaillancourt yet though – time to brush off my french.

If you heaven't already, check out the Post Apocalyptic Inventor (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDbWmfrwmzn1ZsGgrYRUxoA) – seems to be right up your alley.

Dear HN...

What's the best way to get smart? Watching? Reading? Or something else?

Read textbooks.

No, battle them! :)

I've found reading the right books to be the best way. Lectures tend to be too broad for me, although they can serve as good overviews.

My philosophy is that if I want to learn something, I get a few suggestions for books, briefly skim through their contents and pick one. After that I'll take notes in it and reread and basically squeeze every ounce of knowledge that I possibly can from it until it's engrained in my brain.

Practice :)

Figure out your specific niche, the craft you would like to master, and learn everything about it, go as deep as you can.

Watching vs reading - doesn't matter, whatever is most comfortable and has the info you're interested in.

Don't forget audiobooks - they are very easy and fun to listen to, and you can do it in many situations when you would otherwise be wasting your time.

Also try writing/blogging - it is hard, but it is amazing.

I personally learn best from some combination of a lecture, and a tutorial, followed up by my own trial and error.

Picking a creative project, and doing it, reconceiving the project as you go, and picking up whatever you need to learn to get it done.

I get smart by being against the wall. Maybe a sign of internet ADD. I've tried reading, rarely worked. I watched tons of talks, sometimes deeply inspiring, most of the time the equivalent of a TV show for emacs nerds. I learned the most in crysis (bricked os, fubared hdd, proving for interviews, having a client).

ps: btw, try MOOCs, it had a positive effect on me, people compared it to IRL college, but I found the irc channels more open to discussing problems, replaying classes very good when your brains shuts down, the self pacing valuable too.

Do MOOCs have their own IRC channels?

Not official ones (at least in 2012), only people deciding to gather at some newly named room like #proglang, #progfun, #coursera-foo.. Usually around 40 persons speaking at peak, 10-20 regulars. From lost noob to almost rockstar (we had the pleasure to have a c++ standard co-author in #progfun).

Develop your critical thinking abilities. You'll end up asking 'why?' as second-nature, and that question is one of the biggest engines for getting smarter.

I hate watching video, generally - please just write up your points in an article or blog post. At the very least, post the script you obviously wrote up and read from. This is particularly infuriating for tutorials on how to use/configure a piece of software, especially if it involves running any sh commands. I really don't want to sit there and scrub through the youtube video to try and find the one point I can get the full command on the terminal in a visible, focused area.

That being said, I do occasionally watch Computerphile youtube videos.

I agree. Reading is so much faster, and control-f is my best friend, I might feel differently if videos were more easily searchable but probably not.

I have YouTube set to 1.5x tempo by default (with an extension), and watch things at 2x if possible (Ctrl+> is the keyboard shortcut for upping the tempo). Reading is still faster, but not by that much. Ctrl+F is still a problem, though, but for that you can typically find a different source.

The shortcut is actually Shift+>.

These youtube channels are not "how to configure a software tool" channels.

I picked up https://www.youtube.com/user/thephilosophytube

Seems cool.

Here's one of mine. It's about statistics (psychographics mostly) models implemented in R. Some undergrad level psychology lectures included, but the stats are pretty advanced.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMdihazndR0f9XBoSXWqnYg

Erudition and intelligence are different things.

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