What's the best way to get smart? Watching? Reading? Or something else?
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.
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.
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.
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.
mathematicalmonk - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcAtD_VYwcYwVbTdvArsm7w
Mathologer - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1_uAIS3r8Vu6JjXWvastJg
Welch Labs - https://www.youtube.com/user/Taylorns34
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.
They seem to fill the void between in-depth study and knowing absolutely nothing.
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.
Thus 'getting smarter' could be an overstatement in this case.
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.
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.
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.)
The guy, Jeff Cavaliere, is amazing!
That being said, I do occasionally watch Computerphile youtube videos.
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
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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.
If you heaven't already, check out the Post Apocalyptic Inventor (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDbWmfrwmzn1ZsGgrYRUxoA) – seems to be right up your alley.
Should definitely be in there!
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
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.
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.
It amazes me how he explains something so difficult in less than 10 minutes!
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!
So I protect myself from it, and chose more organized, humane content.
A really nice paced (I think) set of tutorials going through modern C++ & Open GL.
Lindybeige for minimal monologues to camera about historical and warfare misconceptions, and swing dancing.
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.
